Friendship is Made by Hand
n a world overflowing with mass-produced goods and overnight delivery, there will always be something very special about using something made by hand. It might be a hand-thrown ceramic mug from your friend’s mom (thank you Amy!), a bamboo fly rod that costs more than your rent, or fresh produce from a local farm. These things carry more than function—they carry story, effort, and presence. And there’s a good chance they will carry friendship too. We take great pride in building those layers of emotion and connection into each surfboard we make.
When we meet a customer, it’s almost like their ideal board becomes a mutual friend. We ask our customers about their surf experiences, past boards, and future goals like we’re setting them up on a blind date. Or maybe like we’re trying to figure out if two of our friends are going to get along, when we plan a big trip together. As the customer describes what they want, we’re building a mental picture of different features from other boards we’ve made, all blended together. We mock it up on a shaping software and send them dimensions, as though their relationship with their new surfboard is just determined by volume, dims and rocker.
After that, there’s a whole lot of trust. We’ll send the customer pictures of the board mid-production - coming off the printer, getting its first layer of glass, the first time it sees the sunshine outside our workshop. It’s a lot to ask, for someone to pay good money, tell us their hopes and dreams, and then to just sit quietly and wait.
While the customer is waiting, we’re building our own relationship with their new custom board. Not to get weird, but we literally run dozens of tools over it until its curves are smooth and its surface is glossy. We get to know every inch of the shape, each pockmark in the plastic core, and even the little insect leg that got stuck in the epoxy at the tail.
Just kidding, we’d never knowingly leave a bug in the resin.
By the time the board leaves our shop, we’ve literally been massaging it for 2 weeks straight. Handing it over to the customer is really like watching two of our friends meeting each other for the first time. We’re a little nervous, a little excited, and definitely hoping they get along as well as we imagined.
We might follow up a few months later…
“How do you like the board?”
“Have you had any great sessions on it?”
“What conditions did you take it out in?”
We hope that the new surfboard means as much to you as it did to us. We want you to know how much time and attention we put into making it for you. Especially for surfboards, where some are made in mere minutes and thrown away just as quickly, we want to give you something that is full of emotion, personality, and a story that transcends its recycled plastic core.