Despite some surprise traffic around Camp Pendleton, Peter and I finally made our way to Sacred Craft. It was like walking into surf shangri-la: longboards, shortboard, funboards, quads, thusters, singles, wood, fiberglass, epoxy, experimental, asymetrical…! Where do you even start? Pre-apologize, except for this one phone from the entrance, I was so dazzled by everything that I did not take one other picture.
We weaved our way though the booths and rows oogling everything as we went by. Saw some friends from Harbour and Foam E-Z. We watched some guys with huge blue tarp make pretend barrels and skateboard through them. We studied the guys working the live shaping booths.
Board-wise it seems like everyone is experimenting with a mini-simmons design. I thought the bonzer might be getting a resurgence, but I didn’t see any evidence of that at this show.
The thing I really took away from the show was the need to upgrade my fins. I’m always looking to change board to find that extra something out in the water, but I never really considered changing up my fins. I know different fins can make a difference, but again it’s just something I didn’t much think about for myself. That was something professionals had to deal with. But after a LONG visit to the Futures booth, I am hooked on the Solus and Elevon fin sets. (Check out the videos on mpora.com if you want the details on those fin sets.)
I also met a couple dudes who run an Auto Trader style site for surfboards. Imagine if Craigslist had a filter for lengths, fin set ups and so on – that’s what their doing. Check out boardhunt.com if you have a few spare hours or more; be prepared to go down the rabbit hole.
