Paradise Lost for Aussie Surfboard Makers Amid China Imports

[Trev]

They're doing a damn sight better than the fcuken car manufacturers, that's for sure. Few sights in Aussie m'facturing can have been as dispiriting as that of the Ford and GMH execs winging it off to Detroit last week to try to get a couple more hundred million from Head Office to support them in making dinosaur vehicles.

Haha Nick! Impeccable timing and ABSOLUTE BULLSH1t!

Media release sent out yesterday (embargoed until 9am this morning) from Ford happily stating that the Territory and other models will be produced in Australia until at least 2016. Which is about as long term as you get in the industry.

Try to keep up mate.

I think Nick's right on the money.
The Ford injection includes $34m in government money plus an unspecified amount from the Victorian government to improve fuel efficiency and safety on the Falcon sedan and Territory SUV, which are built in Melbourne.

Senator Carr, who led a delegation to Detroit which included South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill for talks with the heads of Ford and General Motors, said the investment reflected confidence in the future of Ford in Australia after a challenging period due to the high dollar and declining demand for large cars.

[dUg]

The best surfboard fins come out of China ( if you are willing to believe FCS and Futures hyperbole ), so why not the best surfboards?

Interesting perception that they will forever be somehow inferior to a locally "made in orstraya" product. What's the basis for that assumption?

Please, illuminate me.

[Animal_Chin]

those that dont go out of thier way to buy ausie made
if we keep going the way we are going, we will be the poor and china will be the rich.
we will be accepting tiny paychecks to make shit for them.

i dont care what anyone says, ill buy australian made if i can, because i love our lifestyle, our general wealth, and a relatively low unemployment rate.

And the rest of the world can go fcuk itself!

Hate that attitude....

[marcus]

those that dont go out of thier way to buy ausie made
if we keep going the way we are going, we will be the poor and china will be the rich.
we will be accepting tiny paychecks to make shit for them.

i dont care what anyone says, ill buy australian made if i can, because i love our lifestyle, our general wealth, and a relatively low unemployment rate.

And the rest of the world can go fcuk itself!

Hate that attitude....

well what are we supposed to do?
i like poor people just as much as the next guy, but i don't want to be one.

[Grooter]

With regards to the car debate

It's the same old shit time and time again. Ford and Holden fluff up a tabloid scare campaign every few years to get government commitment and stoke the patriotic fires to buy the Aussie made car. The cynic in me would suggest the timing is right for the upcoming Invasion Day celebreations. :?

Let's face it no government, and I mean no government, will let Ford or Holden die - and by extension the Falcon or Commodore. It just won't fcuken happen. The amount of jobs that would be lost at these companies, not to mention the suppliers and all the other people that build their livelihoods around these cars would be on a mammoth scale. In short it is political suicide by virtue of a 12 guage at close range to the head.

As a country we should get smarter at manufacturing (and Holden has done this rather well of late - the new Camaro in the US is a great example , how many of you know that the entire platform it's built on, not to mention the design of the car, was done here? We're pretty good at it). If we let manufacturing go then what do we rely on mining? agriculture? sheering more fcuken wool bags? our collective intelligence to drive new innovations in science and industry? No we'll be fcuked in the long run, look at Greece, Ireland, Portugal etc... all going down the shitter because they have no manufacturing, no "jobs for the dazzas and shazzas" when times get tough. Italy is going to survive because they still make a lot of stuff - and that is the main reason why.

I hate the tarriffs imposed like anyone else, I would like the idea of being able to avoid a nice Euro car that is a heck of a lot better than a Falcadore for the same price a Falcadore sells for now, but I'd rather not see manufacturing die in Australia more. We need it.

Hell the local surfers in Geelong must shit themselves every time the Falcon is threatened, imagine all those unemployed factory workers going surfing in their free time once the factories close

[swvic]

Hell the local surfers in Geelong must shit themselves every time the Falcon is threatened, imagine all those unemployed factory workers going surfing in their free time once the factories close

In their clapped-out 1970s dattos

[Grooter]

Hell the local surfers in Geelong must shit themselves every time the Falcon is threatened, imagine all those unemployed factory workers going surfing in their free time once the factories close

In their clapped-out 1970s dattos

Yep they just keep going the old Datsuns

[steve shearer]

The best surfboard fins come out of China

Nup. The best surfboard fins come out of fin foilers workshops.

Phil Way at Ballina Fluid Foils for one.

The difference between a plastic/nylon or even hex-core fin versus a hand-foiled fin foiled to your taste (I like a nice flexy tip on small wave fins, a stiffer fin for bigger surf) is night and day.

That logic carries over very easily to custom surfboard makers, especially ones who know how you surf and what kind of waves you ride.

Really, it's a surprise any experienced surfer can't see the benefits of custom surfboards. Especially over the long haul.

[Beanpole]

A bit like the difference between getting a tailored suit as opposed to buying a pair of jeans
Last custom board I got was pretty well exactly the same as the one in the shop except it had my name on it.
Now I'm sure I could go back and order another board but I thought I'd try something different and closer to what I was looking for
in the first place. Found it and have been happy with it for four years now. Sold the custom about a year ago.

Recently bought a new replacement but I'm not that happy with it so far but the juries still out on that one.
I'm sure if your shaper is someone that sees you surfing all the time then they can tune your boards but if your joe blow off the street then its pot luck.

My general "method" is if I see someone I know riding something that seems to go better for them than usual then I'm interested.

[2000man]

Throughout my teen/twenties I was a whore to the latest / greatest vanilla, pro-endorsed and fashionably branded stock board...
I'm now more discerning... formed a friendship with local shaper, who knows how and where I surf ... nothing beats a local custom board, immersed in the whole filthy process ... learning and appreciating the craft!

It's inspiring to witness the creativity of the aspiring 'boutique' 'niche' 'underground' shapers. To name but a few:
Sage Joske / N. Purchase Jnr / Black Apache / Sealegged / Vouch / Waxa / Dead Kooks / Thomas Bexton ... etc et al
I reckon the Aust. board industry is in good hands – so to speak.

[Indo dreaming]

Ive gone the total other way, always had customs as a grom, some went sick some not, then started getting boards off the rack as you can see and feel exactly what you are getting, some went good some not.

Then a few years ago spent a few months over Indo came back no boards, no $ all snapped all spent, mate gave me an beaten up old surf tech thing, ive always hated the things and i was even a bit embarassed riding it, but to my suprise the thing went pretty good.

Anyway i got some new poly boards, but every now and then id jump bak on the surf tech, sick of snapping/creasing boards or just watching them fall to bits ding by ding, I gave a fire wire a go(even though id liked the surf tech, i thought firewires looked better and had better flex),long story cut short, now im hooked and wont buy anything else, i really beleive there superior in materials and construction, light but strong and all the ones ive had have gone pretty good some better than others, but the best thing is i haven't snapped one yet and i rarely get a ding.

I know there not the china boards we are talking about but its just another side of the asian board market.

[steve shearer]

So how do you fix your dings on the FW surftechs?

[Animal_Chin]

Here's the balanced ACA report that probably started this whole topic:

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?vq=surf

Hyper-agro, illiterate, redneck local shaper vs business bloke giving consumers what they want.

[steve shearer]

cheap snake oil salesman extraordinare.

Anyone who buys this cheap shit from China without at least giving a neuron's worth of consideration to the real cost in buying this caca is probably a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

[steve shearer]

Hyper-agro, illiterate, redneck local shaper vs business bloke giving consumers what they want.

Why do you hate surfboard builders so much?

Find one in bed with ya missus?

[Animal_Chin]

Hyper-agro, illiterate, redneck local shaper vs business bloke giving consumers what they want.

Why do you hate surfboard builders so much?

Find one in bed with ya missus?

No, that was my cousin Brian. But we've moved on from that.

Not sure where you got that I hate shapers... that was just how ACA presented it.

My beef is with the whole support Australia at all costs gig. Take a global view and keep the parochialism out of it.

[steve shearer]

if you fail to realise the real costs in the acquisition of cheap asian made good by western consumers liberated by "globalisation" then your not some kind of internationalist......your just a bit of a dill.

Have a look around the world right now and see where all those cheap goods have got us.

And when we have to finally pay the piper for all the cheap crap we've bought it isn't going to be pretty.

[Nick Carroll]

They're doing a damn sight better than the fcuken car manufacturers, that's for sure. Few sights in Aussie m'facturing can have been as dispiriting as that of the Ford and GMH execs winging it off to Detroit last week to try to get a couple more hundred million from Head Office to support them in making dinosaur vehicles.

Haha Nick! Impeccable timing and ABSOLUTE BULLSH1t!

Media release sent out yesterday (embargoed until 9am this morning) from Ford happily stating that the Territory and other models will be produced in Australia until at least 2016. Which is about as long term as you get in the industry.

Try to keep up mate.

I don't think you get my drift.

The car industry in Australia is still addicted to handouts and to making old fashioned vehicles for lazy corporate fleet purchase under cover of said handouts. This despite almost 30 years of sustained pressure to get an act via tariff cuts, "last-time" govt prop ups and so forth...not to mention endless and relentless kicks to their arses by car makers across the Asian crescent, who've consistently outsold them to the average Australian. No other business in Australia could've got away with it this long. They're only managing to keep the poor old Falcon and the Territory going thanks to over $30m per year of govt money along with what this latest US visit gleaned (a similar amount). Going to Detroit to try to get more money from head office just sums it all up. Detroit, the city that beyond all others represents the meltdown of US-style heavy manufacturing...you could hardly think of a worse example to follow nor a place less likely to help with innovative solutions to Australia's long term heavy manufacturing issues.

Surfboard makers get fcuk all specialist government help and honestly, they don't need it in order to thrive, they're proving that all around Aust at the moment to all our advantage. They are the exact opposite of the car industry.