Trust Your Shaper
I think the ideal scenario for any surf shop is to have an in-house surfboard shaper who regularly spends time in the water and understands the local wave conditions. So, why doesn't Innerlight have one now? First off, what is an in-house shaper? To me, it is someone who shapes custom and or stock surfboards in the shop itself or someone locally who does so.
Over the years Innerlight has had many talented local board builders who have shaped our handcrafted line of Innerlight surfboards in-house. However, like anything else, time passes and things change.
Hand shaping surfboards is no easy task and it is not something just anyone can pick up and learn. It is truly an artform that takes years and years to master, and even then, the skills and knowledge required to produce consistent and functional shapes may not be there.
One may think that with the Gulf having such a healthy surf community that it would be fairly easy to find a shaper locally that is up to par to hold such a position, but its actually quite the opposite. Don't get me wrong, there are a handful of very talented shapers in our area, but for the most part they either fly under the radar or they are already established elsewhere.
So this brings us back around to our original question, " Why doesn't Innerlight have an in-house shaper now?" Well on top of it just being plain hard to find someone, we actually have the next best thing already.
Sometime around 2013ish the stars aligned for us to partner with East Coast shaper Craig Cronin. Even though he is technically not our in-house shaper or even a Gulf coaster, he is about as good and as qualified as it gets when it comes to hand shaping surfboards that fit in perfectly with the waves we have here in the gulf. If you surf, it is almost guaranteed that you have either been on one or seen people ripping his boards out in the line up.
Photo - @Sumlinvisuals
Craig has been shaping for over 20 years and is currently based out of New Smyrna, FL. He has handled a lot of our custom shop orders through the years and stays consistent with his tried and true line of hand shaped and very popular Cronin surfboards. You don't have to venture too far to find someone who has something good to say, including myself.
Whether you are looking for a high performance shortboard, nose riding longboard or anything in between, Craig is the man. He is always open for custom orders and will knock almost any color requests out of the park. If you are ever interested in working up a custom Innerlight or Cronin order or if you just want to see some of his boards in person, you can head over to our Gulf Breeze or Destin location and they will take care of you.
- Trust Your Shaper/ Trust Craig