19 September 2016

When the sea is calm and your appointment with the waves falls through, the skateboard can become a loyal friend. This is the idea at the base of Hamboards, one of those home businesses set up partly out of passion and partly for fun. The brand was born in 1997 at Huntington Beach, in California, out of an idea of Pete Hamborg’s. Along with his five sons—Gus, Anders, Chapman, Jachin and Moses—Hamborg makes proper surfboards with wheels, decorated with splendid and distinctly retro graphics. The spark that set it all off came from the repeated laments of “Dad, the waves are flat” and “Dad, how can I get better at surfing?” And so the adventure began: the first prototypes, made in Mr. Hamborg’s garage, were a series of hybrid wooden boards, designed to provide the same sensations as surfing when used on the promenade and in town. The boards quickly caught the interest of many people, not just teenagers but adults too, and demand rose gradually until Hamboards turned into a real money-spinner. Each piece is made by hand and has its own characteristics, as is clearly explained without getting lost in technicalities in this video produced by the Hamboards team. The reason for the brand’s success lies in the uniqueness of the very long boards, whose shape allows them to trace soft curves on the asphalt with supreme elegance. Offering a great time and capturing the essence of surfing.