Progress Project recycled Longboard bag

Progress Project Longboard bag 
Boardbag built with Upcycled materials--Made in AMERICA

For most of my life, I have been a fan of products made in America. This affinity for such things can be attributed to the fact that when growing up, when I bought something, the first thing my father would ask me was where it was made. He has always been this way because America gave so much to him as he worked his entire life for America. Which brings me to my latest purchase. A Progress Project Longboard bag. After acquiring a Takayama DT1, I needed a board bag for it. At first I swapped out my Scorpion and used its board bag, an Ocean Earth Global Travel Series bag, which is a decent bag. But that was just a temporary solution because it was a tight fit, give the DT1 was a 9'2" and the bag was a 9'0". So I did the next thing, I went to the local surf shops to see what was in store. Now I don't go into the local shops all too often, because I don't wear surf clothes, just not my style. But for the board bag, I went. And I was sorta shocked with what I saw. Virtually everything that I looked at was made in China, from the leashes to the traction to the board bags. I went to at least six shops, from the megashops such as Jacks and HSS in HB, to the Frog House in Newps. They all carried the same usual suspects, Destination, Dakine, Ocean Earth, Prolite, FCS. But none that really were inspiring. In fact, they all looked sorta the same with a different logo slapped on them. Probably because they were all made in the same factory in China. I wasn't impressed at all with the bags, especially the Dakine bags, they have turned into garbage. I have a 10'0" Dakine board bag, silver material, super strong zipper, made in Oregon, USA. And what I saw at the stores were garbage. tarpaulin material is really garbage that doesn't really protect your board.

The recycled material had previously been a banner for a surf contest in San Diego.

The first thing I did upon the bag's arrival was to check the stitching and the material

The expandable tail section is done without the use of zippers, unlike my Ocean Earth bag, which has a blown zipper.

The finslot also has a YKK zipper. Not sure why board bags even have zippers or velcro at the finslot.

So I searched on the Internet for a bag; eBay, Craigslist, no company had what I wanted at a reasonable price, a decent bag, non-tarpaulin material, made in USA. The surf industry jumped on the cheapest at all cost bandwagon and sent manufacturing to China. I then came across a company called Midnight Products in Garden Grove. It makes a decent looking boardbag right in Garden Grove. You could customize it based on your preference, bare bones, day bag, travel bag. I then came across another company called WaveTribe, and they had a hemp based bag, made in America. I emailed WaveTribe, and their available hemp bags were 10'0" at the time, too big for the 9'2" but the guy there, Derek, turned me on to the Progress Project bag. Progress Project is based out of Encinitas, CA and uses used billboard material to build a fairly killer board bag. They call the process upcycling, because the billboard material cannot be recycled, and the only thing that you can do with it is throw it away, use it as cover on farm crops, or repurpose the PVC material into something else. Progress Project decided to build a better boardbag (among other things) with this material, right in Encinitas, CA. I ordered the bag on Dec. 10, and wondered how it would turn out, what the PVC material was like, I had no clue. I sent Progress Project owner Noah Johnson my dimensions, explaining to him that my board wasn't a noserider (as most of the board bags on the market in this size are designed for noseriders). I also explained that the board had glass on side fins. I sent the dimensions in and waited. I then got an email about three weeks later with a photo of the bag and was told it would be arrive the next day.

YKK zippers

Bag quality
Upon arrival, I pulled the bag from the box and got a cursory feel for the material. The material is heavy. I then inspected the craftsmanship, going over every stitch and observing how the bag was assembled. I was stoked with the craftsmanship. I was surprised at the weight of the bag, and am overall highly satisfied with the board bag. The problem with today's made in China boardbags is the materials used. While the major manufacturers offer polyester fabric-based bags, these bags were over the limit in which I wanted to spend, AND I don't know of one surf accessories company that uses YKK zippers. My Ocean Earth Global Travel series bag has plastic zippers, one set which is blown out due to lack of quality. And the use of tarpaulin material is a joke. I've never liked tarpaulin material because it is weak and doesn't adequately protect your board like polyester-based material. I have a 10'0" board bag that has polyester on one side and the tarpaulin material on the other. There is a rip in the tarpaulin material that has pretty much ruined the bag. The only reason that I can surmise the surf accessories companies use tarpaulin is cost. Tarpaulin is the cheapest material to foist upon a gullible surf public. The stuff reminds me of a lightly laminated potato sack. The surf accessories companies need to come up with a stronger material because spending $80-$100 for a bag that is only going to last several seasons is going to get old quick, especially given how long most people keep their longboards. But they don't care to innovate and companies such as Progress Project will step in and offer a quality product.

The Progress Project bag has several features worth noting. It has an expandable tail area to accommodate glass on fins in longboards. Johnson does this without having to add a second zipper like the Ocean Earth bag. The bag also has a tail pocket within the board bag that further envelopes the tail of the board. The zippers of course are YKK, the best in the business and the stitches are super strong, akin to the beautiful welds that you see on a finely handcrafted bicycle. You just know it when you feel it. Another notable factoid about the company is it donates a portion of its sales to environmental causes.

First Impressions
So far, so good. The bag has hit the parking lot at Blackies and has been in the fine dirt of the Sano parking lot, and aside from a few nicks caused by loading my board while the bag was on the ground, there is nothing really to write about. The white bottom tends to get dirty, but that is an indication that you are going surfing, and the bag is doing what it was intended, to protect the board. And with the cost of good longboards hitting the $1000+ mark, and even used ones going for $750, spending an Uncle Ben and some change is a wise investment to protect your board. The Progress Project longboard bag exceeds in quality any other boardbag in the $120 price range. I'll be updating this page in a few months to let you know how the bag is holding up, but I suspect it should do just fine.

9'2" Progress Project longboard bag
$130
$20 shipping
TheProgressProject.org

The environmental effects caused by the SURF INDUSTRY

The effects of the surf industry on the environment are pretty astounding. WAKE UP, and support sustainability.

Created by Envirosurfer: Eco-friendly Wetsuits & Surf Clothing.

OK, now this has got to be hella fun.

Long-Lining from BASE-Book - Matt Gerdes on Vimeo.

Solo Slide at Oceanside

The Model T does not disappoint Today, as is most Sunday's the last few months, was a solo slide day again. Trace couldn't make the trip, Kevin works Sundays as a golf pro, the busiest day of the week for him, and Takayama, well, Michael is Michael, hard to get out of bed, waiting three hours for the tide to change, or whatever, I went solo again to OceanSlide, a 50 plus mile slog through the concrete jungle of the OC to surf the South Jetty. Because the forecast called for a fat tide coupled with a dying south swell, I rode the Model T. Was it worth the drive? Absolutely. Do I thouroughly love the Model T? ABSOLUTELY. For those who don't know, the Model T was created in the late 80s early 90s for a certain surfer named Joel Tudor. Single fin square tail, 60/40 rails with heavy glass. It seems to be a more modern version of the Nuuhiwa Noserider, a board Donald designed and created while Donald was shaping for Bing. While HPD claims the board is more ideal for "shoulder high to ankle small" I've ridden it in more punchy conditions, and it still holds well in the pocket. It is just a fun board to ride. Today I explored the capabilities of the board in what started out looking like a swampy session, at least from the initial look while putting on my wetsuit. Paddling out, the winds were offshore, causing the seemingly anemic waves to stand up a bit. It wasn't howling offshore, you know, those devil winds that cause the waves to barrel, but rather, it was just enough wind to pick the waves up a bit, give them a slightly more hollow feel than if no winds were blowing. The first several waves were a bit swamply, but then a few sets rolled in, and I dropped in on a few fade left then crank the board right waves for some pure funness. Once you get the hang, the 10 footer turns with authority, and I love the butter smooth, almost effortless bottom turns I was doing with the board. After the turn on several waves, I crossed stepped up to the nose and planted five in the pink, keeping my back foot behind for stability. The Model T just screamed down the line and I got a mini coverup, then got spit out. Not too bad for a day that called for ankle to waist high surf elsewhere. I knew the call going down was the Model T and the waves cooperated. While the rest of the guys in the water were struggling on their shortboards, I picked off wave after wave with the 10 footer, a few that took more to get into (and waiting for the wave to gain speed, which shortened the ride considerably), but the other few where the fade left crank right was employed I was loving it. With the early morning offshores, changing into the suit was a reminder of the upcoming winter, the water though is still not yet freezing. I did look for my hood though, to no avail. Overall, the two hour session was worth the trip, especially given my sessions have been cut from 3-4 days a week to a single Sunday surf surfari. Gotta make the most with what is thrown at you, and today, I did.

Takayama DT-1 ride report

Takayama DT-1 ride report I have ridden my new Hawaiian Pro Designs Takayama DT-1 exactly twice since I acquired it. It is still an unfamiliar board, but will take some time to get a feel for. The first ride session was at Blackies on 10-8-2011. The waves were smallish, sorta weak really, and more tuned for the Model T than the DT-1. Since the waves were uneventful, I couldn't really comment on how it rode, SO, today, I went for a slide down in Oceanside. In between the North and South jetties to be exact. There was an extreme high tide, offshore winds, and the NSSA juniors contest going on, hence the session between jetties. The contest had the south jetty all to the competitors. I was able to finally get the DT-1 into some semi decent waves. Actually I got a few that were semi-decent. I took off on a right, it was sorta a late drop, and the board just locked in on the drop in. I did a super smooth bottom turn and the board then straightened out, ready to go where I pointed it, but sadly, the wave was controlling the situation and it just died out. I loved how the board responded though on the drop in. It was like butter. It was one of those days where the wave looks good, but then dies out quickly. The high tide really screwed it up a bit. Another wave I got, a left, enabled me to scream down the line and get some turns in, but it also died out rather quickly. A few more waves, including a super late drop where I was standing but then got hammered by the whitewash was really all there was today, so I can't really formulate a solid opinion on it. One other thing, the center fin that I went with, a Guy Takayama Orca 8-inch fin, I am still not sure if that is the right fin for this board, but that is what is in there right now. I want to get the Takayama DT-1 into some hollower waves to see how it responds. Right now, the jury is still out.

Where is the Stoke?

Who are these people? and why are they here? I overheard this statement from a long time Newport local at Blackies on a crisp Sunday morning in November. Blackies was firing, it was crowded, and there were a heck of a lot of "new" surfers in the water, riding softtop, pop outs, old logs, and everything in between. I don't personally talk to the guy, but I've seen him in the water over the last eight years I've surfed Blackies as an adult, and he has dropped in on me just a handful of times. Sure the spot was crowded, as most any spot in Orange County, California is, but his statement in my mind is what is wrong with surfing today. Where is the stoke? or better yet, why is it so hard for California surfers to share the stoke? As surfers, we are often still misunderstood, even though more and more Coastal Americans are picking up and joining the throngs that have existed in lineups since I started surfing in 1978. We have experienced quite a bit, from the neon days of the 1980s and the movie North Shore, which at the time most surfers I knew and even surf magazines thought was the kookiest, lamest surf film of all time, but has actually stood the test of time, teaching new generations exactly why people should surf in the first place; to Kelly's domination of that aspect of surfing that drives the "surf industry," to Joel Tudor and the throwback days of riding old school boards.

So, who are these people? Everybody was a kook once in their life. Some still are. "These" people are those who are newly minted surfers, barneys if you will, who enjoy surfing for the stoke of it. They are a fact of life in virtually every local lineup, all over the world. They are pursuing that part of surfing of which that longtime Newport local, and by extension many other competent surfers who are in it, but don't want to share, have lost; The stoke.

So where did the stoke go? Surfers are getting stoked in all corners of the globe where the sport and lifestyle was previously enjoyed by just a select few, mostly expats. For example, in the Philippine Islands, the surfing subculture, a mere 20 or so years old, is thriving. For these Filipino surfers it is all about the stoke. While they certainly enjoy surfing as much as us here in the United States, they have not yet succumbed, (at least I don't think that they have) to adhering to that early 80s punk song My Wave by the Surf Punks. Most surfers in the Philippines don't maintain a huge quiver of surfboards, they are just stoked to be out in the water surfing on the board that they have under their feet. They don't have 10 different sizes of the same thruster by Channel Islands, they don't have 10 different sizes of the same hull by Greg Liddle, and they don't have 10 different sizes of the same longboard by Donald Takayama.

Most have a single surfboard and most surf not for the fashion of the trendiest name brand board, but rather for the enjoyment of the sport. Popouts are hugely popular in the Philippines. Ride a popout at Blackies and you'll get stinkeye from many of the locals of that surfspot. "Popouts have no soul" or "They chatter when it’s choppy" are the common arguments as to why these boards are so maligned, but they do work, and isn't it the surfer who has the soul and not the equipment that they ride? Of course it is. As with the construction of a surfboard, be it completely by hand, machined and then the ripples smoothed out, or a popout, a surfboard is but a tool for which a surfer expresses him or herself. Many surfers will never know that many so called shapers out there can't craft a board from a block of foam, rather, they rely on the curves of a "pre-shaped" blank, and build the board off of that outline. There is really nothing wrong with that, as the process is made easier, but don't call yourself a shaper if all you are doing is turning rails and sanding a few ruffles off a CNC'd blank. But alas, there are shapers out who are fooling the buying public with their shaping "skills" when in fact they lack in them.

How do I know this as fact? It goes back to 1981, when I was riding my cruiser home from Kmart one day when I was a freshman in high school. I happened upon an open garage door and heard the sweet sounds of a planer. I ventured in to that shaping shack, and met Jaime, the man who would shape my boards until I graduated high school. Jaime grew up with Greg Liddle and now runs the CNC machine at a local factory here in Orange County. And he has seen all manner of shaper come through the factory, and I have heard stories about this shaper and that, how some can actually shape a board from a block of foam, such as Tanner Prairie, and how others (no names will be mentioned but you know who you are) can't even smooth the ruffles off a board that came off the CNC machine.

Sorry for getting off on a tangent. Where is the stoke? Oh yeah, the stoke. Well, the stoke is wherever you want it to be, be it at your local lineup with a few friends (like when myself and my new friend Bryan caught the Point all by our lonesome, riding LOGS no less, or with the brothers Takayama, Trace, and myself catching epic OceanSlide with nary a soul in the water, or at Creek, watching my friend Kevin get shacked), it is where you want it. It is not with that surfwear company that has a slogan "Created to Destroy," or another that milks the heck out of a world champ, refuses to acknowledge the guy had a drug problem, and then when he dies, says he died of Dengue without even knowing the facts, or that other surf "lifestyle" manufacturer that hijacks a Hawaiian name, slaps a fishhook logo on sandals made in China, and then sells them to a gullible public to the tune of $120 at your local Sport Chalet, where is the stoke in that? That's right, there is none. If you are going to claim Hawaii, employ people in Hawaii and make some sandals in Hawaii. Why outsource to China. While people are free to spend their hard earned money on whatever they want, be wary of this company or that company, or the flavored shaper of the month. They are not all as they seem. They may claim to have the stoke, but in reality, you can't sell stoke.