Shaper Gary Swanson of Hammer Surf believes that a great surfboard is designed off solid fundamentals; outline, rocker, thickness, vee, concave, and rail shape. He also believes in a fluid and clean outline where transitions are smooth from the nose to the tail. In sticking with solid shaping fundamentals, Swanson cautiously avoids fads and gimmicks typical in today’s overly hyped and marketed surfboards.

Gary Swanson has been in the surfing industry long enough to see the longboard/shortboard transition, single fin ear of the 70’s, thruster revolution of the 80’s, and the performance longboard exodus in the 90’s. He believes that each of these critical eras has brought new ideas and views on classic fundamental surfboard design and plans to keep Hammer Surf board designs state of the art yet deep in tradition.