Friends for many years and owners of a surf shop in Cardiff by the Sea, California, Matt Gelardo and Scott Yankton were growing frustrated with some of the trends in the surf industry and began formulating a plan that might help counteract at least a small part of this.
Both are lifelong surfers but each has arrived at this juncture in a very different way. Matt grew up in Southern California and has lived on the coast everywhere from Ventura to San Diego. After school, he had stints both in the entertainment industry, then later owning / managing small businesses. He then moved to Cardiff by the Sea and purchased a surf shop just up from Cardiff Reef.
Scott Yankton grew up on both the Central and Southern coast of California. Searching for great waves was a priority, so he worked in occupations that provided the means and time for international travel. After building and selling a technology company for a local Indian Tribe, he was looking for something different.
Matt and Scott had been talking about going into business together for years. In 2006 they joined forces, formed their company and expanded their shop. It was then that they came up with the idea of creating a website for building custom surfboards online. This coincided with a shift in the local market toward cheaply made “pop out” and inferior boards made overseas. Matt and Scott started talking to shapers who were affected by this turn and closely watched the surfboard business market. What they found was that the seductive combination of high advertising dollars and large wholesale and retail margins (mark up) were moving the focus away from higher quality, handcrafted boards and the talented people who shape them.
“It’s like the soul of surfing is slowly being stripped away”, states Gelardo. In addition, legendary shaper Tim Bessell noted, “every top pro surfer rides a custom board, why would anyone settle for less?”
Matt and Scott started working on their plan to combine the top shaping talent in the industry with a website where anybody could learn about these artisans, choose any one of these gifted shapers, customize the dimensions of their boards, add color and have their shaper create a one-of-a-kind custom board.
After recruiting some of the best craftsman in the industry including Cole Simler, Michael Andrews, Hank Warner, Greg Sauritch, Gary Linden, Michael Andrews, Jim Phillips, Larry Mabile, John Kies, Tim Bessell and more, they launched the site in July.
“We will be adding more shapers in the coming months but will stay focused on bringing in only the highest echelon of the industry,” said Yankton. Gelardo added, “One of the by-products of working with these top tier shapers is that you gain more appreciation for the history of the sport; how important the art of shaping is to them and the depth of the talent that they bring to the table. To me, they are the rock stars of our industry.”
It should be noted that their website was built by people who surf and that going forward, they plan on partnering with those who are working to stay connected with the roots of surfing.
Surfboardbuilders.com is a one-stop-shop website combining top shaping talent with the ability to build and buy your dream board online.