Here are a few words from some happy customers, if you’ve got an AOR board and would like to tell the world how great the are then please drop me a line and I’ll put it up on this page.
I had been looking for a good all-around shortboard for a while and a mate put me in contact with Alan. After calling out to his place and seeing the quality of his work I was convinced straight away to put in an order. 6′5″ x 19.5″ x 2.5″ Squash tail with perimeter stringers. The craftsmanship in the finished board is unbelievable – pretty much every time I walk down the beach people come over asking me questions about it. So far, I’ve had the board out in conditions ranging from waist-high slop to head-high glass and it impressed me in all of them. It is very easy getting into waves early probably due to the extra bouyancy from the EPS core and it drives out of bottom turns like a bullet from a gun.
I’ll definitely be going back to Al for my next board – he’s great to deal with and obviously takes a lot of pride in his work.
- Dave, Kerry
The attention to detail in Alans work is a joy to behold. As for the board itself the only problem is that i don’t get to surf it more!. I would highly recommend Alans work to any level of surfer.
- Moss, Cork
After seeing a board a friend got off Al and being a man for notions, I got talking to him about trying to make my own perimeter stringered board.Because of the general nature of the perimeter stringer boards, there a bit more work involved but Al assured me that the benefits of all the extra hours of labor would be well worth it.
From start to finish it was a hands on process, with Al leaving me to do as much as possible but offering guidance all the way. There was the odd occasion where he might have had to step in to straighten out my mistakes or offer some friendly critiques but by the end of the shaping process I really did feel I’d created something for myself.I had decided I had wanted to do everything myself (as much as possible anyway) so I also glassed the board under Al’s watch full eye. All I can say after that is, anyone can shape a board, if you want to learn some real skills, try glassing. If nothing else, the sheer experience of watching Al glass is fantastic. Its all the small little details that make for such a superb looking finished product, but the fact that he was willing to go through everything with me, step by step and explain the entire process made all the difference. There’s glass shops the world over that wont let you in the doors incase you see too much but from start to finish Al was open about everything, all about passing on the knowledge.
So far, I’ve had maybe 3 sessions on the board and I’m pretty pleased, the speed out of the bottom turns is taking a bit of getting used to after spending years on logs, but the extra float out of the EPS makes the transition an awful lot easier. The feeling of catching that first wave on something I’d made myself is hard to describe. After doing it, I feel its something ever surfer should do at least once, just so people understand the time, effort and love that goes into making a surfboard.
- John, Cork
