Minneapolis Star Tribune — Jen Shore wanted a paddle board and her husband, Tim Shore ’03, was listening.
A careful shopper, he researched the fastest-growing water sport in Minnesota and came to a strange conclusion.
“I’ll build you one,” he said.
She rolled her eyes.
Nearly three years later, the Maple Grove bank branch manager is making his Minneapolis Boat Show debut with Shore Boards — a manufacturer of rare, handcrafted, wood paddle boards that sell for nearly $2,000 apiece. While the paddle boards are fully functional in the water, some of Shore’s early clients have treated them as glistening works of art.
“One of my first clients hung the board above a fireplace at his lake cabin,” he said. “But these things are functional. They really cruise.”
Shore, 35, had no woodworking experience when he set out in his Otsego garage to build a hollow board 11 feet, 6 inches tall. His inspiration and methods stemmed from Internet searches that found an obscure collection of stand-up paddle board and surfboard makers in Hawaii, California, Colorado and Maine. Shore taught himself their trade by trial and error.
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As sweethearts at Coon Rapids High School, Tim told Jen on numerous occasions that he would own his own company some day. Shore Boards was it.
This wasn’t an indulgence, he told himself. He had a finance degree from St. Cloud State, a newfound passion for woodworking and the desire to be an entrepreneur. The pieces were in place to make money at something he loved to do.
