“Sixteen years ago I started sailing and shaping sailboards. My pre-apprenticeship being a long time surfer and board shaper. I struggled with the popular sailboard designs at the time; single fins with no tail rocker.
Through a meeting I had with Michi Schweiger at Spreck’s in Maui he gave me a thought that ignited the answer for me – the flat in the rockerline forces you where to stand. From this I went home and started adding tail kick to the boards, but as a single fin upwind and sailing ability was a struggle. The answer was to add the small thruster fins in the front, compensating for the tail kick and allowing great sailing ability once again. Initially drag, drag, drag was a big issue back then and the front thruster fins just needed small adjustments. With curve under my back foot and speed under my front it enabled my surfing style to work in sync with the board. Now we had a board that loved the bottom turn and you could focus purely on a grippy top turn. It all came together and the surfing sailboard was born.
When I now watch Jaeger he shows the epitome of learning to sail on the correct gear. It feels great to design a sailboard with direct information and ideas from my surfboards. On Jaeger’s first trip to Ho’okipa at 13, he hid the tail of his board because he was so embarrassed it was so different.”
