A little less than three years ago, I purchased two Clark Foam polyurethane surfboard blanks, a couple gallons of polyester of resin and a dozen yards of fiberglass cloth and decided to try my hand at shaping a surfboard. Coincidentally, a month after I got my blanks, Gordon “Grubby” Clark shut down production at his Laguna Nigel, CA manufacturing facility and went out of business, sending the surf world into a vortex of panic, rumor and fear that now, nearly three years removed, seems kind of silly. The world did not end, the price of surfboards did not go through the roof (some larger manufacturers, like Rusty, got egg on their faces for exorbitant price hikes) and relatively few of the smaller shapers (who form the backbone of American surfboard culture and had the most to fear from the shutdown) went out of business. In fact, one of the few predictions arising out of the “Blank Monday” hysteria that seems to have come to pass is that the flood of poorly constructed, mass-produced, inexpensive surfboards built overseas in Thailand, Vietnam and China, will continue unabated. Thankfully, and perhaps in spite of the rise of the popout and the demise of Clark Foam, it seems that many smaller, independent shapers are flourishing. We should all hope for the continued success of the independent shaper, for these craftsmen are our sole connection to a tradition that is an essential part of the ride. So here then, are some random thoughts on building boards, on globalization and on why I like Grubby Clark.

Let’s get one thing out in the open. I’m little more than a dilettante, an observer turned participant. Before I bought my blanks, the sum of my experience building surfboards amounted to a half-assed attempt at a windsurfer when I was in college in the early ‘90’s, a couple hours helping a friend glass his garage-shaped twin fin, and some ding repair. I do not profess to have any knowledge to impart beyond my thoughts. Take them as you will. What you won’t find here are pearls of wisdom or any instructions on how things should be done. I offer my two cents on an issue I think all surfers should care about, which is about all any of this is worth.

THE CORE
Clark’s blanks are a good place to start. It is hard to understate the impact Clark had on the business of board building in the United States, where he owned between 80 and 90 percent of the market for foam blanks. He was there at the beginning, pre-Gidget and, together with Hobie Alter, saw the future of surfboards in polyurethane foam. Over the years, Clark transformed shaping through research and constant innovation. One tired trope people trot out again and again is that surfboard design is stagnant, that it hasn’t changed much since Simon Anderson “invented” the thruster. Some people blame this supposed stagnation on Clark, who, they say, essentially forced manufacturers to use his product. This is, of course, nonsense. In fact, not only is basic design flourishing right now, but shapers are experimenting with new materials (both for foam and for glassing) at a rate that is incomparable to almost any other moment in the history of surfboard design. It is easy to attribute this to the closure of Clark Foam, but to do so ignores his many contributions to the world of surfboard design.

Perhaps his greatest contribution came in the development of “close-tolerance” blanks, but that is just one of many. He created a foam formula which produced easy-to-shape blanks of remarkable consistency. He offered blanks of varying density and weight for different uses. He built concrete molds to specs given to him by shapers, so that the blanks, rather than being shapeless blocks of foam, had specific rockers, width and thickness built into them. In short, he may have been a ruthless competitor (the stories are legion) but his monopoly was built, at least partially, on the strength of his product.

One result of Clark’s innovation was that shapers could finish boards more quickly. Additionally, he could (and did) provide custom rockers to an individual or hundreds of identical blanks to a mass-production outfit. He was a businessman, and quickly cornered the market on foam blanks. Interestingly, however, his monopoly served, in many ways, to keep the cost of foam down, especially for smaller shapers. A year before Clark shut down, Dave Parmenter, a masterful shaper and the conscience of the industry, lauded Clark in his famous “manifesto” because, as he put it: “I am far from being their best or biggest customer (I purchase a mere 300-400 blanks a year) and yet I have never been treated - by each and every employee of Clark Foam - as anything less than a trusted and valued partner. Questions are answered cheerfully, orders processed with speed and accuracy, and the blanks have always been of unbelievable quality.”

Indeed, as the industry changed and big name American shaping outfits grew larger and larger, Clark faced increasing pressure to offer them discounted rates. This would have driven boutique shapers like Parmenter out of business by forcing them to raise prices to compete with the bigger shapers, who would have gotten their blanks at a discount. Whatever your view of his business practices, Grubby never let that happen, and has to be considered at least partially responsible for the long term survival of the cornerstone of innovation in surfboard design, the backyard professional.

His catalog was a who’s who of the American shaping landscape: he offered blanks from 5’5” to 12’8” designed by everyone from Dick Brewer to Dale Velzy to Pat Rawson for every conceivable type of board. For my blanks, I chose an 8’6R and a 10’1Y, designed by Rusty Preisensdorfer and Renny Yater, respectively. I am a surfer of insubstantial ability and substantial size, so I knew, at a minimum, I wanted to have ample foam at my disposal. With the 8’6”, I wanted to replicate a Rusty Desert Island I’d owned and broken in the shore break at Long Beach, NY. The 10’2” was put in the rafters for later.

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