Step-ups and guns for big surf.
Riptooth Surf Co. is Colm Arkwright's shaping shop in Gravel Point. Each board is sized from the one you already ride.
- Step-ups from
- $1,050
- Guns from
- $1,400
- Order to pickup
- 6 weeks
Three boards between your shortboard and a 20 ft face
We only shape the three rungs above your everyday board, each one sized from the board you already ride well.
Everyday
2 to 5 ft faces
The board you ride now
Everything below is worked out from this board. Know its length and volume before you call.
Your baseline
Step-up
6 to 10 ft faces
2 to 8 in longer
Same feel under your feet, more paddle, a touch more nose rocker. The board most of our customers ride most of the winter.
From $1,050
Semi-gun
10 to 14 ft faces
6'10" to 8'0"
Narrow pintail, rails pulled down, heavier glass. For the outer reefs when the swell period goes past 14 seconds.
From $1,250
Gun
14 to 20 ft plus faces
8'6" to 10'6"
Double stringer, 6 oz glass top and bottom, weight in the right places. Built to get you in before the lip throws.
From $1,400
Tell us what you ride at 4 ft. We will size the 14 ft board.
Colm's order-sheet rule since 2009: length from the wave, a nudge for your weight, volume scaled from your own board. Drag the wave size to see the outline grow.
Recommended
Semi-gun
From $1,250
- Length
- 6'8"
- Volume
- 34.5L
At 10 ft, a 6'8" semi-gun at about 34.5 litres, 10 inches and 5.5 litres more than your everyday board.
Narrower tail, more nose rocker, heavier glass. Built to paddle into the set wave and hold a line at speed.
This is a starting point. Colm checks every order before he cuts foam.
Tested on the reef 600 yards off our door
7'4" semi-gun, 38 litres
The Molar at 12 ft on a west swell, February. The rider stepped up from a 6'1".
Why the glass is 6 oz
The Molar at 15 ft breaks in less than a metre of water over basalt. Boards get hit here.
9'8" gun, 56 litres
The walk out to Blackstep Ledge, the only way to reach it on a big south swell.
Heavier boards that hold a line at speed
Light boards bounce at speed. Every board here leaves with more stringer, more glass and more weight than a shop shortboard. A 9'6" gun weighs twice your shortboard.
- Blank
- Polyurethane, one density stiffer on guns so the board does not chatter at 30 mph.
- Stringer
- Single 3/16 in basswood on step-ups. Double 1/8 in on every gun, glued up in the shop.
- Glass
- 6 + 4 oz deck and 6 oz bottom on step-ups. 6 + 6 deck and 6 + 4 bottom on guns.
- Rails
- Soft 50/50 up front, hard only in the last 14 inches, so the rail bites without catching.
- Rocker
- Added nose rocker in steps as the board gets longer, so a gun still fits the curve of the face.
- Weight
- A 9'6" gun leaves here around 5 kg. Heavier than your shortboard, on purpose: weight holds a line through chop.
Seven extras, all priced up front
The base price already includes the glass schedule above, a leash plug, a sanded finish and fin boxes for a thruster. Add what your break asks for.
- Extra 4 oz deck layer+$60
- Double stringer on a step-up+$80
- Resin tint, one colour, deck or bottom+$90
- Hazard red rail pigment+$70
- Five fin boxes for thruster or quad+$45
- Glassed-on fins, guns only+$150
- Second leash plug+$20
Sample prices for this concept.
Six weeks from order to pickup
Wk 1 Order and a call
You send the form, Colm calls you, and you agree the spec together. The $300 deposit holds your blank.
Wk 2 Shaped
Cut from the blank by hand and machine. Photos of the finished outline go to your phone before glassing.
Wk 3 and 4 Glassed
Laminated, hot coated and sanded. Guns get their second layer a day apart so the resin cures properly.
Wk 5 Cured
A full week on the rack before fins go in. Rushing this stage is how boards snap in their first winter.
Wk 6 Pickup
Collect it from the shop and go over the rails with Colm. Or we ship it in a double box for $120.
From the line-up at the Molar
I rode a 6'2" into everything for ten years and got pinned every big day. The calculator said 7'0" at 35 litres. Colm took it to 7'1". First wave at the Molar I was in two strokes early.
Snapped two boards off the rack from other shapers on the Ledge. The Riptooth gun has taken three winters of hits and the rails are still straight.
Six weeks to the day, as promised, and the call before he cut foam was worth the deposit on its own. He talked me out of 3 extra litres.
Order now for the December swells
A board ordered in October is ready for the first December swells. Colm calls within two days to agree the spec, and the $300 deposit is only taken once you both sign off.
(555) 014-20203 Slipway Yard, Gravel Point. Shop open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 to 5, closed when the Molar is breaking.