“To all you who reckon surfboards are expensive or a rip-off – you can get f*cked!”

-Jim Banks, Tracks, April 1988 

In April 1988 the average cost of a custom surfboard was $500. Twenty one years later, in June 2009, the average price of a custom surfboard is just $650.

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I don't reckon I'm a tight-arse; I never shirk a shout, always give coins to the Salvos (even gold ones), and despite the cultural connotations, I'm not afraid to tip. But that said, I've caught myself doing an odd thing in recent times after friends have told me about new boards they've bought. Rather than 'what design?' or 'how's it go?' I've found myself leading out the questioning with 'how much did you pay for it?' It's an odd thing because, like I said, I'm not a tight-arse (have I made that point clear?) and the cost of things isn't that much of an issue to me.

It's also an odd thing because I haven't always been this way. Time was when there wasn't much disparity in the price of new boards and, while you'd always want to pay less, there was a measure of acceptance for the final price. However, for the last five or so years, surfboards have been in a weird pricing loop. New competiton seems to have anchored the lower end of the market and restricted the average price from keeping up with CPI.

It's much like the recent fluctuations in the price of plane travel. Economic factors indicate that ticket prices for plane travel should be going up, but increased competition has meant that airfares aren't matching CPI, and in many instances gone done. Competition cuts the prices and the punters hunt the bargains. And with so many bargains going around, paying first-class, whether for plane travel or surfboards, seems an unecessary luxury. Yet surfboards are nothing like airfares.

It's an often-overlooked fact that the creators of the product most integral to the surfing experience have been the least rewarded monetarily. While money is made hand over fist from the shirts on our backs and the pants on our arse, board makers have struggled to monopolise on their standing within our sport. It wasn't till fairly recent times that new materials and business methods allowed budding entrepreneurs to turn a decent buck making boards. In short, non-PU materials and pre-shaped 'models' have altered the board manufacturing landscape. But they are also the most direct threat to the traditional PU custom and the shapers who deal in them. Why, with prices for customs creeping up (though not nearly enough), and the perceived notion that Firewires, Tufflite's et al are stronger, would people stick with customs?

For one, you don't know for sure how it's gonna go till you ride it – unlike the 'models' that you can test ride beforehand. And it may also snap not longer after you part with your coin (of course, the 'alternative' materials are equally likely to snap but accepted wisdom is they won't). So, again, why would people stick with customs?

For mine, trips to the shaper are as important to my surfing experience as early morning coast runs, or staring at a well-structured weather map. You see, if the actual act of standing on a wave is the reason we all begin, it's the peripheral things such as these that fill out a surfing life. They also include having input in my boards, watching them get shaped and brushing the foam dust off a new stick. 

I recently spoke to Jim Banks about his quote that opened this column. Considering that boards are still undervalued his thinking is, naturally, the same, albeit less confrontational and more philosophical. Says Jim: “I just wish people would value good boards more.”

And that's the way it ends. There's no tangible economic equation that will tie up this column and convince people of the real value of custom PU boards. No clear-cut case that will persuade surfers to shun the cheap popouts and strike up a relationship with a local shaper. While the current economic conditions prevail there simply won't be a change. However, I would ask anyone reading this to consider the value of surfboards and how little the price has gone up in twenty one years. Consider that surfboards get collected, while boardshorts never do. And to consider the people who shape the boards and give them their due. Some have been in the game for fifty years and we can learn a hell of a lot from their shaping experience. Me, I'm gonna do my bit by considering my future boards more, not haggling for price, and when mates get new customs ask how the thing goes before asking if they got a bargain.