Surfing isn't just about riding waves, it's about the art, intuition, and craftsmanship that begins long before your feet ever touch the board.

Brett Tellinger of Gum Surfboards has been hand shaping boards for over 15 years, blending old school techniques with a deep understanding of Florida's waves to craft boards with purpose and soul.

It's being in a moment of, uh, of meditation where you're not thinking about anything other than the wave that you're on.

So it's like you're not even having to think about anything except for that moment.

It's gliding.

It's the closest thing to walking on water.

It's like flying without an engine.

[upbeat music] When I was in fourth grade, I went to the library and I saw a book on making surfboards, and I thought it was really cool.

There was a guy glassing a board, some Hawaiian guy, and I was like, wow, this is pretty neat.

He's like, spreading this crazy liquid all over this thing.

So that is what got me into wanting to make surfboards.

Through my aunt and my dad, we knew of a guy here locally.

His name was Juan Rodriguez, and he's been making boards for, like, 60 years here.

And, um, so I knew of that guy.

And because you don't just go into making surfboards, like, you kind of have to have an idea of what to do, and I had no idea.

So I went there to, like, apprentice, be a shop, do boy whatever I was told to do, and just started from the ground up.

I felt fortunate to have somebody that knew what they were doing and had done it for so long that I could be around and be a part of something.

Starting is the hardest part, just getting having the idea of what you want to do.

Mostly when I'm shaving, that's my favorite time.

You get into like, like a like a Zen state.

A zone where you're just kind of operating and not really thinking.

So were you just kind of letting the process happen?

So it just starts with the idea of how you want to surf and where you're surfing.

Here in Florida, the waves are pretty small, so you know they're not the best.

My boards lean towards surfing and subpar, you know, conditions for Florida.

So I like to do longboards and fishes and mid-range mid length boards.

And then after that, it's kind of, you know, the feeling and what you want to achieve.

When you have the ability to go to a shaper and explain to them the kind of surfing you want to do and the kind of boards you've been riding and what you're interested in, and then have you have them sculpt you literally sculpt you this high performance riding machine that's just for you.

I mean, of course it's going to ride better.

Like it's a no brainer.

And there's, you know, you're you're you're working with an artisan who's making a one of one for you.

And the thing about these boards is they're sculptures, you know, they're they're working sculptures, hydrofoils, you know, um, designed to do higher and higher performance surfing.

Now, the kind of surfing that I do is not like ripping with big airs and stuff.

Like, I'm an old guy now, so I ride longer equipment that makes it easier to get in.

It makes it easier to ride.

But like on a you know, I still have a 7'2 pintail for, um, hurricane surf for big glassy days, um, on the East coast or for travel to places that there are big, fast moving waves, you know.

Gum Surfboards, it's kind of a metaphor for a lot of things.

Connection.

Like everybody's kind of connected.

Um, as it relates to surfboards, it's like a connection between the past and, like, going into the future.

Like stretching.

Like you're kind of stuck in one area, but you're also like taking ideas from the past and bringing them into the future.

[music] As soon as you think, oh, this is the perfect board, then like, you kind of like, stop stretching your ideas and like continually to push yourself.

So the perfect board is also like subjective too.

Like you might make something that you think is going to be like, not a good board and it ends up working really good.

So that's probably the perfect board, one that works really well.

But once you get the perfect board, it's hard to get another perfect board, you know, because they're not alike.

Even if it's machine shaped, um, there's just so many little nuances like the blank, the material, how it was glassed when it was glass.

There's just so many little variables to it to get the perfect board.

Again.

[music] For more information, visit gumsurfboards.com