Dockers® Danny Hess
A profile of surfer and maker of sustainable surfboards, Danny Hess.
Transcript
surfing is just constantly a challenge
it’s not something you’ve never really
mastered the ocean will always humble
you and will always be hits the boss and
so every time you paddle out the ocean
teaches you oh that’s one zone away well
wood is just there’s nothing like it
it’s a biomimetic material so the
feeling of it when it’s gliding on a
wave I believe is in tune with the way
our bodies are meant to feel feel that
flex because it’s an organic material I
always did it and I always made my own
board but I need a living other many
other ways like I taught art for a long
time and went to school went to college
to study painting and eventually got my
contractor’s license and I was doing
environmentally conscious design and
remodels and building and at the same
time I was always building surfboards
just out of the back of my truck or in
whatever space I could find to do it
about 12 years ago I’ve made the
decision to try and bring my desire to
design things more sustainably into the
surfboards I was building the first one
took me probably a year and a half to
build just from the beginning stage all
the way through I just did it in my
spare time like at night late at night
tweaking out in my garage and there was
a lot of trial and error and just kind
of reinventing the wheel as I went along
a lot of people’s were like it was the
crazy wood board guy but then it really
started a grassroots sort of a level
where I’d walk down the street and
somebody had seen me with the board and
I would just give it to him in a circuit
and then I’d order one and so I had to
make a decision do I jump headfirst in
the building surfboards for a living or
do I stick with the remodeling and just
keep that my my passion you know and I
just decided to go for it and just see
what happened and I’ve been fortunate
that it actually has worked out and I
can keep building up conventional
surfboards these days or a block of foam
they break down over a year and then end
up in the landfill I build each board by
hand one at a time
I’m not mass producing anything I’m
really just building trying to build
them to the highest possible standards
to be as beautiful as possible and to
last as long as possible and to perform
as well as they possibly can
my ultimate goal is to create an
heirloom type surfboard something that
can be passed on from jeanration to
jeanration
when I’m surfing I’m not thinking about
anything else it’s sort of a meditative
state where I’m just I’m able to be
completely committed to the act what I’m
doing or something just really profound
to riding a wave of water has just it’s
kind of indescribable it feels
