In this third episode of the ThankYouSurfing Podcast, Brad from ThankYouSurfing and Chris from First Surf Shop and Division discuss their return from a grueling road trip, the busy Florida Turnpike, and exciting events like barbecues and poker tournaments. They also dive deep into surf conditions, upcoming meteorological events, reflections on the winter surf season, and insights from the recent Surf Expo. Plus, special guest Jason McIntosh pops in. Tune in for all that and more! Recorded January 19, 2018.
JMac: https://www.instagram.com/jasonmac7/
Davo: https://www.instagram.com/davosjuevos/
This episode includes:
- Surf Report/Forecast
- Week Local Happenings
- BBQ at Division Wynwood
- Tattoos by Ami James
- Surfrider Foundation Miami Movie Night: Surfing Cuba
- Surf Expo 2018
- Expo: Then and now
- State of the industry
- Business of surf shops
- Online and Brick & Mortar
- The customer experience
- Creators and Innovators
- Coolest thing you saw at Surf Expo 2018
- Futures Fins Air Injected
- Waxless surf traction
- Firewire: TOMO/Slater Designs/Rob Machado Surfboards
- Floating Tiki Hut
- The appeal of surfing
- Tips for wearing a wetsuit. (Especially for Floridians who are terrible at it)
Transcript
S1E03-YT
[00:00:00] Yo Three weeks in a row I Didn’t know if we were gonna make it. I know we’re gonna make it back today Yeah, four and a half hours four and a half hours on the turnpike Hello, when did the turnpike get so busy? Seriously, the way up wasn’t any fun either. No Florida what are you doing? We’re slammed everywhere We’re building everywhere. [00:00:29] Yeah, a lot of people, a lot of construction, a lot of slowdowns, a lot of terrible driving. But we’re here. We’re back. Five hours almost. Oh, I’m glad that you guys are following and glad you guys are all here again. It was a lot of fun the last couple times. I imagine this time will be pretty fun too. [00:00:50] Anyway, I’m Brad from Thank You Surfing, and this is Chris from First Surf Shop and Division. And Division, I know. God, I keep forgetting. I don’t think you forget. You have a few things in mind. No, I know, I know. I forget it. Anyway, so yeah, it’s really exciting. Uh, Division’s doing some fun stuff. I actually have some appointments available this week. [00:01:10] So if you guys want to get some tattoos, Ami James is a tattoo guy from Miami Ink. Love, hate. Uh, he’s got a couple appointments open if you want to get some tattoos. Our division spot in Wynwood. Look it up. Division Wynwood. Uh, call us up. Let’s get you inked. Yeah. What else is happening in the shops? You guys got anything coming up? [00:01:29] Uh, well, as far as, we probably got a barbecue coming up over there at Division. I like barbecues. A little happy hour. Uh, we’re even contemplating on booking a little poker tournament together. Poker tournament? Poker tournament. I will not. I’m so bad at it. Really? Yeah. You don’t even, you don’t even want me to like be there until you take my money. [00:01:48] But you see the people that are really crappy at poker are usually the ones that win. Yeah. Well, it’s one of those things where you throw the odds off completely. You throw everything. You’re just, you’re doing, you’re making decisions not based on positioning or what cards you’re holding or anything else. [00:02:02] You’re just like feeling, yeah. And you’re ruining the poker player. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They’re just like, I hate this guy. I’m tilted. I’m out of here. Yeah. I’m all in firsthand. Oh God. I do. I like to do this little thing. Scott from Isle of Water sports when we play against each other hates when I do this. So I’ll just kind of like put my hands over cards and I’ll be like, and of course it’s like within the first rounds and the rebuys. [00:02:26] So who cares? Live a little. You poker people out there know what’s up. I will just have to watch. All right. Well past that we, uh, you know, it looks like might have some surf on top a little bit down the road. Yeah, no, I’m certain now. There’s a lot of wind chop. So get out there and enjoy what we do have. [00:02:45] And the whole upcoming week looks like a lot of wind chop too. Maybe some swell filling in middle of the week. We have a couple of interesting things going on. Meteorologically, there’s a low that might spin up over there in the Gulf. And then as you go further through the week, there’s a high pressure that should influence a gale sort of situation off the mid Atlantic. [00:03:05] So, a lot of wind, um, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to get much clean swell. Things could change, but, um, definitely surfable waves in South Florida, so not complaining about that. How would you rate our winter thus far versus, let’s say, winter to the last three years? I don’t, oof, I wouldn’t give you the last year over year comparison. [00:03:26] Okay, let’s go with last year. Uh, by this point last year, we’d already had two major swells. Probably the two most major swells of the whole year. So, a little bit half full, I guess. A little bit. In terms of size. Uh, in terms of consistency, we’ve had a lot of waves all fall and into the winter. Right. So, not complaining about that. [00:03:47] But we haven’t really had, like, that epic quality. South beach. All day. What’s your gut telling you? Are we gonna get anything? I don’t go by gut, I go by statistics, Chris. Uh, no one to hold them, no one to fold them. Yeah, um, at least from forecasting. Right. So yeah, I mean this is our season, so absolutely we’re gonna get one. [00:04:09] And if we didn’t get one, it’d be very surprising. Very surprising indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, look who’s come in. Come on in here. Mr. Jason McIntosh. Say hi to everyone outside. What’s up, everybody? You want to let them know what your hashtag is and what your, uh, your ad is so you can Basically, the hashtag is 305ero. [00:04:28] Any shots? Ocean. South Beach. A lot of the shots you’ve been seeing with the, with the sharks or the sawfish the other day or things you kind of, I’m sure you’ve been seeing go around. A lot of sharks. This guy been off the drone doing some pretty phenomenal stuff. What’s your handle? One Love. What’s your handle, Austin? [00:04:44] Uh, JasonMac7 Jason M A C 7. Check that out. One Love, fellas. One love. So, yeah. I mean, like I said, it’s winter time, we got our ways, at least our quality ways, with these different hurricanes in the winter time from both runs and associated sort of systems. So, uh, yeah. It’s the time of the year. So, it’s coming. [00:05:06] You just gotta wait. Be patient. Bring it. Jesus. Man, it’s rough. I mean, granted, you know, winch off, it’s alright. You know, get out there. It’s a little nippy out there. It’s a little rough. The ocean is angry right now. Yeah. Poor George Costanza. George Costanza. The ocean was angry that day, my friends. But there was some, there were some bombs out there. [00:05:26] I saw Davo right now. I was just getting some good overhead bombs. I was like, Oh, word. Oh, you’re checking them. Yeah. Yeah. So check that out. Five hours in the car. I went straight to the shop. Yeah. Straight back to work. Straight back to work. Uh, other updates. Thank you. Serving. Got some stuff going on. Um, we uploaded the last two episodes of talk story. [00:05:49] So you guys can check that out. Uh, episode zero and zero, zero. And then I guess this would be episode one. No, this is episode three. That was episode one. Episode two, so everything’s up on the blog. You guys can check that out. Um, oh, I got a bunch of submissions from one of our local board aficionados. [00:06:08] Okay. Jose is letting go of some of his craft. Some of his boards. Oh, yes. And I’ve got an inbox full of pictures, and it is pretty sick. He’s got some incredible boards. Well, he’s, he’s one of those guys that, you know, has such epic stuff that Yeah. When he’s trying to upload stuff, you should definitely pay attention. [00:06:31] Yeah. Because you can get it way cheaper than you could possibly get it anywhere else. He loves surfing, loves boards, so Right, and he’s got boards that you’re not going to see in most surf shops around here, I know. Definitely not, I know. This is all, like, custom order stuff. Craigslist stuff that he like hunts down. [00:06:48] So where did you find it? Where can we see it? It’s going to be on ThankYouSurfing soon. I have not put it up yet. Uh, it’s an article that’s coming this week. Also coming this week, we got a submission from our local photographer, Lou Lozada. Lou. A. K. A. Vodagraph. And, uh, I will do a little photo reveal, but I have to tell you I did take a look, uh, when he sent me the images. [00:07:09] Yeah. Of course it’s sick, but varied. A lot of different stuff. Yeah. Yeah, some of his abstract stuff, some of him like messing around with images, uh, some of his water stuff, some of his land stuff, some barrels, some lifestyles. That’s great. Pretty awesome. Pretty, pretty stoked to get that stuff, and uh, we’ll put that out on the blog pretty soon. [00:07:30] So check that out. What else we got going on? What else do we got going on? So Surf Expo we just drove back down from. Big thing, Bradley here, hasn’t been to Surf Expo in 15 years? 15, at least 15 years. 15 years, so a lot’s happened in the industry as well as Surf Expo in the last 15 years, so it’s interesting to get your perspective in regards to what you saw, how it went, everything else as far as that goes like, I mean, how different, what was one of the major things that you found that was completely different? [00:08:02] Oh, it’s completely different. Uh, Way more of like an industry trade show. I go to trade shows in other industries and they are more like what I saw today. Back in the past, it was not like that. It was like a circus, carnival, freak show. With a little bit of business happening, it seems, I hope. Um, but this is totally different. [00:08:27] I mean, way more subdued. Um, Also, I guess in terms of like the booths, the giveaways, all that kind of stuff, way more conservative. Yeah, I guess that’s a sort of sign of the times, right? They don’t toss things out the way they used to. The golden years I think are gone for a lot of surf companies in the surf industry. [00:08:46] I think the, the years from 2000 to 2005. We’re kind of the times where all the big companies were doing stuff, and your expos showed that, where there was excess everywhere. You know, they had big budgets, so it was blowing things out. Yeah, like they rented out Islands of Adventure. Yep, they’ve done Typhoon Lagoon a few times before. [00:09:06] Yeah, they’ve done Typhoon Lagoon. Not lately. But you also have like big guys like Quicksilver. Quicksilver not even showing up to the show. I wonder why. Oh, you know. The long line now? The quick server line? Something giant? I don’t know. Something’s happening in the industry. But, but a lot of that is changing. [00:09:23] You know, how they’re approaching things. Plus, a lot of the challenge with this show was that typically they have it in the beginning of January and they had it towards the end, which is already outside of the closing of the buying windows and the deadlines for a lot of these companies. So you’re like, Alright, well I already bought all this stuff, so what am I doing? [00:09:40] I’m kind of window shopping. So you kind of go there to kind of talk about collaborative efforts, things to do where that’s where we can work things a little bit better. I think it was a high five thing, you know, but that’s what’s great about our industry. This is what’s great about our industry is I have so many big decisions on deals that you’re going to do with companies are based on feelings, how, how the mutual feeling are with each other and, you know, kind of just still a handshake more than anything else. [00:10:05] And that’s kind of cool that we still do that. I saw a lot of that happening. I mean, I’m not part of this industry per se, like I don’t make any money from surfing. I’m just a nerd about it. And to see kind of the inner workings, uh, was really interesting to see how like deals are starting to like, like happen and get made, what people are putting emphasis on, what they’re backing away from. [00:10:26] Um, pretty cool stuff. Surfing’s changing. There’s no doubt about that. And, and the way that people are buying things are changing. Whether it’s online or anything else. You also, I mean, even down to surfboards. I mean, people now with leader counts are able to kind of figure out what board works for you. [00:10:45] And then if you want a certain model, you don’t have to go hunt down every store. You just jump online and I get it. Like, I’m a retailer. It sucks. It kills me. But I get it for the ease as a consumer. You find that right board instead of needle in the haystack. So there’s a lot of. Challenges both the manufacturer as well as the retailer have to work on because otherwise it’s only guys that are just been around for a Long time that have hundreds of boards that are going to be able to kind of capitalize on that still too. [00:11:10] So yeah, and I mean for me as more like the consumer side of it That’s I felt like it was very much the business side of it. Like you’re you’re very understanding of what’s happening the exchanges that take place between uh I guess the businesses that you do business with and then the consumer who’s more like me And It seems like they’re all trying really hard to do better for me, the consumer. [00:11:31] I don’t think they’ve figured it out yet. Uh, like, little things, like, how the hell do you stock every size of everything and everything I want? It seems impossible. And it is, there’s so much of it. So then at that point it puts it on the store or retailer to kind of make the decisions on what they feel, right? [00:11:47] And that’s kind of part of the creative process is how, this is how we’re curating the space according to all these different stories that are out there. Hopefully we’re telling those stories correctly and the consumer relates to it and says, Wow, I kind of relate to this shirt or to these pair of shorts and stuff or the way that it’s merchandising. [00:12:03] That’s kind of the process. So, um, Super interesting to see that process. Actually, one thing I thought really. Kind of blew my mind, and I guess I had an oversimplified view of everything that happens, but, um, We haven’t even talked about this. It’s like, just because you carry a certain line, or a certain brand, doesn’t mean that you carry everything within that. [00:12:23] And so, you actually, even within, like, the brands that you’re curating, you’re curating different products, or different line, I don’t know how you refer to it. Right, categories. Yeah, and like, You guys are like literally like circling stuff. I mean like, that looks cool, our people would like that. Our neighborhood would definitely be into this. [00:12:42] And buying becomes such a weird thing as well because, Right, you don’t, you’re not necessarily buying what you like completely or what you’re going to wear because you factor not everyone is like that. But you might like certain things or you might understand how a certain taste works in a certain area. [00:12:56] You might want to try, you might want to push it. That’s again, part of that artistry of what we do. But you’re right, there’s so many variables. That go into it, like, okay, this and that. Then imagine you see ten different lines, and you’ve marked all these different things, and now, you’re guessing what you’re going to go ahead and purchase for six months down the road. [00:13:11] That’s so hard. It’s like, you know, and then you’re like figuring, alright, this and that, I have a certain amount of budget, this and that, but put it towards this, or, or is this going to work a little bit better than this, and sometimes you sit on things, and it’s kind of part of the gamble. Hard. Really, it sounds really hard. [00:13:25] Yeah, it kind of blows your mind. Yeah, no, it’s really, really, uh, So you like walk into a surf shop and you see all this stuff there. You really never give, at least I didn’t give any thought to how the hell it got there. Right. It turns out what I learned is that there’s many, many steps in this whole process from the designers who are coming up with like, I think maybe their retailers are going to like this kind of stuff because they’re like, uh, customers are going to like this kind of stuff. [00:13:52] And then you have the reps that push certain things because they may think it’s better for your little market or whatever. I mean, there’s a million decisions to be made the whole way down. And that’s all before sometimes it gets to the store. You have the designers, and then you have the allocators, and you have the merchandisers, and they’re kind of figuring out how it’s all going to work for a collection. [00:14:12] This and that, and then they present it, and they have to at that point figure out who likes what, to go ahead and see how much volume they get for this. And sometimes they miss on something that could be a hot seller, and all of a sudden they didn’t get it cut in enough in time because it’s too big. So much with so much lead time in advance. [00:14:27] And then once it gets to the store, it was all different. You know, this bill comes in this time. This bill comes in this time. You pay it here and pay it there. And you know, even how you present everything that you’ve curated from within categories, within different brands. Yeah. So many layers. It’s really, I mean, So it’s a labor of love. [00:14:47] We do it for you. Yeah, seriously. You want to come in, you check it out, you give us pat, high fives or pats on the back. That’s kind of what makes it feel better. You know what? Here’s another good thing. This is maybe on like a slightly more positive note because what we just talked about is kind of like the strength of the business. [00:15:01] Sure. It’s not the hard part. It’s the business of the business. It’s the business. But one thing I did think that was really cool, I had the liberty of meeting some really interesting people, pretty much through these guys, and These are very high powered people within the industry that run the show for their brands. [00:15:18] Right. They invent brands. Right. They are, you know, CEOs or presidents. They’re Exactly, yeah. You know, international people, they’re making decisions. Things that you see out there that are, whether it’s marketing or this, those, these are the guys that are making those decisions. Yeah. And you know, in my normal work, those people generally wear suits. [00:15:35] Not wetsuits. Uh, they will meet you for a drink, but you’ve got 10 minutes with them and then they’re going to like move on. But you know, it’s a totally different scene here. These, I mean, from what I saw and I can’t speak for everything, but it’s pretty heartfelt what they’re trying to do. They’re in it because they want to be there doing it. [00:15:55] Right. And I really feel like, uh, having experience in other business, And talking to these guys, like they could be industry leaders in any industry. They could be a CEO of any company, but they chose to be CEO of a surf company. Right. Because. Full. It’s a passion of stupid, maybe , I dunno, but, uh, labor alone. [00:16:15] Yeah. It’s, it is, and it comes through when you talk to all these guys and go into a trade show like that and like watching guys in junk glass and like, you know, just like walking around the trade show. I mean, oh, that’s a guy that runs that brand. You’re like, he’s wearing flip flops. That’s pretty cool. [00:16:28] Again, I refer back to like, these guys with , they’re just such epic, it’s such an epic team from Paul, the CEO down to the rest of the team, like, and they’re hands on. They’re craftsmen themselves, so they’re like. They’re, you know, Paul, you know, the CEO is dipping the different resin tints onto this panel, which is the panel that we have here at the shop that goes around the rail of our bar, our countertop. [00:16:49] And it’s just like, wow, that’s so good. It’s like the CEO, like we’re just sitting here having a beer together. And you’re like, that’s right. You know, because it really is that cool. Like we really are all. There’s not many CEOs in any other industry I know that’ll actually get back down in the trenches, so to speak, and work at that level. [00:17:08] They’re definitely not mixing resin. Right. And there he goes to show you his passion. He’s always, first and foremost, he’s always been a surfer. You know, and so that’s what drives him. And doing what he’s done for such a long time, because he was a CEO for Billabong for 25 years. You know, he’s, he’s, he’s kind of still doing it. [00:17:26] He enjoys working with people and building teams and seeing this growth and, and he’s pushing that vision that he sees with surfing and it’s, uh, it’s pretty exciting to be a long, you know, jumped along with it. Really, I guess like the, the realization that there’s really business happening in the surf industry outside of what you see in surf mags or like through the media and things like that. [00:17:47] Yeah. I mean, there’s real business happening, and it’s not a small industry. Um, oh, I guess that was another thing that was kind of interesting is, uh, from the last time I went, uh, 15 years ago, there was like a 15 foot vert ramp in the middle of the show. And most every, uh, booth was a surf company. Uh, established or growing. [00:18:11] And this time there was a lot of other, like, I guess, resort wear, uh, sundries, beach Right, so, so that sundries, beach wear, or just the resort side has always been there, but they were probably maybe like 30 percent of the show back in the day, where 70 percent was like surf and skate and hot house. And now as Things have gone the way they have, surf industry has gotten hurt the way they have, resorts have been, they’re still kicking it. [00:18:37] Um, and now the show is kind of like 60 or 65 percent resort, 35 percent if not at least 70 percent surf, which is a complete change. But again, testament that things are changing in the industries that we’re in and, you know, things are different. So, um, it’ll be interesting to see where we go from here. [00:18:56] You know, but I think it’s about activations at this point, right? Now it’s about what are the big brands doing to, um, stoke out the retailer that’s saying this is, this is why you should be telling my story. You know what? The thing that con, uh, connects all these, I guess, like even the beach wear and resort stuff and like, whatever, is that there’s a certain sort of appeal that the ocean and like the coastline and the beach has for people and that’s what they’re selling. [00:19:25] They’re selling almost like a lifestyle shirt, you know, and, um, and surfing is that too. I mean, you know, we talked about this on the way down, you know, how many people that come into a surf shop actually surf all the time? Or how many people that are really, uh, interested in surfing, surf all the time? Not, not a huge percentage, I would imagine. [00:19:45] You know, I, I’ve noticed before, just doing your own personal, my own personal tests, that 7 out of 10 people that go to most surf shops, they’re surfing. But then in Canada, you know, and a lot of people that come in like, Oh, I can’t buy anything there. It’s a surf shop. And you’re like, well, you gotta wear, someone’s gotta wear board shorts. [00:19:59] Gotta wear sandals. You’d like to wear glasses. You’d like to wear bikinis. I don’t know, t shirts. I like wearing t shirts. Hats. So most people don’t realize, Oh, I can get those. And then it’s not just your typical, that’s what I think we’ve, we’ve tried to do here. At first, it’s not making your typical surf shop where it’s just like very junior or very young, where you kind of feel out of place wearing it. [00:20:19] It’s kind of, there’s a mature version of as well with a lot of the brands that have great quality of material, um, but are, don’t feel like you’re kind of, Making you feel like you’re 18 years old, you know, let mom be an 18 again. Yeah, it’s kind of reminds me of um, Like what corona has done with beer they’re like Beer our beer equals vacation. [00:20:42] Yes, and to a large extent I think like when people think of surfing they think of like vacation or leisure time or like enjoying their life and like nature and The natural world and everything else that comes with it And it Because of that it holds like this place of cool. Right. And so if you come to a surf shop and you buy a pair of boardies, even if you don’t surf, you’re gonna feel cool. [00:21:05] Right. And I can guarantee that if you buy a pair of boardies that’s made by a surfer for a surfer, they’re going to be functional and they’re going to work. Right. And they’re probably going to stick in your closet maybe forever. Right. And I mean those commercials work. I mean, I thought of throwing and skipping my phone across the pond many times. [00:21:21] Ha ha ha. Every time I heard you say that. Ah! Yeah, so um, You know, I think that that like, was a kind of a realization that, um, That surfing has a broader appeal. Way broader than I would give it credit for on a day to day basis. And seeing, you know, like the floor of the expo laid out, And actually seeing that bottom line, you’re like, wow. [00:21:47] You know, and then if you even took in the, in the surfing side of it, how many of those were hard goods? Like the things that actually allow you to go surfing. Yeah, you need a pair of trunks, but you could wear your underwear. Paddle boards, or how much of it was floatation devices, or party flotation devices, or things that go behind the boats, or, you know. [00:22:06] Okay, so that brings us to another question, and I know the answer to this one, which is why I’m asking it. What was the favorite thing you saw at the show? Well, my favorite thing, you know, and I don’t know, I’m just a leisure kind of guy. I thought it was pretty great. They have this like huge float thing They make it for yoga where they’re like pods. [00:22:23] You can kind of put your paddle boards up to it But then they’ve created a center section that has seats as well as like a bar and it’s like a tiki hut It’s like a floating tiki hut for like six people. You pull it behind the bar. I mean your boat stick it at the sandbar and Just drink. Have you ever seen one of these out on the water? [00:22:41] Not yet. I can’t wait. Maybe not. That was a pretty interesting thing. That’s all I think. Yeah. What’d you find? What’d you think was cool? Oh, what did I think was cool? Um, [00:22:58] I don’t know, I’m kind of overwhelmed. There’s a lot of interesting things that I saw. Um, I guess that traction that was non wax. It was kind of a clear traction. And I’d seen it before and I’d felt it before. I don’t know. Uh, maybe I’m becoming less of a purist. I’m just kind of going for what might work, but I’m kind of interested in it. [00:23:19] I mean, I’ve got tons of wax all over everything I own. Wax adds weight to your board if you keep putting wax on top of it. Yeah, tons of weight to your board if you add a lot. Uh, sometimes you run out of wax. Sometimes you don’t have the right bar of wax. Sometimes your wax gets slippery. [00:23:34] I don’t know, [00:23:35] it just seems like something that you could improve. [00:23:37] It seems kind of Revolutionary? [00:23:41] Well, I don’t know. [00:23:42] Yeah. I guess it’d be revolutionary. But it just seems kind of stupid that we’re using wax that was developed like 60 years ago. Right. Out of, you know, kind of necessity more than anything else. It’s like, what do I, what do I find out? We should, we should be able to do better than that. [00:23:55] Okay. So that was kind of interesting. Um, what else was kind of interesting? Oh, those paddle boards. Bowtay. Yeah. Bowtay paddle boards. That was kind of mind blowing. I mean, everything else seemed like, more or less, like, slight changes to what I expected. Like, uh, all those toggle boards look really sick. Uh, or the Slater design stuff, all from, uh, FireWire. [00:24:19] All that stuff was, like, really cool, and all the technology was great. But, these guys look like they have really just, uh, eclipsed what they’ve been doing in the past. I think the paddle boards are no longer what you think is a stand up paddle board. I think once they got into recreation and you’re able to kind of fish off the board and they kind of went off of that, they just went bonkers. [00:24:38] And the one board I’m guessing you’re talking about 000. The one that was like, it’s happy to 14 fully equipped, fully equipped. If I’m getting right, say it was like a six horsepower, six horsepower Yamaha engine on there. Just a full on little anchor’s dream as far as for a little flats fishing and cruising around. [00:24:54] Yeah, it had the pole anchor so you could pull or you can actually just have it automatically with I mean it had a full hull. It was pretty tight. It had rod holders all built in. Everything looked like someone had done a lot of fishing on stand up paddleboards and been like if I could dream something up it would look like this. [00:25:12] Now Bote did a proper job as far as paddleboards go. It was pretty, it was pretty interesting and so I guess I’m saying is I didn’t see any of that from surfboards, really. The surfboards that I’m looking at look more or less like the surfboards that I’ve seen in the last 10 years. Right, it’s just maybe resident tip jobs that are a little bit different, and Resident tins, you know what I mean? [00:25:31] It’s like Resident tins have been happening for 40, 50, 60 years anyway. Sure, sure. It’s like, that’s not going to really do it for me. That Boat Day design was I mean, it had a complete, like, displacement hull, uh, I don’t know. The, uh, the deck was, uh, carved out. Ballast bags are dropping on either side. No, I’m just kidding. [00:25:51] I was like, there was, I thought you were serious. Yeah. I mean, that was impressive. Um, some of the fins that I saw from futures was pretty cool. Um, they’re working on some pretty interesting stuff. So I guess, you know, their tech is moving forward. Yep. Um, we’ve been using materials on boards. So it’s just like finding lighter materials, finding, uh, strengths and Uh, different parts of the fin at the entry point, you know, at the base of it, uh, according to what it is that you want it to do and making that stiffness happen with the lightest materials available, whether it’s carbon or whatnot. [00:26:23] Oh, that was pretty interesting that, uh, they had the hollow core, uh, fins. Yes. Oh, watch out. Oh, sorry. It was not on the response to you guys. Yeah, so, I think that’s coming out in the future. I think I saw there was an April or Spring delivery. That’s kind of cool. It’s a fin, completely hollow, that they inject air into. [00:26:49] So, I don’t know, I mean, I’ve never ridden them. Sounds like an interesting idea. Sounds like progression. I don’t know if it’s progression for progression’s sake. Or progression for marketing’s sake. Who knows? But, um, it’s interesting. But I’ll buy it. Yeah, I mean, someone’s got to try I guess we should do that. [00:27:07] But, uh, that stuff was pretty cool. And, uh, So, do you want it? Oh, yeah. I mean, any time you get to burn out with, like, that many people, it’s pretty interesting. I mean, just like when you guys do events or, like, movie nights with Surfrider or anything, it’s just not that often that you get to hang out with people. [00:27:24] Speaking of movie night event with Surfrider coming up, Oh, yeah. That’s, uh, February 3rd, a Saturday. Yeah. Alita Pork? Alita River, Alita Park, uh, check out Surfrider Miami. Yeah, Surfrider Miami, that board. And, uh, at Surfrider Miami. Cool movie, too. Yes. Do I remember what movie it is? You just, you just know it’s cool. [00:27:50] Why, oh, because I remember when I was a kid. Oh, yes, that’s right, yeah. Yeah, I mean, talk about fickle. Ha ha ha ha. You think we have it hard here trying to surf? Yeah, I try surfing crap waves with a crap board. And having Hardly any access to the water. Having the government think that you’re trying to escape the island every time you enter the water. [00:28:10] Oh, yeah, that’s probably gonna be good. Probably really hard, and, uh, I’m pretty interested to see what this movie’s all about. Well, hopeful we’ll catch you guys out there. [00:28:19] Yeah, yeah. [00:28:20] Ready to wrap this up, Bradley? One more thing I want to talk about. One more thing. Since it’s still winter. I noticed something kind of interesting happening when I went surfing with some friends recently. [00:28:35] I’m originally from New York. These folks are all born and bred Miami Dade folks. Yes, we are. And, uh, they never had to use wetsuits. Like, at all. Well, we try to educate the few that come through here for wetsuits, but yes. Uh, it was shocking and funny. Yeah. I watched two friends bounce across a parking lot completely naked trying to put their wetsuits on. [00:29:01] Is this a testament for how hard wetsuits are to put on, to take off? No, I just think it’s just, it’s just so weird. Or the lack of understanding that there’s certain methods. Yeah, lack of understanding and experience. So, one, every guy in New York, in the mid Atlantic, or any place else where you surf with a wetsuit regularly has a Tupperware tub, in the back of your car, Warm or cold? [00:29:24] Usually warm. Just a tub. Plastic, like a container. Because when you get out of the water, you got cookies on, you got all this other crap, and it’s all salty and sandy. So what do you do with it? You’re not going to put it in your car and let it leak everywhere, right? No, you drop it in a Tupperware container. [00:29:42] That’s why everybody that serves up there has got a Tupperware container. And you’re right. Because you don’t want to get your wetsuit all full of, uh, gravel and all this other stuff, so you set down the leash. Speaking of wetsuits, let’s have, let’s have, what’s your, what, Alex Warner’s come in here. [00:29:55] Modeling. Notice, notice this beautiful Vistula wetsuit. Coming through, as we were just talking about, these are made for the sores and the gametes with extra long torsos and short legs, right? So what we’re talking about is an MS in size, which is medium short, looking very good. This is part of the seven C’s. [00:30:12] This is a 3 We are wearing a 2 2 full. We’re offering a lot of, a lot of Question, why would I put on a 2 2? Because it’s going to have a lot more warmth. A lot more warmth, but have a lot more stretch. Yeah. Than you would have 3 2. I’m not going to be cold when I’m still cold? Promise. You give me a return policy if I’m cold? [00:30:31] Return policy. Well, it depends. If you’re in Jacksonville, and you’re cold I’ll be a nice boy. Right. Hey, hey. How, how was the Y2 thing on It’s fucking crazy comfortable. It’s way too comfortable. It spooked me. I’m like, fuck that, maybe I should get a 3 2. Not gonna be cold. I think it’d be really warm. Yeah? [00:30:51] Even on a cold day? Yes. Does Chris always That salesman voice right now. Yes, sir. So, uh, the one sole pole. Well done, sir. Well done. You look comfortable. He does look comfortable. You don’t look like you didn’t struggle that bad. No. A little sweat, I saw. A little sweat. I mean, look. It’s hot in here. Uh, the other thing that, uh, Oh, yeah. [00:31:15] So back to these idiots jumping around naked in the parking lot. You used to be arrested for stuff like that. You should’ve stood me. I mean, In peace and exposure? Yeah. I mean, for God’s sakes, guys. Wrap a towel around your waist. Shoot your thing up, and then when it’s up, you rip your towel off. Pretty simple, right? [00:31:31] Yeah, you would think. Even though it’s cold out there, you know, wrap it up, gents, ladies. And then you have the other, uh, getting the wetsuit on. On. So when you try to put your leg through the leg hole, you get somewhere around the knee, your heel always catches. Always. Right, so how do you get rid of that problem? [00:31:52] You put a plastic bag on your foot. It slides right through and then when you’re done with that plastic bag, you put it back in your trunk. And when you get done with your session, you put your wetsuit in that plastic bag. Done. Easy peasy. One easy operation. And another thing I’ll tell you, if you are going to serve somewhere where it’s actually cold, really cold, or you just want to be slightly warmer when you get out north of here. [00:32:18] Yeah. So you take a bottle of water or a thermos. You pour hot water into this thermos. You wrap your towel in said bottle of water or thermos. When you get out of your session, water is still warm. You pour said bottle of water over yourself as you’re changing out of your wetsuit, you’re nice and toasty. [00:32:38] You take that towel now that’s been wrapped in a hot water bottle. Nice and cozy. You’re good to go. Warm and cozy. And could you use that plastic bin that you’re gonna throw everything in and like as you wet yourself off step off into the Plastic bin so you’re not as dirty and then you do the rest and then you can throw everything in there Have you stuck in the northeast of winter? [00:32:56] No, it’s too cold. Yeah We’ll get into how to change out of your wetsuit in the car in the next episode, maybe Maybe. Because that’s a whole other ordeal. The steering wheel gets in the way, so you have to sit shotgun. Or if you have a truck, you lay in the bed of the truck. Oh, brr. Oh, there’s, I mean. Oh, that was the other thing I noticed. [00:33:15] It took them, like, minutes, at least, to take their wetsuit off. I had my wetsuit off in, like, under 15 seconds. Oh, the values of being a Northeast surfer. The things you pick up. The things you pick up. Is that a necessity? You don’t have them here without it. Oh, it’s just cold. I can’t go up there. No, you should definitely go up there. [00:33:37] Especially in September. Only time maybe. August, September when it’s warmest. Yeah, yeah. It’s pretty beautiful. I’m sure. Alright, I think that we should do a little ending here. Let’s do it. Or sing along if you want. We have been rehearsing a number. A number or two. We’re [00:33:55] free! [00:33:57] Well, uh, we just want to thank you guys for joining us again. [00:34:00] We’re really enjoying doing this little thing that we’re doing here. It’s kind of fun. It’s been fun. So, uh, we’ll put this up on the blog and check out all of our episodes. And follow Thank You Surfing, First Shop, Division, and uh, Oh yeah, Division Moonbird. Division Moonbird. And, uh, we’ll see you guys next week.