With heart & soul...
Who is Cesar "Rasty" Moreira ?
Cesar Moreira "Rasty", shaper with more than 28 years of experience and more than 1000 handmade boards, works with balsa from the beginning and is passionate about woodworking.
He makes these boards with love and dedication. In addition to the shaping, all done by hand using almost no machine, Rasty does artistic “marquetry” work, using other wood and semi-precious stones, shells, or metals.
To make a Balsa table, it takes about 15 days of work, a lot of patience, concentration and experience, not to mention talent! Shaping balsa is very different from shaping synthetic materials such as foam or epoxy because you have to follow the different densities of the wood, its veins and textures, wood is a living and organic element! That's why Rasty's creations are not just any boards, they are boards with heart and soul!
Between Cesar Moreira and surfing there is a long love story... He is passionate about the whole surf culture, he loves surfing but he also loves to know more and more about surfing in general... It all started around the age of 18 when Cesar discovered surfing in the town of playas, in the south of Ecuador. Passionate, he learned at the same time to surf and to shape. At first repairing surfboards at a shaper friend who lent him boards to surf, and step by step Cesar won his first championships with his own handmade boards! 28 years after his first waves, Cesar has many surfing awards and more than 1000 handmade boards!
He loves the old-school style, his favorite board is the longboard, but he also surfs fish, single fin and stand-up paddle. He travelled a lot in North, Latin and Central America in search of waves and new sensations... For years, he participated in national and international competitions.
A surfer in the soul...
Surf Career
He was national vice-champion in 2003, and won the Pan-American in Dominican Republic in 2002, came first in the Ecuadorian Pan-American in 2003 and second in Costa Rica, and another one in the United States, when the American surf federation invited him specially to a championship in 2002. He was also elected by the newspaper El Universo, "best Ecuadorian athlete of the year 2003". He represented Ecuador in the 2012 ISA World Masters in Nicaragua, proudly surfing his balsa boards.
For years, apart from making surfboards, Cesar was dedicated to having his own surf store in Montañita, selling his boards, renting them and giving surf lessons.
In the surf school of Balsa Surf Camp, "Balsa House", there are more than 50 balsa boards available for people who want to try and know his work, and if they dare (and they have at least 15 days available!) they will have the possibility to ask him for a custom board.
Rasty is certified by the ISA (International Surfing Association) in "Surf coaching and Instructing Course''. He is also certified as a "Judge and Official" by the same ISA.
This level, experience and knowledge in surfing makes Cesar a perfectionist shaper who is always looking to improve his boards, experiment with new shapes and try new experiments! (See here his latest creation and craze, the "Fish moon", a wonderful invention!) Cesar shapes only balsa wood boards, embedding in the boards himself art made of other wood, ebony, cedar, mahogany etc... Combining them with semi-precious stones such as turquoise or spondylus or with metals and shells…
His technique is unique, inlaying and combining other materials in the wood. They are works of art that are exported all over the planet for soul surfers who want more than just surfing: they want to become one with the sea and nature by surfing a magnificent tree!
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