after working in the short board industry for many years and shaping boards for the big guns and then leaving because i had finally had enough of busting my b@lls and not making enough coin i can tell you there arnt big bucks in the surfboard industry and 90% of the employees are in there more for the lifestyle than for the coin, yeah sure they are still plenty people making money and yes good money and well good on them! if you can do something you love and make good money then good on you go for it.
as for supporting the dealers we should all surport them 100% if it wasnt for them most of us wouldnt have tested a demo board and got into supping or had the right advise at the right time into what to buy or any other general info , As for the dealers making money hell yeah they should be making money they have families too and mouths to feed they also have rents to pay stock to buy and staff to pay so dont go crying about prices of boards deal with it!

petemc said...



However, anybody that believes dealers etc are in this game for the love of the sport and are doing us a huge favour obviously believe in the tooth fairy as well. Get real

Well I know AA.. and I honestly believe Andrew is in it for the love of the sport.. and any little extra would be just an added bonus..

DJ

boarder paul said...

For me, Here anyway its a trust thing. If the shaper can shape what you want has he or she done many sup boards before. As the answear is mostly No

It does not want me to drop 2 grand for a hmm i hope it works.

So best to buy proven boards or at least from a shaper who has been in the big game side of this for yrs.

Something to be said for buying a SUP that actually works ok. Disappointing enough to hear that our romantic opportunities are now reduced to 7.6 sheep per head of population without buying a lemon as well [}:)]

As with all things in business if you establish a relationship with the people in a shop you'll do well. If you're a mug punter walking into the nearest shop your experience can be less than satisfactory.

Certainly being able to take advantage of a well stocked shop and knowing the right people to talk to makes the whole business so much easier.

All that hassling around for the best deal and sourcing gear from the net or backyard operators can be very frustrating and potentially expensive.

Note that backyarders refers to wannabe grey importers and does not include skilled small scale shapers.