Bill Barnfield: Setting the Record Straight
went on, I took on the task of handling many of the team riders boards, even though Tom Parrish rose to huge fame during that same time by his affiliation with Hackman and the Bronzed Auzzies. Don't get me wrong Tom deserved all that he got.....9 pages....if I remember right. That and Bradshaws huge article, were the last times the magazines ever promoted shapers in that dramatic fashion. I missed out on that kind of promotion and got mainly smaller dribbles here and there. Some of my riders back then were Angi Reno, Margo Oberg, Jackie Dunn, Brad McCall, Brian Bulkley, Butch Perriera, Debbie Beacham, Sandy Ordille, Critter Byrne, and a host of others. Later, I made boards for Shaun, Alan Sarlo, Tom Curren, Simon Anderson, Maurice Cole, Bobby Owens, Buzzy Kerbox, Tom Carrol and of course the huge list of other cool surfer dudes. I hung in there with Duke Boyd (what a nightmare) and there Bolt Corp. after Gerry left. It was a very sad time, but I didn't want to leave my devoted riders hanging so I put up with a lot of crap from corporate people who had no clue what they were doing or what was going on.
WHAT OTHER COMPANIES HAVE YOU SHAPED FOR?
Pretty much just Evergreen, my own Barnfield Performance label and Lightning Bolt. I did make a few Shaun Tomson models for him to sell retail but that wasn't significant. I, of course, have continual requests to "work" for other big brand name companies, but I am really just a soul surfer and shaper, so this kind of "production shaping" model doesn't attract me. I just work with a fairly exclusive customer base, where I personally shape every board for them and try to enjoy life, my family and my other interests. I am still a pretty active shaper, currently my prime team rider is Flynn Novak.....rated #2 in Hawaii Jrs. Last year, and a staff writer for Surfing Mag.
THANKS BILL!
OTHER BILL BARNFIELD FACTOIDS
I was trained as a machinist in School and worked in those kinds of jobs. Therefore, I always saw the surfboard as an object in 3 dimensional space that could be defined by numbers and be replicated easily if the machine (shaper) was skillful enough. Because of this, I developed what I call, "Measurement Controlled Shaping" or MCS. This was a system of defining all the critical points on a
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