Heard the commentators say during the Billabong Pro at J-Bay, that Taj Burrow was riding a Firewire board in most, if not all heats. A pro using the board and making the final (and surfing insane all contest) seems like a good endorsement of this new gear.
Has anybody ridden one or know when they'll be available? The website doesn't seem to be too specific as to when avail. and how much they'll cost.
Firewire Surfboards
Moderators: jimmy, collnarra, PeepeelaPew, Butts, Shari, Forum Moderators
Nick Knack's got one but as he is a nob (and writing an article for asl) he has been short on the details .... so youse will just have to wait like me till;
a. the mag comes out and you forget to buy it like me ...
b. they update their website with at least some details ... :?
a. the mag comes out and you forget to buy it like me ...
b. they update their website with at least some details ... :?
If it's well engineered it's beautiful .
-
Nick Carroll
- Huey's Right Hand
- Posts: 26515
- Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:29 am
- Location: Newport Beach
These two stories might help youse all out.
+++
Nev Hyman has quit shaping and is betting the farm on technological change. The future of board making, Hyman says, looks a lot like the snowboard business. "You don’t see a shaper's name, you see a brand. At Burton they don't have a single designer, they have teams of designers all working on making the best boards."
The technological change he's betting on is a manufacturing concept developed by WA shaper Bert Burger, known in that state for his EPS epoxy boards built under the Sunova brand. Burger sold his technology to Hyman late last year, and is now heading R&D for Nev's newly christened FireWire Surfboards venture.
Building boards out of EPS is nothing new. The innovation, says Burt Burger, is a parabolic stringer running along each rail. Made of wood, the parabolic stringer is used to tune the board's flex.
"If you look at the technology of other board sports, it’s all about the flex of the equipment that gives you the performance," says Dougall Walker, former Billabong general manager and investor in FireWire Surfboards.
Walker has thrown in what he describes as a "substantial" amount of money, as has former Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin, and golfers Adam Scott and Iain Baker-Finch, along with several others who prefer anonymity. They've hired former Reef heavyweight Mark Price as general manager, acquired Arizona-based Resin Research, a company founded by epoxy pioneer Greg Loehr, and have set up manufacturing facilities in both the US and Australia.
At the time of writing, however, volume manufacture hadn't begun. "We're close, very close," Walker [said]. "We want everything to be perfect.
"Surfboards have been sitting in this comfortable hole for 40 years," Walker continues. "You cut it out, decide what sort of tail it's going to have… the only change that has happened was the Thruster, and that was, what, 25 years ago and nothing has happened since then."
Walker says that they showed the boards at the recent Action Sports Retailer show in the US and had lots of interest from US manufacturers. But, according to Hyman, those shapers are out of luck. They're not going to license the technology because the whole idea of the shaper – in the FireWire vision of the future – is going to go away.
"The shaper of the future will be an artisan, the sort of person you go to because you respect their ability to hand craft a surfboard. You might want something you can hang on the wall, or ride to get that retro feeling," he says.
Modern boards, Nev says, will be designed by kids with advanced degrees sitting in R&D labs. Custom shapes, as we know them, will go away, replaced by high technology.
The exit of Clark Foam has provided an unprecedented opportunity for new technologies – but will surfers accept boards made by boffins? Or will the call of the cottage industry culture remain too strong? Nev Hyman's betting his future (and big Billabong shareholder bucks) that it won't.
+++++2
Want a not-so-bold prediction? Before the decade is out the custom surfboard board will barely exist. And another prediction? By the end of the decade the only people that will care about polyurethane surfboards, the sort that you and I ride today, will be hobbyists, throwbacks and nostalgia buffs.
Think you've heard all that before? You probably have. But the last ten years has seen molded boards make huge inroads into the weekend warrior market. Salomon has invested millions – and is slowly making some traction at the top end. Chinese pop-outs have flooded eBay – and now a bunch of investors flush with Billabong-bucks, along with a mad professor type from WA, an epoxy freak from the Arizona desert and the man who was once Queensland's biggest board maker have joined forces.
Their goal is to kick surfboards through to the next level. Cottage industry, history, "soul" and all the rest of the stuff that some surfers get tied into knots about be dammed. "It's one of the crimes of modern surfing that the last real change was the thruster," says investor and former Billabong general manager Dougall Walker.
It's his involvement – and his money, along with dollars thrown in by ex-Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin, pro golfer Adam Scott and golf commentator Iain Baker-Finch – that's generating excitement. Along with the fact that most of the ASP Top Ten have orders in for the new boards.
So what's the deal? Twenty years ago the euphoniously-named Bert Burger, a young WA shaper working for Santosha, started getting interested in epoxy. Ten years later he had his own label and the tech was starting to come together.
Boiled down, the technology (which was called SurfBurger but appears to have been rechristened "FutureShapes") hinges on various densities of polystyrene foam vacuum bagged together. This is interesting, but hardly novel. The real innovation is a parabolic stringer running around the board's perimeter. "When you have the stringers around the outside you're not connecting the deck to the bottom, and so you've got a larger range of flex and flex memory," says Bert Burger.
By 1994 Burger was still labouring away on his own in WA, running a small business and refining the technology. Then Surftech happened. "What they were doing was the same as what we were doing in the 80's. And They were getting exposure and I was tucked away," he says. "I needed to get the technology out there."
So a few years later he shuttered the factory, tinkered, chilled out and at the end of 2004 contacted Nev Hyman. "I sold the technology to him, became a shareholder, and now my role is head of research and development, and production manager," Burger says.
Nev, once one of Queensland's biggest board makers, could see the obvious potential, but he needed capital. Happily enough, the Billabong stock market float had left Dougall Walker wealthy enough to retire 18 months ago. "I was content surfing, playing golf and hanging out with my family," Walker says. "I'd had proposals from various people, but I had no intention of getting back into the surf industry."
And that was exactly what he told Nev Hyman when he called at the end of last year. Thanks, but no thanks. Then he dropped by the factory anyway and was convinced to take one of the boards for a surf. "I could feel it. I was convinced straight away," he says. "A lot of the new technology boards have lightness and durability, but they don't have the flex. If you look at the technology of other board sports, well it's the flex that gives you all the performance."
He bought in, secured the technology (Bert Burger told [us] that the process wasn't patented. Walker says it is, adding that 'if Matt Perrin and Dougall Walker had been around when Simon invented the thruster, he'd have the rewards that the industry acknowledges are due to him') and began setting up a local factory.
They also planned expansion to the US, where they've purchased epoxy pioneer Greg Loehr's Resin Research business and set up a production facility headed by former pro surfer and Reef Brazil heavyweight Mark Price. "We're going to do domestic and overseas production," says Walker. "But initially we're going to focus on the US."
The closure of Clark foam, which had a virtual monopoly on foam production in the US gives them a wide open opportunity, Walker says. There's also the problem of toxicity. Existing board manufacturing is unhealthy and dangerous and the US Environmental Protection Agency is rapidly legislating conventional resins and blank materials out of existence. Epoxy, by contrast, is relatively safe and clean.
At the recent Action Sports Retailer trade show he says that Al Merrick, of Channel Islands, Rusty Preisendorfer and other major shapers expressed interest in the technology, but they're not quite at the production stage yet. "It's laborious and time consuming, and we're working on ways of making it more commercially viable."
What's not clear is whether they're going to go the SurfTech route, licensing shapes from existing manufacturers, or whether they're going to license the technology. "The beauty of these boards is that they are shaped, they can be customised and individually made.
He talks of being able to adjust the shape by millimetres, so it's not certain whether a surfer will be able to get a completely custom board. Then again, when was the last time you ordered a board that was completely custom and not just adjustments on a designer's existing shape?
There's a lot of money tied up in this venture. Walker won't be drawn on how much, but says it's substantial. And he says they'll have no problem raising more as they need it. "This will open up what's possible," says Walker. "Surfboards have been sitting in a comfortable hole for 40 years. It's amazing how slack board makers have been, and they're going to have to lift their game."
++++++ENDS
Since I own the copyright on these, I grant a limited license for their reproduction on realsurf forums. They may not be reproduced anywhere else, by any means whether electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without my prior written permission.
+++
Nev Hyman has quit shaping and is betting the farm on technological change. The future of board making, Hyman says, looks a lot like the snowboard business. "You don’t see a shaper's name, you see a brand. At Burton they don't have a single designer, they have teams of designers all working on making the best boards."
The technological change he's betting on is a manufacturing concept developed by WA shaper Bert Burger, known in that state for his EPS epoxy boards built under the Sunova brand. Burger sold his technology to Hyman late last year, and is now heading R&D for Nev's newly christened FireWire Surfboards venture.
Building boards out of EPS is nothing new. The innovation, says Burt Burger, is a parabolic stringer running along each rail. Made of wood, the parabolic stringer is used to tune the board's flex.
"If you look at the technology of other board sports, it’s all about the flex of the equipment that gives you the performance," says Dougall Walker, former Billabong general manager and investor in FireWire Surfboards.
Walker has thrown in what he describes as a "substantial" amount of money, as has former Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin, and golfers Adam Scott and Iain Baker-Finch, along with several others who prefer anonymity. They've hired former Reef heavyweight Mark Price as general manager, acquired Arizona-based Resin Research, a company founded by epoxy pioneer Greg Loehr, and have set up manufacturing facilities in both the US and Australia.
At the time of writing, however, volume manufacture hadn't begun. "We're close, very close," Walker [said]. "We want everything to be perfect.
"Surfboards have been sitting in this comfortable hole for 40 years," Walker continues. "You cut it out, decide what sort of tail it's going to have… the only change that has happened was the Thruster, and that was, what, 25 years ago and nothing has happened since then."
Walker says that they showed the boards at the recent Action Sports Retailer show in the US and had lots of interest from US manufacturers. But, according to Hyman, those shapers are out of luck. They're not going to license the technology because the whole idea of the shaper – in the FireWire vision of the future – is going to go away.
"The shaper of the future will be an artisan, the sort of person you go to because you respect their ability to hand craft a surfboard. You might want something you can hang on the wall, or ride to get that retro feeling," he says.
Modern boards, Nev says, will be designed by kids with advanced degrees sitting in R&D labs. Custom shapes, as we know them, will go away, replaced by high technology.
The exit of Clark Foam has provided an unprecedented opportunity for new technologies – but will surfers accept boards made by boffins? Or will the call of the cottage industry culture remain too strong? Nev Hyman's betting his future (and big Billabong shareholder bucks) that it won't.
+++++2
Want a not-so-bold prediction? Before the decade is out the custom surfboard board will barely exist. And another prediction? By the end of the decade the only people that will care about polyurethane surfboards, the sort that you and I ride today, will be hobbyists, throwbacks and nostalgia buffs.
Think you've heard all that before? You probably have. But the last ten years has seen molded boards make huge inroads into the weekend warrior market. Salomon has invested millions – and is slowly making some traction at the top end. Chinese pop-outs have flooded eBay – and now a bunch of investors flush with Billabong-bucks, along with a mad professor type from WA, an epoxy freak from the Arizona desert and the man who was once Queensland's biggest board maker have joined forces.
Their goal is to kick surfboards through to the next level. Cottage industry, history, "soul" and all the rest of the stuff that some surfers get tied into knots about be dammed. "It's one of the crimes of modern surfing that the last real change was the thruster," says investor and former Billabong general manager Dougall Walker.
It's his involvement – and his money, along with dollars thrown in by ex-Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin, pro golfer Adam Scott and golf commentator Iain Baker-Finch – that's generating excitement. Along with the fact that most of the ASP Top Ten have orders in for the new boards.
So what's the deal? Twenty years ago the euphoniously-named Bert Burger, a young WA shaper working for Santosha, started getting interested in epoxy. Ten years later he had his own label and the tech was starting to come together.
Boiled down, the technology (which was called SurfBurger but appears to have been rechristened "FutureShapes") hinges on various densities of polystyrene foam vacuum bagged together. This is interesting, but hardly novel. The real innovation is a parabolic stringer running around the board's perimeter. "When you have the stringers around the outside you're not connecting the deck to the bottom, and so you've got a larger range of flex and flex memory," says Bert Burger.
By 1994 Burger was still labouring away on his own in WA, running a small business and refining the technology. Then Surftech happened. "What they were doing was the same as what we were doing in the 80's. And They were getting exposure and I was tucked away," he says. "I needed to get the technology out there."
So a few years later he shuttered the factory, tinkered, chilled out and at the end of 2004 contacted Nev Hyman. "I sold the technology to him, became a shareholder, and now my role is head of research and development, and production manager," Burger says.
Nev, once one of Queensland's biggest board makers, could see the obvious potential, but he needed capital. Happily enough, the Billabong stock market float had left Dougall Walker wealthy enough to retire 18 months ago. "I was content surfing, playing golf and hanging out with my family," Walker says. "I'd had proposals from various people, but I had no intention of getting back into the surf industry."
And that was exactly what he told Nev Hyman when he called at the end of last year. Thanks, but no thanks. Then he dropped by the factory anyway and was convinced to take one of the boards for a surf. "I could feel it. I was convinced straight away," he says. "A lot of the new technology boards have lightness and durability, but they don't have the flex. If you look at the technology of other board sports, well it's the flex that gives you all the performance."
He bought in, secured the technology (Bert Burger told [us] that the process wasn't patented. Walker says it is, adding that 'if Matt Perrin and Dougall Walker had been around when Simon invented the thruster, he'd have the rewards that the industry acknowledges are due to him') and began setting up a local factory.
They also planned expansion to the US, where they've purchased epoxy pioneer Greg Loehr's Resin Research business and set up a production facility headed by former pro surfer and Reef Brazil heavyweight Mark Price. "We're going to do domestic and overseas production," says Walker. "But initially we're going to focus on the US."
The closure of Clark foam, which had a virtual monopoly on foam production in the US gives them a wide open opportunity, Walker says. There's also the problem of toxicity. Existing board manufacturing is unhealthy and dangerous and the US Environmental Protection Agency is rapidly legislating conventional resins and blank materials out of existence. Epoxy, by contrast, is relatively safe and clean.
At the recent Action Sports Retailer trade show he says that Al Merrick, of Channel Islands, Rusty Preisendorfer and other major shapers expressed interest in the technology, but they're not quite at the production stage yet. "It's laborious and time consuming, and we're working on ways of making it more commercially viable."
What's not clear is whether they're going to go the SurfTech route, licensing shapes from existing manufacturers, or whether they're going to license the technology. "The beauty of these boards is that they are shaped, they can be customised and individually made.
He talks of being able to adjust the shape by millimetres, so it's not certain whether a surfer will be able to get a completely custom board. Then again, when was the last time you ordered a board that was completely custom and not just adjustments on a designer's existing shape?
There's a lot of money tied up in this venture. Walker won't be drawn on how much, but says it's substantial. And he says they'll have no problem raising more as they need it. "This will open up what's possible," says Walker. "Surfboards have been sitting in a comfortable hole for 40 years. It's amazing how slack board makers have been, and they're going to have to lift their game."
++++++ENDS
Since I own the copyright on these, I grant a limited license for their reproduction on realsurf forums. They may not be reproduced anywhere else, by any means whether electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without my prior written permission.
Interesting stuff Col, but being a tad cynical from time to time 
these sound like they are going to be expensive with so much money tied up in R&D, acquistions and the who’s who of shareholders... didn’t hear any Carroll surnames mentioned. He’d be one of the 'prefer not to be named' or didn’t they remember to give you a call Nicknack? 
Funny thing is they keep saying the last invention was the thruster, so what the faaarrrrkinghell going to be making, single fins!
Yes, I know... Reality is there have been people playing away with all sorts of technology and designs, but just nothing like the scale of the new players, Surftech, Salomon and now FireWire. All comes down to one thing, MONEY and the pursuit thereof. 
Sounds to me like a variety of models and you have to fit into what they want. Is that what we want?
This could be a topic I can get my teeth into. Hey Butts, you got any spare?
these sound like they are going to be expensive with so much money tied up in R&D, acquistions and the who’s who of shareholders... didn’t hear any Carroll surnames mentioned. He’d be one of the 'prefer not to be named' or didn’t they remember to give you a call Nicknack? Funny thing is they keep saying the last invention was the thruster, so what the faaarrrrkinghell going to be making, single fins!
Yes, I know... Reality is there have been people playing away with all sorts of technology and designs, but just nothing like the scale of the new players, Surftech, Salomon and now FireWire. All comes down to one thing, MONEY and the pursuit thereof. Sounds to me like a variety of models and you have to fit into what they want. Is that what we want?
This could be a topic I can get my teeth into. Hey Butts, you got any spare?
-
Nick Carroll
- Huey's Right Hand
- Posts: 26515
- Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:29 am
- Location: Newport Beach
Yeah right. Look for me on the shareholder list of Quik and Billabong too.ric_vidal wrote:didn’t hear any Carroll surnames mentioned. He’d be one of the 'prefer not to be named' or didn’t they remember to give you a call Nicknack?
I think you're right and wrong ric, you really need to read more about Bert Burger and what drove him to develop this process before you make a call on the Evil Profit Motive. I know you will before too long.
Nick, I’m seldom right, but I do have an opinion and you just know I love to shareNick Carroll wrote:Yeah right. Look for me on the shareholder list of Quik and Billabong too.
I think you're right and wrong ric, you really need to read more about Bert Burger and what drove him to develop this process before you make a call on the Evil Profit Motive. I know you will before too long.
well my opinions anyway. Not to disappoint you >>> You can guarantee there is a profit motive, not saying that is bad or wrong, but there is obviously megabucks already thrown at this, “more if necessary” or words to that effect, so depends on how quickly they want to be back in the black.I love new technology, seek it out in fact because I DON’T make boards for a living, but the one thing I am totally against is board models, irrespective of who, what and how they are made and I couldn’t give a “flying you know what” who the designer is, it is intrinsically against everything I stand for when it comes to boards. Are you seriously going to tell me that you’ve spent nearly 40 years refining your act, knowledge and your equipment to be then told “try this model, we think you’ll like it”.
Now I know they haven’t finalised the “to custom” or “not to custom” scenario, but you can guarantee if these are hard and expensive to make you can virtually guarantee they will go down a model route, hence all these references to snowboards. Let’s face it, they want a Henry Ford production line, even more so than the smooth out the grooves of today’s CNC boards.
P.S. Moved the fins, correction, removed the fins from the quad and retrofitted some Speeed plugs to open it all up and despite using fins probably larger than intended it is now a lot easier to catch waves. Been well over a month since I rode it so the turning still just feels good. Muchos gracias Senor Nicholas!
I'd hotly dispute the claim that epoxy is relatively safe and clean in comparison to polyester.
There's been a thriving local cottage industry going on with model sailplane components made from vacuum-bagged epoxy fibreglass.
That has all but died recently with a significant number of the players reported to have been struck with severe acute and chronic skin and lung sensitivities as a result of their exposure to epoxy resins.
In other words, it's caused them such severe health problems they've had to give it away. Others have seen it and got out.
But then Nev Hyman always talked a million dollars.
There's been a thriving local cottage industry going on with model sailplane components made from vacuum-bagged epoxy fibreglass.
That has all but died recently with a significant number of the players reported to have been struck with severe acute and chronic skin and lung sensitivities as a result of their exposure to epoxy resins.
In other words, it's caused them such severe health problems they've had to give it away. Others have seen it and got out.
But then Nev Hyman always talked a million dollars.
Just had another brainwave while cooking pasta only difference is I don’t talk to myselfout loud
Think of this analogoy if you will, if you had the money, which would you rather or think more suited to you, tailor made clothing or off-the-rack?
The difference is with off-the-rack in surfboards, and by that I mean, Surftech, Salomon and probably Fire-me-Wires, they expect you to pay more for something that what, nearly fits?
only difference is I don’t talk to myselfout loud Think of this analogoy if you will, if you had the money, which would you rather or think more suited to you, tailor made clothing or off-the-rack?
The difference is with off-the-rack in surfboards, and by that I mean, Surftech, Salomon and probably Fire-me-Wires, they expect you to pay more for something that what, nearly fits?
Wouldn’t be to sure about that Professor, I think lots of advancements have been made with epoxy and if the same precautions, e.g. gloves, vapor masks, eye protection, iron lungHawkeye wrote:I'd hotly dispute the claim that epoxy is relatively safe and clean in comparison to polyester.
are used as poly it is quite OK. Offshore may have a better handle.
Last edited by ric_vidal on Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
There's bags of material over at swaylocks. Bert Burger used to post over there a lot. Here's a recent discussion:
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.c ... 54;#276254
go over there and search on "firewire". Oh, before you do, walk out the front door, go to the boozer, get yourself three longnecks of coopers sparkling (cheaper than a sixer) and then read it. And put your pedant goggles on.
C/N
ps: fark, just realised my next post is my 800th. Then again, I was always obsessed with watching the odo roll over to evens.
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.c ... 54;#276254
go over there and search on "firewire". Oh, before you do, walk out the front door, go to the boozer, get yourself three longnecks of coopers sparkling (cheaper than a sixer) and then read it. And put your pedant goggles on.
C/N
ps: fark, just realised my next post is my 800th. Then again, I was always obsessed with watching the odo roll over to evens.
that’s not what I call an endorsementcollnarra wrote:http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.c ... 54;#276254
-
fong
and don't forget 'cause there mass produced "pop outs" ( nothin more / nothin less) your paying more in mark up ( monnnneyyyy) for a board thats cheaper too make tooric_vidal wrote:
Surftech, Salomon and probably Fire-me-Wires, they expect you to pay more for something that what, nearly fits?
now i'm not saying "pop outs" don't have a place and market
there great 4 surfers of limited ability or who only surf thu summer i'm a history fan and this "pop out" roads been walked a million miles
and each time it...well.....failed
p.s u can buy a custom shortboard by leading shapers 4 $450 on the goldy right now
if u want a carpark spot at kirra go to the solemon shop.....plenty space 
p.p.s stupid natural footers
when i see slater and rest top 44 on 'em i believe the hype...till than "it's all been said b4" and the end will b nill impact on the cottage industy ( u know ...real people who surf u local and have there ass hangin out.....unlike the thailand product that has it's workers ass hanging out 4 dubious reasons)I think we have a paradigm shift Fongy. Surftech hasn’t and won’t fail unless they do something totally stupid. Salomon, well with their penetration you wouldn’t call it a success at the moment.fong wrote:and each time it...well.....failed
Yes we have been down this road before, but here we go again.
FireWire is interesting because it is different thinking as pointed out by Nick, but the technology isn’t new by any means so I wish they wouldn’t harp on about it like it is the greatest thing since the thruster. It IS STILL A THRUSTER. To build production facilities in the USA and Australia with the associated costs of labour in each country is interesting to say the least. So I can’t see this as being anything but expensive and I’ve read on Swaylocks suggestions of $1000.
Price point has probably been Salomon’s biggest drawback, any colour you like as long as it’s blue, and the fact they break like any other board.
Surftech, well I’ll leave that to Hawkeye to espouse their quailities... I still think they are for a certain audience
You can imagine business men (investors) at a meeting being sold the virtues of this incredible new product and being told all we have to do is get X% of the market and you’ll get your money back and a handsome return. Hope the personalities and egos don’t clash, how’s BASE going these days?
It’s not much different to what a load of ghost shapers do for probably $25 a board for nearly every name shaper. Can you imagine smoothing the grooves off 8 boards a day, probably all virtually the same, for someone you have never met or are likely to? Sound soulless? It’s a job for most people and that is the same with all the other aspects of their production.
Here’s an idea, go to a person who is actually going to shape your board, with or without the aid of a CNC, and gives a damn about the outcome!Anyway, I was just putting out the washing, housebitch that I am, and a thought came to me talking to myself again
“Take some pride in what you ride!” <<<end Ric’s rant>>>-
Nick Carroll
- Huey's Right Hand
- Posts: 26515
- Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:29 am
- Location: Newport Beach
Fongy I too am a fan of history. But! the pop-out road's most recent stroll-down is making over 300,000 of the world's boards each year
History is a good demo sometimes of the fact that received wisdom tends not to survive more than a generation or so.
Good or bad or neither, I suspect the backyard's share of the board market will shrink considerably over the next decade. All the different boardmaking styles will push pricepoints all over the shop. It'll just be easier for most people to go to a shop and buy that leading shaper's "custom" shortboard for $450 or less (as you spotted on the goldie).
As I've droned on about before, I suspect also that over time the actual custom hand-worked board, done by a master to personalised order over several weeks (in between swells), will become the most profitable one-off board in the market. I sorta hope this will happen, I'd love to see the gurus (AB and others) pulling $1250 or more per board -- a bit of a reward for 40 years of making killer boards for bugger-all.
Ric that's the tailor-made right there. The skill of the tailor's what counts.
History is a good demo sometimes of the fact that received wisdom tends not to survive more than a generation or so.
Good or bad or neither, I suspect the backyard's share of the board market will shrink considerably over the next decade. All the different boardmaking styles will push pricepoints all over the shop. It'll just be easier for most people to go to a shop and buy that leading shaper's "custom" shortboard for $450 or less (as you spotted on the goldie).
As I've droned on about before, I suspect also that over time the actual custom hand-worked board, done by a master to personalised order over several weeks (in between swells), will become the most profitable one-off board in the market. I sorta hope this will happen, I'd love to see the gurus (AB and others) pulling $1250 or more per board -- a bit of a reward for 40 years of making killer boards for bugger-all.
Ric that's the tailor-made right there. The skill of the tailor's what counts.
My main frustration with polyester boards is the horribly short life they have. Most frequent surfers love them to death within a year, more often a lot less. Consequently, a construction technology that offers greater strength, lighter weight and longer life has gotta be a votewinner.
The fact that they're selling so many tuflites at a price higher than the handshaped custom despite their lower production costs and a limited range of shapes has gotta be a signal to the market that it's not meeting customer demand in a significant market sector. The boards may not go as well as the custom that is tailored precisely to your abilities and surfing style, but then you don't suffer the risk of getting a board that's a precisely tailored miss instead of a hit, or having the right board with an inadequate glass job which can happen with both customs ad off-the-rack purchases.
That said, there's definitely a place for the artisan-produced custom board. My fantasy is that One Day Real Soon the market will be able to supply a custom-shaped board using the now-proven Tuflite construction style within 150% of the current price of a poly board. I think that's not so far away - maybe a few years. Well, I hope.
On the point of tuflites' light weight, my view now is that it definitely helps in small surf up to say head-high or just over, but over that you want something with a bit more heft, especially as it gets more bumpy. So the option to ballast up the boards a little would be helpful.
The fact that they're selling so many tuflites at a price higher than the handshaped custom despite their lower production costs and a limited range of shapes has gotta be a signal to the market that it's not meeting customer demand in a significant market sector. The boards may not go as well as the custom that is tailored precisely to your abilities and surfing style, but then you don't suffer the risk of getting a board that's a precisely tailored miss instead of a hit, or having the right board with an inadequate glass job which can happen with both customs ad off-the-rack purchases.
That said, there's definitely a place for the artisan-produced custom board. My fantasy is that One Day Real Soon the market will be able to supply a custom-shaped board using the now-proven Tuflite construction style within 150% of the current price of a poly board. I think that's not so far away - maybe a few years. Well, I hope.
On the point of tuflites' light weight, my view now is that it definitely helps in small surf up to say head-high or just over, but over that you want something with a bit more heft, especially as it gets more bumpy. So the option to ballast up the boards a little would be helpful.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests