How much has shaping surfboards changed over the years? What has become normal now was not accepted once, or at least looked at with some scorn. Shaping machines, profilers, even molded boards are Ok. It’s interesting don’t you think, the way the surfboard industry has evolved and changed?

I can remember when one of the first shaping machines in California ramped up their business. They had to try and keep their business location secret so vandals would have a hard time finding them… Yeah, guys thought shaping machines were going to ruin everything… kill the soul of surfing. So hindering their operation was considered a good thing. Now? A shaper could get the impression that if he didn’t send his orders out to be pre-shaped by a machine his boards weren’t ‘state of the art’ and therefore of poorer quality than boards shaped by machines.

There was a time when massed produced surfboards made in a big factory by hourly employees that didn’t know the first thing about surfing was considered ‘not a good thing’. As well, surfboards made via a mold process also were considered ‘not a good thing’. Now? Massed produced boards made with traditional materials or molded sandwich construction or molded hollow core… it’s all considered good.

In the sixty’s surfboard production was pretty concentrated. In the U.S there were maybe about a dozen labels, mainly in California, that made most of the boards we all rode. Then at the turn of the decade things changed. By 1970 the industry started fragmenting. The dominating labels could not keep up to the changes being made to board design so small shops started popping up all over the west coast and east coast. The surfboard became a local thing. The board you rode came from the area you lived in or frequented for surf.

Now it seems it’s been changing into the dominate label thing again. And, with the increase in overseas production in Thailand and China it almost doesn’t make sense for the shaper that produces 1000 boards a year to make boards in the U.S. Because it’s cheaper to have a China production shop machine a shape in mass, produce boards start to finish and ship them directly to dealers.

I don’t know though… I think it’s very strange to see the little labels on surfboards that say “Made in Thailand” or “Made in China”. Call me old fashioned.

D.R.