Blair SUP - WaveRod - Honesty and Ethics?

[Southbay]

I heard about this a while back, and it annoys me every time I see their ads in Standup Journal.  No offense to Clay, Standup Journal is a new magazine that needs advertisers to survive, and I love it by the way!  I just wish that such an unscrupulous guy didn't have his ads in such a great magazine. 

[Weasels wake]

I just shot off an email to Stand Up Paddle Surfing magazine (website), and asked them to read this thread.  They run a WaveRod ad also, but hopefull not for much longer.

Fry, your time is up.

[clayfeeter]

Hi Southbay,

I understand the dulling of your stoke when you saw a Wave Rod ad in earlier issues of Standup Journal.

But we want you and Team Zone to know that Wave Rod ads will not be seen again in Standup Journal!


It will ALWAYS be a super dramatic move on our part to ever curtail advertisers' wishes to get their message out via our pages...


While Standup Journal can do only so much to police our new sport, once solid evidence has been shown as Joe Blair has done, we will take action.


All of us at Standup Journal, Glenn Dubock, Steve Sjuggerud, columnist Steve West, and my twin bro Kurt and I, have either known or followed Sean Ordonez for years, way back when he was a top wavesailor; he is a golden soul of the waterman's universe, and we'd love to see him back into the sup scene...

... the good, hard-working, driven and fired-up ones need to be involved at this point...

...they are the ones who give back, and pass that fire onto the rest of us.

It's an excellent energy to be around!

                            Thanks again, Joe Blair... and Blane -- and so many others -- for also weighing in.

Imagine what The Zone and other such forums around the world could have offered earlier era shapers helping set the records straight!

A shaper's art is his or her livelihood. It is unique and must be respected... reverred.
                                                   See ya on the water,
                                                          -Clay
                                                          www.standupjournal.com

[SUP Sports ®]

Sean O is right up there with the top talented shaper / athletes that have ever walked on this planet...it was my honor to work with him back in 2005 on what are surely two hall of fame SUP's...Big Red and Big Blue...

A little bit of this early era history...before there was a SZ...or Standup Journal...
Clay...just drop the "surf and sail"...;-)

Here's a shot of the original Big Red and Big Blue epoxy hand shapes...

Of course, these became the production versions that dozens of posters here on the Zone purchased from us in Santa Barbara starting back in 2006...becoming the first commercially available vacuum bagged epoxy SUP's on the market...and, the first ones with mast tracks...double leash plugs...inserts on the rails for handles...and, tie downs on the nose for dry bags...

The first several containers of that we brought into Santa Barbara were emptied in 4-5 days...
Buying decisions were considerably easier back in the day...a red 11'11' or a blue 10'10"...;-)

Master craftsman SO visited us in Santa Barbara...he built us a 13', and a 14' curly Koa deck open ocean glider...old school... backyard...homegrown style...just like the original Big Red and Big Blue...the red 14'er took 4th place (out of 250) in the Battle of the Paddle open division piloted by Rich Schroeder, a member of our paddle racing team...

http://surfingsports.com/hope_ranch_standup/index.html

Sean is an innovator...which is kind of a setup for being knocked off...
I feel his pain as my fin designs ,SUP innovations, domain names, intellectual property, and even business model have all been nicked by people seeking short cuts...

Bottom line...unfortunately, that's human nature and you just have to try and stay one step ahead of the bast*rds...;-)

I have been riding Joe Blair's quadfin surfboards for over 10 years...long before they became the flavor of the month...naturally, I tried to get a quadfin SUP from Joe...
It took over a year of resisting the idea of a super longboard in the lineup, hours of late night telephone calls...Joe sleeps in the day and shapes at night...before he relented and starting building SUP's...I coached him over the phone on his 1st SUP...contrary to what has been repeated in this thread, it was 3 years ago...not 4...Summer 2006...just to keep on topic with the flavor of "honesty" in the thread title...

Regardless, Joe's shapes are unique...all you have to do is run your hands over the rails near the nose to know what I'm talking about...Joe's quadfin fin placements are also unique...much further forward than others...of the dozen SUP's we received from Joe, many of them prototypes...I don't think any two were alike...leave the formulas in the books...;-)

Congrats to Joe on getting a new molded production shape...give the planer a much needed rest...;-)

I remember when Joe told me that a certain "person of interest" was riding one of his SUP's...
He was kinda stoked at the time because he could ride waves...and, Joe loves seeing his boards work...I warned him of SO's experience...apparently, it was not a good idea...if it walks like a duck...

Anyways...it's been kewl being in the shaping rooms of guys like Sean Ordonez and Bill Foote on Maui...and, Joe in SD...guys that have decades of HAND SHAPED boards under their belts...

Definitely, a vanishing breed...

The law of moral causation applies here to this thread...karma...nuff said...

[Southbay]

Thanks for listening Clay, and thanks for such a great publication.

Southbay

[diesel]

Huge respect should be given to Clay and StandUp Journal for banning WaveRod.  I appreciate any one who has the balls to stand up for what's right and pass up  a buck.  I liked your magaine already but now I will totally support your magazine and push for your success.  Right on Clay, you are a good guy.

[Blane Chambers]

My experience with Jeremy Fry goes like this...    Back when I was doing only custom boards he called me up.    I asked him what kind of board etc and he told me he wanted, "The most up to date, current shape that rips."     I got his weight etc. and we talked about a 9-6 Ripper.       He was very clear that he didn't really need to know any details on the board , "As long as it is the most current, hot shape you can come up with."     This is not a strange request as others order the same way.    

I don't take deposits on customs because I can always sell them if for whatever reason, something happens and the deal doesn't go through.    Off I went building his board up in San Diego.      Everything was going as it usually does.    Jeremy said he could have someone pick it up in San Diego so I was stoked.     Couple weeks before it was done we touched bases again.      I was going to make sure the board was all good before I collected any money.      About a week before it was done, I get a call from a friend and we are just talking story then he brings up the subject of scam artists and rip offs in the industry.

"Hey Blane, its already going on.    Some guy on Kauai ripped off a Maui shapers designs for a 3 board line and copied it in China."     Then he says, "Yeah, some guy named Jeremy Fry."       It didn't take long for the name to register.   I told my friend about him getting a board in a week.     I hung up and before calling Jeremy I called a number of people on Kauai to confirm what is really going on.      I found out Jeremy had just gotten a container from China of Sean Ordonez's copied board line and was selling them in Kauai.    I was also told to, "Watch out for that guy!"

I got enough info and called Jeremy and got right into it.    I confronted him on the whole thing and he was like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.      The conversation was very short and the last words spoken in that conversation were:
Me: You know you're not getting the board?
Jeremy: Yeah.  
The whole time I was wondering why isn't Sean Ordonez going after him?      I later found out why and I felt horrible for Sean.          When you have a guy sooo stoked on his work and he went through all the proper channels to get his line made.    All the passion, effort, time and money only to have someone come in and blatantly rip you off.       Heartbreak.     Sean was heart broken.        ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!    This bums me out so much!!! 

I will tell the rest of the story of my involvement with this whole thing with Joe Blair and my last conversation with Jeremy the other week when I get back from surfing later.      Waves are fun out there right now!


  

  

[Tom]

This whole thread has me baffled. From the videos I’ve seen, Jeremy seems like a very competent SUP rider. He obviously has connections in China to build boards, and here are a lot of good & great shapers in the San Diego area.

Why didn’t he just try to work with a good shaper to build his own boards? He should be able to make good legitimate boards without the risk to his reputation. He’ll never get that back. I am not implying that just anyone can build a board right off that is comparable to a Blane, Ordez or Blair, but I would think he could come up with a very good board for the market he is selling too.

But I also am baffled why anyone would put much effort into cheating little old ladies out of their welfare checks through elaborate scams.

[Blane Chambers]

Fast forward over a year later and all this stuff is brought to my attention.    I started the original "Honesty and Ethics" thread that Joe mentioned that was up not to long ago.    I posted it because I really wanted to see what people thought about the subject.     I learned a lot about peoples views here in the zone real quick.     Of course the Jeremy thing was bound to come out.      Which IMO was the best thing the surf industry has seen in a long time.       It got taken down after everyone involved in the Joe Blair thing asked for it to go down.   For me, I was OK with leaving it up but whatever those guys wanted and what Rand thought was good.

Why didn’t he just try to work with a good shaper to build his own boards? He should be able to make good legitimate boards without the risk to his reputation. He’ll never get that back.

While all that was going on, I called Jeremy and confronted him on everything again after saying everything was a lie.    What I told him was "WHY?"    Same as above...    I told him he had all the hard parts figured out.    Manufacturing, marketing, etc, etc.   Why would he go and blow his whole deal by stealing designs when he could get a lot of shapers, work with them closely and come out with his own, unique, Jeremy Fry models.    By doing it the way he did, he basically set a time bomb ticking within his own business.   

He sounded very understanding and was saying all he wanted to do was make things right between him and Joe.    He sounded sincere.    Afterwards, I talked to Joe.    I warned him if the thread was taken down there is the chance Jeremy would say screw everyone and continue forward selling the boards.     Well, here we are today.      Anyway, Sean Ordonez and Joe Blair, I feel your pain guys and I wish you the best of luck with all your future projects...       What you are doing here exposing this is a noble and needed thing.    ALL legit business people in this industry should ban together when shizzle like this goes down.    Good on you Joe Blair.

I'd like to add...   Jeremy Fry, when you read this...    That thing we talked about Karma in that phone conversation.   This is what I'm talking about right here.     It will never end till you turn it back the other way.   Its never to late to turn it around and you will be surprised how people will react if you come clean and make things right.       It may not be pleasant at first but a sincere effort to make things right is the first step.      Its all up to you, just like we talked...

[bledesma]

Jeremy is a punk! I will make sure all da boys on Kauai know this story, as most don't. For the most part, nobody on Kauai rides those crappy waverods, except beginners. Hopefully he goes out of business! The bottom line is to buy from reputable shapers. I know PSH has me sold, they back their products 100% and their boards rip!!!!!!

[PonoBill]

The oddest part is how unnecessary this seems and how stupidly he went about it. Some trivial changes and he's home free. Or just hire a shaper--or come up with a shape that's a composite. Dumber than a post? Or just a crook at heart.

Reminds me of what a cop friend of mine said when I expressed amazement at how much effort a swindler was putting into a trivial scam with a short life. For the same amount of effort he could have been successful in an honest business that would make money for years. My friend said "Cons, con. Thieves steal."

[Sup4Life]

I will sell or burn the board I got from fat Jeremy. He is a kook. I was riding my board the other day on a camping trip in San Diego County, and someone was calling me out because I was I was riding that board. Needless to say I wasn't aware of the SUP shaper drama and he was practically spitting in my face about it. I said, no no, no no, What's up, wtf did I do bro? He gave me the 411 on the board and while I respected that, I said no way can I just not ride my expensive SUP. They are really hard to sell used for a decent price unless you want to trade me for one and he said ya right like I want a board from that kook, leave now you can't ride that board here. I said no way it's a free ocean I'm on vacation I will SUP where I want!

We were both standing on our boards and he said, this is for (enter shaper's name here, I will not say) and checked me on the back of my head with the edge of his paddle and then smacked the back of my legs. Stung so badly. I tried to defend myself with the butt of my paddle without getting into a fight but he was tall and big and kept hitting me. I finally said chill bro don't be so aggro. I'm just out to have fun can't we just all get along??

The surfers inside were laughing at us and stuff and he started steaming off on them, hit me one more time on the knee cap and started a fight with a longboarder and a group of shortboarder kids that were heckling him. Then I saw blood on my hand and felt a gash in my back of my head. On my way in he was swinging his paddle and a kid got hold of it and paddled away with it laughing and the others threw rocks at his board when he chased him into the parking lot. I got 8 stitches in the back of my head in the ER later and it ruined my camping trip and week end.

Don't resort to violence it only causes problems in the lineup. I may go back to lay down paddle surfing LDPS because of this and dust off my short boards. The SUP industry is tainted and I don't know what I am even buying anymore unless it is custom handmade from a shaper. I thought my SUP was custom but it is a pop out piece of crap from China.

peace out

[shapeshifter]

sorry to hear that bra... anybody using his paddle like that should be straightened out. that is totally wrong. defensive - maybe, offensive - way out of line.

btw: you might let the design-thief know what kind of grief you are getting for riding "his" product. let him know who really is to blame for all this.

[Tree]

Sounds like a bad episode of Baywatch.   

[jd]

Sounds like a troll.