Thoughts
on Clark Foam Going Out of Business
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...
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