Fireside Chats - Ellis Ericson

True Ames introduces Fireside Chats. Long-form conversations on surfboard design, surfing history, and the people pushing both forward. In our first sit-down, Ellis Ericson traces the winding path that led him from Dads' factory floors and competitive surfing to edge boards, displacement concepts, and the Lite Kite. The conversation begins with Ellis’ upbringing around surfboard manufacturing through his father’s shaping career, growing up surrounded by foam dust, resin, and production shaping through the late ’90s and early '00s. From there, the discussion moves into burnout from competitive surfing, a brief surf hiatus, reconnecting with surfing through older boards and design history, and the influence of Matt Chojnacki and the Bennett factory archives. The second half of the conversation focuses on George Greenough and the impact his edge board concepts had on Ellis’ shaping philosophy. Ellis breaks down first seeing and riding George’s edge boards, the challenge of understanding them, and the process of adapting those ideas into his own approach rather than simply replicating them. The discussion explores speed, rail line, rocker, edge theory, and why Greenough’s concepts still feel far ahead of modern surfing. The final section centers around Ellis' EAST winning board model the Lite Kite and it's pairing with his Feathers Quad fin-set, blending edge concepts with modern multi-fin performance. Ellis explains how edge dampening works, why four fins became central to the design, and how the board creates a feeling he compares to riding a dirt bike with your hand constantly on the throttle: loading, releasing, and engaging energy through the wave without excess effort. A thoughtful deep dive into surfboard design, feel, and the pursuit of speed. 00:00 - Ellis’ upbringing around board building 02:42 - Competitive surfing and burnout 05:03 - Discovering older surf design 09:31 - First encounters with George Greenough’s edge boards 13:44 - Understanding what Greenough was chasing 19:08 - The evolution into the Lite Kite 20:43 - Dampening the edge 23:21 - The Feathers Quad 30:58 - The dirt bike throttle analogy Follow along as Fireside Chat explores the people, ideas, and designs shaping modern surfing from the inside out.