How much does a surfboard really cost? You see discussions on the forums about the domestic made board price and imports, the molded board quality compared to the hand shaped hand laminated board etc. Should we pay as much as we do?

So I make hand shaped hand laminated…. How much do these boards really cost?

Surfing was once a very inexpensive endeavourer, at least when I got started. We didn’t wear wetsuits so you only needed an old pair of cut of jeans and a surfboard that you might have gotten used for 30 bucks. Find a way to get to the beach and have fun.

So lets say you find a board for $ 600. We won’t talk about wetsuits, board bags, extra fins, wax or the cost of parking at the beach. But if you have a $600 surfboard the first time you get that board wet it cost you $600. The second time?... $300. Third time $200 and the forth time $150.

So… if you surf this same $600 board every time you go to the beach and, you surf once a week on average by the end of a year, say you miss a couple weeks so at the end of the year you surfed your board 50 times. The board per surf session cost 12 bucks. That’s not much. My old 9’0 I’ve been surfing since 1992, I don’t surf it all the time of course but the overall cost per surf session on that thing by now is coming down to pennies.

Generally we keep our boards for a fair amount of time and surf them plenty. So if you look at the cost being spread out over the number of times that you surf the actual cost becomes something next to a hamburger lunch…. or even much less. I’d say that’s still pretty inexpensive for the amount of fun you have!

The 8’0 I’m riding in the pic below my son and I have had in the water enough for the cost of it to be down to about a nickel candy bar…. But you can’t get nickel candy bars anymore….

D.R.

Photo by David Puu

Do surfers have a one track mind? No doubt some do, what percentage of people that surf? Who knows…

For sure if you are around someone that has a one track mind about surfing you know it, because all they do is think about it, want to be at the beach, will go out in almost anything and are lost when they can’t surf.

I’m sure I had a one track mind about surfing when I was younger. After I moved to Ventura and was close to the ocean… meaning I could get to the closest surf spot in about 3 minuets on a bicycle… I was at that surf spot as much as possible or in route to another.

When the first thing you do in the morning is check the surf. Look at the tide charts and if there is surf determine when might be the best time considering tides and wind conditions would be to surf. Or, consider going to a certain spot where the surf will be best. Then you may be borderline on a one track. If you add to that the fact that you don’t know what to do with yourself if you don’t get any surf then yes, you have a one track mind.

Woodshed films, Chris Malloy released a new surf flick this past week One Track Mind. Some nice footage and even better commentary from over a dozen pros. At first I couldn’t figure out what the title of the film had to do with the film but then, Kelly Slater said winning in pro surfing takes a one track mind. If I remember right he wasn’t referring to himself but one of the other pros and his focus on winning a world title.

The film is nicely edited with comments and footage that keep your attention… at least mine and my wife’s who was with me at the show. There are a couple nicely timed comments from Dane Reynolds which are really great, and some pretty amazing surfing from all the guys that are in the film.

I’m not sure how the film is being marketed, if it’s going to make the beach cities tour or not but I’m sure the DVD will make a nice addition to your collection.

D.R.

A couple frame grabs form the preview below

What is it about the look of a surfboard that certain surfers find so attractive?

I know what goes through my head when I’m shaping and how I want the board I’m working on to look. The foil, rocker and foam distribution has to have all the right proportions for me to be satisfied with how it looks… if it looks right. If the shaped blank doesn’t look right it bothers me and if I don’t work on it until it does look right…. Well let’s just say I’ll never be satisfied if I don’t get each board to have the look I’m after.

I take notice how boards are looked at. How people will pick them up and see how they feel under their arm. How they will stand a board up and massage the rails to see how the rails fit in their hands. Stand back and look at the rocker curve and foil. Contemplate the outline.

Maybe if you don’t think the board looks right then you won’t think it rides right. My personal point of view is that surfing is about 90% mental. If you think something is wrong then you won’t surf to your full potential. So if you don’t think your board looks right it will bother you and you won’t be on your mental game… your surfing will suffer.

For the discerning surfer their boards must be just right, have all the right ingredients for confidence in their pursuit of waves. An attractive surfboard is an important thing.

D.R.

My story post 34

One day this past week Blinky…. my former partner… was by the shop. He was dropping off some stuff he had cleaned out of his Julian St. shop. I was taping off a board when he walked in and said “did you ever think you’d be making surfboards when you were 60?”

Well… I’d have to answer “no”. Geez, 41 years ago when we started William Dennis I didn’t think about anything but surfing and making a surfboard that would be better than the one I was riding at the moment.

I suppose to my discredit as a business person not thinking about the future isn’t really very smart. But, as a surfer that made surfboards the only future was the next swell and how well your equipment was going to work. And, if it didn’t work or you figured out another way your board may work better then you were on the right track.

Funny though when you look back the big labels that were run with more business sense and tried to have some control of the surfboard market actually couldn’t control what was happening because of the speed of design changes and eventually left the market altogether.

How do you really know what’s going to happen in the future. You can plan for it and hopefully things will turn out the way you’ve planned. But, when you’re not quite 19 years old, like I was when William Dennis was started, how could you think that what you are doing at that moment will be around 40 or 41 years later?

It’s really pretty amazing to me, all these years later still being comfortable and happy doing what I enjoy… making surfboards and surfing. I find what I do satisfying, it’s where my heart is. Playing in the ocean is a healthy activity as well as fun and continually challenging.

D.R.

Me and Blinky… William & Dennis 1986 C Street reunion