Today I went surfing at the little jetty in OB. While walking to the water I noticed a huge tent with a Surf Tech banner, and a zillion boards underneath. When I got out in the water I noticed that everyone around me was riding brightly colored epoxy boards with logos all over them. It was kind of a weird contrast to see me with my balsa board, and a whole crowd of these other boards. I’m not sure what was going on. Maybe they were letting people demo the boards. I feel like I just got a peek into the line-up of the not-to-distant future, and it was kind of scary.
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Today I went surfing at the little jetty in OB. While walking to the water I noticed a huge tent with a Surf Tech banner, and a zillion boards underneath. When I got out in the water I noticed that everyone around me was riding brightly colored epoxy boards with logos all over them. It was kind of a weird contrast to see me with my balsa board, and a whole crowd of these other boards. I’m not sure what was going on. Maybe they were letting people demo the boards. I feel like I just got a peek into the line-up of the not-to-distant future, and it was kind of scary.
Kind of reminds me of that old German silent movie “Metropolis”
it is the lineup of the future…not everyone can afford custom made boards and not everyone has the skill/time/tools to make their own…the board construction is not the bad thing in the water…its the kooks riding them…which leads to the question…if every board cost upwards of $700-$1500 how many kooks would be out there and how many more people would get the skill/time/tools to make their own boards
I’m not so sure about the cost of a custom and a Surftech type popout. They are pretty close in cost from what I’ve seen. As to having the skill/time/tools to make your own. I think the people on this site have shown that ANYONE can make a surfboard. And, make a pretty good board, too. With close tolerance blanks, the ability to make simple measurements, and minimal tools a surfboard is a pretty simple procedure. If I can do it, so can you.
Swied, look out for the dirty needles. Mike
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the board construction is not the bad thing in the water…its the kooks riding them…which leads to the question…if every board cost upwards of $700-$1500 how many kooks would be out there and how many more people would get the skill/time/tools to make their own boards
If board prices became prohibitively expensive (i.e. base-priced so high it seriously impacted annual finances for individuals and families) there would be a higher percentage of kooks and pricks and sheep.
It would be about shopping and spending, rather than riding waves. The “gene pool” would be diluted as the people with real lives and functioning intelligence and moral and ethical compasses have to make decisions not just based about what they want at the moment but based on how those decisions impact those around them. It would be a gradual process, perhaps, as aging equipment wears out and is not replaced…then perhaps to accellerate as the percent of kook vs. real surfer skews out of control. Such a trend could lead to an increase in experienced surfers building their own early on, but I don’t know if that would keep enough people in to maintain balance against a flood of Platinum Card Shoppers.
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it is the lineup of the future…not everyone can afford custom made boards and not everyone has the skill/time/tools to make their own…the board construction is not the bad thing in the water…its the kooks riding them…which leads to the question…if every board cost upwards of $700-$1500 how many kooks would be out there and how many more people would get the skill/time/tools to make their own boards
Lot of talk about kuks…fact is I know pros and highly skilled surfers that are bigger kuks than anyone when it comes to maturity and attitude.
I have no issue with the popout tech…it’s the hype with lies I don’t like. I think the popouts out of Vietnam used by placebo blow away Surftech and boardworks from what I have seen.
When the public decides it’s no longer willing to pay for expensive hand shapes then other alternatives already on the market will start lowering their prices and the days of expensive surfboards for you average surfer will be done.
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I’m not so sure about the cost of a custom and a Surftech type popout. They are pretty close in cost from what I’ve seen.
Yeah, I don’t see price being the point here. In fact, my personal experience has been that custom shaped boards are cheaper. I think the main issue is marketing and advertising. Big dollars are going into making sure that all the cool people are seen riding these boards. Pretty soon it just won’t be hip to have a custom board.
I guess I don’t notice the advertising hype for any boards. I ingore advertisements in magazines, TV and the radio. Just background noise. I do see both beginner and expert riders on these boards. To me they are no different than the popout PU boards I see lining the racks in 2 inch increments made by computer machines. They may be better in that the laminations seem pretty solid. Mike
You laugh ???
It’s already happening as you giggle .
Check the fisheries in the gulf of mex.
surftech does this demo weekend thing all the time.
they bring all their models down to the beach with their local team riders and let the public try them all in one session.
it’s an interesting sales/marketing tool and quite effective since renting one at a time to find out for yourself can become quite an expensive venture. It’s a good way to balance out the shop owners who constantly push out the hype to make a sale to someone who doesn’t know really what they are looking for or how these things ride.
Other labels even Lost have been doing the same thing.
This is one thing custom solutions will never be able to compete against which is the ability to let the buyer try out the board first before deciding if they actually want to buy it or not. Because even customs don’t always come out as imagined during the planning phase due to poor communication. As such customs are always an expensive gamble.
When you ride your own creations it’s a little harder to be dissapointed or upset when it doesn’t work out as expected. It does motivate you to try and make the next one better though…
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When you ride your own creations it’s a little harder to be dissapointed or upset when it doesn’t work out as expected. It does motivate you to try and make the next one better though…
Good one Bernie…
A home depot foam/balsa compsand costs us about $150 to build. It takes us a while since we only work on weekends, and I only get one day a weekend to do it.
So far I only have 1 board out of 10 that I haven’t figured out how to ride. All the rest have been a lot of fun and I like and use everyone of them.