I love to surf and I have worked in the industry from shapeing to reping! It seemed the deeper I got into it with all of its childish games and gosup the more I started to hate surfing itself! Now I work a regular job!, no it may not be cool or glamorous, but ya no I love to surf again and thats what is important!
I felt if I worked within the surfing industry that I would be able to surf all the time. Now I realize that if I had gone to school and gotten a “real” job, I would be getting 6 weeks paid vacation, benifits and a retirement fund. Now when I want to go surfing during the week, I know it is costing 200.00 to leave my shaping room. I have reached the level of not being able to produce anymore numbers than I do today. Last year I raised my shaping prices and wholesale prices just to keep my head above water. I’m 57 years old and am going to keep working until the day I don’t wake up and hopefully that is at least 20 more years
The moral… If you love sausage, don’t work in a sausage factory.
If you went to school, got a degree, and a decent paying job, you will most likely not be near a beach, and if you are then your 1 hour commute will drain all energy left for surfing, you will consider yourself lucky to actually use 2 of the FOUR weeks paid vacation time and even then you will be seen as one who does not take your job seriously, and when the family arrives, forget about surfing for a a very long time. Point is accept ones choices in life because the grass is rarely greener and even if it were you would still find things that make you extrmeley unhappy. I consider myself blessed with my current life situation. I once lived and worked in the big city, which meant only weekend surf if there was a swell and other life plans did not get in the way, travel, holidays, whiny girlfiends, blah, blah. I had enough. Accepted a lower-paying, albeit still career job, moved to the beach and am now able to surf every morning for at least a couple of hours and also in the evenings daylight savings time permitting. So I traded a quicker career track for a chance at a higher quiality of life with proximity to surf moreor less whenever there is a swell and I savor every minute of it. I am one of the lucky ones. Most are not. So I recognize where I am in life and surf every swell as if it were the last and appreciate every second of it. Wish we all could find that perfect combination in life that provides us with every ideal, but that rarely exists, and if it does then you have to go out and make it happen! Peace all MERRY NEW YEAR Drew
drew, you said it very well.I too live at the beach and surf quite often.I for maybe 15 yrs tried to have it all and found myself too busy for the things i loved-time with family,surfing and overall a spontaneous lifestyle.LESS IS MORE ,happiness is being happy with what,where and who you are.
A while back while I was in grad school I recognized a guy at the gym as a guy I saw surfing everyday. Being in college allowed me to surf everyday. So I asked him what he did. He was getting his PhD. I asked “in what?” He responded “Sediment transport in coastal environments.” So basically this guy got free tuition (you always do when you go for your Doctorate), a $15,000/yr stipend, health insurance and his classroom was the beach. Before and after conducting his research he surfed. He also got to travel the world for “comparative modeling”. Let’s see, Costa Rica, Hawaii, California, South America, Indo… you get the point. That was 6 years ago. I looked him up recently and asked him “What now?” He responded “Post-Doctoral research.” So needless to say I went to the University and inquired about getting my doctorate. The advisor said to me that government wants to know what causes erosional hotspots, where one area erodes more than lets say 100 yards down the beach where it doesn’t erode. I ask the professor what he thinks. He tells me his hypothesis about groundwater seepage rates at these hotspots. As beachbreak surfers we all know that beach erodes in front of the best surf spots because of the presense of a sandbar. Perhaps I could spend the next 4 years studying this hypothesis?
There is also something to be said for the rewards which come from actually making something. At the end of the day you have something concrete to show for the time you’ve spent, unlike so many other jobs. It gives a sense of order which is obviously missing in so much of Modern Life. Give it another 10 or 15 years and it doesn’t look like anybody outside government workers is going to have a traditional retirement pension. As was said earlier, nobody gets to take the 3-4 weeks of vacation in a lump period without either taking a commitment hit or a return to such a huge piled up workload that any future vacations will forever be seen in terms of each vacation day equals unpaid overtime on return.
Oh yeah, Jim, I know what you mean. If, for instance, I’d gone in the Coast Guard when I was 18, I’d be retired now. Having had myself starioned at lots of interesting places, many with good surf. Merchant Marine Academy? Six months off every year, very nice pay and you can live just about anywhere. There are freighter skippers who live in Montana. The list goes on…but it’s a little late to do that. Life is a collection of tradeoffs… doc…
Got the degrees 15 and 20 years ago, worked in the engineering field but still building boards in my garage/shop all the while. Now I build boards full time and in my “spare” time, I build boards and test them. Setting up my next trip to warm water. You gotta be happy, but you gotta seek the balance… …My good friend, been building since the mid-sixties, is an excellent board builder, he came over to build a board (his second in 3 years!) but that’s all he wants. That’s cool, each person sees it differently. If your not stoked, do something about it (other than complain).
Growing up in cold, waveless, NJ in the 80’s, I lived my life thru the magazines. I spent many a cold day, paging thru the mags, wishing I was in So Cal. At one point in high school, I decided my goal was to go to college, move to So Cal, and get a job in the industry. Somewhere along the line, I got sidetracked, graduated from college, and dove head-first into corporate America. Next thing you know, I’m 30 years old, working in NYC, burnt out, overweight, and in the worst shape of my life. Even worse, I went 8 years with only surfing about 3-4 times. Aside from meeting my now-wife (a San Diego native), one of the only things that kept me going was just the thought of surfing, and looking at the mags (which I kept my subscription to). We married, and moved to San Diego, where I made the decision I was going to get into the surf industry. It took awhile, as it pretty much operates on the “it’s all who you know” way of thinking, but I’ve been in for almost 5 years, now. Could I be making alot more money, with better benefits, doing what I used to be doing? Absolutely. Could I surf every morning before work, and sometimes at lunch, be surrounded by people who have the same stoke for our lifestyle, wear casual clothes to work, and have my boards sitting here in my office? Absolutely not. 5 years later, and 40 lbs lighter, I have no regrets about my decision to enter the industry. The only regret I MIGHT have is that I didn’t do it earlier in my career. But then, I might not have had the experience to get in, etc, etc. Luckily, I work for one of the industry leaders, and don’t have to worry about the stability of the company. I know that goes a long way, in having a peace of mind. The majority of the people I used to work with in NYC all told me I was crazy when I moved here and decided to pursue the surf industry career path. Since then, almost everyone of those people has called me at some point, to tell me how envious they are of me, doing something that I always wanted to do. The lesson I learned, which I will pass onto my daughter, is “Don’t let something side-track you from losing sight of your dreams. If there’s something you want to do, do it. Better to try it, and find out you don’t like it, rather than going thru life saying ‘I should have done that’”.
The industry can certainly be a pain in the ass. Long ago I learned to seperate my feelings about work from my feelings about surfing and that’s what worked for me. Not seeing them as the same thing. Today, I enjoy both for the good each has to offer and don’t let the frustrations infect the positives.
Wow! That is one of the best topics I ever read at Swaylocks. And I just came by to ask about blank curing. I agree with many of you that if you go into the industry, you might end up working and not surfing everyday, knowing that (by essentially doing piecework) that every surf session is money out of your pocket. I know that I would (given my wife’s spending habits) be working 16 hour days. I also know that I would be in the doghouse for working too many hours. It would be a damned if I do, damned if I don’t situation. I am an elementary school teacher, and as such I can’t complain about inopportunity to have surfing time. I surf three times per week during the school year, and every single damn day during breaks. As you can imagine, my favorite season to surf is summer. My friends like the winter for the power and consistency, and so do I, but the summer gives ME more consistency, if you catch my drift. My wife and her family hounded me for years to get into administration (assistant principal and principal jobs). I would instantly get a whopping 50% raise. Heck, that’s tempting, and I even went to two interviews and almost got one of them (the other interview I blew on purpose). But after watching my friends get those jobs and then watching what happened to them, it scared me straight (or lazy, if you ask my in-laws). My adminstration friends ALL tell me not to do what they did. Yeah, they make a lot more money, but they arrive at work at 6:30 and leave at 5:30, whereas I arrive at work at 8:15, which gives me plenty of time (except in the dead of winter) to surf before work and enough time (even in the winter) to surf after work. plus, I get summers off and they don’t. They got used to the extra income and drive nicer cars (I drive Hondas and they drive Lexus) but it’s just a car. They have slightly bigger houses, but they have four bedrooms a couple bathrooms and a tiny backyard just like I do. I would have lost my mind if I did anything else besides teach. But I sometimes dream of shaping as a way to make extra money. If Florida had good surf consistently, I would move there and buy a house, free and clear, off the equity in my home. Then, I would send my wife to work (she is planning on returning anyway) and then I would take on shaping as a hobby/profession. And if I liked it, I would continue. But, my advice to those who want to continue surfing their entire lives is to pick careers that really will give you plenty of time off, such as: bartending, teaching, adult film star, hotel work (late shift, of course, or graveyard shift), night watchman or security, cop, professional surfer, waiter (at night), flight attendant, fireman, nurse (the last three are jobs in which you tend to work for three or four straight days and then have three or four off. Nurses make good money, can find a job anywhere, and only work three days per week. But, keep in mind, shapers are the GODS of the surf industry, in my humble opinion. I ADMIRE their artistic and skillful abilities. I am in awe, especially of guys like Jim Phillips and my good friend Rod Sorenson (who shaped Aguas and is now semi-retired). Those guys can shape a board that works like MAGIC. It would take me years–no, decades—to learn that skill. That’s why everytime I buy a blank and roll up my sleeves to shape it, I end up throwing it into the car and heading up to Westlake, down to Leucadia (to see Rod) or up to Oceanside to see Linden. I can’t help it. I know who makes the good boards. But from now on I’m going to buy Surftechs. Just kidding.
OR, you can marry a smart, ambitious woman who ask you to stay home with the kids. It cuts into your surfing when they are small. But, when they go to school, Mike goes to the beach! Wahoo!
I already tried the smart woman, sent her through college, AA, BA, masters, law school, European studies. She and the law professor got together and figured out how to clean out everything I owned, before I had a clue. This is why I’ll work to my dying day P.S. she hosed him too, now she’s working on a doctor, pussy sure has it’s own power
Similar circumstances with the wife Jim. The wife went to school became a teacher got her big degree and became a principal of a elem. school. All within our 26.5 years of marriage. I worked and maintained an even keeled family with minimal surfing, I worked retail for 20 years and did well (putting my wife through school too). About 6 years ago I changed careers to newspaper advertising and really liked the job, 5 days a week 8 to 5 and free weekends, very cool. Needless to say I got back into surfing about 3 years ago, I grew up in the 60’s and surfed in Hawaii while stationed there in the Navy in the early 70’s (I have pictures of Nat winning the Smirnoff Pro-Am). I came back from the Navy and went to college, surfed and had a great time. I got my degree and got married and have 2 great kids. During that time I didn’t surf much and gained weight and was very out of shape. Surfing within the last few years has changed my life and am very glad I lost weight and am in the best shape of my life at 54. But about 6 months ago my wife who is on the fast track and really doing well said she wanted out of our marriage. She wasn’t happy (her therapist told her that). That’s not what I expected to happen not now with all that we’ve gone through, but it is. It’s a tough situation and not one I wanted. I love my job and surfing, and she didn’t like either. So now I can go my own direction and surf when I want and since the kids are simi on there own I can do the things I want to do. I’ll be in Maui with my daughter at the end of this month, she’s living there now. My life style of not really wanting to have everything and living in moderation is all I want, and if that means my wife has to pay a few bucks to me for support (because she makes so much more) I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I got the surfboards and she got the BMW. I’ll be at Uppers on Sundays with the boys and will have breakfast at the Sugar Shack for a long time, thank you very much Lord.
I might offer to those out there who are still at a young, impressionable age (8-80 in the case of surfers) that you might also consider the career hours mixed with hoped for surf time in making job choices. If you work 6 nights a week to have time to surf a max hourage during the day, potential or existing relationships will suffer. Ships passing in the night is a good situation for ships, but not for humans.
yea divorce is a bitch! but hey now iam remarried to a beautiful woman 20 yrs younger and I have little money but i spend alot of time with her and surf more!!!Go meeta young girlsome like old guys with beer on their breath[smile]!!!
Oh yes it do… when the little head gets thinking about home sweet home, the big head has to go along. Me, I got lucky. I was well on my way to dropping out of surfing, becomeing a volvo wagon driver in suburbia with 2.3 Golden Retrievers, credit cards maxed and everything…and then she decided she wanted more and that she was gonna find it someplace else. Well, after I picked up the pieces ( you know, she wanted stuff my GRANDMOTHER came with, not just everything I owned. So greedy her lawyer kinda let her go over the falls, y’know? ) I came back to this life. Picked up my old job when it came vacant and here I am, twenty some odd years later. Sometimes you make the tradeoffs willingly, sometimes you get dropkicked into 'em. doc…
My repair and restoration business is growing pretty rapidly. Turnover has more than doubled in the last 12 months.I still have a regular 38 hr/ week job so the repairs and restorations get done after work and on weekends.I made the decision, that during summer I would try and get in the water at least 2 times a week after work. The boards would just have to wait.I am pretty lucky,Ilive 5 minutes from work and the beach is only 5 minutes from home.I try to work to live not live to work.Most people accept the fact that if they want their board repaired, they have to get in line. It won’t get done over nite. If they can not accept this they can go some were else. With the restorations it is all ways a long wait. You can not rush them, and I am up front with them and tell them it is going to be months before I can start their board. My partner and I have been married for 20 years now, she is in the 4 year of her 2nd degree.(working on my retirement)She has been surfing since she was knee high to a grasshopper, so if I get to tied up in the shed she will drag me out, and we head down to the beach. Hope I haven’t made anybody to jeolous. I’m a pretty lucky guy. David.
I loved everything about surfing from the moment I was introduced, from the smell of strawberry fields or honey wax, admiring the high gloss finish of a truely handcrafted board to the awesome feeling of being picked up by a wave. These things where the lure for me to become a part of the industry, plus the thought of being able to go surfing whenever you wanted to, and I have been lucky enough to have had many years of achieving this. One thing that I learnt at an early age was that surfing and the industry that it supports are two completly different things and that both can have their ups and down. What I found was that I could never hate surfing or making boards but just couldn’t handle some of the dickheads that came with it, but when I talk with most of my friends that are not involved in my industry, they tell me about their problems within their line of work and we come to the same conclusion, your gunna bump into dickheads your whole life no matter how much you try to avoid them. So I guess thatI dont agree with the claim of “if you love surfing stay out of the buissiness” because its not the industry that you believe you have a hate for but the dickheads that are plaging all industy and walks of life. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw