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As far as the international surfing world is concerned, hometown loyalty
is a quality in short supply. Most pros who make it big immediately ditch their
local shaper, shop, or clothing company for the top dogs, choosing (wisely or
not) to pursue increased salaries, expanded coverage, far-flung travels, and
all the other perks that come with having a foot in the surf industry’s well-oiled
door.
Not so for Satellite Beach, FL, native, longtime ASP World Tour veteran,
and 2001 World Champion CJ Hobgood. After a decade-plus spent riding good friend/
fellow Central Florida native Bill Johnson’s boards under Rusty, Teqoph, and
other labels, Ceej has completed the cycle by returning home to sign with Cocoa
Beach manufacturers Quiet Flight and their 20-year-plus shaping mainstay Bruce
Regan. EasternSurf.com stopped
by Quiet Flight’s five-year-old, state-of-the-art Cape Canaveral factory to
talk business with father-son owners Jim and Jimmy Leasure, along with picking
Bruce and CJ’s brain about one of the most high-profile new surfer-shaper
relationships on the East Coast.
ESM: How did the relationship begin with CJ?
Jimmy Leasure: We’ve always had a relationship with the
Hobgoods — we had one with Damien, and we’ve all been friends for a while.
I’ve always kept in touch with CJ, letting him know the factory is always open
to him if he wanted to get boards from around here. But it just seemed like a
right fit; I reached out, the timing was good for him, and the timing was good
for us because our team’s in a transition time and we’re trying to grow.
ESM: Jim, since you’re no longer responsible for handling the
retail side of things [Quiet Flight’s retail operations were sold to
Billabong in 2008], how much freedom did that give you to make big moves like
this one?
Jim Leasure: It gave me more energy to be down here at the
surfboard factory, since I didn’t have to worry about the shops anymore.
Jimmy Leasure: This is definitely the first time our factory has
been focused on being its own entity. Like my dad said, we have a lot more time
to be down here, which allows us to do more things like signing CJ and
concentrating on marketing.
ESM: Bruce, have you shaped for CJ in the past? How
big of a personal challenge is this to be responsible for a world champion’s
boards?
Bruce Regan: I’ve done some work way back for Damien, so I’ve
got a little bit of experience. I’m concentrating on looking at what CJ’s got
right now and going from there. Yeah, it’s a challenge, but I’m up to it. All
we need is good feedback.
Jimmy Leasure: That’s what makes the relationship work so well.
It’s only been a few months, and CJ’s already been by several times, since we’re
so close to his hometown and he’s actually here a lot. He’s pretty willing to
work with us, and such a good guy, that he’s really the ideal
teamrider for our brand. His surfing and accomplishments speak for
themselves, but he’s also a role model and a leader in the community, and we
couldn’t be happier to have him on board.
ESM: So far, has it been all
polyurethane for CJ, or has he mixed materials up?
BR: CJ’s got a couple of epoxies; some of our team
guys and groms ride them exclusively, because that’s all they like. And of
course we do a lot of the parabolic rails, too. CJ’s open to try whatever
— that’s the biggest advantage, him being open-minded.
ESM: Does it help seeing boards from different
manufacturers across the globe?
BR: Definitely, for sure. CJ brought back three or
four from three or four different guys in Australia. He didn’t like ‘em
[laughs], but it’s good to see ‘em, because you can look at what works with
each one. To me, that’s a huge advantage.
[CJ arrives, says his hellos,
and walks straight up to Bruce]
CJ Hobgood: Bruce, that last board you did was sick. You
should hang on to that file, pump a couple out for the boys, and see what they
say. It was pretty on point. I also brought two other boards that I want you to
go off of. Then we’ll just run through every board I like.
ESM: CJ, how did this updated relationship between
yourself and Quiet Flight come about?
CJ: Damo had a good ride with them, and the
relationship was great. Nick, who runs Quiet Flight in Cocoa Beach, lives with
my brother Travis, and we’d always talk about it. So the relationship was
always there; it was more about the timing being right. This was the direction
I was heading, so I sat down with these guys and talked it over. They were
super open, which gave me a lot of freedom. I think we have a vision, but we
know it’s gonna take a little while, so it’s just a matter of seeing where it’s
going.
ESM: How big of a factor was it that Quiet
Flight is a hometown company steeped in East Coast surfing history?
CJ: Well, I’m not going anywhere since I have a daughter,
so it was more of a situation where it would have been stupid not to start
working in that direction.
ESM: As an elite, world championship-level surfer,
was it a risk for you to change horses midstream and switch board sponsors in
between World Tour seasons?
CJ: On the one hand, it could be a risk, but in
another sense I was at a point where I had to change things up. You’ll see that
with some older guys, and for me, if I don’t change things I’m gonna get so
bored and stale that it becomes hard to keep showing up at these contests with
the same equipment. You need to switch it up; I’ve said it before, with the
Internet, it doesn’t matter how good you are. If you’re going through the same
motions and doing the same kind of surfing, people get over you after a while.
I’m at that age being a bit older where, if I don’t switch it up, the hardcore
crew is gonna write me off.
ESM: Interesting that you
say that — when Shea Lopez did his tour round-up on SurferMag.com
recently, he said, “CJ might not have a magic board under his feet in
2010, but the problem might lie elsewhere… Not to worry, though; I'm sure he's
working on the boards and the technique as you read this.”
CJ: Shea’s pretty on it; that’s a good
observation. But if you change things up, you’re going to sacrifice one thing to
hopefully gain the bigger picture. Every time I do change it up, I know I’m not
gonna win over the critics right away. But the idea is to have ‘em bag on you a
little bit, but eventually come full circle.
ESM: Are you and Bruce working board by
board to develop your relationship? How hard is it being gone for such a large
chunk of the year?
CJ: I don’t know what the perfect way
to do it is, but I have about five boards that I like, and every single one of
them is so different. So my idea was to bring in every one of these boards, and
tell Bruce I want him to make me something similar. But I don’t want to give him
too much feedback, because too much feedback, “Let’s just go in that direction,” can take you off down a
path that could be a rabbit trail. I just dropped off a 5’9” with a weird tail
and a 5’5”, so that’s a wide range of boards right there. I can feel him out,
he can feel me out, and then we can find our control group and start working in
more specific areas.
ESM: Even while testing such far-flung
shapes, are you guys hoping to get a CJ Hobgood model that can be marketed as
such in Quiet Flight stores?
BR: That’s what we’re working towards
right now, hashing everything out and coming up with something that CJ wants to
back up.
CJ: Even though I’m on the World Tour,
I surf out here all the time, so when we get one, the consumer can trust that
and know it rides good. That’s what I’m thinking about all the time. You
have to get a model that works, but is also what people are going to be into in
six months. That’s part of the challenge and part of the fun; when I’m on the
road, I can see what’s going on, and I have my ideas and thoughts about where
the next design trend is going. That way you have a good board, but also a
board that sells.
ESM: From Quiet Flight’s standpoint,
having a world champ on your boards has got to be huge, not just here locally
but also internationally as well.
Jimmy Leasure: Oh, definitely. This is
the first time we’ve ever focused on the board company as a whole, and that
recognition is huge for us.
BR: Plus we’ve already got boards all
over Bali, in Barbados and Jamaica, so this should spread ‘em out even further.
ESM: CJ, how often are you riding other shapers’
boards now that the Quiet Flight deal is official?
CJ: It just depends
— the more we dial the boards in, the less I’ll be riding other shapers.
But you go to Hawaii and you order Tokoros; you go to Trestles and you’re gonna
ride Mayhems. You still need that spice in there to keep it fresh, because
that’s just the way it is. If I was to sit here and tell you differently, or
any other shaper or surfer was to tell you differently, they wouldn’t be
telling the truth. It’s just what it is, and that’s just reality. But the
relationships are still great; it’s like the coffee shop business, where you
can have a Starbucks and a small place, and they can both make it. But getting
it right is constantly a moving target, for both a shaper and a surfer. You’ve
got to keep evolving, which is obviously a full-time job. That’s what makes
Kelly so good; you have to go out there and do something that the judges and
fans haven’t seen in a while, and Kelly’s the best at that.
For more info on Quiet Flight Surfboards and their new teamrider CJ Hobgood, visit www.quietflight.com
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