If you love surfing and have an instagram account, there’s a big chance you’ve seen or follow @boardporn. This week’s 5 question interview is with @boardporn creator Ron Shine.

Instagram:@boardporn

Years on Social: 6

Interviewee:Ron Shine

Job Title:@boardporn

BTR: You managed Flying Point Surf Shop early in your career. How did working at Flying Point influence your appreciation for surfboards?

RS: My summers at Flying Point were some of the best summers of my life. While my appreciation for boards wasn’t even a fraction of what it is today, working there handed me one of the best boards I’ve ever owned to date, a magic 5’10” HIC short board shaped by Lynn Shell. 

BTR: There are some serous board collectors in the North East? Surf Shop rafters are chock-full of foam and fiberglass treasures. Why do you feel North Eastern surfers are so appreciative of surfboard history?

RS: I think North Easterners are so far removed from the surf industry on the whole that there’s a serious fascination that comes from outsiders looking in. For the most part we’re not sharing our waves with internationally famous pro surfers or board builders, meaning there’s way more of an air of celebrity around them here. Instead of just celebrating our hometown shapers, we also really appreciate getting boards from acclaimed board builders who paved the way. Many of our top shapers here trained under some of the best in California, Florida, Hawaii, etc. 

BTR: How did @Boardporn come about?

RS: I had started my board-hoarding journey a few years earlier, then I had a new board arrive just before a surf trip to PR in February of 2013 and posted it to my personal Insta. I looked at the post and thought; I should start a surfboard-focused account. It began as sort of a personal wish list. As I began to post more and more and tagged shapers in the posts, others started shooting me photos to share. 6 years later and here we are. 

BTR: Who are currently your top 10 favorite shapers?

RS: This is a really tough one. It’s more of a top 100 or top 500! I really love the shapers whose boards you can identify before you ever see a logo. The ones who stand out from the crowd. I’ll drop a few of my favorites who people should be following and why:

1) Vulcan Surfboards – Dane Hantz is a perfectionist’s perfectionist. His boards go insane and look amazing. His constructions are different than anything else out there and you can tell a Vulcan from a few blocks away. 

2) Mandala – Manny Caro puts out some of the cleanest, most highly functional space ships on the planet. Again, no one else’s designs look like Manny’s. 

3) Justin Ternes – Justin is known first and foremost for his next level carbon fiber work for some of the greatest shapers to walk the planet. If you haven’t seen it in person, it’s absolutely show stopping. I have more boards in my personal quiver laminated by Justin than by anyone else. It so happens that Justin is one hell of a shaper too and he’s recently been building a ton of boards under his own name. 

4) Album Surfboards – Matt Parker’s boards never fail to impress. Each one of his finished boards looks like an individual masterpiece. His shapes are absolutely top notch as has been illustrated repeatedly over the past year and change by Josh Kerr. Also, Matt has spent as much time as anyone, if not more, on refining asymmetrical designs over the last decade plus. 

5) Ryan Burch – You can’t mention asyms without mentioning Ryan and his fish are as good as they get.

6) Ryan Lovelace – Ryan makes alternative surfcraft for the discerning connoisseur. He’s like an absolute machine behind a planer.

7) Dan Mann – I’ve had over a dozen boards from Dan and never had one I didn’t absolutely love. They’re different than anything else out there and they come from a gem of a human.

8) Daniel Thomson – speaking of different than anything else… I’m always excited every time a new model from Tomo drops. Though plenty of people did them before, he legitimized noseless shapes in a way no one else did before.

9) Britt Merrick and the team at Channel Islands – they always deliver gold. No such thing as a non-keeper from the house that Al built.

10) Hayden Cox – I hadn’t owned a Haydenshapes in about 7 years and then I got two customs back to back this spring that are just bananas. Now I want them all.

There are so many more shapers who are equally my favorites and so deserving of praise, but these are the gang that were the first 10 on my fingertips. 

BTR: Who’s the shaper that constantly impresses you the most?

RS:There are two I’ve been watching from afar, both are Australia based and both are putting out next level eye candy -Corey Graham and Adrian Knott (Maren Shapes). I want to own every single board they share.