Johnny Borbone

Interview by Glenn Sakamoto / Photography by Cole Hardwick

Johnny Borbone is a Florida-based surfboard shaper originally from the mountainous hills of New Jersey. After a life-threatening snowboard accident, Borbone turned to surfing as a low-impact outlet. For his shapes, he draws his inspiration from an eclectic list: Skip Frye pro models from ’67 to ’69, fluid dynamics and Italian design aesthetics. We spoke with Johnny to learn more.

Tell us a bit about your childhood and where you grew up…

I grew up in a very small suburban town called Essex Fells that you’ve certainly never heard of, about a dozen miles into the mountainous hills west of NYC. My family lived nearly 100 miles from the coast and visited the beach during the summer months, so surfing wasn’t a huge part of my life as a child when compared to most surf-lifestyle folks. Instead, skateboarding and snowboarding were my outlets. My parents were always very supportive of these pursuits; the type of “supportive” that involved having a halfpipe in our backyard, attending skateboard and snowboarding summer camps with professional coaching, and access to year-round indoor parks. Traveling up and down the Eastern Seaboard competing in regional Slopestyle events became commonplace in my early teens with my younger brother standing in as my de facto “coach” and cheering squad.

When did you get your first surfboard?

I finally graduated from a Morey Boogie Board when I was probably in the realm of 8-10 years old, but I don’t remember exactly. I do know that it came from a guy down the street having a garage sale though. It was a Terry Goldsmith shaped G&S downrailer with a killer airbrush. My father bought it for me for $75, and to this day it’s still one of the best boards I’ve ever owned. It was also the catalyst to my obsession with G&S boards and San Diego board building history.  

What was the feeling you had when you first stood on a surfboard?

Honestly, not that special. At first, the level of “exhilaration” I received from constantly slamming my “stand up boogie” into the sand just couldn’t compare to the feeling I got bombing down the mountains on a snowboard or dropping into a vert ramp on my skateboard. In later years, when looking back, I think maybe I was just doing it wrong. 

What inspired you to begin shaping and how long have you been doing it?

In 2011, four years prior to my shaping endeavors I sustained a life-threatening snowboard accident in competition, which effectively ended my streak of full-time competitive snowboarding. After a 6 month recovery and some permanent metal implants to hold me together, surfing was my low-impact outlet that became a far more frequent activity in my life as snowboarding began to fall off my radar. The G&S Terry Goldsmith (my first board) had been retired to the wall racks in my living room to retain any value it still had, thus I found myself riding an off-the-shelf Lost Mini-Driver as a replacement. Recreationally I was regularly acquiring any vintage transition era boards that I could find in the classifieds, and was mixing them into rotation with the Lost Mini-Driver as regularly as possible. I never really “felt” surfing when on the Lost shortboard though, at least not in the way that I felt something meaningful and special in boards that took more work, finesse, and determination to learn.

The added work required to understand the vintage boards in my quiver was all the more rewarding, especially when reaching the point of understanding that every inch of the board serves a purpose. I became absolutely fixated on chasing the ability to understand the nuances of forgotten board designs. Shortly thereafter the Lost shortboard was getting zero use. The dilemma that I found myself facing was that many of the vintage boards I was acquiring were nearing the end of their usable life and while I wanted to continue exploring how these unique designs changed my surfing experience, I also didn’t want to completely ruin these pieces of surfing history. I made an honest effort to find “modern” boards at my local shops that could fill the void and allow me to surf these forgotten designs without the fear of dings or waterlogging, but to no avail. I decided to start filling the gaps by building them myself. With my art and engineering backgrounds I knew it wasn’t going to be beyond my level of comfort, so I bought some foam and made a stringer out of some scraps from my bathroom renovation and gave it a shot! I was totally hooked. 

“The dilemma that I found myself facing was that many of the vintage boards I was acquiring were nearing the end of their usable life and while I wanted to continue exploring how these unique designs changed my surfing experience…”

Where do you get your design inspiration?

The inspiration behind my shapes comes from an odd mix of seemingly random ingredients. First and foremost: the G&S lineup from the years ’67 to ’69 – the Skip Frye pro model shapes. To this day, you can find a little bit of these in every one of my designs. The next major influence stems from my research on fluid dynamics during my undergraduate studies in robotic engineering. Understanding the science behind my favorite shapes propelled my interest to craft surfboards with the unique performance qualities I was searching for. Pair all of that with my fine art background, my love for the clean aesthetics and the absence of abrupt lines in Italian automotive design, and top it off with color palettes inspired by my attraction to the Mediterranean-style architecture of the beautiful city I live in. 

What board designs are you currently developing?

Without jumping too deep into this right now, I have a long-term goal of developing a board that can objectively/statistically travel the greatest distance in the shortest amount of time, and I’d like to think that I’m making great strides towards getting there. So while I’m currently offering a range of about 6 shapes, the two main areas of consistent focus and development for me are my gliders and my flex-rails. 

What are you hoping your customer gets from riding your shapes?

All of my shapes are extremely difficult to surf, and in part, I intend it to be that way. They can take a long time to understand, and each one has a unique personality that requires the surfer to respect the nuances of the board. Similar to how a driver has to completely harmonize with a racecar in order to get the maximum potential out of it, I expect my customers to do the same.

However, once a customer realizes that my boards have to be surfed in a unique manner and can put forward the patience and attention towards understanding how the board wants to be surfed, they will unlock the full potential. For me, that potential becomes an entirely unique ride that harmonizes exhilarating maneuverability with a borderline unruly and uncontrollable amount of speed. To make a long story short, perhaps I’m just hoping that my customers share my joy in the journey of unlocking the potential of a board, and all the steps in the process.

You recently made a trip to California. What were some of the highlights?

My partner and I drove the entire coast, seeking out the best coffee shops as we drove. Along the way we visited every state park, from 3 hours north of SF all the way down to SD. Those moments alone could have made for an amazing trip. For the final week though, I had the fortune of linking up with some of my most revered idols – Bob (Mitsven), Skip, and Jim (Phillips). Bob took time out of his day to talk me through proper shaping bay setup and best practices, which I took very seriously and immediately implemented into my new space when I moved to Florida. Skip carved out time to meet with me, walk me through his techniques and best practices on a Fish-Simmons he was in the process of building, and just generally chatted about shaping and the “Do’/Do-Nots” that I was unaware of at the time.

“All of my shapes are extremely difficult to surf, and in part, I intend it to be that way. They can take a long time to understand, and each one has a unique personality that requires the surfer to respect the nuances of the board”.

Then there was the completely unexpected time with Jim, which was fun because we talked very little about surfboards and more so just on shared experiences of NJ, RI, and FL; both as board builders and humans alike. I learned so much, and the memories will last a lifetime. I’m truly grateful, and as a whole, it felt like a perfect homage to one of my biggest inspirations in the ultimate surf pilgrimage. 

What do you appreciate most about East Coast surf culture?

Despite the obvious pitfall of inconsistent and generally lackluster surf, being part of the surf scene on the East Coast has the major benefit of chronically feeling like an episode of Cheers. Everybody knows your name, and that whole bit on Southern hospitality totally exists. It makes the culture feel like a big family, carrying the same ebbs and flows that families tend to have. Given the limited availability of waves, surfers/surf enthusiasts are more or less forced to spend more time outside the water, thus occupying themselves with extracurriculars aside from surfing itself. I think this ends up building stronger personalities and more well rounded characters. As such, the “surf bum” rarely exists out here. Rather, you’ll find the weekend warrior who may have an opportunity to catch a few waves before or after their 9-5 desk job, and they are totally fulfilled by those few waves that they’ll find. There’s a lot of peace in that. 

What is your current favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?

In an effort to make the long move from NJ to FL a bit less cumbersome, I recently sold my favorite board, my personal 10’ Rorqual glider. I have regretted this decision many times over now, so if by chance the current owner is a Liquid Salt fan and reading this interview, I’ll happily buy it back! I miss that thing, and it was absolute magic for me. Moving on though, my favorite surf spot is a right-hand point break in the Carribean. I call it “Almonds'' because the barrels are always shaped like almonds. I don’t think it has a “real name.” I’ve surfed it for years, and the most crowded it’s ever been has been me and one other gentleman. That’s as much as I’ll say about it. A very close second – or maybe even alternate first – would be Point Judith, RI. 

Who are some of the people you feel are creating the path for surf culture today?

Though the fragmented expansion of surf culture can be appreciated and criticized in many different ways, I personally feel as though the pioneers of today are those who both recognize historical milestones, and continue to refine them in a new direction rather than being skilled at merely reproducing them. Maybe another way of putting it; pioneers are those who do not simply take the steering wheel and drive the same roads, but rather continue to drive in an entirely new direction on unpaved paths. One of my favorite people doing this is Tristan Mausse of Fantastic Acid. He’s someone who has completely enveloped multiple lifelong studies of hulls, absorbing relevant research and findings along the way. Then he overlays his own personal knowledge and approach to what is already known, and drives those studies in an entirely new, more universally applicable and relevant direction.

What’s your favorite meal?

Pasta. Maybe it’s my Italian roots, possibly it’s the taste, but more likely just the convenience. 

What music are you currently listening to?

Between the incessant droning of the planer, I occasionally get to hear bits and pieces of Zeppelin songs. 

What are you most grateful for?

I’m truly grateful for the hand that I was dealt. I’d like to think that I’ve taken full advantage of the opportunities I’ve been given, and hope to lead it all with class. I have an able mind and working hands, both of which have provided me with the abilities to create the life I’m currently living. I get to spend multiple days a week doing what I love while passing it forwards, and I hope to continue doing that for as long as possible.

What's next for Johnny Borbone?

I hope to continue pushing the envelope of what’s possible with surfboard design. I plan to continue building surfboards that empower the rider to “connect” to the surfboard and build a growing relationship with it, while concurrently realizing that there are ways to enjoy surfing outside the standard confines that have been previously established. All in all, I just want to continue making people feel as though there is more to surfing than the constrictive norms that they’re used to, and give them a chance to feel something different. In the not too distant future, I’m working on pulling in some collaborative efforts with shapers, designers and glassers whom I hold in high regard to make this vision possible and elevate it to new heights.

To learn more about Johnny Borbone and his shapes, visit borbonewavecraft. Photography provided by Cole Hardwick (@cole_hardwick).