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HollowSurfboards.com

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Every year hundreds of thousands of surfboards are built.

Only a few years ago, just a few were hand crafted hollow wood surfboards

Now hollow surfboards are made and ridden everywhere there is surf.

Since 2001, Paul Jensen and HollowSurfboards.com has inspired and/or

instructed thousands of hollow surfboard builders worldwide.

Surfboard Workshop - Kyoto Japan

Three Surfboards for Princeville, Kauai

5'7" x 23"

7'3" x 22"

10'4" x 24"

In collaboration with

Gallagher Designs

13’ Paddleboard for Paul

Click for more info:

13' Calmwater Paddleboard

8'3" x 27" x 4.5"

Click for more info >>> 8'3 " High Volume Surfboard

Custom 6'8" for Fabio

The Malibu Beach House Set - Franklin & Bash on TNT-TV

In collaboration with

Jesse Joshua Watson

"Green Point" by Jesse Joshua Watson...

No other boards can compare in aesthetic beauty, innovation, and the smooth

functional ride of a Paul Jensen Hollow Surfboard, The Original Modern Hollow Surfboard.

Custom Built - Museum Quality - Built To Ride

A Brief Background

Usually the first thing most people notice about my surfboards is that they are beautiful. However, my belief is that wanting a board for its LOOKS is not the best reason to have one. The better reason is for their QUALITY of the ride.

These boards are more than just extraordinary in appearance; they are some of the most complex boards to be found anywhere. They are uncompromising: state-of-the-art in ride, composite construction, appearance, and made from materials not specific to surfboards. Coincidentally the boards re-introduced an aesthetic long missing from surfboards, using local woods indigenous to where the boards are built. A relationship rooted in history and connected to a region. Something long lost from our rich surfing heritage…

Since 1977, I’ve made all of my own surfboards. I have always sought to expand my skills, and in the year 2000, I found the skill level needed to create a board from mass produced foam blanks to be less than challenging. So I found myself looking back into history for my next goal: a contemporary hollow wooden surfboard.

When I built my first hollow wood surfboard in 2001, my goal was to create an updated version of the traditional hollow wooden board using a method I thought long and hard about. Basically, I took the 1930’s “kook box” method of board building and contemporized it by designing a lightweight interior framework, then reinforce those hidden structural elements with epoxy and composite cloths, next I created thin composite reinforced deck and bottom skins, and finally I added curving wood rails.

I had initially intended to build only one board, which after one wave would become a wall-hanger. It would be my conversation piece—something that looked really cool, got wet once, and then collected dust. I was sure I would then return to the mainstream and go back to shaping foam. But after riding that first wave on it I knew I was onto something. The ride QUALITY was different—resonant—more alive in feel than anything I’d ridden in thirty years of surfing. It was a personal epiphany.

The surfing experience has given me a lot. When I was inventing my hollow board process, I recognized the feeling of want to give something back to surfing and believe that sharing my hollow wood surfboard discoveries is the best way for me to do that. When I made that first board (and all subsequent boards) I took pictures documenting the construction process. Using those pictures as a foundation, I wrote out a simple “How To” set of instructions that have become more detailed and refined, and built what has become this website about building hollow surfboards.

As I wrote my “How To” manual and created this website, I recognized that my passion is not in just in making boards, but more in sharing and showing how to build boards. I still make boards for myself and others, but my commitment these days is primarily to help others make their own hollow wood boards in the easiest, most environmentally stable and cost effective way.

I avoid becoming stagnant or resting on my past achievements by exploring new designs, materials and techniques. The “How To” is an evolutionary process, updated and refined regularly. By leading workshops around the world I have learned what works the easiest and best and I aim the process to those with minimal skills, materials and tools.

Building and teaching hollow boards has stretched my skills, built my confidence, taught me to trust my instincts and to follow the path less traveled. You can too. When you build a hollow board you will experience euphoric epiphanies and humbling frustrations more than building a foam board ever could. WHAT causes the frustration is not as important as HOW you get through it. Whether it’s laminating wood to make a deck, juggling a handful of clamps, or spending what seems like eternity gluing on the rails, you will decide if it is important enough for you to succeed, and in this decision you will learn why you are doing it and who you are. It is a process of self-discovery. I like to ask those who have built their own hollow boards what the three best reasons are to do so. Just about everyone tells me that the best reason is the personal growth and the boards’ beauty and rides are secondary.

Welcome to HollowSurfboards.com