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.

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