Killing mean waves softly

Andrew Edwards

Many surfers would resent being called “softcore,” but one local

manufacturer is seeking to make soft surfboards respectable.

Costa Mesa’s Softcore Surfboards is the brainchild of Gary

Sipiora, a lifelong surfer who broke away from graduate school to

design what he called the Cadillac of soft surfboards.

Sipiora, 45, lives in Corona del Mar and was a graduate student

studying child psychology at Chapman University when he walked into a

surf shop and noticed boogie board companies had improved their gear

since he started surfing. But soft surfboards, often used at surf

schools, were essentially unchanged since the years when classic rock

was simply known as rock.

“The bodyboard industry was evolving with nice, new materials, and

this was the same stuff I saw in the 1970s,” Sipiora said.

During a monthlong break from classes, Sipiora began collecting

foam samples, and after classes resumed, he realized he was more

interested in plastics than his textbooks.

“I wasn’t ready for final exams; where’s my passion?” he said.

For the past seven years, Sipiora’s career has been dedicated to

designing and selling soft surfboards. He spent his first two years

doing research and design and the past five building and selling

boards. Softcore boards are designed to be soft for learners’ safety

but sturdy enough to ride without being thrown off by a strong wave.

The plastic used for the deck skin is soft without being squishy

and is designed to make it easier for beginning surfers to stand up,

Sipiora said.

“If water gets on it, you’re going to slip?” he asked. “No, you’re

going to get traction.”

The plastic used for the board’s bottom was crafted to be more

rigid than other soft boards on the market and is built around a

wood-and-fiberglass stringer.

The vast majority -- about 90% -- of Softcore’s boards are sold to

surf schools, but Sipiora is confident an experienced ripper could

enjoy a ride on one his boards. A few surf shops carry Softcore

boards, and for now Sipiora relies on direct sales for about 5% of

his business. The wholesale price for a 7-foot Softcore board is

$270, he said.

One surf school that teaches young surfers on Softcore Surfboards

is Mary Setterhome’s Surf Academy, which runs summer surf camps in

Santa Monica and Huntington Beach.

Setterhome said Softcore boards are not “corky” like other soft

boards that often bob in the water and tip their riders into the

surf.

Softcore boards, Setterhome said, can be shaped to order for

different classes.

“He knows the breaks here in California,” she said. “Believe it or

not, he will listen to what you need for your students, and different

schools need different boards because they have different kinds of

students and different kinds of waves.”