After moving to Hawaii, Jared Horton said he learned how to surf and shape surfboards all on his own.
Part of why he wanted to shape his own surfboard, he said, is “plenty of people say they want to shape a surfboard, but how many people would actually do it? When I say I want to do something, I will do everything in my power to do it. I want to live my dreams, and my dreams aren’t just words. They’re actions.”
Self-taught shaper
Horton, a junior from Murray, Utah, majoring in business management, said in the garage of the house he used to live in, the landlord had some surfboard shaping equipment.
He said one day, he purchased all the surfboard shaping materials and began shaping. He watch YouTube videos and talked with his landlord, who had shaped surfboards when he was younger, to help him learn how to shape. It took about a week to finish his first board, he explained.
According to Horton, shaping a surfboard starts with a big oval-shaped foam “blank” that can be bought at any building materials store. The desired shape of the board is then traced onto the blank and cut with a hand saw, he explained. After that, he said the foam is sanded down to the desired shape using sandpaper. When the foam is shaped right, the board is covered with fiberglass and coated in laminate, and then multiple layers of epoxy, which creates the glossy finish, Horton said.
Aside from shaping surfboards, Horton said he has shaped other things, like a small hand plane used for bodysurfing. Horton’s roommate, Tanner Quinn, a senior from Wrightwood, California, majoring in business management, is an avid bodysurfer who said he is excited to try out Horton’s new creation and is confident it will help him catch bigger waves while bodysurfing.
Horton added he also enjoys repairing damaged surfboards for friends and anyone who reaches out to him. He said he recently met BYUH President John Kauwe one morning while surfing west of Turtle Bay Resort, and later repaired Kauwe’s son’s surfboard.
Horton said his friend, Davey Crippen, told him he had also dreamed of shaping his own surfboard, and Horton said he decided to help him right away.
Crippen, a sophomore from Elk Ridge, Utah, majoring in elementary education, said he was surprised when only a day or two after he shared his goal with Horton, he received a call from him saying he was planning on buying all the materials that day. He wanted to start shaping a couple of boards as soon as possible, he explained. Crippen said it was fun to shape his own board alongside Horton, be creative and “make it [his] own.”
Horton and a friend are planning to enter the Great Ideas Competition put on by the Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship, he said, which gives students the opportunity to present business ideas and win up to $2,000 to invest in their business.
Horton said he has plans to present his business idea of taking old and damaged surfboards and either repairing them, restoring them or recycling the materials and using them to shape new surfboards. He said he is excited to continue expanding his passion of surfing by repairing and shaping surfboards.
Self-taught surfer
Horton said he has participated in a variety of water sports, including water polo and competitive swimming, since he was about 8 years old.
He explained he wanted to learn how to surf because of how fun he thought it would be, and because he had always looked up to people who surf. “When someone says they’re a surfer,” Horton said, “I just respect them a lot more.”
The first time he surfed was when he went on a family vacation to San Clemente, California, at the age of 14, he said. There was a big swell that came in and he said he had always wanted to try surfing. Luckily, the house where his family was staying had some surfboards, he explained. “I just decided I wanted to take one out, so I went out to the pier in San Clemente one day, and I surfed.”
Horton said he picked up surfing that day all on his own, without any mentoring. After this experience, he shared he surfed a few more times on other family vacations.
After serving a mission in Fiji, Horton said he decided to attend BYU–Hawaii and saw it as a perfect opportunity to become better at surfing. He bought himself an 8-foot NSP longboard as soon as he could and started surfing, he shared.
As time went on, he said he went from surfing on his 8-foot longboard to a 6-foot, 8-inch short board and then a 6-foot, 3-inch board. He said as he surfed more and more, he decided to make it a goal to shape his own surfboard. •