Rough seas for board shapers

Abrupt shutdown of surfboard foam maker causes alarm in waveriding community, but companies urge calm. For Sean Hagar, it was a matter of good luck and good timing.

Last week the general manager of Hobie Surfboards received a shipment of foam blanks to get the Laguna Beach outfit through the Christmas season. A few days later, the blanks manufacturer, Clark Foam of Laguna Nigel, abruptly announced it was closing its plant and would no longer deliver blanks.

“He really caught us off guard,” Hagar said of Clark Foam’s owner, Gordon “Grubby” Clark. “Thankfully, we have a good amount of foam on stock and quite a few boards finished and ready to go.”

On Monday, Clark, 74, faxed a seven-page letter to hundreds of Southern California shapers and surf shops, saying that a crackdown by local, state and federal environmental agencies was forcing him to close his doors.

“For owning and operating Clark Foam, I may be looking at very large fines, civil lawsuits and even time in prison,” he wrote in his letter.

News of Clark Foam’s demise sent shockwaves through the Orange County surfing community. “The sky is falling in the surfing world,” said T.K. Brimer, owner of the Newport Beach Frog House surf shop. “There’s a panic going on, and my advice is that everyone remain calm.”

The effects of the Clark closure were felt almost immediately by custom shapers, already struggling to compete with mass-produced boards from Asia, Brimer said.

“This area of Orange County has dozens of surfboard manufacturers that pay their mortgage and feed their families making 8 to 10 boards a week,” Brimer said. “There’s an immediate and undeniable effect, and it’s tragic.”

Customers won’t likely get their orders filled by Christmas, if ever, said manager Corey Brindley of the Thalia Street Surf Shop in Laguna Beach.

“We have a bunch of custom orders for boards, and we’re not sure if we can fill any of them,” he said. “There’s definitely going to be a board shortage. It’s a big bummer for sure.”

That will likely mean higher prices at the surf shop. Brimer said many of his wholesalers have already asked him to increase short board prices by $100 and long board prices by $150; so far, Brimer has resisted.

“I don’t think it’s fair to do that,” he said.

But it might be hard to resist in the short term. Anyone holding foam is hoarding it until prices stabilize, Brimer said.

Wholesaler Foam EZ of Westminster has stopped answering its phones.

“We are open for business, but we are not selling any blanks at this time due to the Clark Foam closure,” a message on its answering machine said.

Beyond the economic consequences, Clark’s closure has set off a host of conspiracy theories in the surfing community.

“I’m not convinced it’s real,” Brimer said. “I think it’s a grandstanding performance leading up to a substantial increase in prices.”

In his letter, Clark said that the federal Environmental Protection Agency was cracking down on his company for its use of the toxic chemical toluene diisocynate, issuing him a citation that “had never been resolved.”

EPA spokesperson Mark Merchant said his agency had cited Clark in 2004, but the issue had been resolved.

“He’s in compliance with federal law,” he said. “It’s hard for us to think that federal regulations have shut him down.”

Huntington Beach shaper Robert August said it was strange that Clark didn’t first look for other solutions before closing up.

“If was having these huge problems, why didn’t he just move to Mexico?” August said. “I would have figured he’d just pack everything up, put it in a container and ship to Ensenada.”

August said he has enough board blanks to last him several weeks but would soon looking for supplies elsewhere. There aren’t any other foam producers in the U.S., but August said he might be able to find some of the material in Australia or Asia.

“It’s a business, and it isn’t exactly rocket science to create a foam blank,” he said. “There’s 1,000 people that want to buy surfboard blanks tomorrow.”

Aaron Pai, owner of Huntington Surf and Sport, said it might take a big company like Quiksilver or Billabong to reignite domestic foam blank manufacturing.

“The industry is a billion-dollar industry. There’s a huge hole in the market and someone is going to step up to the void and fill the demand,” he said. “Is custom surfboard manufacturing a thing of the past? No, every day people come in and demand a hand-shaped board from a master craftsman -- people like Al Merrick, Robert August. It’s a treasured item to each one of our customers and our riders.”

But filling the gap left behind by Clark could take months, if not decades, Brindley said.

“Right now, 10% of the world’s blank manufacturers are being asked to fill in for the other 90%,” he said. “It took Clark Foam 45 years to build what they have. There’s no way we’re going to be able to come close in just a couple of days.”

Hobie’s Hagar said Clark’s closure will be devastating for many small shapers, but the move will eventually boost the industry.

“Before, we were operating under a monopoly,” he said. “Hopefully, we will see more varieties in the companies [manufacturing foam].”

Hagar said Hobie will also explore other technologies, including boards made in Thailand and epoxy boards that use different blanks.

“It’s a major bump in the road, but something we need to shake everyone up.”