ROAR Design/Greenroom

does anyone  have any experience and/or information on Roar surfboards under Greenroom Surfboards? the only info I could find is through an instagram account and the boards look beautiful: https://www.instagram.com/roar_designtour/. odd that there’s no paper trail, any info would be appreciated. 

That’s Rory Cornelius. I had him shape me a glider in 2017. Shortly after/during he took off to Hawaii and never came back. I guess, and this is just what I heard, is that he burned a ton of people that paid him to shape them boards. My board came out great shapewise but the glassing was all wrong. Was supposed to be volan and wasn’t. According to the glass shop, where I had to pick my board up after Rory went AWOL, he is a great shaper and a bad businessman. The glasser wanted me to make sure I knew exactly how much money to show up with because that is what Rory owed them on my board. Luckily it was what I still owed Rory minus my deposit. I guess a bunch of people showed up to pick up their boards and owed more on the glassing than Rory quoted them. He had a bunch of IG accounts over the years and was super nice to deal with. The last email I have for him is aloharoar.ca@gmail.com. Try it.

thanks  so much for the info, super helpful. 

I know Rory, and he’s a good guy.  Makes killer boards too.  He shaped me a 7’ bonzer that has been in line for glassing for a few months now. BUT that’s not his fault.  The board industry is booming and glassing shops are backed-up and understaffed.  Orders with color/gloss/5-fin-glass-ons take a lot of time!  I know because I work at the shop where my board is getting glassed, and we put Rory’s other customers ahead of mine, haha.  Rory does everything by hand and is a perfectionist.  The guys at the shop tease him for being obsessive over his boards.

Mistakes happen. I know that recently a client of his refused to pay for a custom order becuase the board “took too long.”  A lot of people don’t understand how meager the income is for someone who hand shapes FOR A LIVING.  When customers back-out, the shaper owes the glasser money, and not when the board sells, they owe when the glassing is done.

I don’t know what went down in the past, but i can personally tell you Rory is as devoted to the craft as they come. 

I work doing ding repair, living week-to-week, never able to save money. So I have to work a few other jobs just to get by.  That’s true for MOST of the people making/fixing your surfboards.  I get clients coming in telling me about selling their vaction properties, then busting my balls about “when’s their board going to be done?”

If you want a board from someone who has sacrificed every luxury in life to develope the skills to make surfboards, then Rory is your man.

hell yeah, appreciate the respond Varmint! ended up meeting and chatting with Rory and was/am stoked to order a board from him. stand up dude who took the time to hang and ensure i was getting the board i wanted. 

So you’ve already got the board?

not yet, ordered

have you seen the dude around Varmit? he burned me and has been dodging me for ages. once every two weeks he responds how the board is done and he’s sorting out delivery, but it’s like a broken record and never follows through. i’m a jackass cause i saw red flags and still gave him a deposit and another $150 he asked for weeks after for help with glassing. the entire amount has not been paid, but am happy to do so cause I ordered a board and undersand the exchange between humans and being decent. he has since cancelled all his social media accounts, and my guess is i’m not the only person left with lost money. i’ve been so patient cause i realize the surfboard industry for some bizarre reason gets to exist  outside of the normal confines of how to treat customers and expected timelines. 

so if and when he resurfaces, stay clear. lesson learned i suppose. 

I can relate, brother. 

I am going through the same rigamarole. This is guys is ruining it for other shapers. Unfortunately, I have to be skeptical now and probably will never order a custom board again. 

Are you getting him on his 808 or 650 number?

You were warned.  Like telling a kid to not touch the hot stove.