Nice comments but with that machine and a good measuring rig they can copy good boards and improve with time. I’m sure that for money aku shaper will do anything. Make a super scanner and run to mr. Bery Tseap with it.
Imagine a quality board comming from china being retailed for 300? Who won’t buy that? 250? The more you buy the Tseapest mai priend, tsust fu U. It is already taking it’s market share, as we type.
There ARE top shapers / brands manufacturing in china and you may not even suspect of.
So My question is this. Are you sure That That Channel Island or Rusty you just bought is a real channel Island? or a counterfeit made in China?
they have been making counterfeit clothing for years. Cheap North face ski jackets. I'm sure they are doing fake Quicksilver and other surf related clothing. f they haven't already I'm sure it's coming soon, counterfeit boards.
My thought, every time one of these “China Made” threads come up, is this- instead of fearing them and whining about it, how come no one sees the potential MARKET… OVER THERE ? They have surfable coast line don’t they? They have a growing middle class don’t they? I’ve heard people say they don’t have vacation time, but when I was in Italy this past summer there sure were lots of them around ( Americans and Japanese, on the other hand, have kind of disappeared).
I travelled to Portugal in 1982 and remember surfing was in it’s infancy there. If I’d been a more enterprising kind of guy I could have caught the first wave of the set so to speak, not just in retailing and manufacturing, but I remember coastal property back then was insanely cheap. Missed my chance.
And of course I’m still not the enterprising guy so I’m not looking into the Chinese market, but some of you MBA types should be over there scouting coastline, securing property, marketing to the masses…
Or maybe not.
You got to wonder- what if they apply the same maniacally dedicated training regimens to young surfers that they do with gymnasts and springboard divers? Could be interesting. Of course their America’s Cup campaign failed…
I’m not liking the import of these boards because every surfer, noob or pro, can and often do buy one. This hurts the chance of selling my boards, not to mention every other custom shaper around. At the same time, I know many shop owners that sell imports more then locals because of the margin to be made. They are knocking the shapers out while keeping the shops alive. The only chance we have is getting the word out on the quality of the materials used in china. The workmanship looks good but with junk blanks like excell coming from china there no chance of a light strong board being made. I operate an APS3000 and see every blank made. The chinese stuff is heavy, soft and yellow. Surprise me China, please!
Any one seen Blue Coil boards out of Slovenia or??
Guessing they come from the old windsurf board shops over there…
They look so crappy - esp the bottom contours… looks like they had a machine rough in something that was to be hand finished, but isn’t… Guess guys are buying 'em 'cuz there cheap…
Viva la Sways… Make your own,or buy from those who do!!!
I has at a meeting with the Chinese government discussing the promotion of surfing in China. It is against the law to surf at most beaches. There is a big push to encourge surfing and create a new activity for the kids. Currently the kids are becoming unhealthly playing video games and in an effort to get them outside they are making surfing popular and also making it legal at most beaches. Mark Healy, Greg and Rusty Long had the opportunity to participate in their recent efforts. The government officials were pleading for help from the surf community to help in their campaign.
I travelled to Portugal in 1982 and remember surfing was in it's infancy there. If I'd been a more enterprising kind of guy I could have caught the first wave of the set so to speak, not just in retailing and manufacturing, but I remember coastal property back then was insanely cheap. Missed my chance.
There is land every where with coast lines with great surf all over the world for the taking. You better not need a hospital. It may be cheap however if you die for something minor it's not much of a bargin!
in 2005 i was lucky enough to meet a chinese guy studying here on gold coast who had fallen in love with surfing. we set up a plan to road trip from shenzen to shanghai via the coast with a 22 seat bus and 6 surfers, photog and video team… we planned a 8 week trip swapping surfers from oz, indo and the states, we set up a budget and rough plans. he was well connected to to the authoritys for visa and beach exploration permits. Sadly we both didnt know how to get the funding to finance the adventure and sell it, along with the early arrival of my twins and subsequent loss of one of them put paid to the journey…