1966, the year "California Dreamin” by the mamas and the papas was a hit and large-scale anti-Vietnam War protests took place throughout the United States. All unforgettable events in themselves but for Guilhem it was also the year he got his first life changing introduction with surfing and experienced something he had never felt before. In this first interview in The Shapers Series we have a conversation with French surfboard shaper Guilhem Rainfray.

What sparked your passion for surfing?

I had started skateboarding two years before that. The first skateboards were brought to France by American surfers and it was not long before I started being more interested in the long and weird boards those guys were riding on Guéthary’s waves. Although I was already a pretty strong swimmer at only 11 years old, my parents didn’t share my enthusiasm and wouldn’t let me try what they considered a very dangerous sport. But despite my parents’ warning my curiosity in experiencing what I had seen turned out to be stronger than my newly imposed ban. So, one sunny august afternoon I rode my bicycle up to Biarritz’ Côte des Basques, where one of the surf pioneers, Jo Moraïz, had a shack, giving surfing lessons and renting boards. I rented an old, battered, blue 10’ something, heavy log, dragged it into the surf and watched what the others were doing. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, I more or less got the hook of it and suddenly I caught a broken wave, stood up amidst the white wash and rode it allllll the way to the beach, the large plywood fin dragging in the sand. What I felt inside was nothing like I had ever experienced and I KNEW that my life, from that moment on, had just changed.

What does surfing mean to you?

Pretty much everything. From ’66 to ’68, the only thing I lived for were the waves. Then, in the summer of ’68, I was struck by a second overwhelming moment of curiosity which in this case made me strip my old Barland/Rott board to see what was inside. I wanted to try to re-shape it into one of those “mini” 8’6 models with a deep V-bottom that Bob McTavish had revolutionized the surfing world with. From then on, I shaped and glassed almost all my own boards, then friends’ boards, then friends of friends’ boards. Well you know how it goes.

Now you must imagine what the surfing scene was like, then : nobody knew anything. There was only one manufacturer in France (Barland) and since he was the only one, he was not very much inclined to share any knowledge with would-be competitors. The only way you could get any info at all was through Surfer Magazine but only Jo Moraïz was selling it in his Biarritz surf shop. He received about 50 to 100 copies from California but Surfer Magazine was a bi-monthly at the time and it took about two months to reach France so we were four months late all the time.

So did you ever got the chance to apprentice under anyone?

I didn’t have that luck. I learned everything by myself, which means I did it wrong for a long time. First time I saw a real shaper work was in the ‘80s in a windsurf shop. They had Hawaiian shaper Jimmy Lewis doing a public shape demo. I watched in awe as he started skinning the blank from the rail towards the stringer, which, of course, is the right way to do it. For all those years, I had been making straight passes parallel to the stringer. It was as if I just came out of a tunnel and saw the light for the first time. From then on, my shapes really got better. I started spending A LOT of time getting the outline true and square before doing anything else. I also learned when to stop; “Better” is the enemy of “good”. If you keep trying to get your shape even better, you will never succeed. There comes a time when you have to stop. Even if you yourself think it always can be more perfect then perfect.

Any favorite part in the shaping process?

I really like everything, from skinning to finish sanding. The strongest part, emotionally, is when you run the first skinning passes in the blank. Dr FREUD would probably say it has something to do with the defloration of a virgin, ha ha.

You have been in the game for quite some now

First board I entirely made myself (shaping, glassing, sanding and all) was in the winter of 1969 so that makes about 62 years if my count is right. So yeah pretty long time. But if we count from when I professionally did it then it is only 31 years.

How did that first board come out?

It turned out as a kneeboard because foam was unavailable at the time so we bought some balsa lumbers but they didn’t have lengths over 5’. The only tools I had were a hand plane and a few rasps and sand paper. Just glueing together lumbers that were not true and square was a nightmare. Of course it turned out pretty bad.

Have you still got that first one?

No, but my friend Daniel and I (he helped me glass because he had some experience building fiberglass kayaks) were so proud of that first one that we went under the l'Arc de Triomphe to photograph it and I still have that photo.

What does it mean to you to be a surfboard shaper?

I feel like I am one of the heirs of a group of great pioneers who just paved the way before us. I am lucky to count guys like Bing Copeland and Bob “The Greek” Bolen as good friends, together with more “recent” shapers like Gene Cooper of Cooperfish Surfboards and many others. We are pretty much a family, actually. Sort of.

How did your life look like before becoming a shaper?

Well, I was still pretty young so I was a student in Paris living the student life and I just spent all my holidays on the Basque coast. Before surfing and shaping, as I said, I was into skateboarding quite a lot. This would help me, years later, as I got a job in 1976 working for a guy who imported California Freeformer Skateboards from the States. We had Champions Ty Page and Mark Bowden come to France to promote our products and I was in charge of them both during one month in Paris, driving them to various supermarkets where they did demos while I was advertizing the skateboards that they were riding and that were being sold in the supermarket. Fond memories.

Could you tell us something about the style of your shapes? Are you more classic orientated or modern?

I believe that a good shaper should be able to make any kind of board. I will make anything I’m asked to make. But of course, like everybody, I think, there are some shapes I like better than others. Long gliders and long guns are among those. Guns have such fine curves…

What advice would you give to someone that is interested in starting shaping themselves ?

Be prepared to spend a long time learning, although it’s probably easier today with better quality materials and tools and overall available web tutorials. But nothing replaces experience. Also be prepared to eat a lot of rice. And if you make it, be prepared to have people come into your shop with a “famous” shaper’s board and ask you to copy it exactly while wanting to pay half the price.

All of the boards you make are 100% handmade. Do you think there still is a role for handmade products in this fast paced consumer world?

I hope that there will still be a niche market for high quality custom boards but I’m not that sure. You must be aware that there are, right now, “famous” shapers who actually never touched a blank with their hands. Files were made on a computer using “AKU” or “Shape 3D” or some other program, then sent to a company that has a machine running day and night grinding blanks to a near-finished shape. Then the shape is “finished” by a low-paid worker. You really don’t need to be that experienced to sand out machine grooves. My friend Barry Snyder who is a very good Californian custom shaper once said on Swaylock’s : “Any half-lobotomized monkey can sand out the machine grooves on a blank “. Then, the finished shapes are sent to a glass shop that will do all the glass, hot-coat, sand… And the boards will proudly carry the name and logo of a guy who never even touched the blank. Meet the future ! But, I am a strongly optimistical person and I like to think that a very small number of people will always value handcraft more and are willing to pay an honest price.

Favorite colleague shaper

- All of them, but Mike Diffenderfer stands out

Your shaping philosophy

- Be the water

Favorite current designs

- Big gliders (over 11’) and guns, any size

Your own surfboard

- A 12’ pintail glider

Favorite artist

- Paul Simon, the greatest music and words composer of our time

Your message to the world

- Don’t give up, never ever.

Written by Mike van den Berg