226 - Almonds Surfboards, Dave Allee

Ten years ago, at the age of 22, Dave Allee signed the lease to a retail space on Newport Blvd. He partnered with surfboard shaper Griffin Neumann-Kyle to launch Almond Surfboards, built in the traditional of classic California surf brands, but forward thinking and community focused. In today’s show we discuss brand building, burnout, managing growth, hunting, soft tops, Andy Nieblas, and much more. I hope you enjoy.

Check out AlmondSurfboards.com and follow @AlmondSurfboards

6’6 x 21.25” Big Bueno Fish. #almondsurfboards #bbf
A post shared by Almond Surfboards (@almondsurfboards) on Jul 31, 2018 at 1:29pm PDT

6’6 Joy with oceanic chart print and hotcoat stripe. #joybyalmond
A post shared by Almond Surfboards (@almondsurfboards) on Jul 18, 2018 at 2:02pm PDT

The early days of Almond and their online presence . . .

LifeIsJustSwell.blogspot.com

Andy would likely never consider himself and “entertainer” but it sure is entertaining (and at times very exciting) to see him perform his craft. I heard first-hand accounts of a wave from @mexilogfest where Andy was paddling back out into the lineup, saw a wave coming, flipped his board around so he was paddling out into the lineup fin-first. Then, as the wave approached, he paddles up the face (still fin first) hops to his feet (having never paddled toward the beach) stalls on his way up the face, and starts sliding down fin-first, gets to the bottom, spins around and starts riding. He surfed the rest of the wave as though nothing had happened. ? Andy is about as entertaining as any surfer in the lineup. There are few things that aren’t in play when he’s doing his thing. Photo: @jeffrey_allee
A post shared by Almond Surfboards (@almondsurfboards) on Jun 9, 2018 at 6:31am PDT