I’m a fan of EXCELLENCE. I don’t really like football, but I watch the Superbowl every year. I don’t really like bubble-gum pop music, but I love me some Justin Timberlake. How can you not like the BEST of something? …but then there’s the WNBA. I won’t watch that pathetic display of non-ordination. Ohhh my god how do you girls SUCK so bad at everything? It’s like watching a bunch of drunk 7th grade guys play. I can’t believe you have to go through life sucking that bad. You suck at being president, you suck at driving, you suck at TELLING A GOOD STORY with a beginning and an end. And a point. Good thing some of you are cute.
Everything Else
Clark Foam, supplier of 90% of the foam blanks that surfboard manufacturers use to make surfboards recently and unexpectedly shut it’s doors. While this is going to sting like hell short term, I think it is long overdue. And I would be happy to see the demise of the custom-shaped surfboard. Before you hate on me, open your mind and read on…
It’s RIDICULOUS that the overwhelming majority of surfboards made today are custom shaped! That’s why new boards are $500-$1000. It’s a freakin’ flotation device! It has no moving parts. It should be $100-$300 tops. Look at snowboards. Without the bindings (moving parts) they average $200-$300. And they are mass-produced not customized. I use the car analogy. You would never buy a custom made car just for you, because it would cost 1 million dollars or more. Different people have different needs. Honda makes a Civic, an Accord, a Pilot, etc, etc. You choose the model you like and that’s what you buy. And if you don’t like Honda, you have other brand’s models to choose from.
That’s how it should be with surfboard manufacturers. Different companies have shapers that design ‘models’ and those surfboard models are mass-produced and therefore become dramatically cheaper. Each person doesn’t need a custom shaped board. 99.9% of the surfing population is NOT good enough to need their board customized. How many pro snowboarders have custom boards? What about wake-boarders? Motor cross riders? All of these athletes rely on their equipment to excel in their particular discipline, but only a fraction of a percent have custom-made equipment. I’m not talking about different ‘options’ I’m talking custom-made from the ground up like almost all surfboards today are.
If you had 50 surf companies making 5 models each (super low-ball figure) you’ve got 250 boards to choose from, probably in different sizes too. That’s enough to find one that’s perfect for you. And if you really like it and destroy it…. just go buy another one! No longer would you have to lament the passing of a one-of-a-kind board. This kinda’ happens today anyway. The board you buy most likely was not custom-made just for you. A shaper has a model he sticks with and makes a lot of them. But he still has to custom shape each and every blank. That’s foolish. The shaper is a designer by nature. He should design masters and a machine can reproduce them. This is an unpopular viewpoint I have with my surfing peers, but I for one hope custom shaped boards become a thing of the past.
There’s also got to be a better solution for traction then rubbing messy, fahhking WAX all over the deck of your board! But that’s another argument altogether…
