Dave van Ginkel

lives, eats and breathes surfboard design: it’s in his blood.

He literally grew up surrounded by boards of all manner, shape, size and state of construction in his father's legendary surfboard workshop. It was here, while imbuing the knowledge of how small changes to fins, foils and rockers affected the performance of boards in water, his passion for surfboard design was ignited.

A constant need to 'make it work better' led him to pursue studies in engineering with an eye to better understanding structure, shape, flow and their effect on speed and hydrodynamics. Dave's passion for both the aesthetics and intrinsic nuts and bolts of surfboard design led to him to start his own surfboard label: DVG Shapes in 1997.

Dave does an annual pilgrimage to Olatu, in the Basque Country, Spain to shape performance guns for Europe in the Pukas Surfboard Factory. If you have a passion to ride big waves, you have a chance to have a legit and unique tool to ride the biggest swells.