all photos Ryan Tatar (www.ryantatar.com)

These photos are my own contribution to the Autarkic project for Korduroy TV.  Michel Junod is a shaper and surfer living in Santa Cruz, California.  He’s been shaping since 1966, and makes custom boards of all shapes and sizes.  Michel (pronounced Mish – EL) is also a great surfer and was featured in Thomas Campbell’s new film, the Present, riding logs and smaller boards in Africa with the likes of Alex Knost and Jacob Stuth.  From his shaping bay near the train tracks in Santa Cruz he’s just a few blocks away from Steamer Lane and Cowells one of the areas premiere and well known breaks.  Michel’s boards are all 100% hand crafted from start to finish.  He has collab’d with Thomas Campbell on a couple of models including the Pignar and Nowski.  Check out Michel’s boards in shops like Thalia Street Surf Shop, Shelter, Mollusk, and more around California… or pay him a visit in Santa Cruz.

http://www.surfboardsbymicheljunod.com/

One Response to “Autarkic Part 9: Michel Junod x Ryan Tatar”

  1. dan Says:
    March 31st, 2011

    thought you might get a kick out of this.my comments can go three pages easy but i’ll try to keep it shoooort.I bought this board in 72 when I was living in santa ana.got out of the marine corp in 71 parents lived there,was hangin out so I started surfing everyday.The first board I had i almost drowned with in malibu,i was going down for the third and last time when my toe touched the bottom,keep at it for the next 15 or so years with your board,but that malibu thing keep me away from 8 to 10 feet.Idid’nt really have more boards to compare it with but i really did’nt think i needed any cause it just felt right,floated great,cut hard no matter 3feet or a choppy blown out 7ft(hungington pier)rails perfectly rounded,soft is the term that i think of for the rails.so now i’m trying to be retirered on little to no $ so i’m thinkin what do i have for ebay but what i have is gold to me but old junk on ebay,so im lookin around and there’s the board right where it been for a long time,guess you can see where this is going,anyway went on ebay to see if surfboards are even there and to see if your boards are their but with like everything else its mostly new stuff whats popular now,vintage is the polite word used for what i have,and i realize there’s a million boards out there i firmly believe that a lot of surfers are or did miss out on your on talent.and when and if i put this out there(ebay)i’m going to push hard on what there going to like with this board,maybe the size of the waves i rode might be a little bigger than what i told you,10 ft no big deal,and besides that sucker would carve a 12 as well as a 3ft.just a little more,after LA came back to redwood city,grew up here,parents moved to santa ana when i went in the corp,surfing was’nt the same,colder for one,and that heart stopping monster that came out of nowhere at steamers lane that i barely got over,just between me and you to this day i should have turned and cauhth it.anyway thats as short as i could make my comment its nice to see that your still makin great boards and im sure theres plenty of surfers that no exactaly who you are.if you get a chance maybe you could tell me who Greg Griffen is see yah ps supposed to be in the eighties today good day to get wet

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