After surfing more than 10 years I finally got me a channel islands board. It was a whip 6,2 19 5/8 2 1/4.
I surfed it 5 times in a mushy beachbreak when I saw that the board had hundreds of stress cracks from rail to rail.
I had never seen anything like that, in fact I`ve never even broken a board before. Since I had only used it 5 times in mellow surf I thought for sure it must be some sort of defect. But no, the reply I got was that I should be lucky it didn`t break. Might be a coincident of course, but I find it very strange that it happend. The days I was out I wasn`t even considering that a board would break.
What do you guys think, is this just bad luck or is channel islands just poor quality?
I`ll try to post an image for you..[img_assist|nid=1062245|title=broke ci 2|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
That’s nuts. Did you call or take to the shop you bought it from and let them see it first hand? Did the cracks show up all at once? I’m a total hack and my boards don’t do that! lol.
Dude, I’ve seen that before… once. After a long flight and a typhoon pounding while surfing at Sendai shinko (port). I got to the car, cleaned up and there they were. It was heavy surf and I took a pounding on the inside before getting back out both times. Six or so waves each time. I thought it was a combination of the aircraft pressure, typhoon pressure and cheap poly at the time.
If what you said is true , then you answered your own question it is Channel Islands poor quality , and I believe that you should take it back to the shop you bought it from and kick up a big stink , and if you get no satisfaction , contact Channel Islands directly and kick up another big stink , and if you still get no satisfaction after makeing sure you document every phone call get everyones name you speak to and everyones name you are reffered to or passed on to and copy every letter you write , dont swear at anybody no matter how much you are tempted , then get back on this site on this thread and tell us how you got on . In my opinion Channel Islands should stand behind the products they sell as should everyone , otherwise people will start bying surfboards made in China.
Kens got it too much Cat makes it brittle but thats the best one I have seen. I glassed a few Cis when they where opening up there in house cell. I they where using UV and light cat. I wonder what glass house did that one? I would of loved that gig except they wont pay piece work only hourly so no mula…
I've seen boards snap in two on the very first paddle-out before the rider caught one stinkin' wave. It wasn't a C.I. but I've seen plenty of those break too. It looks like that one came darn close.
Channel Islands is not a poor quality brand. It's just the nature of the beast. As consumers demand lighter, thinner, 'high performance' equipment the manufacturers respond. Or maybe it's the other way around?
The media falls right in line (who pays their bills with advertisements?) and pumps the latest pro's 2.1875" thick 5 lb single 4 oz glass board in their buyer's guides. The same sort of board that will have a caved-in deck after the first go out resulting in hinge points in the structure resulting in premature breakage.
If you want something more durable as a daily driver, prepare to pay the cost in price and weight. Get a custom and ask for a heavier density blank with single 6 bottom, double 6 deck and be prepared to face ridicule, torment and abuse from your friends with their lighter boards. It's OK... you'll likely have the last laugh.
I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Mellor on this. Still, Channel Islands makes great boards, even today without AM there every day. They are it, and everyone else is shooting at them. That board could have been easily stomped on by the owner in order to get a refund by the looks of the stress cracks. That board over flexed in a direction and produced that result. If you would like to try this yourself at home, Lay your board deck down and push on bottom till the rocker flattens, and this can result.
something happened to this board that you are not owning up to. no matter how shitty the glass job is, something like that will not happen without a decent amount of force applied.
even sub-par waves have plenty of power to break a lightwieght surfboard.....
First off, I would not lie about what happend. If it was a big day and it happend, I would say fuck it, shit happens.
I got in contact with the shop, and they got me in contact with CI. I wrote an e-mail, with pictures of the board and told him what happend, where I surf, how often, size, power of the waves....But of course I could have done it on purpose??!!!...
I`ve surfed that beach more than 10 years, never seen a broken board there..
That this board would break this sessions is just to much of a coincident for me to believe.
I guess it got the "lip"(mush), in an akward position, but a board needs to handle that.
I guess it`s like like skateboards, if they don`t break the first week, they usually don`t break at all..
You guys think this would happen if the board was thicker, say 2 3\8?
I saw a local kid snap his brand new board on the first wave he ever caught with it. Waist high East Coast beachbreak, and the thing snapped in half, dead center. It was a CI, too.
I also agree that the media hype is to blame for the disposable surfboards now on the market. Poor, uneducated consumers are led to believe that super light, less than durable boards will make them surf like their heroes. Sorry, kid, your hero gets his boards for free and has two identical ones to replace the one he snapped today. Meanwhile, you’re out hundreds of dollars for something you used just once. As I’ve said before…I never buy off the rack NEVER.
I broke the very first brand new board I ever bought in two on my second session with it. It was only waist high. Dove over the back of a waist high wave and the board stayed in front of the wave. SNAP. Stuff happens…and this was back in the early 80s when boards were still being heavily glassed. Even a tiny wave has a lot of force to it.
OK ladies lets get down to it . If we take what the original poster has said is TRUE , and why should we not , does anybody out there know otherwise?
First nobody should infer or imply that he would deliberately damage his board to get it replaced , that is just plain rude .
Second nobody should infer or imply that a production board is an any way inferior to a custom board are not production boards the bread and butter of giant co like CI.
If the failure is a result of a bad resin mix or an over shaped blank it does not let CI off the hook , its their product with their name on it sold by one of their dealers for retail money , that makes it their problem and in my opinion they should stand behind it , say sorry and give their customer a new board , thats how you build a buisness . I have no idea how many people read Sways but I suspect the numbers are considerable , if every person that reads about this problem then goes into a surf shop to buy a new board and there are a rack of CI boards and racks of other makes , dont you think those folks take what they read into consideration when making their choice . When you buy a new anything there is an implied warranty that the product will perform in a reasonable manner under reasonable conditions , it does not seem reasonable to me nor would I suspect it would seem reasonable to most you reading this that five surfs in average conditions that a brand new board should or would fail .CI stand to lose a lot more than the cost of a new board.
CI is an American co making American boards in America by American workers . If you accept mediocrity from someone like CI or any other American co , dont bellyach about china. We should be proud of our American products and be prepared to put them up against anyone anywhere . I personally have owned CI boards and have nothing but praise for them but every now and then everyone screws up , own up to it and move on.
I hope the origonal poster gets satisfaction from CI and then speaks up and tells us all that CI are stand up guys .
