Below is a link to the recap of the event. So many guys showed up including Paul Strauch, Terry Senate, Kalani Robb and Taylor Knox to name a few. Here’s part two of the video profile of Ben we made for the event.
The new Surfer’s Journel Has a good article on Ben Apia.
I have a lot of respect for Aipa. Have an old 6’0" SNI Sting
+2
I tried a real Aipa sting for about a hr in near flat conditions when I first started surfing 37 yrs ago! All I remember was how fast it was! At the time -that board was waay too advanced for me! Anyway, I met a cool kid who owned it, and he was stoked on -Aipa, and pretty much convinced me to buy a Aipa stinger. Sadly, I was young and could not find one locally in Santa Cruz. So! I bought a West Cliff surfboard out of a local surf shop! My gray blue stinger w double red lighting bolts was up on the freaking wall! No bs. The gentleman in the shop -a large man looks at me ( 14 yr old kid), and I say can I see that board. And he takes it down off the wall and I put $50.00 down for that 6’10" x21" wide stinger!
I came back about three days ltr and picked her up!
Sadly, I had a difficult time trying to surf it…I thought maybe it was too advanced for me? But I didn’t give up…I tried, and tried…finally after five months of trying, I figured it out! You had to continually turn the board to get it going…this prob doesn’t make sense, but -that’s how it worked out for me. That board taught me more about surfing - then I knew at the time. One day I’d like to shape one exactly like it! I recall -that board helped me learn how to do a nice round house cut back. It also helped me learn about how to surf better. I let my friends borrow it, and one friend wouldn’t come in for over two hrs!!! Lol
Artz- once I get to shaping a -Stinger, I think I should do a little research as to the outline. That, I think might be critical in this particular board? Ideally, if I could get my “grubbies” onto a authentic template it would REALLY help me out. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I swear I thought my board had a reverse tail rocker?do stringer have reverse tail rocker?i do recall my Stinger didn’t have a lot of nose rocker, and I think it was dead flat end to end, and had down rails…mine also had a big notched out wings 1/4 up from tips…/ I dunno, but I used to, and still do my “play with my board” time…eye ball it, hold it, feel it, sleep w it etc…lol. yeah, we did this growing up. So I gotta gather as much info humanly possible -then I will execute my Stinger! It’s gonna prob come after an Egg shape I got planned here. Peace