Beginning to take shape

Mike Sciacca

It’s coming up on summertime, and as the song goes, it’s when the

living is easy.

For a surfer -- both novice and advanced -- it doesn’t get any

better than that.

But before a surfer can chase that perfect wave, he first must

come up with the perfect, personal accessory -- a surfboard.

Robert August Surf Co. in Huntington Beach is celebrating its 30th

anniversary in the surfing industry, and on Saturday, August -- who

went on to become one of the most recognizable figures in the surf

world following his starring role in the movie “The Endless Summer”

and the Robert August Surf Team -- will be honored for its

outstanding contributions in the business during a ceremony at

Huntington Surf and Sport.

The thriving company with a well-respected and well-known

reputation in the business, churned out 3,500 custom surf boards --

each crafted by hand at its state-of-the-art facility -- in 2004.

“A surfer really does identify with his board,” said Sam August,

the company’s president and the son of Robert August . “Design ideas

and logos vary from board to board, from an American flag to a

picture of someone’s wife to a religious saying. We give the customer

what they want.”

Robert August Surf Co. designs long and short boards, fun boards,

collectibles and wall hangers.

At the core of every Robert August surfboard is a first-quality

Clark foam blank. The “shaper” is responsible for interpreting the

information given on a customer’s order form, and then translates it

into a meticulously-sculpted, finely-tuned foam core of a brand new

surfboard.

Typically, it may take an experienced production shaper from two

to four hours to shape a new board, depending on the complexity of

the design.

Once it leaves a shaper’s expert hands, the board is laminated,

sanded, hot coated, then polished. Once done, a board is packaged and

shipped out to the customer.

The company’s popular long board models are designed by some of

the most notable surfers of the past 30 years: Robert August, Mark

Martinson, Mike Minchinton, Wingnut, Paul Strauch, Corky Carroll,

Mike Doyle and Jericho Poppler.

Eight years ago, Robert August Surf Co. entered into a licensing

agreement with Surf Tech and its epoxy program, Sam August said.

Invented by Randy French, the epoxy program, called Tuflite,

designed a way to make surfboards stronger, lighter and faster by

using new materials and new production processes.

The most popular Robert August board model, the “What I Ride”

model, uses the Tuflite technology. Boards are shaped here in Surf

City, sent up to Santa Cruz, then sent overseas where they are massed

produced.

“I relate surfing to being similar to golf,” Sam August said. “It

gives someone a chance to get away from the discouragement from the

grind of everyday life, and have fun. Surfing, really, is one of the

last free things you can do out there in the world. All you need to

do is buy a surf board and a wet suit, and you’re ready to go.”

For more information, visit https:www.robertaugust.com.