My name is Lanier Shepherd. I'm from Topso Island, North Carolina, and I build Shepherd
search boards. I started building boards that were working for me. It slowly progressed
until I was building boards for friends and family. You know, at some point I was like,
you know, maybe I can make a living doing this. Work and play kind of blends together.
I really enjoy what I'm doing, and I think if you want to be successful, I think you
get to have some of that. East Coast surfers should make an effort to buy boards from
local board builders. It's good for your community. You're probably going to get a much better
product from a shaper who has some experience with the local conditions. So you're going
to benefit, your community is going to benefit, and the people that are actually building
the surfboards themselves are going to benefit as well.
I feel like the average customer has kind of figured out that they are buying American
products is what I should be doing. I really feel like there's some room to grow, especially
for domestic board builders. You know, I've kind of seen it the last couple years. The
mass for these boards are not as prevalent as they were in the five years ago.
Shorter fatter boards are really young, are really in right now, but also just the fact
that guys are being more open-minded. I think the majority of surfers is benefiting from
being open-minded and riding the board that's correct for them instead of trying to copy
what the pros are doing. I think that surfers are getting the boards that actually work
for them instead of what the hype is at the particular moment.
Pretty optimistic. I feel like the custom surf board is never going to die. There's always
going to be a guy that wants specific custom made equipment. As long as I can ride right
along with those guys and keep expanding my customer base, you know, staying on top of
everything I need to stay on top of, I'm pretty optimistic. I don't have any rights.
