$300 to fly with your surfboard!

After a decade of booming and relatively cheap surf travel, prices are quickly rising. While good for reducing the overall carbon footprint of traveling surfers, increased prices may have dramatic affects on the surfer-based economies of many "towns that surfing built".

This just in from Wired Magazine: Delta jacks their surfboard price up to $300 per board for travel!


Surfers feel singled out because golf bags, skis and other equipment still flies for free.

Check out a petition on the issue here.

Surfenomics: Trestles & Superbanks

As part of their latest green issue Surfing magazine wrote this feature comparing the economics impacts of Trestles and Superbanks.

Click here for a readable version of the page

Bring Back Kirra

Save Trestles

Surfline does Surf Econ 101

Check out an interview about surf economics on Surfline.

Cost of oil & gas affecting surfers

Despite the annoying title this MSNBC article provides an interesting perspective on about how high petroleum costs are impacting surfboard production costs, international surf travel and even local surf visits. As surfers become more discerning about their surf checks and visits Surfline has seen an upswing in subscriptions.

An interesting quote relevant to the use of the Travel Cost Method to estimate the economic value of surfing at Trestles:

"The high gas prices still haven't dissuaded some die-hard surfers from enjoying their sport — expensive or not.

As the sun set over San Clemente's famed Trestles surf break on a recent summer day, Alan Harrison peeled off his wet suit and swore he would never choose money over surfing.

"If you love it, you can't change it for anybody or anything," said the 23-year-old Harrison, who spends $40 a week to get to Trestles from his inland home. "Even if gas went to $10 a gallon, I'd still do it. I'd find a way. It's an addiction."

TCS 21: International Surf Economics Panel

At last weeks The Coastal Society conference a session was held on surf economics called, "THE SOCIOECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT OF SURFING AREAS: INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDIES FROM MEXICO, SPAIN, CALIFORNIA AND AUSTRALIA"

The session included talks on Mundaka, Trestles and Ensenada surfing areas. The session was moderated by Dr. Linwood Pendleton and stimulated some great discussion.

Pdf versions of the presentations are here:

Chad Nelsen - Trestles, California

Melissa Murphy - Mundaka, Spain

It's worth noting that Melissa's work is being sponsored by Save the Waves.

Paula Pijoan - Ensenada, Mexico

Neil Lazarow (coming soon)

You can download a link to our paper here.

Towns that Surfing Built (then Ruined?)

Fueled by the dream of finding that next perfect, secret and empty wave, some surfers are intrepid travelers who have a famous history of "going feral" for months in uncharted tropical locals. Often these discoveries remain secret for a few years before word gets out, then begins the quickly accelerating process of development. Tourism researcher Richard Bulter described this as the "Tourism Area Life Cycle" .

I call them "Towns That Surfing Built". Some towns that surfing built have become beautiful places to live and to visit where it appears that community is thriving. In others the Life Cycle takes a turn for the worst and these towns become overbuilt, polluted, riddled with crime and no longer desirable. Surfers then move on to the next place.

I am certainly not the first person to think about this...

Barilotti wrote about it in the Surfer's Journal in 2002 in an article called "Lost Horizons: Surf Colonialism in the 21st Century" and I found an article by northern-Californian surfer Dane Larson with a similar theme, "The Making of a Surf Ghetto". I am sure there are more...

We are going to make and effort to chronical the places that surfing built and discuss their trajectory and try to understand why they evolve the way that do.

Surfboard Industry Sags

Photo: Channel Islands Surfboards

Industry upheaval in the aftermath of the Clark Foam shut down, increased costs for petroleum, pop outs from Asia, and the sagging economy have hit the surfboard industry driving some out of business.

In 2006 U.S. retail surfboard sales reached $190.4 million. If the average board retails at $600 - that represents over 300,000 surfboards sold. Some suggest that number may drop 30% in 2008.

Read the LA Times story

When is the last time you bought a surfboard?