Surf's Up

A lot of people ask us about the surfboard in our garage, so here's the story.

Quick history lesson first. About 100-something years ago, three Hawaiian princes brought their redwood boards on a vacation to Santa Cruz, California.

Ever since, surfing has been symbolic of California culture. You could say the two go together like wine and garages.

Naturally, Tank needed its own board. But it couldn't just be off the rack, it had to be something unique and original.

So we hit up Dan Taylor, a legendary board builder out of Costa Mesa, California. Dan is a staple of the surfboard industry, known for building quality, high-performance boards.

His business started over 30 years ago as a high school hobby, handcrafting custom boards out of a garage.

Obviously, he was our guy, further reinforcing our mantra to Never Dream Alone.

We sent Dan one of our favorite vintage photos of a California motorbike racer and trusted he'd make us a great board.

Dan's first step is molding a polyurethane foam "blank" to form the core of the board.

After the core is set, he cuts the board in half and inserts a wooden stringer down the center to add rigidity, then the halves get glued right back together.

The next step is shaping the board, where Dan works his magic cutting, carving and sanding the board into a gnarly shape.

Finally, Dan lays down our motorbike racer overlay and starts "glassing" the board, a process covering the board in fiberglass and resin.

After a quick buff, polish and a new fin, our first Tank surfboard is officially ready to ride.
You can find our board chilling out in the corner of our garage. Here are the final specs:

Shaper: Dan Taylor
Model: Vintage Tanker
Dimensions: 8'0 x 3 x 22 x 2 7/8
Fin Setup: Single Fin Box
Glass: 6+6 oz. top/single 6 oz. bottom
Price: $1,250 (excluding tax and shipping)