Found this at Harbour’s forum: …Someone at Swaylock’s BB posted that, ‘Harbour was playing both sides of the coin, one with Surftech and one with Boardworks. His bisects were Boardworks and his Terry’s were Surftech. Basically Harbour blew it.’ And another said,’RH was simply trying to play both sides to his advantage. Just business as usual, brah. The big problem was professional integrity, not off-the-rack “customs” vs. state-of-the-art surfboard technology.’ Several years ago I went into the Surftech thing thinking, ‘Hey I’ve paid my dues so how about doing nothing but shaping a master and waiting for the monthly check’’ The contract was for 2 years with an option for another 2 and another etc. About 6 months before it came up for renewal I began to question myself, ‘ Who besides me that is involved with the manufacturing of Harbour Surfboards benefits. NOBODY.’ 1) None of our dealers are going to put in extra racks to accommodate a Surftech. Every Surftech board that gets made displaces one of our polyester boards in each show room. 2) Workers in the custom surfboard industry get paid piecework, and that means that none of our crew gets one dime for a Surftech. 3) Also, it only takes a couple of Surftech sales a month to take away what would have been a polyester board’s profit which helps pay for overhead. This is very crucial in the slow season. 4) Once the mold is made, there is little opportunity for change. That is the shape forever. After much thought I decided to terminate my relationship with them at the expiration of the contract. … During the off season when employees don’t have a full day’s work, the shapers who have contracted with Surftech go to the bank and cash their checks. I can’t do that. Rich Harbour _________________________________________ Posted by Rob Olliges http://www.harboursurfboards.com/surftalk.html
get to work Rob, you’ve got too much time on your hands. It’s a tired subject.
Surftech blahblahblah I love how he names stuff either polyester boards or “surftech” like epoxy resin is the satan spawn (not just better and way more expensive) from hell that will consume surfing into the great vast abyss of the megacorporations
One aspect that everyone has missed in all the conjecture about the Surftech/Boardworks is the aspect that RH raises. Surftech/Boardworks products basically are sold outside the normal shaper’s network of Reps. and shops, so it is feasible for two shops located next to each other to sell the same line, albeit one from the “shaper” and one from Surftech/Boardworks. ST/BW have their own network and do not bother to check with the original label regarding existing distribution. I don’t know how CA works, but here on the East Coast having two outlets in the same market usually results in both dealers tossing the line. So in the long run, where is ST/BW “helping” the labels except for the $ in royalties it pays, which can probably be viewed as “Short term” given that ST?BW is actually serving to undermine the distributor (i.e. surf shop) that is loyal to the original label? One more thing, here’s a question: When the Surftech/Boardworks dealer has driven the local “shaper dealer” out of business or pissed them off and caused them to drop the line, where do you order a custom?
I think Harbour deserves respect for having the strenght of character to publically change his mind and for thinking about his workers. Patrick
Stop giving Rich a hard time. He is doing what he thinks is best for his company…and he is not hurting anyone else. If you dont like Harbour or his practices, just dont buy the product.
Mr Blade: Saying a person “deserves respect” is a compliment to the person. Take care. Patrick
leave Harbour over @ Harbour. He’s got his very own trip going there and it’s nothing like Swaylocks. He’s way too pinchie for anyone other than himself.
Well, Swaylocks is about OPEN communication. Excluding out some information relevent to surfboards will produce a lesser Swaylocks. Rob Olliges
Balony
THATS RICH !
I have only shaped a couple boards. Maybe Surftech will let me shape a plug. I mean, why not? The beginners that buy them won’t know if the rails are consistent or not. Just hope nobody has any expectations about foil, as I have not even begun to think about that one yet. But, hey, maybe it will work.
is there some sort of bullshit between the harbour message board and the swaylocks message board. ive noticed a few times people saying “swaylocks said this, harbour said that” hopefully they will get over it oneday.
I was talking to a friend the other day about a mutual acquaintance and she said, “You know he’s a Harbour Kook, don’t you?” I nodded, as I already knew he was a HaHarbour kook, but it struck me as funny. You say Harbour kook, and a certain image pops into any surfers mind. Try it on a buddy. Say Harbour kook and ask them what they visualize. Harbour kook is a new sub-species.
harbored kook builked
Self serving / self involved / self respect. Harbour NEVER wanted anyone to talk about surfboards other than his own. In my opinion, I care less about Rich and his trip with or without his overseas adventure. Southern California is SO saturated with “product” that his logic is, sad to say, true for him.
why does everyone care what rich thinks? why not what robert august thinks…or Bill stewart, or Phil becker, or Takayama. Rich has his own opinion, may not be the same as yours, but he deserves to have one without being atttacked for it. What about these shapers who still have surftech/boardworks boards? Ben Aipa, Robert august, Dale Velzy, Hobie Alter, Ren Yater,Hap Jacobs,D. Takayama, McTavish,Gordon & Smith, Johnny Rice,Haut,Nuuhiwa,Randy French,Randy Rareck, Micky Munoz, Steve Walden,Carl Schaper,Al Merrick,Hanson, Yancy Spencer, Mike Hynson, Bruce Jones, Linden, McCrystal, Bob Miller,Claude Codgen, Bill Frierson…nobody is giving these guys shit, and they still have surftech/boardworks paychecks coming in. Rich was noble to cut off his ties to surftech, it was something he believed in…unlike these names listed above. Why not attack them for taking the money out of the local shapers pocket? People are buying imported molded in thailand surftech/boardowrks and not the hand shaped boards you make here in America. Give Rich some credit, and think about these other guys who are still doing it.
Yesterday I saw a kooyak. Yes, a genuine kooyak. It was a kook on a kayak catching waves. Now, I don’t mean to say that all kayakers are kooks. Heck, no, but this guy was. He caught this wave at outside Tamarack and ran over a surfer, just ran him over. And the surfer wasn’t even in the way, just paddling out over the shoulder. In fact, the wave wasn’t even breaking yet. The kooyaker was in early and just ran the guy over. I said, “Did that guy just run you over?” The surfer, sort of in shock, said yes. Then the kayaker–oops, kooyaker, caught the next wave about five minutes later and ran the guy over again. Funniest darn thing I’ve seen in a long time. He wasn’t being malicious, just careless. Luckily his skegs didn’t cut anyone. I later watched him take a pounding on the inside, right by the jetty. That was funny too.
boardworks and surftech will eventually die. many a kook will venture to the land of pop-outs and most will likely learn of their mistakes and return to the soul. those who don’t will probably quit surfing anyway. they have a bad rap where i’m from. and the situation is not much different in other places from the people i’ve talked with. they are mostly summertime boards. meaning the weekenders the inlanders or whatever you call them. you know the ones that come to the beach maybe 2 or 3 times a summer. look at winter surfers and tell me how many of those things you see in the water. most winter surfers are real surfers with real surfboards. this is definitly a case of the more things change the more they stay the same. as far as the two companys mentioned, don’t go away mad, just go away.
Give it a break.Herb