IF THERE WAS A FOUNDATION TO KEEP SURF SHOPS CORE AND SHAPER TO NOT SELL OUT, HOW WOULD IT WORK? IF I WENT TO A SHOP THAT HAD A LOGO ON THE DOOR THAT LET ME KNOW THEY ONLY HAVE BOARDS MADE BY SURFERS THERE AND THAT I COULD DONATE TO A FOUNDATION THAT HELPS TO OFFSET THE COST OF STAYING CORE, I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO GIVE A FEW DOLLARS. I THINK IF THE LITTLE SURF SHOPS ARE GOING TO SURVIVE AND IF THE BOARD BUILDERS THE FEW START TO FINISH GUYS (WHO DON’T HAVE SURFTECK KNOCK ON THERE DOOR SO THEY CAN PROFIT OFF THERE NAME) ARE GOING TO KEEP MAKING A LIVING JUST BUILDING BOARDS THEY MIGHT NEED SOME HELP. HERE IS THE REAL QUESTION: HOW CAN IT BE FAIRLY DONE IF IT CAN BE DONE, AND IF ANYONE WANTS IT TO BE DONE?
“sell out”? don’t you mean "become succesful as a result of their hardwork, craftsmanship, and
incomparable skill."
forget it.
YES ITS TO LATE.
WHEN YOU GO TO THE DARK SIDE SURE YOU GET PAID BUT YOU HURT THE REST OF THE SURF WORLD, I WOULD RATHER PAY YOU TO NOT STAMP OUT BOARDS AND THEN THERE WOULD STILL BE A LARGER DEMAND FOR SURFER BUILT SURFBOARDS. IN TWENTY OR EVEN TEN YEARS WHEN THE MASTER SHAPER START TO LEAVE THE INDUSTRY WHO IS GOING TO TAKE THERE PLACE IF YOU GIVE YOUR MARKET TO SOME KOOK IN CHINA THEN THERE IS NO WAY A YOUNG SURFER WILL BE ABLE TO BUILD BOARDS IN HIS BACKYARD AND MAKE IT IN THE SURF WORLD. THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO WILL SURVIVE WILL HAVE TO CHARGE AND THEN THERE PRICES WILL BE SO HIGH THE BOARDS WILL NOT SELL NEXT TO OVERSEAS BOARDS. LETS FACE IT ONLY A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF SURFBOARD BUYERS KNOW THE DIFFERENCE, IF WE KEEP THE MARKET CORE THEY WILL NOT HAVE A CHOICE. IT HAS TO BE A FULL INDUSTRY SHUTOUT OR IT WILL NOT WORK.
Go to your local shop, order a custom board. Ask for an appointment with the shaper. If they say no, go to the next shop. Just be prepared to wait a long time and pay a premium. Or better yet, ask around here. There are quite a few “core” surfboard makers that post on Swaylocks. No need for a “Foundation.”
Read Gordan Clark’s analysis of the state of the surf industry. There will be (are) two different markets. One for you (us) “core” guys and for for the “kooks” ( you don’t have to go to China to find them!). Forget about a full industry shut out. That wil never happen. Garans.
why dont you start having ago at building surfboards yourself,that way you will know that there will be at least one person(you) keeping it real.i think there will always be ppl who build there own though, you get so much more satisfaction riding a board you have made your self.i made my first one a few months ago and i will never go back,with resources like swaylocks to help you out why wouldnt you have a go.I have two more on the go now,its almost as infectious as surfing itself not to mention it gives you something to do when there are no waves and once you are set up with most of the gear you need, you get cheap boards made exactly how you want…its a win win situation.
STOP YELLING!!!
I’VE MADE MY OWN BUT I ALSO KNOW THAT I DON’T SHAPE THE BEST BOARDS. IF YOU GET EVERYONE TOGETHER IT WOULD KEEP THE PRICE OF GOOD BOARDS DOWN BECAUSE THERE VOLUME WILL BE HIGHER
Funny you should ask.
I just started a foundation three minutes ago
send checks in thousand dollar increments to
me ,greg liddle,lubchmeat,jimmy allen,and the list goes on of peersons more worthy than myself,
they all depend on cccccaaaaaassssshhhh
FLOW
when they are hungry sell-out tech looks better nd better.
but I think talking about it should be stretched out
for as long as possible while the window stickers get made and installed
oh yes sit back and wait for the foundations
to be subverted by covert efforts
like mr french making a board to star in the dora hollywood production of SOUL BOAAARD SOUL RIDER
showing soon at non profit neo-political functions world wide
so that kids will know that even surf techs have soul.
yes and fund raising efforts
by corperate entities
make all the transgressions
pardonable
…why they are just like yous an’ moi
save the world?
why that thought is…pure idealism.
save yourself and you as part of the world
will be saving the world.
didnt I make you a board last year?
maybe I’m confused.
…ambrose…
Forget it. Not going to happen. You’re too late. Biolos tried to do something like that (require labelling- ie, made in china), but couldn’t stop it.
And, someone correct me if I’m wrong, little surf shops stay in business…selling clothes.
Sounds like you want it good and cheap. How bout fast too.
As far as core…it doesnt get more core than doing it yourself.
There will always be backyarders and local craftsmen…not everyone wants to buy a mass produced import, therefore demand will always be there.
If you want core craftsmanship, than pay your good hard earned money for it. After all, surfing is an optional leisure activity. If your poor, go body boarding or body surfing.
Besides, you’ll have lots more to complain about when gas hits $6/gal.
Cheer up man.
Ambrose. you made my day, amigo your to funny , my checks in da mail, ALOHA KP
Quote:
like mr french making a board to star in the dora hollywood production of SOUL BOAAARD SOUL RIDER
showing soon at non profit neo-political functions world wide
so that kids will know that even surf techs have soul
ambrose…bravo.
Ambrose…add me to your list! My 400 square foot surfshop and my 6-8 custom made boards a month puts me way below poverty level.
“If you build it, they will come”
Quote:
“If you build it, they will come”
Too late…they’re already here!
They want what they want, and they want it now. It is what it is. A woman changes out of her wetsuit standing on the edge of the pavement along old PCH north of Ventura. She starts yelling about something. You, it turns out. What the hell are you looking at? You were checking the surf, actually, and sort of hoping whoever was stupid enough to change out of a wetsuit half in a traffic lane wouldn’t get creamed by a construction worker making a banzai lunch run. A couple of years ago Surfer magazine named the guy running Roxy the 6th most influential surfer in the world, because he was selling clothing for girls. He helped build it, and they came…and we’ll leave that opportunitiy for crude humor alone…for now.
Zuma Beach on a summer morning. Every day around 8 a.m. three Hummer stretch limos filled with humanity start the drive down Kanan Dume Road to the sea. In all honesty that may be the only valid use for such rolling abortions. Driving along Zuma you come across the three stretchers parked along PCH, taking up a good 6-7 actual car spaces. First come, first served, fair enough. They always park by the surf school. You can tell where the surf school is by the cluster of boards and wetsuited people in the water, the bobtail trucks of equipment parked, the banners, the signs. Softboards to start…then what?
There are so many people coming in that now I wonder if 1 in 20 will hang on. I’m not complaining - it wouldn’t do any good anyway. Long before I had a chance to get a surfboard I already knew I was in it for life. It was great. I would never want to throw cold water on that experience for others who are just starting out. I still can find that feeling once in a while but it isn’t easy. The balancing point keeps getting moved out. Right now I think the “make/break” point for surfing with me will be if a threshold is reached where the only way I can get a few of those perfect moments is to spend a bunch of money…have to get on a plane, have to buy a million dollar house…
That’s a moot point I’m sure to people just starting out now. Hard to explain that once upon a time just having a tank of gas could virtually guarantee that experience along U.S. coastlines. It hardly even interests me, truth be told. Fun while it lasted…
While I’m one of the worst of the crowd-howlers, I’m starting to wonder if maybe this flood tide of humanity will in fact ebb. Since the actual experience used to mean so much more, since it’s been diluted in this current era, made so easy, made so crowded…maybe it won’t have the hold it did to earlier generations. Maybe for the worst of the money grubbers, the clothing industry wage apes, just maybe these are the soon-to-be good old days…fun while it lasted. Maybe the thing to do for a lot of people is to simply hang on, to survive, to see the eras through. Maybe the whole thing is just a giant surfing “Where’s Waldo” exercise…the magic is still there but goddang it’s hard to find…yet if you keep going enough eventually law of averages says you’ll stumble across a little bit eventually.
one word… Kalaeloa
formerly White Plains Beach, and before that Officer Beach Barbers Point.
home of Alan Panteleon, Sunny Garcia, John Shimooka, Max Mederios, Kaipo Jaquiras, Jason Gantz, Joel Centenio, Kekoa Bacalso, Dustin Cuizon etc etc… Even Jim Phillips, Jim Dunlop and a host of others spent some time out their from the late 50’s through the 80’s.
Once the military left Barbers Point it turned into a garbage hole and home of a bunch of surf schools like Hawaiian Fire etc etc where they bring them in in big tourist buses from waikiki. Funny thing about beginners is that like salmon they always seem to aggregate to where they learned how to surf and adopt it as a home spot. So now this is the new sandy bottom blue crush heaven where the lineup is a 100 yard stretch of beginners running parallel to the beach flopping about on their new Island Creations chinese, NSP, Surftech, Boardsworks, Southpoint, Costco or Sams Club longboards or sponges. And if they are on some beautiful handmade “modern short board” it’s always like 2 sizes too small for them to catch a wave that some shop scored a sales on. There’s even professional camera folk that’ll take your photo or do a one on one session with you.
http://www.surfshooterhawaii.com/
It and Swabbyland was one of the two best kept secrets on the southside until the Navy left and the homeless and the rubbish making locals took over… Even the lifegaurds are sickened by the disrespect to the aina the so called local native have shown the place as their private playground.
It gets so crowded on the weekends now you can’t even find an open pathway to walk along the sand or into the water among the massive throngs frolicking in the shorebreak to either paddle out or come in from the break. Just like those national geographic movies of seal hoards. The worse part about it is that the water now smells like urine. I see this and I see the future of what’s to be over the next 10 years until the next change comes.
The surf world as we may have known it id already dead.
Quote:
I’VE MADE MY OWN BUT I ALSO KNOW THAT I DON’T SHAPE THE BEST BOARDS. IF YOU GET EVERYONE TOGETHER IT WOULD KEEP THE PRICE OF GOOD BOARDS DOWN BECAUSE THERE VOLUME WILL BE HIGHER
please switch off your caps lock.
The surf world is not about to come to an end.
sounds like he’s trying to start a union
