DHD MF Eclipse

[Hazrus]

@Hazrus, as far as I know Victoria doesn't produce any of the big brands, its just boutique shapers, some of them shaping by hand and factories with machines doing local little known brands and boards for surshops. Maybe Maurice Cole gets some made locally, when he is here, but he is sort of boutique status. I think the big names like Channel Islands, Haydenshapes, Pyzel, Chilli, JS, DHD etc are all in NSW and Qld. Are the NSW factories located close to Sydney?

Hayden, Chilli and CI are all within 1km of each other in Sydney northern beaches.

I think the main hub for surfboard manufacturing is Tweed Heads / Southern GC though. I think CI now has a manufacturing facility up that way as well as the one here in Sydney.

 

[freeride76]

Yep. And extending down into the Northern Rivers, lots of manufacturing down here in Byron-Ballina, including cutting and glassing that deals with some of the big brands.

 

[Maz]

Who sands/glasses for Phil Myers? Himself?

 

[freeride76]

He was getting it done in Byron at T n C factory- think he sends them to Gold Coast now.

 

[casa_mugrienta]

Older culture in Aus/US/Hawaii of more hard core surfers who are not used to or prepared to pay big dollars except for hipster/fashion boards that have changed the pricing structure.

I'm going to say most, at least here, can't afford it.

The compulsive shoppers that make up most of this forum are in no way representative of most of the surfers in these countries.

The high-end fashion boards - Burch, Disney, THC, etc - pretty much all go to Japan (according to the guy glassing all of them at LSD)

A Dark Arts board is a rare bird - back when they were trendy they were making them a couple miles up the road from me and I hardly ever saw one IRL.

Same goes for Album - I've seen them in O'side but that's about it.

The one thing that has limited the price increase in surfboards is the target market is mostly young males who don't have a lot of disposable income.

Blew my mind how cheap a board in Aus was.

 

[Mr J]

@casa_mugrienta yes, the vast majority of boars I see are either local brand in close proximity to where they are built or the big brands in plain PU/PE. I've seen two Albums, one a couple of years ago and the other more recently. I spoke to one happy Album owner in the carpark because we had been on the same peak in the water and he loved it and said "fuckin expensive". I suppose an example of a local boutique board is Corey Graham - I've never seen one, but they do appear on Facebook marketplace.

New boards are only cheap compared to US if you are visiting with US dollars and converting to AUD. For us Australian residents its about the same as the US in Big Mac terms as my corrected index above shows. Second hand boards are indeed cheap - the value of a second hand board seems to have plummeted in the last year or so.

 

[freeride76]

I see a few more Albums up this way- they are sold retail here.

 

[casa_mugrienta]

@casa_mugrienta yes, the vast majority of boars I see are either local brand in close proximity to where they are built or the big brands in plain PU/PE. I've seen two Albums, one a couple of years ago and the other more recently. I spoke to one happy Album owner in the carpark because we had been on the same peak in the water and he loved it and said "fuckin expensive". I suppose an example of a local boutique board is Corey Graham - I've never seen one, but they do appear on Facebook marketplace.

New boards are only cheap compared to US if you are visiting with US dollars and converting to AUD. For us Australian residents its about the same as the US in Big Mac terms as my corrected index above shows. Second hand boards are indeed cheap - the value of a second hand board seems to have plummeted in the last year or so.

Saw new JS boards on sale $499-$599 AUD

 

[Hazrus]

$500 - 600 AUD? That's an anomaly here.

Were they browner than a 6 month old Firewire?

 

[freeride76]

Yeah, thats clearance stock.

New PU/PE shortboards mostly AUD $850-1000

 

[Mr J]

Saw new JS boards on sale $499-$599 AUD

Available to order in your size?