Dave Parmenter has epoxies being made for him in China…
http://www.boardworkssurf.com/html/shapers/c4waterman.html
Yeah, I know, welcome to 2007. But I thought this development was particularly hypocritical, given what Parmenter has written in the past.
Here’s a taste of Mr. Parmenter’s opinions on the boards he’s now endorsing:
“In this instance I feel that troops have marched into Poland and that I must not be silent…you know that you have never met an individual less concerned about wringing money from this quaint little cottage industry than I. I have no desire at all to be the next Rusty or Al Merrick; nor do I want to branch into some megalomaniac surfwear company.
That being said, I still care deeply about the historic traditions of the custom surfboard industry, and always will. As a shaper firmly in control of that destiny I can say with some assurance that any future innovations I enjoy will stem almost entirely from actual design refinements that I concoct or borrow from another shaper, and not from materials changes or surf media hype.
I am deeply worried that the current trends will profoundly affect the evolution of future surfboard design, and feel a certain responsibility -as one of the few remaining present-day surfer/shaper/designers - to face and counter these threats.
…If I ever see a surfer that has one of these Chinese Costco boards with a Surfrider Foundation decal on his car I’m gonna let the air out if his tires….
I say this to all those surfers who - for whatever reason - applaud the ideology of the molded pop-out board a’la SurfTech/ Cobra: If you have somehow lost the thread of progressive surfboard design in your middle years, fine, go ahead and ride one of those Hasbro surfcraft - it’ll look nifty in your garage next to your other emblems of faltering commitment gathering dust there, such as your Tupperware kayak and Chinese-made mountain bike…
All you good and experienced surfers out there who are trapped on a stamped-out, look-alike surfboard that is someone else’s idea of what a good board is, I offer you this: Once you have decided that you would surf better with some design changes you will want to take your spiffy pop-out board to a custom shaper and ask for, say, less rocker or a wider tail.
However, if the doors are chained up and the shaper is now cleaning pools for a living or there is a Starbuck’s where the shop used to be - well, you’ll know who to blame. …And you can go down to the docks and sit there to wait for the container ship to bring you - on the slow boat from China - a business man’s idea of the “hot new” model you will soon be riding.”
Taken from an E-mail rant Dave Parmenter wrote to a “friend” who had the audacity to say positive things about the performance of epoxy composites. Way to stand by what you believe in, Parmenter! What a sorry kook.
