I read the “Turning The Corner” article in the new issue of Surfer Magazine and wrote this letter to the editor and author Chris Mauro. It’s a bit of a rant and I know I’ll get in hot water for it, but it’s something I feel strongly about and wanted to test the waters and get other input on the subject. The article is about the large, well organized overseas prodution of surfboards and how it’s affecting our market.
"Hi Chris, I’m Byron, I’m a surfer and I make
surfboards. I work at the Basham factory here in San Clemente.
Please take the time to check my info here;
http://www.myspace.com/byrondesign
Surfing and surfboard building is my temple. The money
changers have come in and set up shop in my temple. My
mission now is to drive the money changers out of the
temple.
The number 1 thing that the “Turning The Corner”
article shows is that the large overseas manufacturers
and big US brands that have sold out to them are doing
a better job of getting their message out. Small,
independent builders such as myself don’t have the
advertising buying power to reach the masses through
the media. The only corner being turned is the
propaganda one.
Matt Biolas is either mis-qouted or mis-informed about
the location of the developement of composite sandwich
construction. Polyester resin and polyurethane foam
were developed by the US Navy right after WW II at the
North Island/Coronado base in San Diego. Bob Simmons
was an aircraft engineer and had access to the
materials and made the 1st foam & fiberglass board at
that time. The US Navy lead the development of most
the composite techiques still used today. The vacuum
bagged, sandwich construction process was 1st used to
make aircraft wing and fuselage sections. Hansen made
hollow surfboards here in the US with similar
techniques during the early 70’s. This type of
construction did not go overseas in mass until the
windsurfer guys started doing stuff in Asia in the
late 80’s. The materials and process were developed
here in the US.
Matt Biolas did some really good work a couple of
years ago to make a voice for us surfboard builders
and to raise awarness, but in the end he sold out. He
traded in his million dollar house on a hill in San Clemente
overlooking Pico and the Ocean last month for
a 4 million dollar one behind a private gate at
Cypress Cove, and the higher profit margins on
Vietnamese made surfboards helped pay for it.
Timmy Patterson who grew up at the old Hobie Factory
has sold out our heritage and our future. The next
generation will not have the oppourtunity to learn the
surfboard building skills and tradition the way he did
because all the manufacturing will have gone overseas.
And R-Dot Everywhere sold all those T’s in the 80’s
that paid for his La Jolla Colony mansion because of
the SoCal surfing image. What these guys don’t get is
that if the bros and pros start excepting the foreign
produced boards, the image of SoCal that keeps our
industry going will be lost forever. Once the giant
overseas manufacturers learn the construction
processes and marketing formulas, how long do you
think it will take for them to start private labeling
their own brands en mass?
Guys like Al Merrick, Rusty, Matt Biolas, John Carper,
and Timmy Patterson are undermining their own long
term market and image for a quick buck now. Magazines
like Surfer are rushing that process along. There is a
widening gap between the rich upperclass and the
struggling working class, the middle class with the
disposable income that supports all the giant brands
is disappearing. The top brand guys need to understand
that when all the manufacturing and jobs go overseas,
so do all those dollars that once were disposable
income here in the US. The top companies need to study
where the dollars come from that makes their brands so
lucrative, then they may re-think their sell out
positions. When they talk about the “customer winning”
what they are really saying is that the customers are
giving their money to them. The big brands will make
make big money now, but it’s a one time hit.
Image is what sells the top brands goods, the top
brands running adds keep the magazine afloat, it’s all
tied together. There is a reason why I go to DeNault’s
in San Clemente and look for US made items instead of
buying Chinese items at WalMart and Lowe’s. We live in
a special place at a crucial time when we need to
think about being better stewards of our gifts and our
image. How many houses or big SUV’s does one company
founder need? When so many in this world are
struggling for the basic day to day necesities we
should be using our positions of comfort and affluence
to preserve what we can for our children and to force
positive change in overseas enviornmental and labor
standards.
The bottom line is that the Surfer Magazine "Turning
the Corner" article only showed one side of the issue,
and that just happens to be the side of the big
advertisers. There is a complex equasion at work here,
one that’s worthy of a far more balanced and in-depth
investigation. We owe it to our heritage, and we owe
it to our future.
See ya in the water, Byron"