Wakesurf industry

[dtown]

I have been reading some of the latest happenings on WW. I am intrigued by the manufacturer's of the boards. From a complete outsider (this will be my second year wakesurfing, and have only surfed in the ocean twice), it appears that there is quite a tug between staying true to surfing roots (handmade in USA) and staying in business and outsourcing manufacturing to Asia (trying to fight off the the big 3, HL, CWB, LF). I am just trying to get a better understanding of the community.

I own a Red Tide and a Yellow Inland Surfer (made in China), and from what I read on the internet it sounds like Shred Stix are now going to be made overseas. These seam to be small wakesurf companies (who give a lot back to the wakesurf community), that have been faced with the reality of having to outsource to stay competitive. Then there are the WP, Vernon, ASC, etc. companies that are keeping to hand made in USA boards. Is this a realistic venture for wakesurfing where you have to compete against the big 3? Does surfing have an equivalent of the big 3? Is it really taboo to ride a machine made surfboard?

I understand the hand shapers that seam to be fighting to preserve their art. It is interesting that the surfing (well, wakesurfing at least) community is havnig to face these issues that the electronics and IT industries had to face years ago.

Surfdad - just wanted to say again, that I greatly appriciate our dedication and love for the sport. I think all of the wakesurf mfgrs should be greatfull for how you help proliforate the sport.

[Surfdad]

Hey dtown thanks so much for the compliment.

The outsourcing question remains a hot topic in surfing circles but doesn't seem to be a huge deal in the wakesurfing crowd. I'm not a big opponent of molded of machine made boards, because quite frankly I like to have exact duplicates as I experiment and no matter how talented a shaper is, getting the EXACT same board twice by hand, is hard. I guess I just see a CNC machine as a tool.

The wakesurf market is very small in relative comparison to say...tubing but most certainly smaller than wakeboarding. I think that the BIG companies have the distribution channels but the designs are lacking the efforts of the larger independents and the smaller independents. However, the larger independents like IS and SS are making huge inroads as the sport starts to take off. I'm not sure that you can manufacture 2-3,000 boards here in the States and stay profitable OR compete in a commodity type market place. The newbie level of boards will always be that. It will be price point and looks and not performance.

As folks become better and understand their needs THAT is when performance matters and to me, the small independents will always have that market. When you manufacture in China your lead time is 6 months and you can't do a one-off board. The cost of the mold or of the setup would make that single board cost 10K.

So, the small independent will have to focus on customization suited to a specific need delivered in a timely manner. The mass producers will compete on a commodity basis.

It will be interesting to see where we are in a few years.

Thanks again dtown.

[Jason B]

Having owned a beverage distribution business, I can tell you the biggest hurdle is the distribution BY FAR. More pointedly--the personnel to setup/manage/update the distribution network. It is a full time job with oodles of travel expense and a full time salary payment to an employee you have to trust to do the job with little oversight. For a small company to make this commitment is almost impossible--it adds (easily) $60k to the annual expenses. Not many start-ups recognize that hurdle or make the proper preparations to establish the dealer network. They kinda do the "build it and they will come" attitude...sometimes they get lucky with the right circumstances and that works but not that often.

Then you have the costs associated with producing products overseas. EVERYTHING is cash FIRST! We spent $76k on 2 containers (40 pallets) of drinks that had the worng expiration date stamped on them--think we got our money back??? Sure you could engage in a lengthy and expensive legal battle but you won't get anywhere before you go broke. If you aren't there to literally watch the product roll off the line....good luck.

[Surfdad]

JasonB - good point about the risks of doing business overseas. I have clients that have manufacturing done for them in China and they describe the legal system there as non-existent.

The distribution channels are truly the road to profit for folks in this industry.