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Old    surfdad            12-06-2005, 4:43 PM Reply   
It would appear that Clark Foam has shut down operations, if not permanently then temporarily. I wonder how this will affect the wakesurfers that use the Clark blanks. Time for a change. :-)

http://surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/clarkfoam/
Old    surfdad            12-07-2005, 11:21 AM Reply   
Additional articles thru Mike's site the 12/6/05 posting.

http://www.thewalkerproject.com/upperhand/news.aspx
Old    Johnny Wadd            12-07-2005, 11:28 AM Reply   
From the Local Santa Cruz paper.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/December/07/local/stories/01local.htm

Board More/Work Less!
J$
Old    surfdad            12-07-2005, 1:05 PM Reply   
Hey John boy, isn't that weird? So his flaming fax is a crock? Why wouldn't the guy sell his biz, with the virtual monopoly on blanks he had I'm sure that he could have cashed out for major bucks. In fact, if Mr. Clark is reading this I'll offer you $10 for your biz, as is. :-) Sounds like he either lost his mind, or there's still more to come out of this. It doesn't sound like it's a permanent problem, but things will be weird with prices and supply for about 4 to 6 months.

Old    Johnny Wadd            12-07-2005, 4:30 PM Reply   
Jeff, I have quite a few bros in the surfing industry and they are all scratching their heads. Shoot I'll see your $10 and raise it $10. I imagine like anything else the supply and demand game will be played. There has to be more to the story then the stuff I have read. I guess I should order my new board now. As always...
Board More/Work Less!
J$
Old    Johnny Wadd            12-08-2005, 3:04 PM Reply   
An article from Mr. Clark Himself.

http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/2005_12_07_fax.cfm
Old    surfdad            12-08-2005, 3:28 PM Reply   
That is the text of the fax, right? And that article from the Santa Cruz paper indicated that the EPA and Organe County folks was we have NO idea what he's talking about. Is it just me or does his rambling sound more than a little paranoid?
Old    Johnny Wadd            12-09-2005, 9:26 PM Reply   
That is suppose to be a fax he sent out. Something is a little weird. He could be a little paranoid but you never know. Maybe they were coming down on him. Who knows. It seems like we are the only two interested though.
Board More/Work Less!
J$
Old    xtreme            12-09-2005, 10:18 PM Reply   
I have friends in the surfboard industry that are literally panicking about their future. They say the big guns, like Channel Islands and Rusty, have already secured any and all remaining blanks in the industry. So for the little guy in the business, there will be no inventory of blanks to even build boards for production. I feel sorry for the people that rely on the production of surfboards for a living. I hope someone comes up with a solution, soon. We have some stock of blanks, and will be holding on to them like they are gold. Rumors are boards will be going up as much as $200 per board. This will have a huge impact on the sales of polyester boards, vs. the laminated and Chinese built boards.
Old    surfdad            12-10-2005, 6:37 AM Reply   
I think this is like any other business consolidation we've seen, of late. The larger shapers will sustain the short term drought of blanks the smaller, less devoted folks will go do something else for a living. Almost like the process of natural selection. :-) I'm also pretty sure that PolyU blanks will be abundant again in a few months. In fact I have 1 dollar (what do you mean I am risk averse? :-) ) that I'll bet: next year at this time, blank supply is no big deal.

We will see changes in the industry, I'm certain. The smart folks, won't make the same mistake again, they'll buy blanks from two or more manufacturers so as to avoid the problems of a near monopoly, when the "King" decides to retire suddenly.
Old    surfdad            12-11-2005, 7:49 PM Reply   
This article seems to conclude that Clark actually only shut down for 2 weeks to resolve regulatory difficulties and "might" reopen, after all.

http://www.surfingthemag.com/news/surfing-pulse/clark-foam-120505/

Does he know something the rest of us don't?
Old     (wakesurfermike)      Join Date: Nov 2005       01-21-2006, 12:46 PM Reply   
Has there been any word on production of poly blanks?
Old    surfdad            01-21-2006, 6:17 PM Reply   
Hey Mike, I got a voicemail from Mike Walker on Friday and he got a shipment from Brazil that morning. I may have misunderstood him, but I do believe he said they were Clark Blanks. I'm presuming that they were just old inventory. The majority of folks I've talked with are getting poly blanks from out of the country...and also are shifting their manufacturing to EPS blanks.
Old    surfdad            01-22-2006, 7:20 PM Reply   
Dennis came down today with a bobcat to move the halfpipe James and I are building. During a conversation Dennis mentioned going to the Walker Foam site. http://www.walkerfoam.com/ if you read the news in the box it gives the whole story.

Apparently the folks at Walker believe they can meet the Poly U blank needs of folks on the west coast, I do believe they said by the end of this month.
Old    Johnny Wadd            01-25-2006, 7:11 PM Reply   
What Jeff said.
http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/article.cfm?id=1681
Old    surfdad            04-11-2006, 1:53 PM Reply   
I was checking for product and noticed that Foam EZ now carries a limited supply of Walker and Just Foam blanks, in the Poly U genre.

Fiberglass Supply carries Exell Poly U blanks

http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/Product_Catalog/Blanks/blanks.html

Now if we can just get some dry and warm weather! :-)

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