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Mark Nelson used a chainsaw when shaping his first board in his grandfather's barn in 1985. Since then, his technique has become a little more refined. Mistral's head designer gives us some insight into the shaping process.
Hey Mark, what are you up to today? I am just back from Fuerte, for a few days, and am off to the ISPO in Germany on Wednesday.
Where are you? I'm home in Maui.
What did you do before your job as Mistral's shaper? Before I was designing for Mistral, I had my own custom board repair and construction facility, and was producing all of the prototypes and master plugs in addition to team boards for Peter Thommen when he was the designer for F2. I started working with Peter back around 97, and was very interesting and fun building boards with him. We still work together helping him with his T1 proto's and customs. Other work we did was build customs for Sailboards Maui, and Hi-Tech. I have had the honour of building boards for almost all of the top sailors in the world which also has help increase my knowledge of design concepts.
Moved to Maui? I Moved to Maui back in 91, and never looked back!! It was by far the best decision ever!!
What was the first board you ever shaped? It was a custom Clark blank wave board back in 85, that I shaped in my friends back yard in his Grandfathers barn, I cut it out with a chain saw, shaped the rails with a sander, “very crude” but it worked, and I was stoked!!
Did you learn shaping from anyone? Yes!! I have had the pleasure of being taught be Jimmy Lewis, and Mark Angel, then fine tuned my skill watching Peter Thommen, I have a tremendous amount of respect for all three of these designers.
How did you get in involved with Mistral? I was introduce to Mistral, by Kai Hopf (the North Sail Designer), as a result of designing wave boards for him. It was 1999, and the Naish's were leaving Mistral to pursuer there their own custom brand.
What was your first board for them? It was the Razor wave board line, all of those boards were based on Nik Baker's Aloha Classic winning board.
And what are you working on now? I'm already starting to design 2008 prototypes for Mistral, making custom boards under my private label “M & M”, and making performance competition boards for many of the top sailor in the PWA.
Talk us through the process, from finished '06 board to the '07 being ready. That's a really complex question that could take up a small novel, but hear are the cliff notes: First Nik and I get together and go sailing on a particular model to get a general impression, we then compare it to the previous years model. We then come up with a general overview on how the current model is working and what we feel would improve the performance of that particular board, then we gather as much outside feedback as possible from magazines, test centres, Club Mistral, and from stores and our importers. Then we decide how we will make improvements based on all of that feedback and produce a prototype for testing. It is typically one month from the time that we come up with a concept to the time that we can then test the next proto. We will then keep doing this until we feel that the changes are as “on target” as possible. Then we will build a plug or submit the final working prototype based on time constraints.
What's the biggest challenge/problem in shaping? Consistency!!!! This is my biggest goal, and the reason it takes me up to three times longer than any other shapers I know, I take tons of notes and measurements through the whole process of shaping and also construction, don't know of any designer that is as picky as I am, my factory staff think I'm nuts!!
Do you have any theories/secrets/magic rockerlines/etc. that you want to share with us? Well, as far as “magic” is concerned, I don't believe in it, nor do I believe in luck, only hard work, and a passion to build the best boards I can. I don't try to reinvent the wheel, I just try to make it work as best I can for it's design criteria.
What do you think of cobra production? It is the Industry standard, and the quality and consistency is the best to date, Mistral is constantly working with Cobra to come up with new constructions to give our customers the best value.
Classic(Mistral) vs CAD(fanatic), which is best? Our friends at Fanatic are doing a great job!! I hove nothing but respect for most of the designers out there, I have to point out that their still is a person behind the cad, and that it is just another tool. It is a direction I will be going to help free up my time, and hopefully increase the accuracy of my designs.
How is your custom stuff coming? Good, I guess! I have more custom orders than I can fill, and my wife is always wondering when I will be home because I work seven days a week most of the time.
Which pro riders get your boards? Matt used to, and John Skye? Morenos? I don't want to upset any of their sponsors, but lets just say we know how to put almost all of our competitors sticker sets on our customs. It is a great honour to build boards for them, and I incorporate what I learn from them, into our production boards when it is appropriate.
Do your customs rub off some magic on the mistral range? Definitely.
Mistral is looking pretty inventive this year, some of the new stuff is mentioned here. New slalom range is coming, what was it like shaping slalom kit again? I never stopped, Maui has a summer slalom series that keeps me racing and building customs for my clients in Maui, Japan and the mainland. I am really happy that formula 4-2 is taking off, because when the waves go flat, there is nothing better than “dropping the Hammer” and seeing how fast you can go against your mates!
Graphics look pretty similar this year, do you have any input on the graphics? We have been working hard to get Mistral line easy to understand, and increase consistency from year to year regarding our graphics, personally I feel that our new graphics are a perfect evolution form the 2006 line.
Tell us about the riders you work with, how close is your relationship with Nik Baker? Working with Nik is a total pleasure, he has a tremendous feel for boards, and an uncanny ability to direct me in evolving our designs to meet the needs of our customers.
How much do you get out on the water? Slalom racing? Maui waves? What do you ride from the Mistral range I'm like the guy that make shoes, everyone else has them, but I end up going barefoot, but to be honest, I use our stock production boards in the waves, and I have a few custom slalom boards for the race series. I'm lucky if I get on the water two times a week
Motocross? Are you mad? After seeing what Jason P. did? (Ed.: Jason Polakow recently suffered an extreme injury while riding a cycle.) I know what you are thinking, that's why I sold my full size dirt bike, and bought an CRF 70, Matt Pritchard and I ride around in his back yard and it is so much fun!! Four laps on that track and you can barley breath!!! Much better than any gym.
NEW STUFF AT MISTRAL.
The Hydroblade - Came about as a result of my fascination with foils, I am constantly trying new things to help keep windsurfing interesting and fun. The main design benefit is that it helps get you planning earlier, and also help keep you nose from purling under in choppy conditions and going through the white-water in small waves.
Woody - The woody is based on our Screamer line, yet built at a totally different construction level, and is the
only board that will come with G10/chrome fins. It will only be produced in very limited numbers, so if you want one, I highly recommend placing your order now. I love the way it looks and can't wait to get mine!
Thanks to Chris Addison for his time interviewing Mark Nelson.
g earlier, and also help keep you nose from purling under in choppy conditions and going through the white-water in small waves.
Woody - The woody is based on our Screamer line, yet built at a totally different construction level, and is the only board that will come with G10/chrome fins. It will only be produced in very limited numbers, so if you want one, I highly recommend placing your order now. I love the way it looks and can't wait to get mine!
Thanks to Chris Addison for his time interviewing Mark Nelson.
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