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Endtimes for the Surfboard Industry?
- Thread starter vanrysss
- Start date
Has anyone ridden one of these boards before? Is there something about them that justifies the price or is it just a prestige kind of thing?
Its Bay area tech bro and grandpas from jamboards koolaid
Serena Pocket Rocket @ 7'10 is perfect for the outer bar days, thick soft waves that roll in or when they standup and throw only to burger later on. Sit on the outside and ride past the shortbaorders flailing to catch waves on the inside. Andrienni has the best rockers for OB.
I love my 7'7 Vaq. It's virtually a longboard replacement for me. Perfect for soft NCSD reef waves. Kind of a tricky board to surf but feels amazing. Smooth yet sensitive. Maybe an acquired taste.
On the wait list for a custom after stopping by Marc's booth at the trade show. #580 lol.
On the wait list for a custom after stopping by Marc's booth at the trade show. #580 lol.
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seriously overvolumed surfcraft. great for annoyingthefuk outta gromsdad
The thickness reduction towards the tail looks like a lazy job. Also towards the nose. Doesn't look fluent.
Still waiting for the Album blowout sale. I was there about a month ago. Tons of boards sitting on the rack and they keep churning them out. Every shaper and surf shop is in the same boat. Massive amounts of inventory with very few boards selling. Definitely think prices are part of the problem. People have quivers that are just too robust to keep justifying 1400 surfboards. Look at what happened when Varial did their 15% off sale. They moved a bunch of boards. Would album sell a bunch of boards if they dropped all the prices by 200 - 300 dollars?
the prices are extra ridiculous when you consider a custom in clear xtr is almost half the price and lead time from shapers is seemingly less than a month.
definitely too refined compared to your boxy rails. when i say boxy, i literally mean like a square box
I’m sure they would. In Australia now a dhd costs about $950, but every thing else is pushing $1100. Why??? All Australia made and yet some ask an additional 10-15%. Albums and others more. Yet a good shaper like Gunther, Phil Byrne or rex marechan is cheaper than ghost shaped big name brand. I know who I would rather give my money to.
That reminds me of some of the earliest boards I shaped.
Reminds me of every board I've ever shaped. I just don't pretend them to be anything special.That reminds me of some of the earliest boards I shaped.
They are special
I've heard from very reliable sources on the materials end of things things are bad, bad, bad and that was months ago.
I can't imagine it's getting any better.
I mentioned this was coming a while back, and it all ties in to the silly "Why aren't surfboards more expensive?" line of questions.
And I'll repeat the same old song:
Surfboard prices at current levels are simply not sustainable, mostly because the surfboard market is composed of males ages 16-30yr old.
Simply, the demographics of surfing have always limited the rise in prices. Inflation doesn't help.
It doesn't matter if the shaper should be paid more. That's simply not the way it works. Consumers set the prices.
The reason why guys like P Byrne are cheaper than the flavor of the week I think are twofold:
1) The old guys who have been in the game decades know the demographics of surfing limit the rise in prices.
2) The guys with big production operations have big debt payments, big rent payments, and a bunch of employees to pay, hence the more expensive price tag that is difficult to reduce
As for me, I'm not even considering new surfboard purchases. I'm riding great boards and there hasn't been enough surf to beat my current boards up. For 90% of surfers in CA you should be covered with 2 or 3 boards: A groveler, a daily driver, and a good waves board.
So let's do the math. The average surfer in CA gets the most use out of their groveler or DD, the good waves board doesn't factor in as it rarely gets used as the waves are rarely good. Let's say he typically replaces each of those every year. He probably doesn't need a new board, but two crispies have always been a luxury he's willing allow himself about once a year.
Now he faces new pricing:
Plopping down $1200 bucks/yr for two surfboards is one thing.
Plopping down $1200 bucks/yr for one surfboard is another.
He's gonna start stretching his purchases and maybe skipping purchases entirely. $2400/yr on boards is a lot of money. My wife and I bring home good income with no kids and that number is hard to justify. And our COL is far lower than most.
I have ample time to surf and make plenty of use of that time, much more water time than the average joe...and for the average joe who maybe gets in the water once every week or two current prices look even less appealing.
This can only mean guys are going to drop prices, close up shop, or move their business elsewhere.