Surfboard shortage drives costs up

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Surfboard makers struggle with high demand and low supply more than three weeks after a market leader called it quits.

Laguna Niguel, Calif.-based Clark Foam was the maker of 60 percent of the world's surfboard blanks -- the foam cores fashioned into boards -- until it closed shop Dec. 5, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Owner Gordon "Grubby" Clark said government regulators made it too hard to turn a profit, an accusation they deny.

So now outfits like Walker Foam Inc., and other, smaller blank manufacturers, have more orders than they can fill.

Harold Walker was one of the pioneers of foam surfboards, once made from balsa wood.

Walker went out of business in 1973 and started up again in 1990 but has had a rough-go since then.

He said he "could sell thousands of blanks right now," but he can't produce them fast enough.

He's added a second shift, hiring many former Clark employees.

Prices for boards have jumped more than $100 with the supply problems.