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SACRED CRAFT CONSUMER SURFBOARD EXPO

 

 

 

 

 

DRIVING, PARKING, TRAIN, COASTER AND TROLLEY INFO

SIMON ANDERSON TO BE HONORED AT THE SACRED CRAFT CONSUMER SURFBOARD EXPO
Event marks 30-year anniversary of the legendary Australian's revolutionary Thruster design

Encinitas, Ca. (May 25, 2010) -- This year marks the 30-year anniversary of legendary Australian surfer/shaper Simon Anderson's seminal Thruster surfboard design. On August 14 & 15 Sacred Craft will honor Simon Anderson during the Tribute to the Masters Shape-off presented by US Blanks.

Simon Anderson: From kook surfer to Kelly Slater, his design influenced every surfer's quiver.

"Simon Anderson's surfing suited single-fins, but the events at the time were all being won on twins. Frustration led him to consider a weird-looking mix -- three smaller fins, one set three inches from the tail, the other two set 11 inches up and on either rail a la the twinnie," explained surf historian/writer Nick Carroll. "The first Thruster, made in October 1980, went with Anderson to Hawaii that winter, then on to California, where he convinced Nectar's Gary McNabb to make a Thruster model. Back in Sydney, he went to work at his own factory, Energy, and made two more Thrusters. On one of his boards, he won the Bells-Coke double again, and surfing history took its biggest turn since polyurethane foam. Simon never took full commercial advantage of his Thruster concept. "I'm too lazy" was his judgment, but perhaps closer to the truth is that it was never in his nature to deny others a chance to enjoy their surfing."

The six shapers, which will include defending champion Pat Rawson, will be asked to replicate the Thruster that Anderson rode during his legendary 1981 Bells Beach victory, an event that featured the largest waves ever ridden during that historic contest.

"I'm very stoked to have the Thruster's 30-year anniversary honored at Sacred Craft," said Australia's Simon Anderson. "It'll be good fun to get back to the States and see some old friends and see what is happening with board design over there."

“US Blanks is once again proud to be a part of the Sacred Craft Expo and the Tribute to the Masters Shape-Off honoring Simon Anderson.  We feel that Simon is the perfect honoree for this year’s Tribute as his contributions to design and innovation have certainly left a profound and lasting mark on the industry.”

The Sacred Craft Consumer Surfboard Expo is open to the public and takes place August 14 & 15 at the award winning 'Sail Pavilion' in the San Diego Convention Center. Sacred Craft includes live shaping, laminating, art, music, film, book signings, legends, and hundreds of world-class surfboard shapers, designers and lovers of the craft.

Sacred Craft to Stage Bayside in San Diego During ASR

Consumer surfboard expo will stage adjacent to ASR Marketplace offering retailers and consumers a convenient platform to shop surf hard goods.

San Juan Capistrano, CA (May 10, 2010) - Action Sports Retailer (ASR) and Sacred Craft have agreed to stage the summer edition of the consumer surfboard expo bayside in San Diego during ASR. The one of a kind event debuts on Saturday and Sunday, August 14-15, 2010 running concurrently with ASR at the San Diego Convention Center. As with previous Sacred Craft events the public is welcome. The ASR and Class@ASR floors remain business to business only.

“DRIVING, PARKING, TROLLEY OR TRAIN My vision in creating Sacred Craft was to give shapers and surfboard manufacturers a platform and consumers the opportunity to appreciate all of the creativity and talent coming out of the surfboard industry,” explains Scott Bass, Expo Director of Sacred Craft. “By joining with ASR, we keep that vision alive, while extending it to a global audience of the most influential buyers, distributors and media from around the world. In the end, the shaper wins and the entire industry benefits.”

Sacred Craft will feature the widest category range of surfboard designs ever assembled. Over 100 shapers & manufacturers plan to be in attendance including Rusty, Daniel Thomson, Danny Hess, Cooperfish, and Michel Junod. Long, short, no fin, 5-fin, wide, narrow, thick, thin, old, new, wood, foam, carbon, hand shaped, molded, standup, kneeboard, handplane, you name it, the surfboard remains front and center at Sacred Craft.

“Sacred Craft creates an amazing platform uniting the world’s most talented shapers together with consumers. By staging the event adjacent to ASR, we’re making it possible for retailers and media from around the world to experience this unique event and see a wide variety of surf hard goods,” says Andy Tompkins, VP of ASR. “Between ASR, Crossroads, CLASS@ASR and now Sacred Craft, ASR Marketplace will offer an unrivaled and efficient opportunity for retailers and media to see the entire action sports landscape in one convenient location.”

The event’s independent setting upstairs from the ASR floor is the perfect fit for Sacred Craft.  The ‘sail pavilion’ area of the SDCC provides an open room with walls of glass, bay breezes and breathtaking views of San Diego Bay.  This dynamic environment will allow the focus to remain on the many talented craftsmen, manufacturers and designers exhibiting at the expo, while giving consumers the chance to visit the expo.

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IN THE BEGINNING...

... it was all about the surfboard. The only thing that mattered. From ancient Polynesia to the ASP World Championship Tour; from Waikiki to Maverick's; from The Endless Summer to Surfline; as the eras passed what we've worn or said or listened to or traveled to or read or watched are just sidebars on surfing's timeline. Because the history of our sport is the history of the surfboard. Nothing has defined the surfing experience more than that on which we ride the waves. Nothing defines the surfer more than his (or her) surfboard. So much more than a tool, the surfboard has become a philosophical icon, a sacred craft, a culturally pervasive symbol of freedom, adventure and enduring youth.

This is why the surfboard builder was once the primary arbiter of surfing culture, from those early Hawaiian kahunas to the first wave of board manufacturers in the early 1960s. Think back: Hobie, Hansen, Bing, Weber, Noll. These labels-the surfboards they produced and the way this product was marketed-shaped surf culture, both literally and figuratively. It was all about the ride-what you wore came second.

Yet as the decade passed, the emphasis shifted away from the surfboard. The surf magazines became the main cultural hub, establishing ethical and aesthetic boundaries and ultimately marginalizing the role of the surfboard in their increasingly narrow portrayal of the sport. According to the surf mags throughout much of the 1980s and ‘90s there was only one way to surf: a mono-board culture.

At the same time the burgeoning surf wear industry began to eclipse all other commercial elements of the sport. Riding a swell of endorsement-based marketing, these soft-good companies became our cultural leaders, creating the imagery and feeding it to a media who, in turn, fed this pre-digested vision back to us: a mirror with no backing, that only reflects outward.

This is not to say there's been any sort of deliberate attempt to commoditize our passion; the surf media and surfwear manufacturers are not evil, they're just off track. It is all about the board; has always been about the board. We at the CONSUMER SURFBOARD EXPO feel it is time to reassert that philosophy. To put the surfboard-and the modern-day kahunas who craft them-back at the forefront of surf culture. To place that influence, that importance, that responsibility, back in the hands of the artisans who shape our sacred crafts-and ultimately our future. 

Packed house in Del Mar 2009

For more information contact:
www.sacredcraftexpo.com
Scott Bass - Expo Director
info@surfboardshow.com
760.445.9770