CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 From the street, Josiah Morris\u2019 Flour Bluff shop seems quiet. Step inside and the roar of a planer fills the room as he turns blocks of foam into surfboards.<\/p>\n
This Saturday, one of his boards will head downtown for \u201cThe Board Walk,\u201d a new surfboard installation at the 11th annual Surftoberfest. It will feature work from more than 20 Texas surfboard shapers, the largest gathering of Texas shapers the event has hosted.<\/p>\n
From California to the Coastal Bend<\/p>\n
Morris grew up in Oxnard, California, in a family of surfers who couldn\u2019t always afford new boards.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have the luxury of getting new boards all the time, and so we had to repair, when they would get broken, and I took a liking to that at a pretty young age,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n
He got his start sanding boards for a builder in Ventura. Today, he owns Morris Surfboards and still builds as a contractor for Channel Islands Surfboards, one of the biggest names in the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, there\u2019s an old joke: I make surfboards, not money,\u201d Morris said. \u201cI get more enjoyment from that than I actually do surfing.\u201d<\/p>\n
About four and a half years ago, he moved to the Coastal Bend and had to adjust to a different kind of wave. Gulf swells carry less energy than waves in California or Hawaii, so his Texas boards get a lower rocker, which is a flatter curve in the nose.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that took some time getting used to and making boards just for Texas, on Texas surf and the Gulf Coast,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when the waves are good here, it\u2019s, it\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he arrived, Morris reached out to the area\u2019s established shapers first. He didn\u2019t want them to feel he was there to take their business. Instead, some offered him space to build boards in their own shops while he set up his.<\/p>\n
Built by hand, one board at a time<\/p>\n
Morris shapes boards on Mondays and finishes them by Friday. He averages about two and a half boards a week, with 8 to 10 hours of work on each, and he\u2019s currently booked about a month out.<\/p>\n
His customers range from professional surfers to kids. He says he invites young surfers into the shop and will \u201cteach any kid any trick I know.\u201d<\/p>\n
He still remembers his first board, which his sister-in-law still has.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I got lucky on the first one. And the next 50 after that were trash,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
The board going downtown<\/p>\n
The board Morris is bringing Saturday belongs to a return customer in his 60s who hadn\u2019t surfed in years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s healthier than ever. His blood pressure is down. His wife said he\u2019s more bearable to be around,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n
For Morris, Saturday is about the community as much as the boards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it\u2019s really, really neat that everybody\u2019s gonna get together and shake hands and, you know, check out each other\u2019s work and build more of that camaraderie,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If you go<\/p>\n
Surftoberfest runs Saturday, Oct. 17, from noon to 11:30 p.m. at the Executive Surf Club, 306 N. Chaparral St., and extends along Chaparral Street. Admission is free.<\/p>\n
Besides The Board Walk, Royboy Tiki Hut will shape a board live on site. The festival also features:<\/p>\n
More than 20 seasonal beers, bratwurst, and pork schnitzel slidersStein-holding competitions and costume contests for people and petsA free Kids Zone presented by Steel Dynamics, with root beer steins, Bavarian hats, and temporary tattoos12 hours of live music from Diamond\u2019s Edge, The Chainlinks, Young Klassics, 18 Hours, Chicas Rock, Red Ravens, Crucial Riddims, Eric Graham, and Mikey Rivera Jr.<\/p>\n
Proceeds benefit the Texas Surf Conservancy. The nonprofit was founded in 2022 to protect coastal habitat through oyster mariculture, and its free \u201cScience of Oysters\u201d program has reached more than 3,000 Coastal Bend students.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n
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