laceys lane said...Mixup said...AA said...Zeusman said...
comp sup surfing will die if it keeps heading this way imo
+1
Customs could be the death of Comp surfing.
Average Joe is not going to go through 2-3 customs a year to be competitive.
10' works and is the future for Comp surfing if that side of the sport is to grow IMO. If production boards are competitive, brands will back the events and more people will compete. If you need a custom to win, watch the sponsorship $'s dry up. Customs are very important for the development of the sport, but if that is what you need to win your average Club round then most crew will eventually lose interest. Just look at the original crew on this forum who were all pumped on Comp surfing. Most have moved on or gone quiet and rarely post any more.
This might bring them back though
IMO customs are helping to push comps along. If there's a choice of seeing Keahi and Jackson pulling airs on prototypes or watching someone walk the nose on a 10', I know what the majority would like to watch and what kind of surfing the sponsors would back. Maybe guys are leaving the contest scene because it costs $150 to enter!
but how many keahi's and jackson's are there that can surf these really small boards
what if they move on to something else
can sup just rely on a few lightweights and freaks
and as dam good as they are my local board riders weekend comp round has more of that type of action done bigger, harder and faster.
and where are these so called sponsors right now
sup really needs to look at how and where they are going with the contest scene because its dying atm
Lacey i have been setting up to do junior development for kids in Vicco as there is a group of kids between 8 an 12 that want to have crack. What your faced with:
In racing there is only one board that even goes close to what a child needs and thats a custom Lahui Kai 9'6, I believe they are going to make it as a production board this year and it shows great fore thought that they will do this, the cost is about $1250 and then freight to the southern states.
If they are really serious and want to do down winding as well then you need a second board and you can probably add about the same $1200.
Note these are epoxy not carbon and your at min $1200 to $2400 ++
For carbon say $3600 - $4000 ++
On the surfing side there is only one option and that again is custom and min would be about $1200 up to about $1800 + freight.
If you have super deep pockets then go carbon and again double up the numbers.
Again if your serious you need 2 x boards one for HP surfing on good clean days and a more stable one for rough days as here we get onshore 150 -200 days per year.
You need to realise that once you buy these kids boards you can basically expect to between $00 eg cant sell them or maybe at best %50 resale.
Put this up against getting your son / daughter into surfing for a second hand shorty you can probably get one for say $2-300 probably less and sell it in 12 months for almost the same and pick up another one.
What is limiting junior development is simple COST.
NO JUNIORS NO FUTURE
