Inland Surfer buys Flyboy

[Duncan]

from IS Facebook page ...

"Inland Surfer announces the acquisition of Flyboy Wakesurf Boards and the founding of its new Flyboy DivisionBellevue WA- Inland Surfer, the leading and original wakesurfing company announced today that it has acquired Flyboy Wakesurf Boards and has added James Walker to the Inland Surfer Team. James Walker joins an already stacked t...eam of wakesurfers including Keenan Flegel, the 2010 World Wakesurfing Champion. James brings some of the sport’s most technical tricks and highest aerials and is a consistent guest to the podium, most recently winning the surf division at the 2010 World Wakesurfing Championship.“James is one of the best surf-style wakesurfers competing today. We’ve been friends with James and the Walker family since we first met them at a wakesurfing comp, back in 2003. It’s been a true pleasure to watch James evolve into such a talented rider. James is a great ambassador for our sport and we are honored to have him as a member of the Inland Surfer family and a principle in our new Flyboy Division”, stated Jeff Page, Owner of Inland Surfer.James, assisted by his father Jeff, will head up the new Flyboy Division of Inland Surfer. Flyboy will focus on developing and perfecting competition level wakesurf boards for riders who want the lightest and most maneuverable board available today. The Inland Surfer line of Flyboy boards will utilize the most technologically advanced materials and manufacturing processes to build boards that will help take competitive riders to the next level. “I’m really excited to join the Inland Surfer team. It’s going to help me focus on my wakesurfing while getting the shapes that I help design to riders all over the world. Hold on, this doesn’t mean that I have to listen to what Jeff Page says?..... Does it?” added a clearly excited James Walker.Look for Inland Surfer Flyboy wakesurf boards at your local board shop for the 2011 season."

[Fiveflat]

Hrm.... Interesting!

[da.bell]

Wow, that is definitely an interesting purchase. I would be interested in what surfdad has to say about this. Flyboy has only been around awhile.

[Timmy!]

That's awesome that James has built a company at such a young age that was so good that someone wanted to acquire it! Congrats James! Good luck riding with Inland!

[jbort]

I'll bet Surfdad will have lots to say

[majestic]

Please tell me that Doesnt mean Flyboys will be mass produced in China now?

[Guma]

Wow, good on James for this! Interested to hear how this came to be.

Just ordered my Flyboy board from Ragboy a few weeks ago, curious if it will be an original Flyboy or an IS Flyboy.

[AdaminMN]

Well, Jeff really knows his stuff, and James really has a boatload of talent. I know the next board I buy will be an IS.

[ragboy]

I don't think inland will be shipping flyboys til 2011. Jeff Walker is a perfectionist, wherever it is made, it will be up to his standards. I believe flyboy will be a high end line. This is all good, the hardest problem for Jeff/surfdad is trying to keep them getting made, and dealing with those headaches, if those are off of his plate, then he can do what he does best, R&D and new designs.

[Surfdad]

Yeah, FlyBoy Wakesurf boards has been acquired by Inland Surfer. The current production will be completed and FlyBoy will take orders thru the middle of this month, then subsequent to that all orders will become PRE-ORDERS for the new Inland Surfer - FlyBoy line.

One of the issues we faced with FlyBoy was sourcing materials and a creating a reliable production schedule. The plan for 2011 was to develop a mold that would give us reliable and duplicative boards! At the same time, Inland had decided they wanted to get into the high end competition level surf style boards and so it was a great match up.

Inland has never been made in China, the largest surfboard manufacturer in the world, and in fact the largest wakeboard, SUP, Windsurf board manufacturer in the world is Cobra and they are in Thailand. They also manufacture compoiste...well everything. Windwills, aircraft parts, you name it. ISO 9001 certified I believe, so the quality is top of the line.

The QC at that plant is beyond anything here in the states, because of the volume Cobra does.

Also, Inland is creating a "tiny" little division that will be termed Flyboy. Principally that will be the contest level development and R&D.

For FlyBoy, we have for the most part been given the OK to develop the board using the same materials and lamination schedules of all the Composite Sandwich boards - I've published a few prototypes here on TO.com, as well as, WW.com.

The management of Inland basically told me at the onset that they needed a contest ready board and that if it wasn't there wasn't any reason to do this. So...they are behind this 100%. It'll be a bold departure from their other boards and I know that James is truly excited for the opportunity.

Inland's manufacturing process has always been a composite sandwich, just not as refined as what the FlyBoy is, so the production process changes are pretty minimal. PLUS, Cobra has been building the TL2, and Tuflite series of boards for Surftech, which is the basis upon which the FlyBoy construction is done.

Good things for everyone with this merger.

If anyone has questions or concerns, feel free to post up here, or you can email the FlyBoy contact email or James or myself directly.

Thanks to everyone for the congrats - I think everyone will be pleased by the developments with Inland's FlyBoy Division over the coming years...well except maybe other manufacturers

[jbort]

Sounds like a great approach and nice fit. Good going Flyboy!!

[majestic]

The cool thing for me is I will get to support James, my local shop and local company (Island Surfer) by buying a new flyboy next year.

[Duncan]

Congrats on what sounds like an excellent opportunity for you and your family

[flyguy]

So I was just about to pull the trigger and order a flyboy. The question for me now is do I wait or do I order now? Pros/cons?

[sagmanaur]

Congrats!!!
I've been wanting to try out a Flyboy since they announced it this summer. Now that Inland will be involved I think a trip up to WA might be in my plans to demo a board next year.
Jeff and James, you two have brought a lot to this sport, keep up the good work!