| Dale Chapman // Interview 07 October 2009 By: Andrew Cassidy Location: Burleigh Heads While staying at Burleigh on holidays, Australian Paddle Surfer popped over to the Dale Chapman Surf Designs/SHAPETEC factory to see the man himself and ask him a few questions. We caught up with Dale in his favourite shaping bay while he was scrubbing out the tail on a custom 11 footer. We quizzed him about SUP board design right now and where it might be heading in the future.  What's your shaping background? I started doing ding repairs in '86. And then went from doing ding repairs to making boards. I first started shaping in 1990. That was with Tony Dempsey. I grew up and surfed with him. So I generally started making boards then and then got into my own thing. So DLS (Dirtly Little Shaping Factory) was established in 1986 out of a couple of different factories and we used to rent one to Dominic Wibrow, Nick Maz and Tony Dempsey as a ding repair factory. And then actually Rick Neilsen said to me one day, "Hey, you should try shaping". So, ummm, so I had a go. It wasn't the easiest thing to do in those days because you had to hand shape everything from scratch. So shaping was a bit of a chore. If you got $300 a day, you were happy. We were up to about 20 boards a day - at our peak. Now we are back down to three to five stand ups a week and 20 shortboards. I've probably shaped over 20,000 boards in my career. Yeah, it's a bit different now with the machines and stuff? Ohhh yeah. Tell us a bit about the technology you've got here. It's called Pro Engineering. That's the software we've got here. It does car parts, bits of buses, all different components and stuff. It's ummm, how do you put it ... parametric. The software is related to numbers. In the normal software they use in surfboards which is 3D CAD, it's a lot of push and pull of the vectors instead of hard measurements. Our software is all based around specific measurements where you can type in numbers for specific sectors of the board. It makes it a lot more accurate. We also use our fluid diagnostic software to test new designs before prototyping. Once the design is just right, all the information gets sent to the Tekcel routing machine and a very accurate board is produced. I just need to clean it up a bit and it's ready for glassing. So how many people have you got working here? There's about six. How many of them do shaping? Just me and one other guy. He's from Japan and really good with the shortboard stuff. I do all the stand ups though. And do you glass as well? Yeah definitely. I love doing the glassing, always have. I guess that’s where I started out with the ding repair stuff and have always had a passion for it. I'm starting to get into some funky stuff with pigment tints and all that. So do you produce more race or surfing SUPs? We do probably about 60 percent surfing boards and 40 percent race. The race boards are getting more and more popular but they take longer especially when you start putting in rudders and stuff. I'd say there will always be more surfing SUPs on order though. Some brands are sticking with the mal style, full nose on all their SUPs, you seem to do a lot of shortboard style pulled in noses. Why is that? I think anything under nine foot should probably have a pulled in nose. Those boards are generally for high performance surfing and they just work better with that type of nose. They fit better into the critical part of the wave. We do a lot of prone shortboards here so maybe that is my influence. A fuller nose on the bigger boards is fine - it just depends on how you want to ride it. Check this one out (Dale flips over the 11 footer he is working on). This guy wanted a paddle board that he can nose ride, so obviously it's got a big wide nose. And what about flat decked boards compared to a rolled deck? I really like the rolled deck with low rails. The rolled deck means you can have plenty of foam in the middle of the board to help with buoyancy but still maintain a high performance profile through the rails. Big blocky rails will make a board harder to turn and they tend to bog. I try and make the rails performance oriented even on the big boards - because even these you want to be able to turn well. Race boards are a different kettle of fish - they need the blocky rails for added displacement and it doesn't matter if they don't drive well out of a bottom turn (laughs). You do a variety of different tail shapes. What's the difference there? The pin tails are the most stiff, fast and drivey but harder to snap in the pocket. Swallow tails are the loosest. Square tails, rounded squares and rounded pins are somewhere in the middle. Again, it depends on who wants the board, what they want to do with it and what types of waves they ride. Only about ten percent of guys can really feel the difference between, say a rounded square and a swallow tail. How's the growth of the sport going? Have you noticed a difference in your orders recently? Oh yeah. The last four months have just been massive for us. We have been so busy with SUP orders. It's amazing. So you think SUPs have a good future? Absolutely. They are just so versatile. I had my mum out on one the other day. It doesn't matter if you are three or 85 - you can still do it and still have heaps of fun too. If you look at windsurfing, you need to be really fit to do that and not many girls get into it. If you are not a bloke between about 20 and 50 years old, you probably won't ever be a windsurfer. Getting out on a paddle board is so different to that, anybody can do it. Just jump straight on and go exploring or get fit. It doesn’t matter what age you are or how fit you are. What about overseas production of boards? Will we ever see a DC made offshore? The public definitely like an Aussie made product but it's hard to keep up the numbers. People don't like sitting on a six week waiting list either. It's hard to say what we'll need to do in the future. What's it like riding a SUP in the crowded Gold Coast line ups? You have to be very cautious. If you are polite, don't get more than your share, call the prone guys into some of the sets and generally behave yourself - you'll be OK. You did a lot of surf comps when you were a junior in the early eighties and then got back into it in the mid nineties with the masters' divisions. Are you still into the comp scene now that you paddle surf? Not really. I'm not good enough on a paddle board. I like to go to the comps and support the guys that do them. I got a bit over being told when and where to surf - like having to go out even when it was one foot slop. Maybe I'll start going in a few more, we'll see. And the race scene? Yeah the racing is really fun. I'm a bit more into that than the surf comps. The whole racing and downwinder thing is really cool. There is nothing better than getting out in the open ocean with good conditions and doing a run down the coast. Whether it's in a race or just having fun with friends - it's all good.  | |
