feedback

Billy Hopkins

My names Billy Hopkins and I've been riding Rocky Mc Kinnon Surfboards for about 3 years. I've won a couple contests and placed in the NSSA Interscholastic final for Middle and High School Longboarding. His surfboards not only work as great nose riders, but you can really get on the rail and pull off helicopters. These boards work great in flat spots of the wave to gain speed, and seem to always pull through when your in critical positions. If you want the most high performance longboard there is, I recommend Mc Kinnon surfboards for your next surfing experience.

Matt Carr (Huntington Beach, CA)

Before I had Rocky shape my current board, I was riding a 9’4” shaped by a local shaper here in Huntington Beach. The thing was a beast. I surfed with Rocky a few times and he suggested I let him shape me a new board. I was totally game.

The great thing about Rocky is he cares about what he shapes. He watched me surf a bunch of times with my old board and made notes of what I should have in my new board. He even had me swing by the shaping bay to check out the progress of my board and get ideas of where I wanted to take my surfing, something I have never been able to do with any of shaper.

Every time I would see Rocky in the water he was so excited about the board he was shaping me. Saying “Oh man you are going to love this board, it is going to take your surfing to the next level”. I have heard this from other shapers before so I pretty much chalked it up to the normal things people say…I could not have been more wrong.

When I received my board, which only took 5 weeks to make, (unbelievable fast) I was blown away. I could not have asked for a better board. It is fast, maneuverable, paddle insanely well, and basically the BEST board I have ever had. I have had the best waves of my life on this board, and it made me a more confident surfer.

It is just one of those magical boards! I can not say enough good things about Rocky and his shapes. I have found my shaper for ALL my boards.

Mark Weiss

My name is Mark Weiss I have been surfing for 48 years. I live and surf in Huntington Beach, Ca. My home break is Huntington Beach Pier. I took an early retirement from L.A. County Fire Dept, so that I could surf everyday. So that is what I do for a living now.
Before I had Rocky shape my current board, I was riding a 9’6” single fin shaped by a local shaper here in Huntington Beach. The thing was a beast. I surfed with Rocky a few times and he suggested I let him
shape me a new board. A tri fin 9'0' high performance. Being a nose rider such as I am, I knew that it would be a big change, but I was totally game.

The great thing about Rocky is he cares about what he shapes. He watched me surf a bunch of times with my old board and made notes of what I should have in my new board. Since switching over to Mckinnon Shapes and Designs, my surfing has improved drastically. I found
out that there is more do than hanging 5 and 10! Since late 2004, I have had Rocky shape me 11 surfboards, all 9'0' high performance. I found my shaper. Thank you Rocky. Mark Weiss Huntington Beach, California

Mark Edinger

The first board I had Rocky shape for me was the AGGRESSOR . Being 6’7”, 300 lbs. boards off the rack just don’t work for me. They either don’t float me, or are too big and don’t turn how I need them to. This board works great for bigger, faster waves, and it still paddles really well. It does exactly what I want it to, and gets me to parts of the wave that other boards wouldn’t. I know that if I don’t pull a move, it’s my own fault, and I can’t blame it on the board! This board has taken my surfing to a new level with its maneuverability.

Since that board worked so well, I had Rocky shape me a board for the smaller days, the SOUL REBEL. It has brought back a style of my surfing that I had forgotten all about. I grew up surfing a point break in Northern California where it was all about nose riding. Over the last 8 years I have been primarily surfing the beach breaks of Southern California, and my style has shifted more towards the tail. Now with the SOUL REBEL, I find myself setting up for a nose ride rather than racing through the section to do a cutback. The nose is very inviting, and the board just sticks in the pocket when I’m up there. Yet, it’s still maneuverable enough that I can surf it from the tail and pull drawn out roundhouses, and down the line floaters.

I’ve talked to Rocky several times about how much I love these boards and it’s awesome to see he is as stoked as I am about them. He really does care about how the boards turn out. He puts in the time and effort to get you a board that is going to work, for YOU! I am always telling my friends and people in the water that they should have Rocky shape them a board, and you should too!

Todd Schroeder

My name is Todd Schroeder, I’m 40 years old been surfing for 27 years. I’ve been in the military for the last 23 years and have surfed all over from South Beach in Miami to Virginia Beach, San Diego with a ton of spots all the way up to North Beach in San Francisco, to Spain and Portugal, to Costa Rica and Japan and Ascension Island. Then 8 years ago I moved to Oahu. That is when my surf buddy here talked me into picking up my first longboard, a great 9’6” shaped by Randy Sleigh. That board was the beginning of the best part of my surfing life. Soon after Rocky and I were talking about a board which became the first of many boards that Rocky has shaped for me.

I am a firm believer in handshaped surfboards, with solid shaper surfer interaction so they can provide the best board for you, the way you surf and the waves you will most likely ride that board on. I’ve owned boards bought off the rack and I’ve had boards shaped for me. I have owned a Surftech epoxy and ridden friend’s different models. Most recently Rocky shaped two EPS boards for me. I can testify to the difference handshaped boards have made in my surfing and I’ve seen when and where the most dramatic improvements came. I’ve been surfing for 27 years, most of them I have to say I probably wasn’t very good. There has been an amazing change and it all started when I scored my first board from Rocky.

Being a bigger guy 5’11” and weighing 210, having the right board makes a world of difference. Most shapers in my opinion DO NOT make proper boards for big guys, I think there are two reasons for the disconnect. First most of them aren’t big, so they can’t relate. Second I think most of them besides Ben Aipa will not go outside certain dimensional limits, that could be due to their templates or just the general thoughts of what works for the masses and anything outside that probably won’t. I think that has hurt my surfing for years.

Rocky has been willing to work outside of the box to help me to get where I am and I am forever grateful. Surfing is not a sport for me it never has been it’s a huge part of my life and who I am. I have always had fun even if I wasn’t that good and the surf wasn’t either. But now being able to go out in much more challenging surf and pushing the limits of my surfing with a much more fluid style and being able to pull off much more aggressive maneuvers in critical sections is making my dreams come true and then some.

As far as polyester foam boards that I have from Rocky right now. I have a 9’0”X21 1/2X3 ¾ winged pintail with two plus one set up. It is my all around boards but that pintail loves big steep surf and it has the perfect rocker to make the drops and still drive down the line. The wing gives it the added release on the turns to really feel rippable for a big thick board. I also have a 10’4”X24X3 ½” summer time south shore killer. This board has a big round nose that begs to be stood on in critical sections. He knows me so he made it with enough rocker in the nose and tail to be ridden in big surf. It’s been taken out in 6’ Hawaiian north and south shore and it makes for a very soulful but progressive ride.

I have some problems with sandwich epoxy boards (Surftech and the like). I think the rails don’t work well at all. I see some people using them effectively but I don’t like the fact that they don’t really drive like handshaped rails do. I don’t like the flex pattern at all. So for me it was an 850 dollar waste of time. I was an “Epoxy Hater”.

Then Rocky talked me into trying EPS, it has a stringer, it is constructed the same way the polyester boards are except the foam is epoxy and so is the glass. Rocky shaped me a progressive longboard, 9’2” X23”X2 7/8”, which is hyper thin for me. The bonuses are the EPS is super buoyant so going thinner without loosing flotation was possible, which gives me a board that is far more rippable than any I’ve owned. Also the EPS is I would say at least 1/3^rd lighter than the polyester another plus. The rails are hand shaped and react like good handshaped rails react, the bottom has just enough “V” to make a difference and the flex pattern in my opinion is crisp giving the board noticeably greater drive off the turns.

He also shaped me a real big guy fish. It’s 7’8”X23”X3” with 17” nose and tail. It is a quad with nice flat rocker through the center of the board and enough rocker in the nose to get me into steep waves. This board is the catalyst for a quantum leap in my surfing. Once I figured out how to get the board on it’s flat spot and do smaller rail to rail compressions it is a rocket blazing down the line. I’ve found that with the quad it still holds when I bury the rail on a steep bottom turn on juicy north shore surf and it will also break loose just enough to add that last dimensions to a roundhouse. I can launch the board off big sections no problem and now I’m starting to get air (not big as of yet) but I’m getting the board off the wave and landing it functionally adding what I am able to do in given conditions.

Rocky is at the leading edge of what is possible in Longboard and Shortboard shaping. I am a prime example that an ordinary person with the right equipment can do extraordinary things. Give Rocky a shot at being a part of the evolution of your surfing, you won’t be sorry. You might be kicking yourself in the ass for not doing it sooner.

More testimonials on the next page