Locus Surfboards

About ten years ago or so I was out surfing at my local break on a day that was less than spectacular for surfing. I was paddling my longboard back out from a ride on a typical slow mushy wave, when a surfer comes flying by on a wave riding some kind of unique shortboard that I had never seen before. I was shocked and intrigued! How is this guy riding this tiny board on a wave that I can barely catch with my longboard? After the session I found him in the parking lot at the back of an old classic Chevy Astro mini van that was loaded up with all sorts of custom boards. The back doors of the van were swung wide open, and there were already several other surfers standing around talking to him and looking at his boards. I waited my turn and introduced myself. That is how I met Tyler Hopkins.

Tyler introduced me to the board he was riding, the Monkey Wing. at first glance, the Monkey Wing looks like a sawed-off longboard. But because of how uniquely shaped it is, the design allows you to catch waves that you can usually only catch on a longboard. Just holding it that day, it felt fast. The fins were some sort of translucent design that I had never seen before. It turns out those are Tyler’s signature chip brush fins. Tyler repurposes wooden chip brushes that normally would be thrown out after a few uses, and it also eliminates the process of using harmful solvents to clean them.

The Monkey Wing was the design that started it all for Tyler and Locus Surfboards. The name and the monkey on the Locus logo came from watching surfers on the wrong boards trying to catch waves. He says, “When I first started shaping I was working on Mini Simmons designs. Watching any given lineup it was evident that many surfers were riding boards that were not working well for them in smaller, junky conditions. This often results in the “fish slap”, “Huntington hop” (where a surfer pumps the board up and down to gain speed and stay on the wave) which from a distance makes them look like monkeys hoping around. Enter the Monkey Wing model. The logo was designed specifically for that model. I liked the look so much that it quickly became our main logo.” The Locus logo also gives a nod to the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, which as a kid was scary! He likes that they look a little Creepy.

Tyler’s earliest wave riding memory is on a boogie board as a kid in Florida at Hobe Sound Beach. He has deep roots in Florida. His family and relatives reside in Martin County. Tyler being the only exception, was born in California when his parents moved there from Florida until he was out of high school. His parents moved back to Florida, but Tyler stayed and deepened his love for surfing when he moved to Santa Cruz. He began making boards in a room above his garage near downtown Santa Cruz. A one room, one man operation, he had to entirely clean the room between each step of the process which made the process lengthy. Eventually he built out and moved into a 1000sq foot space with Ventana Surfboards that provided him with space for a separate shaping room. It sped up the process and allowed him to take on more clients. Four years later Tyler moved into his own 3000 sq ft space that he built out with his wife and fellow artist Emily who works with found objects, mixed media, and collage.

Many of the boards in the Locus lineup, currently 14 models, are designed to fill in the gaps where larger manufacturers leave surfers hanging. Tyler and his team riders have spent countless hours tweaking the designs to find the right balance to keep you surfing in all kinds of conditions. He makes boards that are, one way or another, designed to make surfing a little easier and therefore more fun on lots of different types of waves, and all types of conditions. A lot of them work really well in less than ideal conditions. Santa Cruz gets a lot of waves but they’re not always good. The goal is to get you in the water more often. Tyler’s boards are also great for transitioning from beginner, to intermediate, to advanced.

His board shaping process also fills a need for change in the industry. Surfboard shaping typically wastes a lot of material, and often those materials are hazardous or very bad for the environment, not to mention bad for the health of the shapers that make the boards.

(Photo credit Jeff Martin @hermansphotos)

About 8 years ago Tyler joined The Eco Board Project and now uses all recyclable EPS foam blanks, entropy resin, some is tree sap base from the lumber industry, and bio based epoxy, which often comes from post industrial manufacturing. It’s very low in VOC, less harmful to work with and less harmful for the environment. The draw backs are that it’s harder to work with, there are more steps involved, with higher costs in materials and labor. But after ten years of working with this process and getting it dialed in, he feels that it’s well worth it. The boards are extremely strong and fast, they last longer and have less impact on the earth. Tyler works harder making boards that allow the average surfer not to work as hard to enjoy surfing.

Surfite leash holder (Photo courtesy Tyler Hopkins)

Another area Tyler is reusing waste is with surfite. Surfite is resin that drips off the edge of a surfboard onto a tray when the shaper is pouring it over the shaped foam and fiberglass as a final seal. The hardened resin is then cut, planed, sanded, and hand-carved into unique pieces. Often that surfite is very colorful and can be used to make durable products. Tyler and emily make belt buckles, jewelry, and other art.

For the future, Tyler plans on expanding his business to Florida and building things like one of a kind wooden stand up paddle boards to use for fishing. He makes several trips a year to Martin county to surf and fish.

Tyler Hopkins

Some things are hard to explain