Ryan’s contribution to the world of surfboard shaping started with a desire to shape boards more than a desire to join a specific movement. And, yet, he now sits strongly in the middle of alternative surf culture. This is a culture of surfing for the sake of surfing, not necessarily driven by competition, but by style.

For Ryan, it’s drawing on the past, revitalizing the old, adding the new, making a sort of neo-George Greenough collection of boards; boards made to be surfed, inspired by local spots.

Greenough started making boards specific to different surf spots, the perfect board for a favorite locale. He created symmetric and asymmetric boards, special to each wave, making alternative shapes rejected by the norm or finless boards. There wasn’t one board that was simply the right board.