A custom women’s longboard: twenty hours on Bec’s 8'6"
Barbie pink, orange rails, gold pin lines top and bottom, and a hand drawn crown. A look at where the time goes on a fully custom log.
A custom women’s longboard is a log built around one surfer: a length she can carry and turn, a width and thickness that suit her weight and waves, and a finish she chose. Bec’s was one of those. Joe posted it in November 2024 with this:
“Here’s a 8’6 x 22 1/2” x 2 1/2” women’s longboard I just custom made for Bec, All the bells and whistles on this one!”
And he finished the caption with a number he does not usually share: “I think I must of spent about 20hours on this one.”
The brief
The board is 8'6" x 22 1/2" x 2 1/2". That is shorter and a touch narrower than the Nude | Longboard Joe has shown at 9'4" x 23" x 3". An 8'6" is easier to carry, easier to turn, and easier to get under your arm if you are not six foot. It still has the length to trim and cross-step.
The finish was the big part of the order. From the caption:
- Barbie pink as the main colour.
- Orange rails.
- A hand drawn loveheart and crown illustration, in gold.
- Gold pin lines, top and bottom.
- A decal that is a homage to Bec’s last name, sprayed into the bottom of the board.
Five separate pieces of finish work, on a board with more surface area than almost anything else we make.
Where twenty hours goes
Shaping a longboard already takes longer than shaping a shortboard. There is simply more foam to move, more rail to keep even, and more than two and a half metres of curve that has to be fair from nose to tail. Any wobble in an outline that long shows.
Then the colour. A two colour board means more than one round of masking and laying down colour, and the line where pink meets orange has to be clean along the whole rail on both sides.
Pin lines are the slow part. A pin line is a thin painted line, usually following the edge of a colour change, and it is done by taping both edges by hand and painting between them. Bec’s board has them on the deck and on the bottom. In gold, which shows every wobble.
The illustration was drawn by hand, in gold, on a board that already had hours in it. Finally the name on the bottom, masked and sprayed. Add the glassing and the sanding between each stage, and twenty hours is easy to believe.
Why say yes to a board like this
Because it is the whole point. Joe has said it a few ways over the years. This is the version from one of his Blade posts:
“Every Surfboard I make is 100% custom-made & hand shaped for every customer. That means you can do whatever you want with it tell me your ideas and I’ll do my best to make it exactly how you want.”
A board like Bec’s is that sentence taken at its word. Nobody else has this board.
It is not unusual for us to make longboards with a story. Joe filmed the making of an 8ft log for a birthday, and he has shaped more than one longboard for the same returning customer. Longboards come up in our Google reviews too: you will find two of them at the bottom of this page.
What it means for your order
You do not need to want pink.
The useful part of Bec’s board for anyone ordering a longboard is how the size was worked out. The model is a starting point, and the length, width and thickness move to suit the person. The Nude is a contemporary take on the classic log, for all conditions and for surfers from beginner to advanced. It has a nose made for noseriding, a full rolled belly from the midpoint back to a squashed tail, and 50/50 rails that keep it lively. That description holds at 9'4" and it holds at 8'6". What changes is how much board you want to carry and turn. The volume calculator is a good place to get a first number.
On the finish, a few honest notes:
- Solid colour laps, top and bottom, and a matt finish are included in the price of every board.
- Anything beyond that (two colours, pin lines, illustrations, sprayed names, gloss) adds hours, and Joe will quote it with the board so there are no surprises.
- Tell him everything you are thinking at the start. It is much easier to plan five finish steps in the right order than to add a sixth at the end.
- Hand work has character. A hand drawn crown looks hand drawn. That is why you order it.
Our colour guide explains the difference between tints, solid colour, swirls and sprays, and the Colour and Inlays pages show what has been done before.
The Nude | Longboard starts from $1,600 and, like all our customs, takes 4 to 6 weeks. If you have a date in mind, say so at the start. Twenty hours has to come from somewhere.
Logs and longboards
Love my new custom log and middy, thanks Joe and the boys at Cross, knowledgeable and friendly shapers
Joe was recommended to me by some friends, he did an incredible job fixing a ding in my longboard. He does really high quality repairs and you can tell he’s a master at his craft. Such a genuine and lovely person too. I will come back to get a custom log in the near future!! Thank you Joe :)
