My World

I work in the surf industry. There are many things happening in my world that I believe are a microcosm of other industries here in the US. My point of view is not protectionist as I believe we need to be competitive however I do believe to be fair we need a more level playing field. Also surfing is a special. The experience can't be quantified like other industries are. It is a completely unique and personal experience. Here are some thoughts on that...

Wake Up!

I don’t know what has happened to our wonderful world of surfing. The craze for collectors to find old long boards has now moved into the 70’s era and beyond. It is a good thing that a history is now developed, understood and preserved through museums and collectors. However, as I think back on the history, one thing stands out far above board design, movies, magazines, clothing companies, etc. and that, my humble reader, is individuality.

This new wave of surfboard construction with boards being made in molds is killing individuality and is starting to look like what happened in Detroit. Just look at the beautiful cars of the ‘60s compared to today’s wedges. Any kid could stand on the side of the road and name the cars because they were each different and individual. Today it is hard to tell a Mercedes from Hyundai. Our surfboard industry is going the same way. That saddens me.

When one shaper, designer, or artist comes up with something new there seems to be a mad rush for everyone else to have their version of it right away. Rennie Yater is building some of the most beautiful surfboards on the planet working together with Kevin Ancell and the Abalone/Mother of Pearl inlays. I sincerely hope he gets to keep this to himself. Once everyone else is doing this, it devalues the entire lot.

As a kid I remember being very thoughtful in the selection of each of my new boards. Besides having a great shape by someone that I admired in the surfing world, I also wanted some special color I liked or a different design from everything else. That was so important. Today, a surfer could be caught at the beach standing next to another surfer with the exact same board! Not only same color, but same shape, decal placement, fin – everything! That is because these new boards were popped out of the same mold in an asian (or elsewhere) factory.

Yes, it is true that surfboard technology holds no secrets or special skills that can’t be learned by any reasonably talented craftsman. It is also true that the person smoothing grooves on a machined blank or laminating or sanding doesn’t have to be a surfer but I feel there is something missing without that connection. Is that the elusive “soul” that everyone speaks about? Is this connection the essence of soul? Maybe it’s not whether a shaping machine was used or not, but the degree to which the craftsman is involved with the final product. I’m not sure I have the answer but I do know something is missing.

There was a day when a surfer would only get a board from a guy that had experience with that place or size or style, etc. You wouldn’t go to a known long board shaper to get the state of the art in short board design – not because the long board shaper wasn’t capable of doing a short board but because the short board shaper would have a closer connection to the experience. Today, we have boards by the thousands coming out of factories where some of the workers haven’t even seen the sea. Where is the connection?

I was recently in a surf shop with a display of beautiful new carbon fiber boards. The boards looked great, the technology is awesome and all five of them lined up to make a beautiful presentation looked exactly the same – shiny black carbon. Where is the individuality in that? To me it’s the difference between original art and getting a digital copy printed on canvas. Yes, the image is still good, it still looks nice hanging on the wall, and it looks exactly like your neighbor’s hanging on his wall. It’s bad enough that we go to Ikea for furniture (and art?) and to Walmart for clothes and (it’s almost sacrilege) to Costco for a surfboard.

Has a surfboard just become another commodity to be manufactured, used up and tossed up on the heap of other waste we so readily produce? Many people talk about the cost and yes, Costco has been selling boards for less that I can buy the materials to make my own. Cost, however, must be considered in the broader sense. What is the cost to the shapers, laminators, pin liners, sanders, etc. that have put in a life time of dedication to something they live everyday? Look at what the cost has been to Detroit since cars have become a commodity. Surfboards, even far more than cars, should not fall into the commodity realm.

Surfing and surfboards must remain the realm of the individual and there are two key ingredients that separate surfing and surfboards from all other things that we have and do. To me one of the most beautiful things about surfing and surfboards is its purely subjective nature. The surfboard then is a purely personal experience and the ride on the wave is a purely individual interpretation of the experience.

There are no constants in surfboards. This fact is demonstrated everyday by the fact that two surfers could each have a board they love yet when they switch boards they could both feel like they are riding dogs. This fact is also true of the massed produced machine shaped and molded boards. No two ride identically and therefore personal preference becomes the quantifier of what is good and bad.

This subtle truth also differentiates surfing from everything else. Even the closest connections with a sport like snowboarding, don’t have the individual feelings from board to board. That together with the fact that in any other outdoor sport, anywhere on the fall line the rider can stop and pick his line. This changes the entire scenario. One of the surf companies nailed it when they came up with the tag line…”Only a Surfer Knows the Feeling”. This is absolutely true and true not only of surfing but of surfboard manufacturing as well.

I think it is time to wake up. Surfing is a chance to be an individual, slow down, breathe deep, appreciate life, and be a part of the natural world. Let’s keep surfing and surfboards apart from the rest of our crazy world. Let’s leave this last bit of nature’s magic to those that have experienced it and then can translate that magic through the tips of their collective fingers into something that is beyond the realm of commodity. With a respect for the individual, the commodity can’t survive. Wake up!