Jaco's Simmons

Jaco van Rensburg lives in Cape Town South Africa. This is his story ... " I am the biggest Bob Simmons fan there is. Been shaping my own Mini Simmons for almost 2 years. Actually a carpenter by trade. Shaping just kind of happened !

In SA there are pretty much no Simmons available , hence I started shaping my own boards !
It is so strange to me that no one are interested, but I actually like the way people react on seeing my boards.

My favourite story is the day I paddled out in solid 8ft left point break surf, on my 5'3 x 23 x 2 '5 "The Bob" Mini Simmons . It has Rasta Keels from future's on. (Love those fins ) Well needles to say even I was sceptic as to how the board would go, my first big swell on The Bob ! Most guys were on 7ft + boards ! The Bob was awesome and I was blown away at how well the board Handel the power of the big swell. Let me just add I am 6'2 tall and 85kg !

Been shaping quite a few and am only surfing Simmons boards. Also got some Quads in the mix ! Have done some in Epoxy and normal PU foam. My best friend has a factory were he manufactures Kite boards , Sups etc. So I have the use of his shaping bays after hours. He also does my glassing , he has full time glassers in factory.
Well that's my story in a nutshell. I have basically learnt all my Simmons knowledge off the internet, in SA nobody really knows of him."

These are a couple of his boards that he sent to share.

" The first two boards : "The Bob"  5'3 x 23 x 2,5 - It has Rasta Keels
from Futures. This is my favourite board , i surf it in 2ft-10ft. It
blows my mind that it can work in such diverse swell size, but it
does! That is the amazing thing about the Simmons design, just love it !"

" The second board is "The Yoda" 4ft x 23 x 3 - It has K1 / K2 Keels
from Futures. This is actually my version of the " Bing Speed Square"
and yes it is like a bodyboard with fins. A friend of mine rips on it.
I have surfed it ,but my 6'2 frame makes take offs hard ! I want to
shape a 4'6 ft just to counter the pivot point on take offs. Lots of
fun !"

" The Quad I call "The Moonbeam" 5'5 x 22 x 3 -  It has Controller fins
from Futures. This board I shaped for small / flat days. I kept a lot
of volume for extra floatation , put some concave in the nose into
flat middle and double concave at the fins and flat in the tail. It works
great even in bigger flat waves. I left the rails thick and boxy with
an Alaia type rail in the last 12 inch."

"I am all about trying new and different things. My one friend always tells me why don't you just shape normal boards .( He is a well respected Shaper ) My answer to him is, then I can just go buy one in the shop , why bother shaping !

To me its about having the most fun riding waves. I will never win any contest but no one is having more fun than me! Whether i am on a 14ft Sup riding ocean swells or on my Log noseriding 2ft waves or surfing perfection on my Simmons style boards, if it brings a smile I am happy. "