Catch Surf
| Catch Surf | |
|---|---|
| |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Location | San Clemente, California, USA |
| Shaper | George Arzente |
| Category | Shortboards, Longboards, Whompers, Body Boards |
| Website | https://catchsurf.com/ |
History
Catch Surf was founded in San Clemente, California in 2007 by a chap called George Arzente. At the time he was a real estate developer, and had decided to take a one year sabbatical, so he could surf and chill in California.
During that time he realized his true passion for surfing, but also saw an opportunity to make surfboards like bodyboards – out of foam. And so Catch Surf was born from this mantra.
He teamed up with bodyboard industry veteran, Tom Moray, and they began designing the first foam surfboards. The first boards they shipped were high-performance soft top boards known as the The Y boards. The individual models were known as The One and The Super One.
These boards came in a quad fin set up, had afterburner rails and had a slick bottom and top. These boards still sit at the core of the Catch Surf ethos of soft top surfboard design.
The Y boards boards served as the inspiration for Catch Surf’s breakthrough board, The Beater. George and Tom took what worked from the Y Boards and combined it with a certain fun and playfulness to create The Beater. The premise of The Beater was to be able to have fun on a surfboard no matter the conditions.
In George’s words this was why The Beater was founded:
We simply wanted a cool board that worked no matter what the conditions and was more about carefree summertime beach days than ripping.
And the slogan for The Beater advertisements says it all “Grab Your Towel. Grab your Beater. Head to the beach….It’s Summertime.” Needless to say The Beater is Catch Surf’s best selling board of all time.
As a utility board the beater was designed to either be ridden as a twin fin or finless and skimmed. Because if only being 48-54 inches long, some also ride it as a bodyboard.
Catch Surf Today
These days Catch Surf have an extensive range of soft tops ranging in size short, stumpy 48 inch Beaters and going all the way up to 9 foot logs. They really do have a board for every kind of wave.
The entire ethos according to the founders and the brand ambassadors is simply to have fun. From the retro 80’s TV commercials they make to the neon colored boards – it’s all in the name of fun.
It must be noted be noted that they have been savvy with brand ambassadors they’ve signed up. Former tour pro, Kalani Robb, holds it down for them in California, taking to places like The Wedge at Newport Beach and Lower Trestles, San Clemente. He surfs their full quiver of boards and absolutely rips and get’s a bunch of groms stoked in the process.
Then over in the surf capital, Hawaii, they’ve got JOB (Jamie O’Brien) surfing 12 foot pipeline on a log, and making it look easy. With his YouTube channel, JOBVlogs blowing up, Catch Surf are right along side the action.
Not only do their boards get given great airtime, but so does their full range of apparel – a segment of their business which started to take off in the last few years.
It’s no wonder that when these ambassadors do tours across America and stop off at the various surf stores, grom attendance is through the roof.
The Catch Surf range of apparel seems to be growing bigger by the month, a testament to the popularity of the brand. Moreover, they’re pioneering on the rash vest front, with their “Surf Shirt” which a rash vest and surf shirt rolled into one.
They’ve also recently launched a range of shorty wetsuits, and if these perform well, there is no reason why they won’t go all in on the wetsuit market.
Undoubtedly where they have killed it is on their pro model boards collaborations. They’ve got pro models for many heavy hitters including, Jamie O’Brien, Kalani Robb, Johnny Redmond, Julian Wilson, Tyler Stanaland, and Taj Burrow to name a few.
It doesn’t stop there. They’ve managed to do a collab with one of the most well known shapers of the 21st century – Matt Biolos of Lost. The fact that Biolos and Lost have got behind this soft top surfboard revolution says a lot, and certainly infers that foam surfboards are here to stay.