Shaper Profile: PMA

Carlsbad, California

Spring 2007

Pete Anaya, better known as PMA, has been designing boards for quite sometime. If you happen to ride a Custom X board chances are PMA had a hand in it.

He lives in Carlsbad, California and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He is a full-time bodyboard shaper for Custom X.

The 37-year old actually didn’t start shaping or even bodyboarding until he entered the industry. He was much more into playing music and was part of the daily grind making good money. Then he found out about a BZ job opening from a friend.

He started out sweeping floors and trying to understand the basics of board shaping.

"I am familiar with my hands, so it came natural to me," PMA said.

He worked for BZ for three or four years and realized there was nowhere to go in the company because new positions weren’t opening up.

That’s when the industry started blowing up. Custom X appeared and he moved to their company and he has been working there ever since.

From start to finish PMA says there are probably at least 33 steps to creating a bodyboard.

Although this isn’t a complete rundown of his shaping process for the most part this is how a board comes to life.

Creating a bodyboard

• In a nutshell there is a lot of different steps. Selecting the core, figuring out the outline, the outcurve that you like, along with the type of lays you ride. The curves and a template are drawn out.
• That’s just the start, PMA said.
• Then the hands on shaping.
• Nose rocker, channels and poke the hole for the stringer.
• The lamination process. Laminate the bottoms skin. Sand it up.
• Once the rail dimensions you want are on there you cut it to length.
• Select a tail. Draw that out. Cut it.
• Shape the transition from the deck to the bottom skin.
• Add the options, grips, hip channels, then you do the shaping of the deck.
• Laminate the deck.
  
• Then the board goes back onto the stand and you trim the excess material and do a touch up.
• Then you pick the rail colors. Trim the excess material off of that. Role and wet glove the board up, which seals all of the open cells of the board. Stamp the board. Done. More or less.

“A few manufacturers have a few different steps. Everybody has their ways.”

PMA is one of the few full-time bodyboard shapers on a full-time level and is in the process of getting his own shop.

He enjoys sitting down with the riders and going over design ideas.

“For years I was kind of quiet and did my own thing. Now, I am really involved with the riders and the customers. It gives me more knowledge and a better perception of board design and what people need.”

It’s just like talking with your buddies and seeing the differences in-between each other’s boards and finding out what works for them, he said.

“There are always those natural guys that can ride anything,” PMA said. “Where no matter what board they have they can just ride it really well.”

Most people need to have different boards for different situations.

“If you stayed in one area and surfed one spot, then I would stay with one board. But the way it is now with people traveling all over the place you need a little quiver of at least three boards.”

When it’s all said and done PMA occasionally tests a board.

“Once in awhile I will test a board. My job is working well over 60-hours a week, so my window of surfing isn’t there as much as it used to be. At least an hour every other day.”