One can point the finger squarely at Filipe Toledo for inspiring Sharp Eye’s seduction of surfing’s elite. He first whirled to victory On Marcio Zouvi’s Sharp Eye craft at the Quiksilver Pro, 2015. On board Zouvi’s rides, Toledo took his wing-heeled trickery to new heights and also learned to use his rail like a well-swung samurai blade. He evolved into a much more complete surfer – finding speed, altitude and rail engagement at will. It seemed the boards beneath his feet were at least partly responsible for Filipe’s transformation and it wasn’t long before his pro-surfing peers began to take notice.
At the elite level most surfers are always looking sideways to see what their opposition is riding. When something looks slick under a rival’s feet it’s hard not to let your mind wander and think ‘what if I was on that board?’
And so it was that several surfers on tour crossed the fibreglass bridge to the Sharp Eye shaping bay. Five out of ten WSL finalists will be on Sharp Eyes at Trestles.
Kanoa Igarashi and Johanne Defay made the jump from Channel Islands and Tatiana Weston-Webb signed on in 2018. More recently Jack Robinson went from more than a decade of devotion to Eric Arakawas, to the Sharp Eye camp. Jack still rides Arakawas at certain times but has done most of his recent contest damage (wins at G-land, Margaret’s) on the Sharp Eyes, after winning his maiden event on them in Mexico at the end of last year.
Filipe and Jack will go into the WSL finals ranked numbers one and two respectively. Imagine two drivers from Ferrari going into the final Grand Prix ranked one and two, both with a shot at the driver’s championship. However, although both Jack and Filipe will be rocking the same, distinctive eye-shaped logo they won’t be riding boards built by the same shaper, in the same factory.
Toledo’s boards will be made by head shaper Marcio Zouvi, while Jack’s have been crafted under the watchful eye of Brendan Leckie, who oversees the Australian division of Sharp Eye. All Jack’s boards are coming out of Australia, while Toledo’s will be made in the US, where Zouvi is based. Our sources tell us that Jack travelled to Trestles with around 30 boards and plans to pear that back to ten favourites in time for Finals Day.
It’s a little like having two different pit crews working under the same brand. It’s not just the shapers, but the glassers and sanders and entire factory crew who contribute to the creation of title-winning surfboards.
While Sharp Eye will take the credit if Jack or Filipe win in the men’s division there will still be a healthy rivalry between the Australian and USA Sharp-Eye camps. In an interview for Tracks earlier in the year, Marcio Zouvi confirmed that a world title win by a surfer or surfers riding his boards would be gratifying. “I’m so focused on the League – winning a Title would be the crowning of my career no doubt about it.” Meanwhile, in an upcoming interview with Tracks, Jack Robinson indicates his switch to the Sharp Eye team was motivated by a connection with Brendan Leckie. “It takes a while to get a connection with the shaper, it doesn’t happen straightaway, but it happened really quickly for us as so I’m happy.”
Curiously, last year Sharp Eye also boasted five of the top ten on their boards on Finals Day. However, with world title wins by Carissa Moore (Lost) and Gabriel Medina (Cabianca), the Sharp Eye team ultimately walked away with two runner-up places (Tatiana and Filipe).
This year Sharp Eye will be pinning their hopes on Kanoa, Jack, Filipe Joahanne and Tatiana to go one better. The surfers are desperate to win, but the bragging rights and commercial spin-offs for the shapers are worth almost as much.
Via its World Shapers Cup Championship, Tracks has been following the performance of shapers/board brands throughout the year. Our points system combines the women’s and men’s tours do determine which board company is the most successful at the elite, CT level. Check the leader-board.
Check out our World Shapers Cup leaderboards & WSC squads here.
RESULTS AT TAHITI
[wpdatatable id=22]WORLD SHAPERS CUP – EXPLAINER
What is the World Shapers Cup?
The Tracks World Shapers Cup is a competition that rewards the shapers who create the boards for the WSL competitors.
Why do we have a World Shapers Cup?
Tracks believe shapers for World Surf League competitors deserve recognition for their work like the car manufacturers in the Formula One.
F1 have a World Constructors Cup which is a prestigious, points-based competition that rewards…you guessed it: the constructors. Move aside athletes, without the constructors you’re nothing.
What is the WSC competition format?
We are scoring from the quarters on, so if your surfer cant get past the heats then no points are on offer.
Points Are Awarded As Follows
If a surfer finishes in the quarters the shaper will be awarded one point.
A semi-final finish is two points.
The runner-up gets three points.
The winning shaper gets a lil bonus, earning five points for a win
What is the prize for the winner of the WSC?
We’re kicking it off with $10,000 worth of advertising across Tracks Media to use as you wish. And the most amazing trophy in the history of surf or whatever we can work out between now and the final.
