It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here. I’ll be back online more in the next couple days. I’ve been doing a lot of living and have some great stories to tell. Check back soon!
-A-
Exciting news today – All of my surfboards have been shaped! That is 208 surfboards shaped in under three weeks! Most of them are at some point in the glassing process too. Some nearing completion! Impressive… The head shaper wanted to get home and enjoy the holidays (that’s Christmas, New Years, and Chinese New Years), so he’s been working his butt off over-time and left today for a 7 week holiday. Who would have thought that a Chinese factory worker would get to take so much time off, eh? I’ve emphasized it enough in previous posts, so I’m not going to drill it in again now but… workers are treated pretty darn fair in my Chinese factory, and I’m proud I can say that.
The last 3 boards to be shaped were a few personal boards I’ll be taking along to Indonesia at the end of January. I actually got to finish these boards myself because the shaper had to left to catch his train home. It was so nice to be shaping a bit instead of just supervising production. I think I gained some street credit from the workers too. One of the other shapers watched me shape, and I could tell he liked my technique.
My order is projected to be completed by January 20th, when the factory lets out for a the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival, So I will be flying Bali on January 23 with these sweet babies:
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
The boards aren’t all for me. Two of them are for Jay from W.E. Surf (seems like a good partner for iSurf right?) and Dominic Holland, Director of Photography for DP Dom Holland. Check out the website or his Youtube page – He does fantastic work. Holland is actually going to film a documentary style surf film of our adventures in Indonesia. (Here is a link to Jay’s blog post about it). It should be pretty cool – I’m really stoked.
Well, Christmas is right around the corner. I’m going to celebrate with an old classmate that lives in China. This will be my first Christmas ever away from home – I’m pretty bummed about it, but I’m also very excited for Rina to show me her stomping grounds.
Since all the boards are shaped, I’m going to take a little time out of the factory and do some sight-seeing. People always wonder how I afford to travel so much – Well, I use low cost carriers or frequent flyer miles and stay in hostels or couch surf. It’s really not that expensive at all, and I find hostels to be a much better experience than hotels. Check out the itinerary I put together for myself. Prices are for each flight segment or per night in hostel:
So far, I’m looking at ten days in four cities for only $404 transport and accommodation. Not too shabby, eh? I’ve gotten really good at finding the best deals on flights and accommodations. If you ever want to go on a backpacking trip, contact me – I LOVE to search for deals like this. In short, the best low cost carrier in China is China Spring Airlines, and my preferred hostel booking site is Hostel Bookers. I also always use Lonely Planet guide books.
Well that’s it for now. I’ve got some fun times ahead. I’ll leave you with this time lapse I shot from the roof of my apartment building the other day. I love night-photography, and I’ve been experimenting with time lapses a bit in the last year. I combined the two using a new remote timer I got for my DSLR and this is what came out. Oh, and of course I cut it to some Huni music. Enjoy!
There are many things you realize about life when you leave the comforts of home and travel to a place where the simple luxuries in life are not always available. One of the major things I have realized in my journeys is that there is little worry over basic human needs in the USA. If you are from a developed country, which you probably are if you’re browsing the internet right now, there is almost no chance you are concerned about your basic human needs: i.e. you don’t have to worry about where you will find shelter tonight, if you can eat tomorrow, and whether you can find suitable clothing and accommodation to keep you warm.
my little friend
On monday, I came home from the factory and found my apartment to be no more than 45 degrees fahrenheit (about 7 degrees celsius), and it is not equipped with heaters. I looked up the weather on my phone and found that, for the next week or so, it should be near freezing temperatures in this town every night. I immediately walked to Walmart (There are about 400 locations in China), and purchased a small space heater for ¥49.00 ($8.00). This little heater has become my new best friend and greatest fire hazard.
This is my second winter living in a cool, damp climate without heat – I experienced a very similar winter in Malta last year. People from my hometown in Minnesota, where it is currently 18 degrees fahrenheit (-8 C), often express jealousy that I escape the cold Minnesota winters so frequently. Tonight, I sit here wrapped in down blanked, wool socks, and pajamas. I’m huddled close to the heater wishing there was a better way to warm my core.
Then I think about the fact that it has rained for three consecutive days here. All around me people are going about their daily routines, buzzing around on mopeds, carrying buckets of water and supplies on their shoulders, and walking the streets in sandals in this cold damp climate. I know a lot of these people do not have little space heaters, nor can they afford them or the electricity to operate such a thing. I realize how fortunate I am to be able to go to the store and buy a heater when I need it and pay for the electricity to operate my little friend to keep me somewhat comfortable.
Its amazing how basic necessities are not even considered by so many people, and to others, finding food and warmth are among their only concerns.
I’ve been in China for two weeks now, and I’m beginning to get a grip on what my reality is and will be here. One thing is becoming very apparent – I do not fit in. I’ve never been into conformity. In fact, I’m quite the individualist. I’ve always held a strong belief that beauty stems from uniqueness, but my experience in China is beginning to make me realize that too different can be uncomfortable. Let me explain:
Aside from a 2 day visit to a larger city, I have spent every day in a small town where my surfboard factory is (by the way, a small town in china can have over a million residents). In my first 2 weeks here, I have not seen another non-asian person. When I am out and about, I am always the only white person in the room, and the next tallest person might be about chin-height to me if they really stretched their neck. Also, Aside from 3 people I know with limited english vocabulary, it is impossible for me to verbally communicate with anybody. Basically, I may as well be a giant green frog croaking his way through life here in China (queue the music).
Now, I have always been one for a good challenge – I even bought a pair of shoes in the market yesterday knowing only how to say “四-四” (“four-four”), as in my european shoe size is 44, but I am beginning to grow tired of constant stares and people randomly saying “Hi” to me without being able to speak another word when I try to converse with them. I’m in the most populated country in the world, and I’ve never felt so isolated in my life.
“Blending in” – Atacama Desert, Chile
Now, I have done a lot of traveling in my life, and one of the things that has always made it comfortable it that I’m a bit of a chameleon. Like most Americans, I am an ethnic mutt. My mother is a brown haired, brown eyed Swede, and my dad is a dark haired, blue eyed… who really knows, mostly german I think. This has left me with brown eyes, a big nose, quickly tanning skin, and medium-dark brown hair (what’s left of it). The bulk of my travels have been in Latin America and Europe, and in these places, if I speak softly, I look ethnically vague enough that people passing in the street can easily mistake me for a local. This is a huge advantage when traveling, especially in underdeveloped countries, as I do not worry much about being targeted by criminals, much less solicitors.
This experience in China has offered me a very interesting perspective on life – one that I have not had the chance to entertain before since I can usually fit in. I am different… really different… so different that nearly everyone I pass in the street stares,calls out to me something that I don’t understand, or even snaps a photo of me walking by. I’m not shy. I am incredibly confident in my skin, but this is beginning to become uncomfortable for me. At first, I would use my peripheral vision to notice the stares, and quickly look at them and “bust them” for staring at me. Now, I walk around with my head down to avoid the awkward eye contact and looks.
Deep down inside I feel terrible – not because I know they’re judging me based on my looks, but because I know I have looked and judged others in the past. Today I scorn myself for any time I was looking at somebody because they were different, especially if their eyes met mine while I gazed upon them. It is not a good feeling to be looked at or pointed out for being different. Take it from me – the only green person in this village in china.
In the US, Chinese goods get the reputation of being cheap and low in quality compared to western goods. I believe this is probably mostly true when it comes to molded plastics, machined textiles, and pretty much anything made by a machine and later assembled. But there was once a time, before machines and molds, that oriental goods were sought after because of their incredible quality. Back when oriental goods were all hand made, asians were considered among the craftsmen in the world. Traders and dignitaries would travel from Europe the long way, by boat around the horn of Africa, to China because their materials and craftsmanship were higher quality than anywhere else in the world.
I was reminded of this when we stopped into a furniture store tonight with the factory owner and his friend, who was in the market for a new coffee table. I couldn’t believe the detail and quality of construction of the woodwork. Here are some photos. Click to enlarge:
I find this tradition of quality and craftsmanship very much alive in my little (its not really that little, but it is smaller than most) surfboard factory in China. I recall when I was interviewing factories to build my surfboards, the factory owner said to me, “We are not the biggest, and our prices are not the lowest, but our quality is very high. You will see for yourself if you come here.”
He reminded me of this today. At lunch, a flatbed truck drove by loaded with EPS foam. I asked, “Is there a foam factory nearby? I’ve seen a few trucks now with EPS. Do you source it locally?”
“No,” he replied sternly. “Our foam is extremely high quality. They can’t do high enough quality there.”
Ahha! I had an epiphany. I’d wondered before, “why do his foam cores look so much cleaner than anything I’ve seen from china before?” I have been doing ding repairs on SUPs for several years now in Minnesota (iDol Surfboards is the only business in Minnesota that does surfboard ding repairs), and its amazing what I have found under the paint and lamination of several ‘quality’ name brands of stand up paddleboards. I often find a dirty foam core disintegrating around the dinged up area. No wonder the boards dinged so easily – there is no foam backing the fiberglass! Most people don’t realize, that eps foam is soluable in a variety of chemicals. Thus, the EPS foam core needs to be kept as clean as possible until it is laminated to protect it from possible solvents. When you use dirty foam, you risk your EPS being exposed to some of these solvents, and the core of the surfboard can, over time, dissolve underneath the fiberglass.
Here’s a link to that video of an iSurf SUP being shaped. Notice how clean the foam is – not a speck of dirt can be found. The shaping room is also very clean – yes there is a lot of foam dust, but it’s clean white foam dust. These foam cores are stored in a clean room away from any solvents until they are laminated.
Well that is my rant on quality for today. Ask any of the iDol crew: Tollie, Stefan, Eric, and they’ve heard it all before… or anybody who has been in the shop with me, really. My number one priority is always quality. If there is the slightest problem with any board which will effect end quality, it gets fixed or it doesn’t get sold. One more time for good measure. QUALITY!
If you’re looking for a great read on quality, check out the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Not only is it a fascinating story, it gets to the ‘core’ of what quality is.
The title of this post is “Fair Labor Practices From my factory in China”. It sounds like an oxymoron, but its not. Workers are treated well in this factory, and that is one of the main reasons I have chosen the factory I am in (aside from the fact that their finished product is the best I’ve ever seen come from overseas). When interviewing factories, I made it very clear that fair labor practices were of the utmost importance, and I required full access to the factory during the entire production process to monitor conditions. I also made sure they knew I would have zero tolerance for child labor. I’ve been here for just over a week now, and I am very pleased with what I have seen.
The factory owner and I had a detailed conversation about workers’ wages over dinner at KFC the other night (KFC is one of China’s most popular restaurants), and I got some detailed info on workers’ wages I will share with you. He was a little stressed because he has to pay his workers over-time wages in order to get a shipment out to Australia by next Monday, so he vented honestly to me about workers’ pay. If they have to work overtime, he must pay them 1.5x their hourly rate and 2x hourly wages on Sundays. Here is what I learned:
Adjacent the factory owner’s desk, this reads “Everyone likes a nice guy, but business requires honesty”
To preface this, I’m a numbers and charts guy. My undergraduate degree was in economics, not because I wanted to be a banker or work in the financial industry, but because numbers truly fascinate me. Math seems to be the universal language of science, and money and numbers control the world. So here it is by the numbers – All of the following numbers came from the factory owner’s honest mouth or the most recent statistics from the World Bank Factbook, the US Census Bureau, or the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Workers in this factory work up to 48 hours a week, and earn a base between 3,000-6,000+ Chinese Yuan per month (before overtime), depending on skill level of their position (approximately $500-$1,000 US Dollars), which equals 18,000-36,000¥ per year ($6,000-$12,000 USD). That does not seem like a lot, but the average income for china is $6,091 per year. Hence, even his lowest paid employees are making about the Chinese national average income. The factory also provides room and board for free. The only thing workers have to pay for is their own food, clothing, and entertainment. Now, let’s also consider Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which gives us the purchasing power, or value, of their currency compared to the USD when you average the cost of goods in China. At a PPP rate of 0.61, workers are making a PPP adjusted income equivalent of $9,836 – $19,672 USD per year.
Let’s compare this to the US: The most recent US Census reported the mean per capita income in the USA at $27,915, and the USBEA reports Americans spend an average of $7,980 per year on housing (remember room and board is free for workers in this factory). That means that the average american makes $19,935 per year after they pay cost of housing. Hence, workers in this factory are making a PPP and cost of housing adjusted income of 49%-99% the average income in the USA, before overtime wages. It’s not great, but its not bad.
The factory owner says he pays higher wages and his employees work fewer hours than other surfboard factories. And he is the only factory he knows of that closes for the Chinese New Year/Spring Holiday for a week. However, most of his workers take multiple weeks for this holiday to return home.
I came to China to observe this process for two reasons: 1) to be quality control for iSurf and make sure that my surfboards are built to my exact specifications, and 2) to make sure working conditions are fare in the factory I have chosen. I am beyond pleased by the results of both my initiatives so far. I spend every day, Monday-Saturday, in the factory. I walk the floors and check each board as it moves through the production process. I doubt you’ll find another surfboard manufacturer who pays so much attention to quality of product and labor conditions for as I have. Something to consider when purchasing your next produced SUP or wake surfboard 😉
-Alex
<–This post has music: Seaside by Kultiration. Press play if the song didn’t autoplay.
The Beach / My Church
This weekend, the factory owner took me to his hometown in coastal China. As part of my tour he and his friends took me to a small island outside of town. We walked narrow winding streets where vendors sold fresh fish, seafood, pearls, and other ocean fairing goods. As dusk began to approach, we found ourselves walking the boardwalk of a small tourist beach. I told them I wanted to check the water temperature and walked down to the shoreline. This would be the first time I felt seawater since I moved home form Malta. I went past the high-water mark and dug a small hole in the sand. Soon thereafter, a small double-up wave pushed ashore and filled the hole with salt water. The water was cool and dirty. Nonetheless, I wiped some of it across my brow and spent a moment with our mother ocean.
I stood up and approached my new group of friends, who I didn’t realize had followed me onto the beach. Cissy (pronounced sea-sea) smiled at me and said, “you could write a book called The Young Man and The Sea.” She, like most people I have met in China, carefully observes my actions as the culture gap makes for good entertainment. By the way she had said it, I could tell she knew I was doing more than just checking water temperature. I chuckled at her statement, and we continued as a group back to the boardwalk.
What Cissy observed was a ritual I have developed during my surfing career. This ritual is something in-between a communion and baptism that I usually perform before or during every surf session. I find it relaxes me and brings me to the present moment, which is especially important when the waves are big or I’m surfing a more dangerous break. The ritual begins with me splashing water on my face or submerging it in the water. As I do this, I go through a thought process thinking something along the lines of:
“The earth is composed of approximately 70% water, and so is the human body. My blood, sweat, and tears are no different than the liquid that surrounds me. The ocean pumps through my heart and veins. Water, you and I are one in the same. My body is more you than anything else on earth, so take me kindly and let me experience your awesome power. When I am done, return me safely to the shore, for you are the essential life giver and keeper.”
Instantly, I feel connected to the fluid which surrounds me, and any fear turns to understanding. It’s really amazing how relaxing this practice can be when paddling out into larger surf where controlling heart rate, breathing, and oxygen consumption can mean the difference between life and death. “I am the ocean, and the ocean is….” I have written that phrase on the stringer of every ocean surfboard I have ever shaped for myself. I also put a little “70%” near the nose, so if I’m paddling head-down from exhaustion, I see it and remember to stay calm, connected, and in the present moment.
From the small island we went back to mainland and had dinner, then did Asian-style karaoke (private room with just our friends), and went on to one of the coolest nightclubs I have ever been to. It was certainly an eventful and fun weekend.
The bus ride back to the factory town made for good sight-seeing. It was a double-decker bus, and we had front seats on the upper deck. Minus a slight hangover, I was enjoying the long ride home, but things took a somber turn as we reached our town. Up the road, I could see an accident had just occurred. Debris was scattered for about 35 feet in the right lane of the four-lane highway, and people were getting out of crashed cars as we approached. Then ahead, a sinking feeling, a motorcycle lay on its side in pieces. Next to it, an old woman and young boy sat bloodied, but upright and conscious. The woman was crying hysterically, while the boy, no older than five, stared blankly into the street. In front of the motorcycle, a man laid on his belly, his face lay sideways as we passed. I will never forget his face. One would expect the tragically deceased to bare an expression of terror or pain, but his face looked peaceful like he was gently dozing while dreaming pleasant dreams. I looked again to the old woman. I have never seen such agony – today was surely the worst day of her life.
Judging by the situation and their relative ages, the old woman, her son, and her grandson were all aboard the motorcycle when a vehicle struck it (riding on motorcycles and scooters with up to 5 passengers is common practice in developing countries). We reached the scene no more than a minute after the tragedy occurred, so the man must have died on impact. Today, that old woman lost her son, and that boy lost his father.
Melancholy Sunset
Those of us on the bus who witnessed the scene looked at each other and shook our heads – there are no words to be said in a moment like this. For the short remainder of the ride, we all gazed silently ahead at the beautiful sunset before us. It’s amazing how all your thoughts and perceptions can change in an instant when confronted by the reality of life and death. I reflected on how fortunate I am to be alive leading this dream life. But at that moment, I was most grateful for the blessing of a healthy family, whom has always been there with smiles and hugs when I return home from my adventures.
Traveling not only brings me places physically, but I often reach distant mental and emotional destinations. It’s amazing how traveling far away will teach you the true value of the things you left behind. To those of you who are at home right now with family and life-long friends – let me remind you, as today has reminded me, that there is no greater thing in this world than the good fortune of loving and being loved. So if you are fortunate enough to be in the presence of loved ones today, I encourage you to take a moment and share your love and gratitude with them however you feel is appropriate.
Much love,
Alex
I shot a quick time lapse of one of my SUPs getting shaped today. The entire process took just over an hour, but I condensed it down to about a minute and added a track from Huni (pronounced who-knee). I plan to time lapse the entire process of the surfboard build, so this is just a start. This weekend the factory owner is taking me to his home town to show me how Chinese people have fun. I’m told there will be karaoke involved (one of my favorite travel past times). So while I’m gone, I’d recommend you go to the Huni soundcloud page and listen to some amazing music produced by a great friend/soul brother of mine, and pop into his facebook fan page and hit the like button while you’re at it. Enjoy!
I spent a great deal of time coming up with SUP designs, and after talking to some paddleboard retailers in Minnesota, I decided to build mostly 10’6″ all around flat-water cruising paddleboards. The “10-6 Cruiser” model is designed to be ultra stable at 31.5 inches wide, and with 171 liters of foam, it is buoyant enough to easily float beginner surfers up to 210 pounds. It will come with a 1+2 fin set-up and has a double-concave through the entire length of the board, which will make it track really well through the water. It has a fairly flat rocker, but plenty of nose flip, so it will be fast but can handle waves and chop. This board will be offered in 2014 with a bamboo deck and the option of carbon fiber rails. The non-carbon model will be available in a variety of colors. Check out the image below of our final design plan:
What do you think? They look pretty cool, right!? Now onto the other models…
On the left you’ll see the 9-11 “Fresh Surfer.” At just under 10 feet long, this board does not have to be registered with the DNR as a watercraft, and you don’t legally have to have a lifejacket with you (MN DNR requires the registration of all watercraft 10 foot and over operating outside the surf zone.) I designed this board to be surfed on the North Shore of Lake Superior, and behind an inboard boat. Is this the first SUP designed for wake surfing? You’ll notice the surfy outline, quad fin option, and it also has more rocker and plenty of nose flip for the steeper waves on the more advanced reefs of the great lakes. It also has a fish tail so you can sink the tail and engage the fins and rails on turns. It also features a double-concave throughout, which will make it fast through the water. This boards is designed to take a beating as it will feature a sandwich construction with bamboo deck and bottom with carbon fiber rails. This board should be pretty much indestructible. At 30.5 inches wide, it will still be stable enough for beginners up to 175 pounds, but I designed it for an intermediate surfer weighing about 185 (that’s me.) Oh, the perks of being the shaper!
Finally on the right, is the “11-1 Yogi Fisher.” This board serves 3 purposes: First, its specifically designed for SUP yoga which is becoming extremely popular these days. At 11’1″ and 32.25″ wide, this board is extremely stable and wide enough to fit your Yoga mat (although it has extra long traction so you don’t need a separate mat.) It also features a super-flat deck and boxy rails which make it even more stable. The second purpose for this one is to use if for fishing. There is no way to get closer to the water and the fish below than on a SUP. Its not shown in the image, but this board will have bungie straps on the nose to secure your gear. The third and final purpose of this ultra-stable board is to accommodate beginner riders up to 300+ pounds. This board will make stand-up-paddleboarding accessible to almost anyone who can stand up! It also features bamboo deck. The rails and bottom will be offered in a variety of colors.
I’m super excited about these boards. The reason I choose the factory I’m with is their super high quality construction, and clean finish. I looked at over a hundred paddleboards at the Surf Expo this summer, and this factory produced the highest quality by far! My favorite part is the carbon fiber rails. I’ll try to get some photos of finished boards up soon.
The boards will be available from the Twin Cities area in Spring 2014. They will be shipped directly to St. Paul – No middle-man distributors mean the prices will be competitive and the construction quality is considerably higher than pretty much anything on the market in the Midwest. All boards will include bamboo deck, traction, leash plug, vent, carry handle and fins. I will also be offering carbon fiber adjustable paddles with all boards.
This is an email that I just wrote. I thought it really captured what a truly amazing thing friends are, and I think the most important thing to do in life is share love and gratitude. I’m also having an issue loading images on here, so I can’t post what I wanted to but wanted to post something.
“So I’m having one of those days when everything seems to fall to pieces… Everything is great here in China, but things back in the states are slightly out of control and there is little I can do from here except send emails. I also woke up from a dream I didn’t want to have, and my day just started in a really weird mood (This dream was of an ex – a great dream, but waking up alone felt like a nightmare in itself)… Anyways, I decided to write you for some advice or words of encouragement or just to have a dialogue to figure things out. The amazing thing is… as soon as I started typing your name into the “To” bar, everything made sense in my head and nothing seems that bad anymore. How do you do this?!! You always seem to bring clarity. Even without your physical presence or words, today you brought clarity to my life. And for that I thank you.”
-A-
Luckily, I’m a good sport and none of these things really bother me (FYI: the guy in the bathroom’s eyes were gazing above my shoulders). I’m now about 72 hours into my trip, and believe me, that’s just the beginning of things I’ve learned.
-A-
When I was in high school, I received a piece of advice from my mother. It is the best advice a mother could ever give a teenager who was almost failing out of high school (this was not due to bad teaching, unintelligence, or learning disabilities – it was merely a result of boredom with course structure and material). My worried mother casually said to me one day, “Alex, if you want to be successful, find something you love and get really good at it.” I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but something about it stuck.
My fondest memories of childhood are those in which we were on vacation. I was fortunate to have a family that traveled often. My mother, sister, and I were all born in Sweden, so we would go back most summers to visit our friends and family. At each airport, my parents let me buy a magazine to read on the flight. Like most young American boys, I was drawn to car and motorcycle magazines, but I almost always opted for surfing magazines. I found the images of waves in far distant places amazing, and the articles resounded an existentialist belonging to the oneness of the universe that is fleeting in today’s society. Slowly, airplane seats became my pews, and surfing magazines became my bible in the religion that is the traveling surfers’ lifestyle. (I should note here that around age 10 my mother was certain I would become a minister of the church when I grew up because of my incredibly strong faith as a child – for my 10th birthday, all I wanted was a crucifix to hang above my bed).
Although the ironing board was good for make-believe, I would not stand up on a real surfboard until I was 12 years old (OK OK I admit was body boarding for several vacations before). Like most people who have felt the glide, I was in love with the feeling. Unfortunately, learning to surf at age 12 and being from Minnesota put the odds against me becoming a professional surfer. Find something you love and get really good at it, but be reasonable. Nearly every pro surfer grew up on a beach and started surfing between age 3-5. So pro surfer wasn’t my thing. I tried to dream up ways to become a professional traveler, but that job does not exist in the capacity that I like to travel (If I had to follow an agenda, be burdened by a film crew, or write extensively on the things I experience, the fun would be removed).
Then came wake surfing: a sport so new that few people had the jump on me, and I had access to several inboard boats. I tried competing a few times. I even got 2nd place at the World Wake Surfing Championships in amateur division. But let’s get real, the industry is so small and niche, that you’re not going to make a reasonable living on contest winnings (yet). My friends and I (Team Idle we called ourselves) started making wake surfboards for fun. I found myself thrilled by design theory, the build process, and the idea of creating functional pieces of art. Pretty soon, iDOL SURFBOARS was launched, and life became very busy. I was able to escape my busy life on a couple of amazing surf trips, but I always had to come home too soon for the spring/summer Minnesota surfboard rush. Board shaping quickly replaced surfing and socializing with friends. The past few summers, I have only been able to wake surf a handful of times because I am always busy shaping, glassing, or repairing surfboards. I haven’t even made myself a wake surfboard since 2010 because I’m always too busy building boards for customers. I found something I love, and I got really good at it. However, the temptress of success through surfboard production pulled me from my true loves: surf and travel. This would not do.
A new plan quickly developed. This plan would force me to travel to new places, meet new people, and leave me ample time to surf. This plan is a new brand of surfboards called iSurf. Instead of working long hours to produce a couple hundred boards each year, I will outsource production to factories abroad which can build my shapes at higher quantities and lower costs. iSurf will make the most advanced shapes in wake surfing and fresh-water specific paddleboards available to inland surfers at very reasonable prices. And more importantly to me, it will send me around the world to places I’ve never been, meet people I’d otherwise never get a chance to meet, and experience cultures unknown to me. Have I found my calling? I hope so.
I know a lot of you are thinking, “Alex, you sold iDOL out. You’re going to lose control of the process, and your boards are going to be made by kids in unfair labor conditions in China.” Let me settle those worries right now: iDOL SURFBOARDS are, will, and always will be made in the USA. I have sold a large portion of the company to iDOL’s Head Shaper, Stefan Ronchetti. He loves building surfboards, and it is his dream to spend all day every day building surfboards. Under this new venture, he, our team riders, and I will have more time to develop more and more advanced shapes for wake surfing, paddle boarding, great lakes surfing, and other freshwater surfing applications. And I promise I will not lose control of the process, and all workers building my surfboards will be fairly treated.
Right now, I am sitting in a surfboard factory in China where I will stay until all of my boards are completed. I will inspect each surfboard along every step of the process, and help in every way I can. The factory does not employ any children or bonded laborers (which I know some of my competitors can’t accurately state), and pays higher wages than most surfboard factories. Employees in this factory normally work 8 hour days and have Sundays off. All of the shapers in this factory have been shaping surfboards longer than me, and the quality of construction and attention to detail is astounding. I did a lot of research, and I’ve risked nearly every asset I own to get myself to this place. I know in my head and my heart that I have made the right decision and I am in the right place at the right time.
Now that was a lengthy first post, and probably not very entertaining. I just wanted to attempt defining what the heck I’m doing over here. Going forward, this blog should be a somewhat interesting narrative covering the surfboard building process, general travel observations of the existentialist surfer, and hopefully the ultimate goal will be accomplished – we’ll go surfing. Stop back soon, and I’ll keep posts shorter and develop this blog with the sights and sounds of the world as I explore them. I’ll warn you now – It might get weird, but as my favorite author, Hunter S. Thompson stated, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Cheers friends! See you down the road.
-Alex