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Chairman Of The Boards: Bob McKnight believes in surfing.

Is Bob McKnight the most powerful man in surfing? The claim is at least arguable, as his already vast Quiksilver empire continues to grow at an incredible rate. TransWorld SURF Business caught up with McKnight mid March at the SIA Show in Las Vegas. Here’s what he had to say about the growing surfwear company and its future.

TransWorld SURF Business

: In the latest quarterly reports, Quiksilver’s sales were up again–almost 60 percent in the United States and 50 percent in Europe. What’s contributing to this success?

McKnight: I think it’s a case where the worldwide Generation Y market–the fourteen- to eighteen-year-old male or female–is such a huge demographic that our marketplace has doubled.

The youth business is growing about twenty to 30 percent a year. But we’ve gotten a big kick from Roxy–all of sudden we’re now doing a line for girls who share the same enthusiasm for sports and the outdoors as young men do.

This new group is very positive about life, and they spend about 35 to 40 percent of their money on apparel and another 30 percent on entertainment. Their entertainment is snowboarding, surfing, and all that stuff. So you start talking about 60 percent of what they spend their money on are things we have something to do with.

I think that this momentum is going to continue for quite some time. We have about a fifteen-year window, which I think holds well for everything all of us do–surfing, skating, snowboarding–all that stuff.

With your growth and expansion in young men’s and juniors’ lines, do you think lot of your customers aren’t ‘core surfers anymore?

I think that’s always been the case, and that’s the case for everybody like Billabong, Rusty, and O’Neill. Probably five to ten percent of all our stuff is worn by people who actually surf, skate, or do any of the ‘core sports.

But the deal is that while this Generation Y customer might go to the coast for a week during the year, he wants to look like a surfer while he’s there. And so he goes back to Des Moines, and to him, he’s a surfer–and you’re not going to tell him any different.

This kid is the same everywhere in the world. And they’re instantaneously connected now by MTV, the Internet, advertising, magazines, television, and all the things everybody does in the media.

The trends and ideas no longer start on the West Coast, move inland, and slowly move to the East Coast. Everybody knows what’s going on immediately now. Dennis Rodman’s haircut is seen as fast in Chicago as it is in Los Angeles.

You started Quiksilver in 1976 in the U.S.–almost 25 years ago. You, your managers, your reps, and basically everyone in the company is older now. How do you stay connected to the young kids?

We have to get our senior management to stay young. By staying young I mean by hanging out with as many of these kids and our riders as we can.

I also try to be involved with the designers and go on trips with them. I go to the clubs where they go, read all the magazines they read, look at all the stuff. And then I demand that of my other senior people.

Can you explain the corporate structure of the company?

Quiksilver was founded in Australia by Alan Green and John Law, who made Ugg boots for winter. In the summertime, they started making swimwear. So they went back and forth for a number of years between Ugg boots and boardshorts. That’s why the logo is a wave breaking over a snow-capped mountain–they wanted it to represent both lifestyles. In time, they sold the Ugg business.

In 1976, I got to know Jeff Hakman through my surfing in Hawai’i and Bali. We were best friends. We decided to approach these guys in Australia to become the licensee of Quiksilver boardshorts in America.

In 1976 we came here, started making boardshorts, and sold them out of my Volkswagen van as we drove up and down the coast. Our first three accounts are still three of our best accounts: Val Surf, Newport Surf and Sport, and Hobie in Dana Point. We never lost a core account, but we got rid of some. We’re number one, two, or three in every surf shop in America.

In 1991 we bought their Quiksilver’s licensee in Europe called Napali, and folded it into our company as a wholly owned subsidiary. So my company, Quiksilver, Inc., is America, Europe, and Mexico. Plus we also are the licensee of Quiksilver Australia for Canada and parts of South America.

We contribute to a fund called Pavilion that does big events and pays for our big pros like Lisa Anderson, our high-level snow guys, events like The Crossing a promotional tour, and the Extreme IMAX movie. It’s really unique kind of company structure.

Is the U.S. organization larger than the other ones?

Yeah, we have about 700 people working for us. When you put us and France together, we’re probably three-quarters of the Quiksilver business worldwide. Between us, Mervin, and Napali we probably have about 1,200 employees.

You’re making a Roxy perfume now. What other expansion plans do you have?

We have two or three more years of strong growth with our young men’s business. Levi’s went from seven-billion dollars of sales to six-billion dollars. That whole JNCO, Fubu thing is slowing down. So there’s denim business out there, and why not us? We think there’s maybe a 50- to 100-million-dollar denim business we can evolve into.

Our business in Europe is growing 40 percent, and that should continue, because we’re not even present in Germany and some of the other countries.

We think the Roxy thing is a complete phenomenon. If you use Esprit clothing as a target, they were a billion-dollar company. I think we can do that.

Young women love to shop, and we’re building a brand that’s highly recognizable for that certain age group. The growth can be absolutely explosive if you hit the girls’ market right between the eyes. So far we’ve done that.

We’re always looking at deals out there. The shoe industry is interesting to us. The outerwear industry is interesting to us. There are other things that, while not as fun or sexy as buying another brand, can really help your gross margin. Like owning our own screenprinting facility.

Your ad campaign has been very consistent, some say even stale. Are you going to change it anytime soon?

Our job is to fill in the gap from coast to coast and all over Europe. The only way you can do that is by doing national campaigns. The red logo–we call it the clicker bar–is an icon we all gravitate around internationally. The ads are different in Australia and in Europe, but the clicker bar ties them together, so everyone thinks they’re seeing the same ad.

Now that Slater’s off the tour, how does that affect the market?

I don’t think it’s as important as it is to have a good ambassador for your company. We want the characters like Shaun Palmer, Strider, or Marvin Foster. Guys who maybe crash and burn and all that, but they’re really good for selling product. We’ve always had that strategy, and it’s worked well for us.

What will Lisa and Kelly be doing instead of the tour?

We have this giant promotion coming up called The Crossing. We’ve rented the 80-foot Indie Trader One sailboat and we’ve painted it with tropical graphics. We’re gonna take the boat and go right along the equator around the world for the next fourteen months and try to find all the best surf spots in the world.

We have Ricky Grigg on board as a link back to the University of Hawai’i to do a biology science Web site for the schools. We’re interested in the surf spots with the hook of studying the fauna, the marine life, the ecology, and the cultures of those regions. We want to gain all this experience and knowledge so later on we can maybe help develop those regions into suitable surfing zones. Hopefully we’ll do it correctly so they surfers don’t wreck them.

The Crossing is going to be fantastic because Kelly can go on a lot of these trips, and he can’t wait. He’ll be able to work on his boards, have a great time, enjoy Pamela Anderson, and come back a more well-rounded person. Then he’s gonna come back. He’s so goddamn competitive, he’ll come back and kick everyone’s ass.

Every couple of weeks there will be another group who fly to the boat in a new undiscovered, uncharted region, to find more and more beautiful surf. Don King and Jeff Hornbaker will film, and it’s going to be incredible.

Does the company plan to hold another contest in Bali?

Yeah, we definitely want to be at G-land. It’s such a consistent wave. I don’t want to say better, because on Cloudbreak’s best day and on G-land’s best day, I have a real hard time choosing.

What will it take for you to put it back there?

The politics need to settle down. I think right now it’s unsafe and the country may go into revolution at any moment.

The money’s no good. There’s no food. Plus, I think it’d be really distasteful and kind of rude for us to have a contest while the country is kind of in a meltdown.

Do you have anything else going on?

We’re doing this big millennium event. We’re taking over Namotu and Tavarua for the first week of the new millennium. We’re gonna bring down a bunch of Quiksilver founders, employees, and invite six guys or girls who represent the most modern, forward, futuristic surfing today. And we’re going to have bands on the island, and MTV will be following the whole thing.

Fiji is one of the first places where the New Year happens, and one of the plans is to go over there at midnight and have Kelly and Lisa be the first male and female to surf the first wave of the new year.

Who do you think the next surfing champ will be?

Well, Derek Hynd says Mick Campbell. I think the guys who will have a shot will be Mick Campbell and Shane Beschen. I think Taj Burrow, if he can keep his head straight, will have a good shot. Mick is prepared to die to win the championship.

After so many years, how much longer will you stay around with Quiksilver?

I still really enjoy it because I love seeing the family at Quiksilver. I really don’t run the day-to-day anymore. My job is to oversee the philosophical direction and make sure the product isn’t going too disco or whatever.

I’ve been through some good eras at Quiksilver and some really bad ones, and this one’s really fun. I’m 45 right now, so for sure another five years. Maybe 50 is the magic age, but I don’t see myself entirely removed even then. Maybe I’ll be chairman of the board and let somebody else run what I do now.

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• April 07 1999 | 51 views

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Hurley Burly: Bob Hurley looks backward and forward.

Bob Hurley is giving Dick Clark a run for the “world’s oldest teenager” title. At 40-something years old, Hurley retains the enthusiasm of a teenager, but a hard-working teenager who has turned a $70,000-a-year hobby into a $70,000,000 a year business.

That is what Bob Hurley did with the Billabong USA license over 15 years, and so the surfing world was shocked when, in June of 1998, he announced to the world that he wouldn’t be renewing his five-year licensing agreement with Billabong International and would be starting his own company, called Hurley.

It isn’t every day that a surf industry mogul turns his back on a property worth $70,000,000 and Hurley’s decision got the surfing world buzzing. Now, less than a year later, we talked to Hurley about the transition.

TransWorld SURF Business: Wow, this is really strange.

Bob Hurley: What’s that?

TransWorld SURF Business: I’m taping this conversation with a cheapo, 50-dollar cassette recorder from Radio Shack and for some reason, there’s a Gospel radio station coming through the speaker.

Bob Hurley: Get out of here.

TransWorld SURF Business: Serious. This thing isn’t a radio, it’s a tape recorder that thinks it’s a radio and it only gets a Gospel station. Is this some weird Hurley 999 Christian trick?

Bob Hurley: I have nothing to do with it. Your tape recorder is possessed.

TransWorld SURF Business: It’s possessed by a Christian radio station.

Bob Hurley: Speaking of posessed Christians, did you see that story on Rodney King in the L.A. Times yesterday?

TransWorld SURF Business: Yeah, he was standing in the rocks at San Onofre with a longboard.

Bob Hurley: Is he really a surfer?

TransWorld SURF Business: I think so. I’ve been reading about him for awhile, saying that surfing is his new religion and that he feels like a new person when he’s in the water. I tried to get him for the Surfer Magazine Surf Video Awards two years ago. We wanted him to hand out the Worst Beating award, but he wasn’t into it.

Bob Hurley: I wonder why he wouldn’t want to do that. He was wearing Billabong shorts in the photo. Yeah!

TransWorld SURF Business: Why wasn’t he wearing Hurley?

Bob Hurley: I don’t know. We don’t sponsor him. He’s an older demographic. But we do love jailbirds, just FYI. Some of my best friends are in jail

TransWorld SURF Business: I have a friend who’s in jail.

Bob Hurley: Everybody messes up every once in a while, don’t they?

TransWorld SURF Business: Not me.

Bob Hurley: Not me either, just every day. So we missed out on the free publicity with Rodney King, but we got it somewhere else. I’m reading this new Details Magazine and there’s a Letter to the Editor about Elizabeth Hurley and it’s titled Hurley Girlie. That’s what we call our girls stuff. Thank goodness for free, cheap publicity, huh?

TransWorld SURF Business: You should flow some stuff to Elizabeth Hurley, get her to model for you. She’s the bomb.

Bob Hurley: I wonder if she’d like this necklace I’m wearing?

TransWorld SURF Business: You’re wearing a necklace?

Bob Hurley: It’s just a rhinestone necklace.

TransWorld SURF Business: Is that part of the Hurley Girlie line?

Bob Hurley: Yeah. It gives me power.

TransWorld SURF Business: Are you power hungry?

Bob Hurley: I’m hungry, actually. It’s almost dinner time. But I’m not power hungry. But I do have this little girl’s necklace on because we’re organizing a photo shoot tomorrow and it’s kind of weird. I just like wearing it.

TransWorld SURF Business: I went through the town of Hurley when I was in England.

Bob Hurley: Cool!

TransWorld SURF Business: It’s on the Thames, near Henley. I was going to stop and buy you a keychain or a coffee cup or something, but it was 11:00 PM and we were looking for a Bed and Breakfast.

Bob Hurley: Was Elizabeth there?

TransWorld SURF Business: No, the town of Hurley is all one-eyed hunchbacks, people who are emotionally, mentally and physically disabled, which Elizabeth Hurley definitely is not.

Bob Hurley: You’re having me on, aren’t you?

TransWorld SURF Business: I am, but now it’s down to the serious stuff. Business.

Bob Hurley: shouts Surf business!

TransWorld SURF Business: Boring?

Bob Hurley: No, it’s never boring.

TransWorld SURF Business: Are all those pesky B’s gone from your building?

Bob Hurley: The Billabong B’s? Yes, the beekeeper let them all out of the hive, but there’s a few stragglers.

TransWorld SURF Business: What are the stragglers?

Bob Hurley: Well, we’re just finishing up. We still have another month of stuff to ship but it’s just the right amount. Just the tinsiest, tinsiest little bit, the end of the spring line. We took orders for all of this stuff in October and so we’re just fulfilling our obligations to our customers and to Billabong and we’re very happy about it.

TransWorld SURF Business: How long have you been shipping Hurley goods?

Bob Hurley: Since November.

TransWorld SURF Business: Shipping to retailers across the United States?

Bob Hurley: To the United States and one hundred and eighty three countries and some parts of the universe.

TransWorld SURF Business: Go on. There aren’t 183 countries anymore. Kosovo just got blown up.

Bob Hurley: Oh that’s right. One hundred and eighty two, like Blink 182. They have that name because somebody else already had Blink and 182 is the number of times the f-word was used in Scarface.

TransWorld SURF Business: You’re full of interesting information. It’s time for a past life regression. We’re going back to June of 1998, when you were still the Billabong dude and made a fateful decision.

Bob Hurley: I did.

TransWorld SURF Business: In June you flew to Australia and told Billabong International president Gordon Merchant that you wouldn’t be renewing your five-year license for Billy USA — is that what it was called?

Bob Hurley: Well my license was actually for Billabong and our company was called Billy International.

TransWorld SURF Business: Okay, gotcha.

Bob Hurley: No, not Gotcha. That’s the other company.

TransWorld SURF Business: Oops. I didn’t even meant to say that but it will be a very funny part of this interview. But that announcement started a number of things. You made poor Gordon Merchant fly to Huntington Beach and spend two long months in the Huntington Beach Hilton interviewing people. Don’t you feel rotten?

Bob Hurley: No, because nothing really bad happened to Billabong. We just decided that in the future we would cease to operate on his behalf so we gave him a year’s notice to come up with someone else that would. He didn’t really have a financial investment in our company or anything so nothing sour financially happened to him. All that happened was we weren’t going to continue sending him money. His choice at that time was should he start up another Billabong in the United States or should he get someone else to send him money or what. He decided to start up another Billabong so he had to spend some time in Huntington Beach.

TransWorld SURF Business: Well he wanted to find a licensee but he couldn’t.

Bob Hurley: Yeah so, no I don’t feel bad.

TransWorld SURF Business: Do you think they’ve landed on their feet over there at the new Billabong?

Bob Hurley: I have no idea.

TransWorld SURF Business: You’re not aware of what they’re doing?

Bob Hurley: Well I know they hired a lot of people and I think they have a lot of stuff going on. But our business is so performance oriented that it doesn’t matter who works in my company or in their company or who does anything. The only thing that matters in the end is whether the consumer buys the product and is happy with it. There’s a lot of things that have to happen in between. They’ve probably come half that way so far but the major thing is they’re about to deliver product. But that’s a very complicated thing to have happen. Hopefully they’ll do really well with that and everything will be successful.

TransWorld SURF Business: You’re being diplomatic.

Bob Hurley: I just got my Blue Shield medical cards just now.

TransWorld SURF Business: The new Hurley business medical plan.

Bob Hurley: Yeah I’m pretty happy about it.

TransWorld SURF Business: This is one of a million details you had to worry about in the transition?

Bob Hurley: Well not really. I don’t really worry about that stuff. There’s a guy here who worries about all that stuff.

TransWorld SURF Business: The transition wasn’t as tricky for you as it was for Gordon Merchant, or was it?

Bob Hurley: No, not that tricky. No magic potions. No nothing. What we did everyday, we’re still doing it but under a different banner.

TransWorld SURF Business: What was the hardest, most brain-racking part of the transition for you?

Bob Hurley: What was the most brain-racking thing? I know exactly what it is, but how do I put it? Financially it wasn’t a problem, operationally not a problem, business-wise not a problem. All the emotional upset that people had to experience because I made what I thought was the best choice for our company. That was the hardest thing.

TransWorld SURF Business: It was a dramatic change.

Bob Hurley: I’d say on the whole people are adverse to change. I personally am not adverse to change and some of the people I work closest with are not adverse to change. They embrace it and welcome it, but there are a lot of people who are nervous about change. The hardest part for me was to calm people and explain that change is a good thing and not a bad thing.

TransWorld SURF Business: Which people. People who work for you or?

Bob Hurley: All kinds of people. People who work with me. Friends and family. Customers. General public. Surf publications. Newspapers. I was happy with with how my relationship had been with Billabong for fifteen years but most people translated my decision into the whole Billabong thing was rotten and I had to get out of it. I didn’t feel that way so explaining the reasons for the change was the difficult thing for me.

TransWorld SURF Business: You had to do that a lot.

Bob Hurley: A lot. People deserved an explanation — some people took it very seriously, like “How could you, Bob Hurley, do this to us.”

TransWorld SURF Business: Did anyone get really angry?

Bob Hurley: Some people. Like some of the sales reps that left. They still don’t and can’t know the full extent of my reasons. The reasons don’t matter that much. I was pretty happy with where I was and now I’m happier with where I’m at and it’s just sad that I had to do so much explaining and it wasn’t always understood. But that was the hardest part for me.

TransWorld SURF Business: The majority of the people who were with you before are still with you, right?

Bob Hurley: Most of them. There were eight sales reps who left and there were four in-house employees: Mark Machado, Dave Uecker, Kevin Harrell and Richard Saunders.

TransWorld SURF Business: You can’t blame the sales reps. They were probably making six figures with Billabong.

Bob Hurley: Some of them were, yeah.

TransWorld SURF Business: They had a nice solid groove going and then they were faced with going off on your risky venture or staying with the established name. People have mortgages and things like that.

Bob Hurley: I guess some of them saw it that way which I don’t understand and I may never understand until the day I die. Because where I sit at my desk all business is a risk. I don’t think there’s any indication that they’ll necessarily make any more by staying with the new Billabong. I think the announcement in and of itself was bound to effect their income. I think anyone that chose to go there to maintain their income I think that’s an illusion because it may be less or it may be more. You don’t really know. It’s a big unknown. Same with staying here but unfortunately for them the announcment in and of itself the transition meant probably less of a paycheck but their method of solving the problem of going there I think only time will tell if that was a good idea or not.

TransWorld SURF Business: Which sales reps departed?

Bob Hurley: Wes Laine, Tim Finlay, Jon Kleintop, Gary Clisby, Jimbo Gaskin, Rob Willis. How many is that?

TransWorld SURF Business: Six.

Bob Hurley: And Keoni Watson, yeah.

TransWorld SURF Business: These are all long-time friends.

Bob Hurley: Yes.

TransWorld SURF Business: Do you miss them?

Bob Hurley: Uh. Miss them? Uh.

TransWorld SURF Business: Are you still friends with some of them?

Bob Hurley: I’m still friends with Rob Willis.

TransWorld SURF Business: Wow. So it got a little ugly?

Bob Hurley: Well, not really. I just think different people handle different situations in different ways. Unfortunately for those guys most of them are younger than me and they probably haven’t been through as much as I have. They didn’t handle their situation in a professional or even a friendly way. And it really hurt my feelings to a large degree. I wouldn’t say that I’m not friends with them, it’s just that I haven’t talked to them. None of them have bothered to call.

TransWorld SURF Business: Was there some sort of official avenue for saying which way they were going to go?

Bob Hurley: Yeah, they all sent Federal Express letters.

TransWorld SURF Business: All of them?

Bob Hurley: Yep. On the same day.

TransWorld SURF Business: So it was kind of a conspiracy.

Bob Hurley: I wouldn’t say that.

TransWorld SURF Business: Were you surprised?

Bob Hurley: I was devastated on a personal level. On a business level I was glad. But on a personal level I was devastated.

TransWorld SURF Business: Who have you found to replace Wes Laine?

Bob Hurley: Brad Harrell now does Wes Laine’s territory and is really doing a good job. Denny Reardon replaces Jon Kleintop in Florida and Seth McKinney replaces Keoni Watson in Hawaii and Mark Weber replaces Gary Clisby in San Diego and Dean Quinn replaces Jimbo Gaskin in Orange County and Mark Simpson replaces Tim Finlay in Northern California. Oh and there was another one who left, Mike Green in Seattle. Tim and Jennifer Schwab replaced him.

TransWorld SURF Business: But other than that your team is the same team?

Bob Hurley: I think so.

TransWorld SURF Business: Key players are Paul Gomez, Marketing Director.

Bob Hurley: Yes sir.

TransWorld SURF Business: Joe McElroy.

Bob Hurley: Creative Director.

TransWorld SURF Business: Mike Lesher.

Bob Hurley: Director of Sales. Mike Ochsner is Director of Finance. Leeanne Murray is Director of Merchandising and Design. Joe K is Director of Production. Everyone who works here on every level is really super important to me. There are so many important people like guys who work in the warehouse or guys who work in production. Guys who handle our stuff are so on a mission it’s just really exciting. And they make the days more fun.

TransWorld SURF Business: Number of employees?

Bob Hurley: One hundred and thirty.

TransWorld SURF Business: I hate to use the word vibe but how is the vibe at Hurley since the transition? Are people challenged? Invigorated?

Bob Hurley: I think they’re enthused to be a part of something new, to feel they’re in on the ground floor of something. We always had a great company and great people but after a while you get into a certain hum drum rut, like, “Oh yeah business is up this year another X per cent.” This change has shaken things up and it’s definitely not hum drum. It’s really fun to be doing something all over at this point of my life, something brand new. And I think everybody is amped to be working on this whole new concept.

TransWorld SURF Business: Explain this new concept. How are the H’s different from the B’s?

Bob Hurley: Well the new story we are writing and the new life we are designing for ourselves tends to focus more on a younger audience. We’re a little more aggressive and a little less influenced by the past. It comes at a good time because the whole century is changing and 1999 and blah blah blah.

TransWorld SURF Business: What would you say was the target market of Billabong?

Bob Hurley: Like an 18 to 24 year old surfer.

TransWorld SURF Business: And the target market of Hurley?

Bob Hurley: A 16-year-old person, boy or girl, who likes surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, punk rock music, hip hop music. Lawrence Welk. Spaghetti-O’s.

TransWorld SURF Business: What is the sixteen-year-old looking for these days?

Bob Hurley: I don’t know.

TransWorld SURF Business: You don’t know? You haven’t done any research?

Bob Hurley: Oh we don’t do research. Our whole deal is? it sounds so cliché and I don’t know a better way to say it but our whole deal is about keeping it real. We make clothes for the people we love and the people we want to be involved with. It’s a very personal thing. We don’t have market research or anything like that. It’s kind of about love and keeping it real and word of mouth and hanging out with our friends.

TransWorld SURF Business: Who do you rely on? Who are your real people?

Bob Hurley: Everyone. Kim Rios at the front desk. The people who ship the merchandise, the people who design it, the team riders, the musicians who come through. We do fun stuff like today my friend Mark who’s in a punk band was just sitting in my office as I was signing a bunch of papers to register Hurley as an international name. Mark was around and he acted as my witness, just a singer in a punk band and it was kind of fun.

TransWorld SURF Business: Could he sign his own name?

Bob Hurley: He could barely sign his own name. Most punkers really don’t know how to spell too well but he used an X and he’s missing a few teeth so he spit a lot while he was signing that.

TransWorld SURF Business: We’ve established that you’re making rhinestone necklaces, but what else?

Bob Hurley: Jeans, board shorts, walk shorts, all that kind of stuff. Sweaters, snowboard gear. I don’t know. T-shirts, stickers. Rhinestone necklaces, because we’re playing grown up here. Playing dress up. We make clothes we like.

TransWorld SURF Business: Can you say what your projected sales are for your first year?

Bob Hurley: Yes, one billion dollars.

TransWorld SURF Business: Laughter.

Bob Hurley: Why, does that sound high?

TransWorld SURF Business: Naw, not these days. A billion isn’t what it used to be.

Bob Hurley: I don’t think that’s high.

TransWorld SURF Business: Will Hurley have the funds to sponsor some big surf contests?

Bob Hurley: Well, you figure it out. With a billion in sales we have more money than just about anyone. We’re already sponsoring the HB surf series which is, 10 pro ams with a $2,000 first prize. California pro surfing is kind of stagnant right now, so that’s kind of a fun thing. And we’re involved in a lot of other projects. We sponsor some skate contests, we’re a co-sponsor of the Warp Tour. We get involved with things that teenagers like.

TransWorld SURF Business: So you’re as much a skate and snowboard company as you are a surf company?

Bob Hurley: Oh I don’t know, that’s such a hard thing to define. I’m primarily a surfer and a surfboard shaper and we like it all. I want to be a good skateboader but I’m not. We sponsor a lot of great skateboarders and we’re definitely into it. Seems like all the lines are crossing for that stuff.

TransWorld SURF Business: Any other special projects?

Bob Hurley: Yeah but if I told you I’d have to kill you, wouldn’t I? Peter King is making a really bitchin’ video for us, called The Underground. He did the Internet site for us too, at www.hurley999.com, that was a fun new project. And then Chris Malloy is working on a documentary of his travels for a year and he’s making a book. We’re helping him out with that.

TransWorld SURF Business: I just looked at your Website as we were talking. I checked out the team roster and saw some good talent — all of the Malloys, Noah Johnson, Kahea Hart — but I didn’t see Ross Williams and Shane Dorian. They stayed with Billabong?

Bob Hurley: Well they went to Billabong. I’m going to keep correcting you because I’m a dick.

TransWorld SURF Business: They went to Billabong?

Bob Hurley: Yes, they left our company.

TransWorld SURF Business: Right, but you could say they stayed with Billabong.

Bob Hurley: Uh uh. That’s an inaccurate journalistic statement. Don’t you think?

TransWorld SURF Business: Well they were with Billabong before.

Bob Hurley: But they only ever got a paycheck from me.

TransWorld SURF Business: True. But the name of the company was Billabong.

Bob Hurley: Yeah.

TransWorld SURF Business: So.

Bob Hurley: So you’re probably right. So what? I’ll be right some time.

TransWorld SURF Business: Who else? Which surfers went to Billabong as you say.

Bob Hurley: Shane Dorian, Ross Williams, Benji Weatherley, and some of the amateur team.

TransWorld SURF Business: Was there a bidding war for those chaps?

Bob Hurley: There was a bit of one. It seemed like Billabong was willing to spend a lot more money than I was so they threw out a lot of money.

TransWorld SURF Business: Shane Dorian is worth a lot of money.

Bob Hurley: I’ve heard.

TransWorld SURF Business: He was impressive at the Hui Backdoor Shootout.

Bob Hurley: He gives a 100 percent effort. Not many guys do that. I’m so proud of him and how he’s doing. But I did steal one of his surfboards as an unsigning bonus. It was so fun.

TransWorld SURF Business: An unsigning bonus?

Bob Hurley: Uh huh. I was at Chris Malloy’s house in Hawaii and I was like, “Man I like this round pin.” And he said, “It’s Shane’s, you should take it.” And I said, “No I can’t take it.” And he’s like, “Just take it.” So I said okay and I put it in the car and I’m like, “No I can’t do it,” and Chris said, “Just consider it an unsigning bonus.” And I’m like, “Hey, I like that. I’ll take it.”

TransWorld SURF Business: Is Shane aware of this?

Bob Hurley: Nope.

TransWorld SURF Business: Oh dear. Are you on speaking terms with those guys?

Bob Hurley: Oh, yeah, totally. I love those guys.

TransWorld SURF Business: What is the status of the zipperless wetsuit patent?

Bob Hurley: I gave it to the NSSA.

TransWorld SURF Business: That was nice of you. Why did you do that?

Bob Hurley: Well, from the beginning I was turning over any licensing fees on the zipperless thing to the NSSA, but a lot of companies who were making wetsuits covered by our patent didn’t want to pay us, a competing company, for that right. So I turned the patent over to the NSSA hoping that companies will pay the money directly to them.

TransWorld SURF Business: Is it much money?

Bob Hurley: It’s not a whole lot of money, but every little but helps with the NSSA. I think that’s where the future of surfing lies.

TransWorld SURF Business: Money. In the transition from Billabong to Hurley, there was a lot of talk about whether you were going to make it. There was some buzz about Hurley being picked up by Pacific Sunwear. Was that a big deal?

Bob Hurley: Oh, I don’t know. They haven’t been carrying too much of our stuff and business has been fantastic, so I don’t know if Pacific Sunwear was that big of a deal. I don’t know if anything is that big of a deal. I’m one of those guys who’s always like, “so?” Does anything matter? Does anyone buy our clothes? Does anyone read a magazine? Just so long as I can come in here and see Paul Gomes every day and Mike Lesher and my brother and my daughter and our designers and art people and make fun stuff. As long as I have the money to do that, I’m stoked. To be able to make an ad or a poster of one of our friends doing something crazy, that’s so fun.

TransWorld SURF Business: And you are still enjoying what you do?

Bob Hurley: I have so much fun every day, I can’t even tell you. Every single day is the best.

TransWorld SURF Business: How much longer are you going to do this?

Bob Hurley: Until I’m not having any fun. But I can’t imagine not working.

TransWorld SURF Business: Any last statements you want to make?

Bob Hurley: Just one thing. People are always trying to turn this into an us-against-them thing, a Hurley against Billabong thing or a Bob Hurley against Gordon Merchant thing and it’s just not like that.

TransWorld SURF Business: Well, people like to create conflict, I guess.

Bob Hurley: We don’t think like that here. It’s just me and Joe Mac and Paul Gomez and the rest of my homeys sitting around and thinking about fun stuff to do.

TransWorld SURF Business: It’s all about having fun?

Bob Hurley: That’s what it’s all about.

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• April 07 1999 | 82 views

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Surfrider Foundation Undergoes Changes

Broad changes are happening at the Surfrider Foundation–the organization has announced a “Strategic Plan,” a peek into its future. As part of a five-year plan, the redirection of the Foundation will involve a new executive director to take the place of Pierce Flynn, who resigned last November. Flynn was instrumental in putting Surfrider on solid financial footing, guiding its chapter growth, and increasing its prominence in the national media.

Flynn says he resigned to pursue new interests and challenges: “I’d been in the slot for a long time and it felt like, ‘mission accomplished.’ I helped them through an important phase, and now it’s time for a new director.”

However, this doesn’t mean Flynn is ending his relationship with Surfrider. He will remain involved as chairman of the National Advisory Board, where his communication and marketing skills can be better utilized. Currently, Flynn is also working on putting out the third Music For Our Mother Ocean. A joint product of Surfrider and Surfdog Records, the CD will feature such bands as the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam. Although it’s just a short-term project, Flynn says his long-term plans will include media events and coastal conservation.

As Surfrider and a search firm look for a replacement, staff member Michelle Kremer will act as interim executive director.

A new director’s job will include implementing the organization’s strategies planned for the fifteenth year and beyond. “The most important goal is prioritizing Surfrider’s reach and attack,” says Flynn. He feels the Surfrider Foundation is grassroots driven–it’s young, impassioned, and easy to get involved in.

“People protect what they love, and surfers love the ocean,” says Flynn. “That’s the secret of Surfrider.”

New Strategic Plan, Direction

Approximately one year ago the Surfrider board of directors and staff took a look at its strategic direction and wondered if they were fulfilling their previously established goals. As a result, the board decided to create a plan to guide its efforts for the next five years.

After receiving input from a variety of interests, the board came up with four strategies to ensure progress toward fulfilling its mission, which is to protect surfing areas for future generations; promote waves as vital forces in coastal ecology, recreation, and culture; push for coastal water-quality improvements; and to be the recognized leaders in coastal-resource conservation, education, and activism.

The Strategic Plan also outlines the organization’s goals for the next five years. These goals include upgrading its current educational and water-quality testing programs, and introducing two more programs–the Beachscape coastal mapping and local Surf Site Stewardship conservation efforts.

Surfrider feels it is beginning to see some of the benefits from its efforts. The management knows where it’s headed, and ultimately it will improve performance and increase organizational responsiveness. –Aaron Checkwood

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• April 07 1999 | 114 views

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The End Of Surf Shop Promotions? Some still use the tried and true.

Back in the late 80s, the ASP tour’s arrival in my town marked the highlight of my summer. Not only could I surf with all the superstar 80s pros, but there were usually tons of promotions in conjunction with the tour. The glare was strong from all the Oakley Blades lining up to look at Tom Curren and get his autograph. Flurries of fluorescent stickers covered car windows. It was fun.

Then the ASP restructured, and with it went our beloved tour stop. Since then little remains but the annual biplane, flying letters in the sky to announce the annual Memorial Day shop sales–now the official start of summer for me.

Of course, Huntington Beach, California has its two events–the U.S. Open and the Op Pro. Local shops Huntington Surf And Sport and Jack’s get the people lined up for surf stars, they inaugurate surfers into the walk of fame, and for three weeks everything’s groovy. But that’s in their corner of the world.

Are surfing promotions a relic of the past? Are there still creative retailers who are keeping the glory alive?

Goods For Grades

According to Patti McGriff, manager of Hansen’s in Encinitas, California, their main promotion is called Goods For Grades. In this program kids bring in report cards and receive vouchers for the As and Bs received in their classes. Their grades are kept on file after being brought in twice a year. Vouchers are two dollars per A, one dollar per B, and can be used toward the purchase of anything in the store. Although it costs the shop around 30,000 dollars a year to reward the roughly 1,000 kids on file, McGriff says it’s highly successful judging from all the thank-you notes they receive from teachers.

Hansen’s also sponsors a local videomaker named Jesse Schluntz. His latest video, TearDevils 3, featured a lot of local riders in addition to displaying the Hansen’s logo. “It’s a big advertisement for us because they’re riding our stuff,” says McGriff. The tickets for the premiere were sold at the shop, prompting kids to come in three or four days earlier to buy them.

Promotional Tours

In Ocean City, Maryland, Malibu’s Surf Shop Owner Lee Gerachis says two manufacturer-sponsored promotional tours pull into town during the summer on their way up the coast. The first is the very popular Redsand/Brother B’s Burger Tour.

“The Burger Tour,” according to Redsand Rep Brendan Hanley (a.k.a. Brother B), “is our way of saying thanks for the support from everyone in the shop.” However, once all the vintage lounge furniture from Hanley’s house is set up and the two gas grills are running, the atmosphere resembles a circus show complete with crowds. Hanley resorts to using megaphones while organizing games and cooking food for the gathered crowds. The three-day, thirteen-stop marathon includes highlights such as hot-dog eating contests–last year’s champ temporarily consumed fifteen.

The second tour is a surfboard-shaping tour done by Local Motion. With the help of a portable trailer doubling as a fully operational shaping room, Local Motion shapers Pat Rawson and Ricky Carroll are able to demonstrate shaping techniques. Begun three years ago, the tour covers fourteen shops in two weeks from New Hampshire to South Carolina. To finish the boards, Local Motion has their artist do the painting and D-Sea International sets up a tent to laminate with their Suncure resins. At the end of the demonstration, Carroll takes the drums, Rawson plays keyboard, and tour driver Mark Baker plays the guitar as they make some music and team riders sign autographs.

The Right Tune

At Blue Liquid in Los Fresnos, Texas, Owner Mike Kiff puts on a sports and music festival four times a year. According to Kiff, bands donate time and sponsors send stuff he uses for giveaways. The festival (held in May, June, July, and August) gives Kiff a great way to show products and promote his shop.

Every Saturday at their Pearl Ridge and Ala Moana flagship stores, Hawaiian Island Creations puts on Hukilau Jams. Manager Sheryl Kochi says this promotion brings bands into their stores and the crowds come out to watch them.

Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida, has a built-in stage complete with a sound system bands can plug right into. According to Marketing Director Heather Lewis, Ron Jon also puts on a Family Fun Day July 4. All day long the store creates activities such as games for families and a fireworks show that evening.

Ten years ago the city couldn’t afford fireworks, so Ron Jon took over where the city left off with surf vendors partnering in. Ron Jon is proof that although promotions aren’t as glamorous as the past, they do still happen and they’ve become more community-involved.

–Aaron Checkwood

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• April 07 1999 | 95 views | 1 comment

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Rabbit Speaks: The future of the ASP.

Former World Champ Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew has recently taken the helm of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) as its president and CEO.

The move comes as the non-profit organization announced G-Shock as a tour umbrella sponsor–signing a one-year contract for the 1999 World Tour with an option for 2000. The bulk of its sponsorship goes to a full-time, touring camera crew for the production of television packages on each of the ASP’s thirteen World Championship Tour (WCT) events.

Transworld SURF Business: What are your goals for the ASP?

Bartholomew: I’m aiming to achieve a unified ASP, acknowledging our precious resources, our assets, creating solidarity in the ranks, and moving together into the millennium with common goals, achievable objectives, and overall unity.

What needs changing in the ASP: the management of the organization, contest formats and rules, seeds?

Many positive changes are already in motion. The move towards prime surf locations for WCT events and the ability to beam these events into lounge rooms on all corners of the world are tandem directives that are achievable in 1999.

Streamlining the executive board and meeting four times a year instead of two will lead to better communication and the ability to deliver.

How has pro surfing changed in the last ten years and how should the

ASP react to those changes?

Pro surfing is evolving. High performance levels in men’s and women’s surfing have enhanced the appeal, leading to many thousands of youngsters aspiring to be surfing champions. We have excellent role models and we must take responsibility for creating career-path structures in each region–along with industry guidelines–for this burgeoning feeder system.

How will the absence of Kelly Slater affect the tour?

Not having the current world champion at each event will necessitate a major adjustment to each event’s promotional drive. Kelly’s absence will open each event up, as well as open up the ratings. The fact that Kelly has applied for and received an ASP granted wild card to every WCT in 2000 means Kelly is not lost to the sport, and in fact, has stimulated the title race among the athletes, the industry, and the media.

What is G-Shocks financial impact on the tour? What are you doing to get more sponsorship?

Servicing the events through the G-Shock sponsorship is a priority. With the ASP providing each event with 50,000-dollars of other media services, a burden has been removed from each event. The entire G-Shock sponsorship is being reinvested in the tour with the ASP’s objective being to create a slick product and secure a second term with G-Shock.

Does the World Qualifying Series (WQS) and WCT need rearranging of both venues and the number of events?

I would like to see the WQS reflect the new direction the WCT has gone. We need to have the surfers armed with the tools to be competitive in the extreme surfing arena of the WCT. The major surf industry players are positioning themselves with prime surf locations and we also need to reflect this regionally at the WQS level.

Because the point value at WQS events is based on prize purse and not quality of waves, some argue that the top point-getting WQS surfers aren’t ready for the quality of the WCT events.

We need to address any inconsistencies that the push for prime surf locations has created for the WQS. Creating the climate for developing major WQS events in regions with high-quality seasonal surf would help ensure that the absolute best surfers are in the top 44 at any one time.

What’s the importance of having pro surfing on TV in the United States?

The U.S. is a vital market for TV distribution. For one, G-Shock has identified the United States as its major target market. Obviously, the huge surfing industry there would benefit from quality surf productions being aired on major networks and cable.

Who’ll be the next world champ?

The title race is wide open. Complete underdogs took top honors at the year’s first event. If you were to frame a betting market today, the handicapper would, based on the results of the Billabong Pro on the Gold Coast, find it difficult to name a favorite, I find that quite exciting. It should be a great race.

biz_editor

• April 07 1999 | 88 views