Trends

This is kind of a bummer.  I guess people started losing interest in surfboard design a few years ago.  My interest has been increasing.  I guess I’m out of touch. hahaha

http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=swaylocks#q=swaylocks%2C%20%20surfboard%20design%2C%20%20standup%20paddle&cmpt=q

I haven’t noticed any decrease in the crowd factor.  What does this mean?  People still want to surf, but they don’t care about surfboard design anymore?

2004 was the year of Bert’s Vac Bag thread I believe…

The ranks of surfing swelled through media exposure and the marketing of surf-related products…a large percentage of the surfing market created , have put people in the line-up that rarely catch a wave…(lol)…this “trend” you speak of , is there any way we can encourage it ?

That orange line is the most disturbing of the three. A “trend” I wish had never happened. Worst thing to ever appear in the water, bar none.

The economy went down the shitter…that’s what happened.

The leash, perhaps?

You’ve properly nailed it, I’d say. :wink:

Is this a bad thing? This is just a reflection that surfing is not the “In” trendy thing that it once was.  The economy has had an effect yet to the core surfing population a quality made board is a priority.  

Sales of offshore Boards have stagnated . GSI was taken over by it’s creditors and they dropped a ton of lines that they sold. I have heard that the factories in Asia are not getting the orders like they use to have about 5 years ago.  A great many of the mega corporate shops are cutting back and closing stores.  

 Lets face it it is easier to play a surfing video game then it is to actually get out in the water and use your body. 

google trend perhaps indicates that standup paddle and surfboard design are inversely related… or the former is driving away the latter. 

Well said artz. It’s all cyclical and the core guys remain doing what they love. Interesting to actually see those statistics though.

some of it is burn out

plus unexpected things happen in life

and there never seems to be enough time to do everything you need to do when you are a hobbiest (don’t forget your honey do lists too)

 

for me 

got some form of epoxy exposure a while back almost died(suffocated)

The I discovered my wood craft roots again and started making other things, beautiful things that did not take up as much time or ost as much to create a smile

then a late treated burst appendix almost died again (still recovering)

for a while it seems like my brother was building a new board every weekend

maybe it was because he kept dropping them in the dirt under his house where he worked while he was shaping or glassing them (joke)

then he had a heart attack and had to have open heart surgery (out for a year)

Uncle D had the same happen to him last year when I had my burst appendix and he’s just getting back into surfing like me

we’re all getting older with more distractions because of it

but the spark is still there

just seems there not enough time.these days to do everyting you want versus need to do

 

I think the popularity of surfing is still there, but it may be from just riding, and not building. The magazine ads are still leading those who only care about having the right logo and shape. Then there’s the car salesman types working at the shops. They’ll get you on the right board.

The group of surfer builders is very small compared to surfers who don’t build boards. Every beach community has one or two who are still playing with designs and materials making things that are unique.

I think the leading edge of board building is vacuum bagged or partially molded composites with new (non poly) cores rough shaped on a machine. Lots of people don’t have the money or time to play in that league.

Cyclic trends, board design will probably make a comeback at some point.  As long as everyone who wants to can who cares.  I do think this place sparked a revolution early in the 2000’s which led to some great movement within the industry. Think about what it was in 2000.  The hand build thing seems to be getting a bit stronger to me at this point but a lot of the recent loses are societal. Hard to get generations of people interested in building something with their hands when they never had a shop class and saw posters in school every day with slogans like, “Don’t work hard, work smart.” Industry wasn’t alone in getting rid of manufacturing jobs in the US. Also as stated above we are in the midst of losing the early generations which created a lot of the basics, 60’s and 70’s builders. Took us from wood boards to the three fin in 25 years … not bad.  That will be a loss but then such is life.  

"Lots of people don't have the money or time to play in that league."

Agreed.  And until they do, they won't get it.  There is a lot of high tech stuff that goes in to mass producing some of the newer boards like what Starboard is putting out.  I'm pretty sure they're made by Cobra, but Starboard specs some stuff that seems to be a step (or two) above what some other Cobra manufactured brands are doing.

$1200-1500/board seems steep at first glance but tech like that might be worth it.  Try putting the stuff together and making one yourself.  Then try cranking out 10,000 of them.  It takes a good sized factory, some impressive machinery and a lot of workers to pull that off.

 

me, I just like to build a few surfboards, and ride 'em

low tech - hand drawn shapes - hand made boards

not very trendy, or impressive

but fun!

See -  'New' surf tech from starboard thread. 

I like a couple of things about the boards.  They're blowing the doors off of conventional wisdom width parameters, and are exploring new concepts in material tech.  Pay the price, build your own, or stagnate.

It's also somewhat refreshing to see 'gloss/polish' being replaced by sanded/primered carbon... Kind of gives it an underground look.

We may see these little colored lines as

the reflection of the acceptence

of the mass production board

on the surface measurements

of a statistical pool of information.

I.E.ad finitum repeats tearing holes in the

concious desire to have a board that is

not quite the same as all the other boards

on the freeway to mediocrity.Within the state

of medeocrity we have the ciudad  Conformity.

Conformity wher the population swells

populated by recent converts to the new religion

brought from the neighboring planet

of Oblivia.  The race of inhabitants

on oblivia are  respectfully called Oblivioids.

some of my best friends and even a

brother in law or two were early converts.

The Obs are clearly at their best

simply oblivious and will aquire 

tools and equiptment that allow the 

maintainence of the oblivious attitude…

…ambrose…

while them what’s not payin’ attention

aint aware when another wave slips by,

and the man with a sense of attention

and highly developed sense of wave

selection is on it in a heartbeat…

 

Also just remember, even though with offshoring much has changed…surfing is probably one of the most resilient industries. I recently read an article that said 60% of surfboard sold in the US are still made here. Compare that with other board sports like wakeboards, SUP, where 95% is overseas… It will be interesting to see where this all goes. We need to find an onshoring model that competes with Surftech. But when the older generation hangs it up are the new guys going to want their boards manufactured overseas as well, or do you think they can develop their own chops in the US to remain competitive?

I just can’t wait to see what the level of surfing is like once more pro surfers are dialing in their equipment without the restriction of the current standard pu/poly or even eps/epoxy for that matter…

Here’s to you Randy.