

Words: David Campbell



Wavestorms have taken a piece of the surf industry by storm (pun intended and I’m sorry) and it’s pretty much near damn impossible to not have a freakin opinion on it. No matter what your stance on the soft top revolution is, you can’t deny that there is something going on at pretty much every beach from the east coast to the west coast to Jamie O’brien at Pipe. A true testament of these Costco Warehouse (made in China) boards is that everyone knows about them, like everyone. For our non American crowd a Costco is a magical/scary store where you can buy everything from a case of 500 batteries to 30 jugs of vodka all at once and for fractions on the penny. So saying these boards lack a lil bit of a soul is an understatement for the ages.

Simon Anderson created the thruster, now that is pretty much the go to board at waves around the world. Costco warehouses have done something similar for beginners, but not everyone is stoked on them, and those reasons aren’t always unwarranted.

The blue and white pieces of foam sell dirt cheap in terms of surfboard economics, $89.00 at one point. They sell fast too, Costco frequently runs out, not only during the summer but during the winter months as well. On any given day, anywhere on an American coast there is someone lugging these things around, usually dragging their leash on the ground as well. Next time you’re at a popular surf spot, take a look around and see how many you actually see. Love em or hate em, they may suck, and the boards themselves may send you down the beach to a peak sans wavestorms, but could they have a positive impact on surfing? Maybe… probably depends on the griper though.

Soft tops kinda suck as a surfboard in general. They are solely for someone who can’t surf make it so they can surf. Be as buoyant as fucking possible so it can get that 300 pounder up. As far as surfboard design goes, these are pretty elementary and not sure the word “design” can really be put in the same sentence.

Shapers seem to be one of the crowds of folks in the debate that seem to have some disdain for these floatacious softies. The argument against China made goods, and how cheaply they are made seems to rub shapers the wrong way. But in the grand scheme of things Shapers may be the one’s who could benefit from a market where the Wavestorms exist. The boards help a beginner get to his/her feet, but when it comes to making a proper bottom turn or actually get a feeling for the wave, then the wavestorm becomes obsolete. Now that person is in need of a real surfboard, thus creating one more consumer for the Shapers, bringing in new money where possibly the client would never have gotten to that stage before the soft top revolution. The real loser of the wavestorm era may be the surfers in the lineup that aren’t on a wavestorm and have to share waves with someone who has decided to not care about anything except getting a lot of waves and not doing much on them.

Wavestorms could unanimously get more love if they stayed in the whitewater, and were put away on days that are considered “good” waves. This is when I have noticed the negative side effects of these boards. Especially when the rider of said board is not a beginner but yet an average surfer who wants to tally his wave count while taking a break on measuring the distance of his own piss. The boards let you get into anything, and that can put an exclamation mark on some people’s actions. If you are an asshole when you ride a normal board, well a wavestorm lets you be a bigger asshole.

At the end of the day though it’s all about fun and it is just a toy board. It’s taken off like no one would have ever expected. A wavestorm can be more fun than any board in ankle slapping waves when you are starving for a wave. They can put food in the mouths of more shapers down the road, but currently they are making the appearance of stealing from the cookie jar of an already very hungry surf industry. China vs The Shapers, becoming an age old battle where the outcome is obvious. People who care about surf craft aren’t gonna stop riding a board made from a shaper. The people who are too kook to tell anything about surfboards will start out on these till they are ready for a better surfboard. Luckily they have something soft for when they shoot their boards out at a crowd of people.

Whether we like it or not these things are gonna keep occupying line ups across the globe giving newbies a chance to surf. They can be fun at times and can serve their purpose. If you’re looking to steal waves from folks then here’s your perfect weapon, but the snarls you may get from a line up probably aren’t going away anytime soon and not even Jamie O’brien can make them look cool.