33 Strikes back!

So "anonymous" posted a reply to my post about Stoked/33Degree pop outs.
I am re-posting the comment from anon here, and responding for all to see, my responses in bold:

You guys are fools who worse seem to think you own the waves like other locals who have no life ! Self proclaimed experts who ruin the very soul of surfing with your negative attitudes ... Funny the top surfers never feel the same as the local losers ...

Who said anything about owning waves? I have no problem with beginners either. I was one, we were all one once. I never disparaged the people who might buy one of these boards, just the marketing of them.
Self proclaimed expert? Never made the claim, but I think I might know a bit about surfing since I've been surfing, building and repairing boards for 30 years.



Plus anyone with a brain knows all the brands get their stuff shaped over seas ... since I have been to the places and seen the names ... so go spread your false crap to others who can't logic.

Really? My boards are made here in California, every one of them, so are all the boards that we glass for other shapers, as are the ones glassed by Sugarmill, Moonlight, Diamond, Waterman's Guild, G&S, Hobie, Takayama, Ambrose, Zamora, Xanadu, Skip Frye, Josh Hall, Mandala,Surfboards La Jolla, Mirandons, Rainbow, Swift Movement, Bunker, Sharp Eye, Mitzven, Rusty, Channel Islands (wha?, you mean that giant factory that Al Merrick built in California doesn't build boards????, Cooperfish, Tyler, Wave Tools, Kane Garden, Joel Tudor, Murphy.....
Even the ones that come out of a shaping machine are coming out of a shaping machine here in the US, and are scanned from original hand shapes by the shapers whose name is behind the label. Surftechs don't count, they are pressure molded, not shaped and glassed.
"who can't logic"? You need to work on your grammar too.



"Plus 5 minutes with the owners of degree 33 and you know they are total class and a young couple just starting a business to not have a 9 to 5 job to live the beach life and to actually not be controlled by the MAN ..."

Never said anything about the character of these people, although I do find it funny that they stated on the Stoked site about how the surfboards in Cali are overpriced because of surfshop middlemen. Is this couple involved in shaping, glassing, sanding, plugging, coloring, etc. surfboards, or are they simply distributors? Doesn't that make them just middlemen themselves?



"funny you would make fun of them for having corp jobs i bet and now you make fun of them for coming into your world to escape the suits and to work as a couple .. truth is you are nothing more then greedy capitalist who are upset your business model is not working ... and you have the mentality of a 5 yr old thinking you where here first and that is all that counts :) plus you lie about most of the locals boards being not made over seas at the same place ( hypocrite )"

I made fun of them for having corp jobs? I don't see that anywhere in the post.
I'm a greedy capitalist? No I'm a craftsman who has dedicated my life to learning the art of BUILDING a surfboard, start to finish, by hand. The 33 couple are the capitalists who are importing a product and selling it as retailers. They build nothing. That makes them the greedy capitalists, no?
I noticed that they are selling accessories, such as leashes and traction pads, board bags etc. I also notice that you aren't selling them at wholesale prices, but at a markup. Darn greedy capitalists!
"Local" boards are indeed made by local shapers, and glassers, whether it's the US, Australia, the UK, Brazil, France, Mexico. Local means local. Locals know the local breaks and conditions, and what work in them. That's why you should go to a shaper, not a surf shop to find a the right board. I'm not endorsing xenophobia (look it up in the dictionary) to promote my "business model", I'm endorsing it because surfing is NOT a one size fits all situation. And it's a lot more than just the size of the board anyway.



word to the wise don't fall for negative google bombing folks its just a sad way to try and hurt the new comers ........ the boards are great for new people and intermediate ...

You still don't get it, I don't care that they have "entered the market". They are not surfboard builders, they are "surfboard" and accessory retailers, and the claims they are making about the characteristics of the boards they sell are absurd. The design elements that go into a board cannot and do not uniformly make catching and riding waves a guarantee. Putting the right board in the hands of someone is more than handing them a certain size. There are too many variables, such as where they surf, how they surf, weight, height, experience, and where they want to expand their skill set to. Saying that the "Stable Surf System" will improve your surfing is patently false. What shaper's designs are the plugs based on? Who did you work with?
I noticed that they now have a money back guarantee that you will "love your board" instead of "catch every wave you go for" as previously advertised. Hmm.... guess you can't really guarantee that waves can be caught despite the catcher's abilities.

So all that being said, that original post was to point out the falsehoods behind the claims, and to continue to promote hand shaped surfboards by local shapers and glassers who have dedicated their lives to building quality and innovative surfboards based on hard work, experience and local knowledge, period. Here's to the craftsmen!

And for the record, here is my original post from when these people first appeared as "Stoked" surfboards: Am I Too Harsh?