Surf shops, makers line up for paddleboard wave
PHOTO/DUSTIN TURIN
Rafael Adams, right, owner of the South Portland-based SOPOSUP, rides alongside two fellow stand-up paddleboarders in Cape Elizabeth's Spurwink River. Adams' surf shop and others are seeing a boom in the sport widely regarded as a more accessible alternative to surfing.
Two Maine brothers are looking to expand their surfboard manufacturing business by latching onto the next big wave in water sports.
After building and selling 80 custom surfboards and logging $100,000 in sales from April to November of last year, Ryan and Andy McDermott now hope to expand their business, Black Point Surf Shop, to capitalize on the rise of stand-up paddleboards, or SUPs, an easier-to-learn, more physically accessible alternative to surfing.
"The interest and sales in stand-up paddleboarding have just skyrocketed in the past few years," says Ryan McDermott, who hopes to be Maine's first commercial manufacturer of SUPs. "It's to the point where, for most surf shops [in Maine], it's been more lucrative than the surfboard industry. Five years ago, no one knew what they were."
For the surfing industry, it's clear the tides are turning.
Industry observers often cite the wider accessibility of paddleboarding as a driver of growth for the sport. McDermott says that's particularly true for the surfing market in Maine, which attracts a hardy few.
"Surfing in Maine is not for the light-hearted, but the awesome thing about SUPs is that the market is just so much bigger," says McDermott, who counts his mother as an avid SUPer.
In 2011, national SUP sales doubled to around 150,000 units, according the Outdoor Industry Association. From 2010 to 2011, SUP ridership increased an estimated 18%, to 1.24 million people.
While the sport's rising popularity is new, its history extends back to 1960s Hawaii, where it served as a way for surfing students to gain confidence on the water and spot good waves. SUPs, which are larger and steadier than surfboards, made their way to the mainland in the early 2000s thanks to the support of surfing legend Laird Hamilton, and the trend quickly spread across the country.
Matt Siekman, assistant manager with Arlberg Ski & Surf Shop in Scarborough, says that SUPs' appeal exceeded the company's expectations.
"When we first started, we expected them to be appealing more to surfers, but what we've seen is they have just as much appeal with kayakers and canoers," Siekman says. "It's been positive because it broadens the spectrum of our business."
Rafael Adams, owner of South Portland's SUP-centric shop SOPOSUP says sales of paddleboards grew 50% over his three years in business, and he expects the trend to continue.
"I think eventually we'll hit a saturation point, but we are three or four years off," he says.
Adams echoes the idea that SUPs hold a unique, demographic-spanning appeal, describing his typical SUP buyer as "the surf demographic mixed with the older hippie demographic."
"We see a lot of interest from people with lake houses, surfers who are trying to get into something new and coastal people," he says, citing inland paddleboarding as the biggest growth area.
"It's only just started, but I think inland lake and river SUPing is just going to be huge over the next 10 years," says Adams.
Liquid Dreams Surf Shop expanded its Ogunquit location last May partly due to increased demand for SUP sales and high-end rentals, according to sales associate Jacob Gustavsen.
"We've noticed an increased demand, especially with rentals," Gustavsen says. "Typically people who rent are almost always in the market [to buy].
Producing paddleboards
In Scarborough, the McDermott brothers sold six SUPs last year, purchased from a South African supplier.
Three years ago, the brothers began producing their own surfboards commercially under the banner of McDermott Shapes after apprenticing with master shapers and composites manufacturers in San Clemente, Calif.
Upon returning to Maine, the McDermotts produced custom boards for themselves and friends before opening a retail location, Black Point Surf Shop, in Scarborough last April with business partner Brett Dobrovolny.
They are now looking to devise a homegrown, environmentally friendly manufacturing process that they hope will allow them to produce 30 SUPs this year.
"The way that most SUPs are built is through a hand lamination, like surfboards," says McDermott. "But SUPs have a lot more surface area, which means a lot of volatile organic compounds."
He envisions an enclosed manufacturing process for SUPs, something already done in the surfboard industry, and he says they will work with a local composites expert to flesh out the specifics.
The brothers are also poised to move into a larger space in response to a strong first year of sales. Having worked out of a 300-square-foot trailer for the past few years, the McDermotts recently inherited their father's woodworking shop, which they hope to convert into a manufacturing facility.
"In the long run, it's going to be a surfboard factory that is making SUPs," McDermott says. "But we're going to test the waters, and if we can employ a bunch of people cranking out SUPs, we're going to do that," he says.
McDermott hopes to train two or three employees and has reached out to the Maine Advanced Technology Center to discuss establishing an apprenticeship program.
"We'll be interviewing and looking for part-time employees to help build SUPs and surfboards, probably starting this spring," McDermott says.
While it's not very difficult to find an SUP in Maine — many surf shops and marine retailers sell them — McDermott believes there is market for high-quality, locally produced boards. They would likely sell for a couple hundred dollars more than the going price of $800 for an entry-level model.
"China can make them for way cheaper than we could here, but they are mostly junk," says McDermott. "Another reason [producing SUPs] appeals to me is the question of why you would fly foam cores halfway around the world when you could make them right here [and create] Maine jobs."
While the brothers are getting their new workspace ready to start manufacturing boards, McDermott has his eyes on the road ahead.
"I want to fill the demand for the local market and eventually branch out and sell boards through the Internet or down the East Coast," McDermott says. "There are companies making boards in the Carolinas, but not north of there."
The McDermotts are now applying for grants to fund training and their new manufacturing process, with hopes to patent their new method of SUP production.
"If you can come up with a better, more environmentally friendly way to build SUPs that are strong and flexible, you'd have a winning combination," he says.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the gross sales of McDermott Shapes. The gross sales were rather those of Black Point Surf Shop, which is the exclusive seller of McDermott Shapes surfboards and other surf accessories.
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