AFT Amantes

Days in the bay with our friends from AFT (@aft_amantes), creating an alternative quiver for Pepe and Pedro, to be surfed back home in Chapadmalal, Argentina. 

​Winter of '21, COVID slowly went away and I started traveling to Chapadmalal (Argentina) on every occasion I could, trying to shape as much in between swells and hitting the road to spend some days surfing & staying in AFT, a surf house in front of the waves. That's how we became friends, spending some time and surfing together whenever there were waves around. AFT Amantes is a special place for me, it became almost my second home, an escape from the city (and the dusty shaping bay) and a place where art, music, dinner by the fire & stoked surfers gathered all together.

With good swells ahead we figured it would be fun to make some new boards for both Pepe & Pedro. They visited the shaping bay and in between extensive conversations, exchange of ideas & computer model designing, we had some 'prototype' shapes ahead.

Got them shaped, glassed and driven down to Chapadmalal, south of Mar del Plata for the first waves.
They got surfed around during that winter and Pepe took some of his boards to the Patagonia. It settled the foundations for new designs/models and refinements after some quality feedback.

Always a real pleasure to see your creations being ridden by good friends & surfers in different waves, and there’s always a good excuse to hit the road, stack your boards on top of the car and go get some waves.

If you happen to be around there, don’t hesitate to stay at AFT, your stay will be just a treat.

Here are some photos of the shaping sessions and the boards getting picked up/surfed for the first time; taken by Tobias Benitez Cruz.