PSH is closing it's doors in Hawaii ??

[PonoBill]

Interesting. as I recall Blueline and Surfing Sports (Wardog) have been "not exactly buddies" for some time. They seem to have grown quite a bit and their site looks pretty good, though the online store is broken.

[surf4food]

The cautionary tale has been chewed over for a long time, windsurfing did indeed shoot itself in the foot, becoming more and more about less and less--high performance or nothing. Cruising went away, then freestyle went away, and all there was left was high wind--and it's very hard to learn to be a high-wind windsurfer.

In a lot of ways I don't really care whether or not SUP grows bigger. But I'm pretty certain it will. The growth is pretty steady. Eventually it will tip over and do the usual fad bust, and stabilize at some lower level. I doubt that is happening yet. More likely just a typical shakeout of too many manufacturers and people jumping into the business.

Business is a lot harder to do than most folks understand. People still believe a good idea, some talent, and a little hard work will win the day. I don't think that's ever been true, but it's especially not true today. If you can't do every aspect you'll slowly wither. And when competitors come along that do the things you can't, they'll just take your lunch and shove you off the swing.

One thing I have to admit where SUP has an advantage over windsurfing is that it is way less condition dependent.  Even compared to the early days of windsurfing SUP does not depend on conditions that will only happen a few days out of the year in most places.  Plus it takes way less equipment than either windsurfing or kiteboarding.  That also means less $$ to spend on it even though a good board and paddle can be pretty expensive.

[JeanG]

I just figured that Boardworks acquired the rest of the brand and has no need for physical shops in Hawaii...

[pdxmike]

My first marathon in the 70s, there were probaby under 100 runners.  Next year about 300. Next year about 1,000.  Then running--"jogging"--seemed to level out and I stopped racing.  The "fad" died down but the growth kept on.  Several years later marathons have 10 or 20 or 30,000 participants.  All the growth seems to be at the slow, recreational level.  My old times would place me just as high in 10,000-racer marathons of today as they did in 100 or 1,000-person marathons of the 70s.

Same with kayaking.  I though there were a lot years ago.  Now there seem to be 10x more, and the explosion seems to be with recreational paddlers in cheap, short kayaks that cost a few hundred dollars vs. the higher-performance ones that cost several times that. 

So I agree--one place closing means nothing, and the low end, recreational side of SUP hasn't taken off.  Even a couple years ago, it seemed like everyone at races was a pretty serious paddler or athlete.  Now there are just starting to be more recreational paddlers entering, esp. women (which is where most of the growth in running and kayaking also seemed to happen).  My bet is anyone finishing say, 10th out of 50 people in races today is going to be finishing 10th or 15th out of 250 or 500 pretty soon. 

[tde]

I'm from Florida and I got my first PSH board 5 years ago on a trip to Hawaii....Met Austin and Blane and have been getting boards from them ever since. (Current quiver of 5 PSH boards to cover every situation!!)  From top to bottom the best shop I've ever dealt with...They've had boards ready for me when I went to Hawaii and have shipped boards to me here in Florida...TOTALLY BUMMED ABOUT THEIR CURRENT SITUATION.  The story I've gotten is that Boardworks bought the distribution rights for PSH boards for the mainland USA. PSH Hawaii kept distribution rights in Hawaii and Australia for its own line of boards (a vacuum bagged PVC line you can see on their website...these were awesome) ... and for PSH customs shaped by Blane. After PSH placed a large order for the 2013 PVC line the factory that was to make the boards was bought out and suddenly was not available to make the boards for the 2013 season.....Result...No product for PSH to sell in Hawaii or Australia...and Boardworks had the sales rights to the USA mainland market... WHAT A MESS....and even more so..WHAT A SHAME!!!  I know I'm prejudiced but I can truly state that all of the people I came into contact with at PSH were first class....their products first rate...and its a real loss that PSH may no longer be with us!!! (I know that I will miss them!!!) Tim

[surf4food]

From what I've learned from both on this thread and looking at Blue Line's site, Blane is now with them and it looks like he will keep the PSH name except now he's based in Santa Barbara vice Hawaii, so it looks like PSH will still exist in some capacity.

[SEA]

My friend Jamie helps run the shop , I have not been able to contact her yet. I hear they will shut doors at the end of this month. I might go down there tomorrow . What a shame is right.

Whats up with board works?  I'm assuming and hoping Blain made some coin selling them the rights to sell PSH products in the 48 states ??

[jd]

From what I've learned from both on this thread and looking at Blue Line's site, Blane is now with them and it looks like he will keep the PSH name except now he's based in Santa Barbara vice Hawaii, so it looks like PSH will still exist in some capacity.

You should check their respective Facebook pages.  I don't see anything like what you are saying after looking at them.

You are assuming the website for Blueline is totally accurate and up to date.  I could be wrong.

[surf4food]

From what I've learned from both on this thread and looking at Blue Line's site, Blane is now with them and it looks like he will keep the PSH name except now he's based in Santa Barbara vice Hawaii, so it looks like PSH will still exist in some capacity.

You should check their respective Facebook pages.  I don't see anything like what you are saying after looking at them.

You are assuming the website for Blueline is totally accurate and up to date.  I could be wrong.

PSH's FB page no longer exists and true I didn't see anything on Blueline's FB page about PSH, but then again there hasn't been any posts since February (Maybe they're in trouble too?), but if you move the curser under boards in Bliueline's site the very first thing listed is PSH with all the boards listed and right below that is Blane Chambers, though that part of it is "under construction".  Maybe their site is NOT up to date but that's what I saw on it so far. 

[surf4food]

OK I was wrong in saying that Blane Chambers moved to Blueline.   jd posted the caption; "BLANE CHAMBERS DESIGNS NOW AT BLUELINE".  I think that just means that Blueline is carrying PSH, not that he actually is now employed with them.  Blane's  FB page refers to his own company as Blane Champers Designs Haleiwa LLC.   I stand corrected jd. 

Either way I'm bummed also.  The wife and I are heading to Oahu in May and I was looking forward to checking the shop out. 

[Easy Rider]

As with snowboarding / skiing / skateboarding / mountain biking / etc.  Stand Up WILL go through a "contraction".  In my opinion it has already started and it will continue over the next few seasons. 
There are too many brands - and too many shops (and too many "shop brands") in my opinion. 

The strong and focused will survive - the rest will fade away.

my 2¢

[JeanG]

So will Boardworks cease production of PSH boards?

[Bean]

As with snowboarding / skiing / skateboarding / mountain biking / etc.  Stand Up WILL go through a "contraction".  In my opinion it has already started and it will continue over the next few seasons. 
There are too many brands - and too many shops (and too many "shop brands") in my opinion. 

The strong and focused will survive - the rest will fade away.

my 2¢

Is it a reduction in industry wide sales or is it really a shakeout of competitors.

[raf]

sales won't slow for a while.  They better not anyways   I anticipate growing sales for a few more years.  I agree with Easyrider that  this year will see a contraction of brands, the strong will survive and grow, the weak will do what weak things do.

[Easy Rider]

Yes - I was speaking of brands and shops. The customer base will continue to grow.