SlicedFeet
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 12/16/04
Posts: 2553
Loc: Swarm Diego
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Though I like drama and fueling the fire. Those "retarded" people are people too. Can't you see the stoke on that guys face. Where's yours?
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"God, please protect me from your followers"
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SLOsurfer
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 01/16/02
Posts: 224
Loc: San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
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So you get on here, send me an "e-bitchslap", fail to offer any coherent support for your claims that "popout riders are kooks" despite the three refutations of that claim, and when asked directly to give an intelligent response, respond with smileys and an "I'm not gonna go there" statement?
You don't have to argue in an offensive way to prove your point, but when offering such a bold claim as "popout riders are kooks," it would probably be helpful to offer a coherent, sensible reason for that claim.
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Tofinosurfer
Grom
Reged: 05/18/04
Posts: 68
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The title of this thread should be:
Why do "some surfers" hate Surftech, and Pop-Outs in General?
Answer:
FEAR
Fear of change, of more crowds, of surfing being mainstreamed, of competition, etc....
All immature and negative reasons. Any adult over 18 hating a type of surfboard or those using it needs to grow up and be a big boy.
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Use polyester for what it was intended...stylish flammable clothing.
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dk
Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Reged: 09/14/03
Posts: 9546
Loc: Leucadia
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I don't get it. Why would an overpriced popout contribute to more people surfing? Maybe like 300$ overseas board being made...but not $700 pieces of plastic. And just for the record those are not the people who bother me. Anyone who shells out that kinda cash on their first board is obviously a full blown kook. Chances are he wont even make it out. 
The ones that kill me is the 18 year old kid who thinks he fukkin rips as he cus you off on his surftech. Given he wouldve done it on his poly to. But chances are he has this idea in his head that when I run him over his board will not be harmed. Which is completely wrong.
this thread is great.
anyone who starts surftech threads should be on a 1 week suspension from now on. We have done this far to often, and each time people claim the same things. 1 side (the owners of these beauts) says the other is afraid while the other (anti shittech) says the others are kooks.
bottom line is..ride what WYD rides and ask no more questions! 
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www.dksurfboards.com
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hmmm
Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Reged: 01/13/02
Posts: 9791
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i like my flex is bad thread better
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Cool waves and shaka-to-ya-frada-cause-youre-nothing-but-a-bradda
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SLOsurfer
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 01/16/02
Posts: 224
Loc: San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
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Quote:
i like my flex is bad thread better
Yeah, so you've got some shaping heavyweights to post...so what? My thread is longer.
And my thread is endorsed by Mike Ditka.
"I'm Mike Ditka, and I approve of this thread." - Mike Ditka
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TRI FINS ARE DANGEROUS
Tom Curren status
Reged: 01/10/02
Posts: 12997
Loc: Pavement, CA USA
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A few factors went into creating the Surftech debate.
The early Surftech ads had the words "environmental" and "unbreakable". Both claims are untrue and those words no longer appear in their ads.
The surf media got a little over excited and started to claim that "custom surfboards are things of the past". This even bummed out the shapers who had contracts with Surftech and it really upset surfers with specific needs and surfers who have longtime working relationships with shapers. I think this is where the bad blood began.
Surftech ran an ad claiming "no more mystery shapes" which again upset many of the shapers who have contracts with them. That is a pretty insulting thing to say about your clients and it is a jab at all the talented people out there making boards.
A lot of Surftech ads feature a grinning shaper posing with his Skil 100 with a row of KKL cut Clark Foam blanks in the background. This gives a false impression of what the boards are.
Surftech resisted putting a permanent Made in Thailand logo on the boards. The argument was, it is okay to outsource surfboards because no-one cares. But if no-one cares why not put the logo on? Now they do, but they did a great job of making it hard to read.
A lot of people who were neutral on Surftech took sides when Surftech started painting faux stringers on the boards. I'm not sure whose genius idea that was but it is viewed as really insulting to a lot of shapers and surfers.
The "exact copy" of the master shape is a slippery one and probably the best kept secret in the surf industry. The edges are softer, the vee and concaves are not the same and if you want to freak yourself out go get yourself a rocker stick and start measuring.
For the old school longboard shapers Surftech is seen as a retirement program and a great lifter of the guilt people feel for hassling guys like Donald Takayama for bro deals for 25 years. I love Sam George's favorite line, "What do you have against Donald Takayama?" This kills me because we all know that Donald is still very much involved in shaping.
The flex issue, 90's surf magazines are filled with articles on the magic of foam and wood stringers flex patterns. Suddenly a company with non-flexy boards is taking out 2 page color ads and nobody cares about flex anymore.
This is where your personal taste come in, a lot of people have abandoned Surftechs because of their rigid feel, some people don't mind or even like it.
For shortboards it is probably less of an issue for most people than longboards. Forgiving flex in longboards is vital in my opinion. I am getting tired of watching people getting bucked off those things.
Surftech doesn't pay the shapers enough. I know this sounds crazy but according to the Fortune magazine article on Randy French Surftech makes 70,000 boards a year and is a 30 million dollar company. They only paid out a million dollars in royalties, that is divided across all those models for all those different labels. According to the article the "shaper" gets $30-50 bucks per board. At first this sounds great, money for nuthin' bro. But it just shows how cheaply shapers can be bought off.
Sure, Surftech does a lot of advertising for you and distributes your boards for you but with the cost of a Surftech being (I'm told) $108 to land in the US and being sold in surf shops for $650, well...I would think that shapers would want at least $100 to start. Randy French said in a recent Surfingmag.com article that he is basically retired now!
One thing that concerns me (and most of you will not give a ***** about this) is that I worry about the instrumental behind the scenes shaper who works for surfboard companies like Rusty and Channel Islands. Rusty is not RDOT without Rick Hamon and Al Merrick is not Channel Islands without Russell. I fear that if Surftech did overwhelm surfing that those great craftsman would be discarded. There are a lot of great shapers that are introverts and instead of pushing their own labels went to work for other labels. If I were a shaper I would start working hard now on building a cult of personality so that I could someday be groovy enough to get a Surftech model.
Since it's 2006 I pretty much feel that the Surftech debate is dead and pointless. Custom boards didn't vanish. A lot of surfers who buy Surftechs also order customs, it is just the way it is.
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Surfboard Blog: Surfy Surfy
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hmmm
Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Reged: 01/13/02
Posts: 9791
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thats one of the best replies TFAD...well put.
Again although I love the way my poly boards ride, the future is really in a custom epoxy type of board or some variation of that. the small shop shaper/glass should be able to adapt to creating boards of these types and clark just jumped started everyone on it. As you mentioned in another post there should be some amazing boards coming in the future. I still see myself buying polys though but really I am open to epoxy. I got one eps board and an xtr on the way and will go from there..
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Cool waves and shaka-to-ya-frada-cause-youre-nothing-but-a-bradda
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rfe
Nep status
Reged: 07/15/03
Posts: 866
Loc: right around the corner
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Has anybody ever seen a Surftech without it's "bitchin" paint job? Fugly with a capitol F. 
Nice rant, TFAD.
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Too many clowns, not enough circuses
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susej
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 05/28/03
Posts: 3240
Loc: Japan
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Quote:
A few factors went into creating the Surftech debate.
The early Surftech ads had the words "environmental" and "unbreakable". Both claims are untrue and those words no longer appear in their ads.
The surf media got a little over excited and started to claim that "custom surfboards are things of the past". This even bummed out the shapers who had contracts with Surftech and it really upset surfers with specific needs and surfers who have longtime working relationships with shapers. I think this is where the bad blood began.
Surftech ran an ad claiming "no more mystery shapes" which again upset many of the shapers who have contracts with them. That is a pretty insulting thing to say about your clients and it is a jab at all the talented people out there making boards.
A lot of Surftech ads feature a grinning shaper posing with his Skil 100 with a row of KKL cut Clark Foam blanks in the background. This gives a false impression of what the boards are.
Surftech resisted putting a permanent Made in Thailand logo on the boards. The argument was, it is okay to outsource surfboards because no-one cares. But if no-one cares why not put the logo on? Now they do, but they did a great job of making it hard to read.
A lot of people who were neutral on Surftech took sides when Surftech started painting faux stringers on the boards. I'm not sure whose genius idea that was but it is viewed as really insulting to a lot of shapers and surfers.
The "exact copy" of the master shape is a slippery one and probably the best kept secret in the surf industry. The edges are softer, the vee and concaves are not the same and if you want to freak yourself out go get yourself a rocker stick and start measuring.
For the old school longboard shapers Surftech is seen as a retirement program and a great lifter of the guilt people feel for hassling guys like Donald Takayama for bro deals for 25 years. I love Sam George's favorite line, "What do you have against Donald Takayama?" This kills me because we all know that Donald is still very much involved in shaping.
The flex issue, 90's surf magazines are filled with articles on the magic of foam and wood stringers flex patterns. Suddenly a company with non-flexy boards is taking out 2 page color ads and nobody cares about flex anymore.
This is where your personal taste come in, a lot of people have abandoned Surftechs because of their rigid feel, some people don't mind or even like it.
For shortboards it is probably less of an issue for most people than longboards. Forgiving flex in longboards is vital in my opinion. I am getting tired of watching people getting bucked off those things.
Surftech doesn't pay the shapers enough. I know this sounds crazy but according to the Fortune magazine article on Randy French Surftech makes 70,000 boards a year and is a 30 million dollar company. They only paid out a million dollars in royalties, that is divided across all those models for all those different labels. According to the article the "shaper" gets $30-50 bucks per board. At first this sounds great, money for nuthin' bro. But it just shows how cheaply shapers can be bought off.
Sure, Surftech does a lot of advertising for you and distributes your boards for you but with the cost of a Surftech being (I'm told) $108 to land in the US and being sold in surf shops for $650, well...I would think that shapers would want at least $100 to start. Randy French said in a recent Surfingmag.com article that he is basically retired now!
One thing that concerns me (and most of you will not give a ***** about this) is that I worry about the instrumental behind the scenes shaper who works for surfboard companies like Rusty and Channel Islands. Rusty is not RDOT without Rick Hamon and Al Merrick is not Channel Islands without Russell. I fear that if Surftech did overwhelm surfing that those great craftsman would be discarded. There are a lot of great shapers that are introverts and instead of pushing their own labels went to work for other labels. If I were a shaper I would start working hard now on building a cult of personality so that I could someday be groovy enough to get a Surftech model.
Since it's 2006 I pretty much feel that the Surftech debate is dead and pointless. Custom boards didn't vanish. A lot of surfers who buy Surftechs also order customs, it is just the way it is.
Fantastic post TFAD! 
But I think you said it just as well in one sentence post- Black Monday when you said.... about not panicking...
uh...
what did you say again?....
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Don't panic, you can't kill art.
-TFAD
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internettoughguy
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 12/21/05
Posts: 272
Loc: The Internet
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what?
No flipping off surftech truck??
No surftech being put through the branch grinder?
No picture of that snapped surftech CI?
No picture of the old guy with the veneer tech snap and peeled uber delam?
@#!%&$ = What! This Thread is useless wif out any pix!
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But I do know that, as long as we live, we must remain true to ourselves.
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SLOsurfer
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 01/16/02
Posts: 224
Loc: San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
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Now if that isn't proof that popouts are superior, I don't know what is.
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SB_surfer
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 08/01/05
Posts: 2544
Loc: land of flat points
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I've never surfed one, but wouldn't mind it if the price was right and it was near the dims I wanted. I haven't found that yet, so I'm sticking with customs.
See attachment for French's sweatshop-I mean shirt.
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3 > 4 & 5
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rice
Duke status
Reged: 07/02/02
Posts: 17776
Loc: CA
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Quote:
what?
No flipping off surftech truck??
@#!%&$ = What! This Thread is useless wif out any pix!
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Teahupoo2000
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 01/29/02
Posts: 3467
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surfers shouldnt complain about surfers who ride surftechs.
surfers should complain about shapers who joined the surftech name. Like rusty, ci etc
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Teahupoo2000
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 01/29/02
Posts: 3467
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Bring on the future 
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oakfoils
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 10/01/04
Posts: 426
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For the most part majority of the riders I have spoken to that actually owned and have ridden one eventually has come back, most have mentioned that once the hype has worn off and they go back to their customs they forgot how well the poly's ride in comparison. Nearly all have said they would never buy another. That's from my personal experience, I'm sure all the shapers that jumped on the bandwagon with these pop-out companies will say the same, maybe not on record. But I have spoken to many that have mentioned this.
Simply the poly's just ride better.
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Oak Foils Customs
Keep Kustom Kulture Alive!
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3719
Loc: South Bay
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this is quite a thread. maybe a little outdated by now but i enjoyed reading, especially dave parmenter's letter of homeric proportions. bumpity bump for some good reading.
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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Havoc
Tom Curren status
Reged: 09/10/07
Posts: 10000
Loc: The OC Life
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dave parmenter is a douche of the highest level. always was, always will be.
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"motions of rippage is initated by the hind leg"-Northern_Shores
"Lemme know. I got endson gas"-20W
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3719
Loc: South Bay
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supporting arguement? i think he was off on a lot of his comments regarding non-pop-out epoxy construction but way more of his essay was spot on, imo. to be fair it was written a number of years ago and didnt mention epoxy glassed pu's at all.
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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Havoc
Tom Curren status
Reged: 09/10/07
Posts: 10000
Loc: The OC Life
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Quote:
supporting arguement? i think he was off on a lot of his comments regarding non-pop-out epoxy construction but way more of his essay was spot on, imo. to be fair it was written a number of years ago and didnt mention epoxy glassed pu's at all.
always had a negative and condescending view of the surfing world, especially the shortboard shapers and designs. then goes on to go full bore S.U.P. popouts from china  guy's the definition of hypocrite
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"motions of rippage is initated by the hind leg"-Northern_Shores
"Lemme know. I got endson gas"-20W
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3719
Loc: South Bay
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Quote:
Quote:
supporting arguement? i think he was off on a lot of his comments regarding non-pop-out epoxy construction but way more of his essay was spot on, imo. to be fair it was written a number of years ago and didnt mention epoxy glassed pu's at all.
always had a negative and condescending view of the surfing world, especially the shortboard shapers and designs. then goes on to go full bore S.U.P. popouts from china guy's the definition of hypocrite
if that is true, wow. i spent like half hour reading his letter and agreeing with it. if he really does endorse china sups now ummm 
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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gracepark
Billy Hamilton status
Reged: 09/23/07
Posts: 1421
Loc: no man's land
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
supporting arguement? i think he was off on a lot of his comments regarding non-pop-out epoxy construction but way more of his essay was spot on, imo. to be fair it was written a number of years ago and didnt mention epoxy glassed pu's at all.
always had a negative and condescending view of the surfing world, especially the shortboard shapers and designs. then goes on to go full bore S.U.P. popouts from china guy's the definition of hypocrite
if that is true, wow. i spent like half hour reading his letter and agreeing with it. if he really does endorse china sups now ummm
havoc is correctamundo
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indodreams
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 03/25/11
Posts: 300
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A few years ago i came back from a few months in Indo, no money,no boards all snapped/creased given to the local kids.
Borrowed a few boards from a mate but couldn't find any i that went for me, was having beers with another mate and he said he had a board i could have, he went and got it, it was a surf tech, now these boards look ugly with that 2 pac kinda coating at the best of times but this thing was also totally beaten up, i couldn't say no and it was the kinda measurements i like so i took it for a few surfs and was shocked when the thing actually went pretty good, so i gave it a new spray job to pimp it up and surfed it until i had enough $ to get another board, i then took it in my quiver to mentawai's the next season and actually surfed it a fair bit, but gave it to a local grom as it was so beaten up.
Now I still think surf tech's just look cheap and ugly and im not planning to deck my quiver out in them, but if they brought out a CI gravy i might consider getting one as i saw they do CI biscuits and I had a CI gravy and didn't mind it but after six months i decided to trade it in as it was getting beaten up real quick.
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Sanzabar
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 02/24/09
Posts: 231
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whatever...Surftechs are hot, I luv'em, tired of screwin around with inconsistent sticks and fickle shapers....durable, dependable and standards to judge others by
Edited by Sanzabar (03/17/12 07:52 AM)
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retodd
Tom Curren status
Reged: 02/22/09
Posts: 11188
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ReefTeef
Gerry Lopez status
Reged: 04/28/11
Posts: 1165
Loc: north county
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Quote:
whatever...Surftechs are hot, I luv'em, tired of screwin around with inconsistent sticks and fickle shapers....durable, dependable and standards to judge others by
Surftechs are definitly not "hot" Miss Hilton.
Inconsistent sticks and fickle shapers = your own lack of knowledge of design elements that work for you. One time I ordered a short and stubby quad and didn't tell the shaper how I wanted the rails and I got full rails. My mistake.
Durable is not the word your looking for. Junk is more like it. I don't break boards but I have snapped a Surftech into three pieces in overhead juice. I was young and nieve much like yourself. I looked inside the pieces and saw staples, paperclips, sh!t that looked like it was swept off a factory floor and COOLER FOAM. I felt shame, and said never again.
Standards to judge others by?
The only people who buy Surftechs are SUPers, Old guys who ride Funboards and think they will save money on dings and guys who surf shortboards and don't know the first thing about surfboard design and construction.
There was a time before you and I where everything made with care and quality came from the good 'ol USA. Well businessmen got greedy and put cheap labor in Asia and cheap materials together to make a lesser quality product and then they market it was "Durable".
Surfboards should be made by surfers.
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"Bull chit walks and money talks"
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ifallalot
Duke status
Reged: 12/17/08
Posts: 17981
Loc: Carlsbad, CA
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Quote:
whatever...Surftechs are hot, I luv'em, tired of screwin around with inconsistent sticks and fickle shapers....durable, dependable and standards to judge others by
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The only two things in life that make it worth livin is guitars tuned good and firm feelin women
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donniedarko
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 07/26/04
Posts: 2004
Loc: The Coast
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Besides Strives and Ultraflxs I never see them around. The longboards cost near a grand. Dont know why the hate. Tom Daums post was spot on. Id hate leashes and good wetsuits, that done more to empower the punter and kook to surf than any board made in Thailand. Also a kick in the gut to Craigslist too, thats the biggest retailer to the barn then anyone else
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face the mirror...
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revolutionsurfer
Gerry Lopez status
Reged: 07/12/08
Posts: 1030
Loc: C.S.A.
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I love the smell of pop outs in the morning. It's smells like............victory.
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Ring the bell that still will ring. Theres a crack in everything. Thats how the light gets in.
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SurfZombie
Tom Curren status
Reged: 06/29/04
Posts: 14198
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
supporting arguement? i think he was off on a lot of his comments regarding non-pop-out epoxy construction but way more of his essay was spot on, imo. to be fair it was written a number of years ago and didnt mention epoxy glassed pu's at all.
always had a negative and condescending view of the surfing world, especially the shortboard shapers and designs. then goes on to go full bore S.U.P. popouts from china guy's the definition of hypocrite
if that is true, wow. i spent like half hour reading his letter and agreeing with it. if he really does endorse china sups now ummm
Yeah, there's a big thread on it somewhere. He even had some long winded monologue that he wrote explaining why he did it and it just sounded horrible. Guy jumped at the chance to put some coin in his pocket and gave the gigantic double middle finger to his morals and everything he preached loudly about in the process.
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jimthegenius
Grom
Reged: 06/09/04
Posts: 70
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I have resisted all and every attempt by outsiders to do a molded model of any of my boards. Dale Dobson got all excited about Hynson and his Boardworks models, "Hynson is making 50,000 dollars a year off his models", "I need a high performance and a nose rider model", "after all, I have to look out for my future".
So, Dale and I would split a 50 dollar royalty, but Boardworks contracts you to 500 boards per model, I only build 300 custom boards a year, all of them take time, but I bill out at 350.00 per board to make my biz run, anything less and I would go out of business. Even if I could convince "clients" to purchase a molded model and sell 1000 of them, that's an extremely unlikely scenario, I'd wind up with 25,000 dollars, or less.
Dale insisted he needed a better sponsor, I said there were plenty of sponsors, just they were all outside my door.
51 years and every f'n one is still made in the US of A, signed and shaped by myself.
Now I do recommend a soft, molded, used or similar board for beginners, I WON'T build or sell a brand new board to a person who has never surfed before, all the bells and whistles in the world can't make a beginner surf any better. I'd walk into traffic before I'd put my name on a non custom product
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ifallalot
Duke status
Reged: 12/17/08
Posts: 17981
Loc: Carlsbad, CA
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Quote:
I have resisted all and every attempt by outsiders to do a molded model of any of my boards. Dale Dobson got all excited about Hynson and his Boardworks models, "Hynson is making 50,000 dollars a year off his models", "I need a high performance and a nose rider model", "after all, I have to look out for my future".
So, Dale and I would split a 50 dollar royalty, but Boardworks contracts you to 500 boards per model, I only build 300 custom boards a year, all of them take time, but I bill out at 350.00 per board to make my biz run, anything less and I would go out of business. Even if I could convince "clients" to purchase a molded model and sell 1000 of them, that's an extremely unlikely scenario, I'd wind up with 25,000 dollars, or less.
Dale insisted he needed a better sponsor, I said there were plenty of sponsors, just they were all outside my door.
51 years and every f'n one is still made in the US of A, signed and shaped by myself.
Now I do recommend a soft, molded, used or similar board for beginners, I WON'T build or sell a brand new board to a person who has never surfed before, all the bells and whistles in the world can't make a beginner surf any better. I'd walk into traffic before I'd put my name on a non custom product
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The only two things in life that make it worth livin is guitars tuned good and firm feelin women
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Greg Griffin
Phil Edwards status
Reged: 10/31/04
Posts: 6794
Loc: Sunset Point, Hawaii
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Jim has been the "hidden" shaper of many labels high end customs in the past.
Not a great situation but pays bills.
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www.griffinsurfboards.com
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Havoc
Tom Curren status
Reged: 09/10/07
Posts: 10000
Loc: The OC Life
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Quote:
I have resisted all and every attempt by outsiders to do a molded model of any of my boards. Dale Dobson got all excited about Hynson and his Boardworks models, "Hynson is making 50,000 dollars a year off his models", "I need a high performance and a nose rider model", "after all, I have to look out for my future".
So, Dale and I would split a 50 dollar royalty, but Boardworks contracts you to 500 boards per model, I only build 300 custom boards a year, all of them take time, but I bill out at 350.00 per board to make my biz run, anything less and I would go out of business. Even if I could convince "clients" to purchase a molded model and sell 1000 of them, that's an extremely unlikely scenario, I'd wind up with 25,000 dollars, or less.
Dale insisted he needed a better sponsor, I said there were plenty of sponsors, just they were all outside my door.
51 years and every f'n one is still made in the US of A, signed and shaped by myself.
Now I do recommend a soft, molded, used or similar board for beginners, I WON'T build or sell a brand new board to a person who has never surfed before, all the bells and whistles in the world can't make a beginner surf any better. I'd walk into traffic before I'd put my name on a non custom product
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"motions of rippage is initated by the hind leg"-Northern_Shores
"Lemme know. I got endson gas"-20W
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bjornfree
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 05/06/11
Posts: 418
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Any board that's fun: I don't care where it's from, who made it or what the construction is. I've gotten away from surftechs but there's some good ones. The plus's are they're light, durable and you know exactly what your're gonna get. However they tend to lack feel, like playing a plastic violin VS a hand made wooden one but durability is the tradeoff. This made in Asia nonsense is laughable. No one is up in arms over Asian cars, watches, cameras, stereos or TV's. Having one in your quiver is OK folks. Getting worked up over peoples choices is pretty funny but makes for a good debate...
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I've got my new horizons out to sea...
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Ivan_
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 12/16/10
Posts: 1825
Loc: Cabo, Mexico
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If an asian shaper such as Yoshinori Ueda moved to the US, would you order a board from him? Lots of guys love his fins 
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Cabo!
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3719
Loc: South Bay
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I know this has been hashed out repeatedly but the difference with all the plastic everythings made in china vs local craftsmen SURFERS building boards in your own neighborhood/state/country, should be self explanatory . I mean, everything else is already made in china, but that DOES NOT mean we can or should become complacent with the homegrown board building industry.
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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hyper2
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 06/11/09
Posts: 414
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Kinda glad i didnt pop on these Stretchs for $399 http://www.realwatersports.com/gear/surfing/surfboards?manufacturer=115 i made a call to the stretch spoke with dave was told the poly boards are made by surftech
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SharkBoy
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 10/22/04
Posts: 2561
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i personally couldn't care where the board was made, if american or not. Nor do i savour the scent of 'fresh resin'
But, like oakfoils said, custom boards just work better for me.
The real bummer is how exploited surfing is. Sure we get webcasts, free videos, more info online etc etc, but there is hardly any habitable places left in the world that doesn't get crowded.
I liked the old days of buying a t-shirt to show my support of the local scene, but it's just like music. Most consumers have underdeveloped taste buds and they are the largest market, thus radio/tv is saturated with poop and we are seeing the same thing in surfing. Big brands make stuff that all looks alike, and 7s is under the hands of every happy novice who is treading water in the impact zone when I'm trying to take off.
The lack of respect to the rules, and sense of entitlement bugs me probably the most. Just a really obnoxious attitude. And I've probably attached the surftech/global surf industry rider to that attitude. Therefore, my irritation isn't directed at the products, rather the people that buy them.
I expatriated from the states about 7 year ago to another country that hardly had a surf scene. Now, there are like 6 surf travel agents, websites, camps, magazines, stores and they are all run by people with probably less than 5 years of surfing experience.
When I see their 7d short depth of field high shutter speed Marine Layer rip off vids with significantly worse surfing, I don't know whether or not to laugh or cry
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Like a blind man at an orgie, I was gonna have to feel my way around.
Edited by SharkBoy (06/05/12 04:30 AM)
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