Some time in the late 90s Fletcher Chouinard and his rat pack from Ventura California decided they wanted to commit to a lifestyle framed around building boards and surfing.
Fletcher had already undergone a shaping apprenticeship of sorts under the cerebral Dave Parmenter, who had well-formed opinions about just about every facet of board design and surf culture. Meanwhile, Fletcher’s dad Yvon was dreaming of making the ‘indestructible surfboard’ or at least one that reflected the core environmental values of his burgeoning outdoor clothing company, Patagonia. It was a father’s passion for creating highly functional, sustainable products married with his son’s passion for shaping that eventually led to the creation of FCD surfboards.
In the company’s nascent phase, Jason McCaffrey, a Californian college graduate with a surfing bug, moved into the shaping bay to be fully immersed in Yvon’s rapidly evolving board project. At the time all the research was being done as a side project under the banner of Point Surfboards. “Just basically making enough money to go surfing all the time was what it was all about,” explains Jason, who now works on broader projects in Patagonia’s Business Development Unit. Jason is one of the individuals who feature in the doco’ ‘Foam Dust’, which evocatively charts the evolution of FCD from fledgling Southern Californian brand to well-honed board-building act with global reach. With its gritty details, welcome honesty and slick editing, ‘FoamDust’ deals with the hurdles and volatilities associated with creating a successful surfboard company – in particular one with an ambitious environmental agenda (‘Foam Dust’ is available free online and is well worth checking out.)
I caught up with three of FCD’s key figures Jason McCaffrey, Ben Lemke (head of production), and Sammy Cammack (FCD’s master glasser).
Commenting on the early phase of FCD, Jason suggests they followed a similar trajectory to many board brands. “I don’t think the story is unique. It’s just our version of what I think every group of dudes who work together trying to make surfboards goes through. The struggles, the weirdness, the discoveries, the accidents, the surf trips, all the shit.” The film outlines the extensive trial and error involved with producing market-ready, high-performance boards that offer maximum durability. According to Sam, a lifelong shaper/glasser with an infectious enthusiasm for his chosen profession, the secret to the success of the R & D was to relish the challenge. “The mission was, ‘hey, make a more durable board’… And sousing all these weirdo materials just creates a whole set of problems. And that’s the fun part because we’re problem solving – like, constantly. As soon as you figure out one thing, solve that problem, you know, you get another one… So every time you solve a problem, it’s total victory, it’s exciting going to work, it’s not just doing the same thing over and over.
With a classic Southern Californian turn of phrase Sam sums up the philosophy on materials used in the FCD range, after readily acknowledging that some of the bio resins they experimented with don’t have the ideal cosmetic appeal. “We’re not opposed to boards that look funky if they’re bitchin’… Like, we’re totally cool with it, if the board is say three times more durable, you know – 90-year shelf life – it’s like we’re behind it.” However, as Sam explains the company has worked hard to make a line of epoxy designs that champion sustainability, performance and aesthetics. “What’s cool is with our favourite materials, we’ve developed the colour schedule and we can pretty much do anything now.” Fondle a few rails in any Patagonia store and you’ll find FCD boards with just as much sex appeal as other labels.
The pursuit of more sustainable materials means extensive R & D continues to be part of the FCD creed, but Sam also insists that there is no substitute for good craftsmanship when it comes to making boards that last… “One of the most important things for durability is your hands-on work… all the prep work… the sanders don’t take off too much material, and just a properly made board. Everything even. You know, there’s no mistakes.”
When you are making boards for FCD team riders like Kohl Christensen and Ramon Navarro, who are pushing the boundaries of big-wave surfing, there’s also another good reason to take the craftsmanship seriously. A line of Sam’s from ‘Foam Dust’ captures the sense of responsibility that is bestowed upon the shaper, making them seem almost analogous to sword makers forging the blades to be used in battle by ancient Samurai. “These guns, this is life or death, so you have to get every little detail right,” proclaims Sam.
Christensen was the test pilot for one of FCD’s proudest creations, a model that eventually became known as the F-Rocket. Based around an ambitious concept to build a gun that could be ridden considerably shorter in maximum size waves, the board was in development for two and a half years. While Christensen fell in love with the design and used it for a host of big-wave conquests, it is perhaps best known as the design, which piloted him through a 15-foot, blockbuster barrel in the fabled 2011, Cloud Break session. Although Christensen gets clipped in the end, it’s still considered one of the greatest big wave rides of all time. Doing it on a 7’6”instantly validated the shorter gun concept and sparked instant curiosity amongst the big wave fraternity. “When we made that board, and we saw that footage, we’re like, holy shit,” explains Ben Lemke… “We had guys that didn’t even ride for us calling us up and going, ‘I want one’… I don’t even think it had a name at that point. It was just like a file number, you know, on the bottom of the board, so we remembered what file it was.”
Over a decade later the F-Rocket remain some of the core models in the FCD range, marketed as a mid-range gun for heavy waves or scaled down to be the ultimate one board quiver. Unlike many of the other board companies, which strive to match or cultivate consumer trends by churning out a constant turn over of new models, the FCD crew prefer to exercise a little restraint. They also claim Fletcher is notoriously perfectionistic when it comes to releasing a new model. “Convincing him it’s ready. That’s the hardest part most of the time,” explains Jason. According to Ben, Fletcher also strives for open-mindedness when it comes to input in the testing phase, often championing the opinion of aver-age Joe when deciding what board actually makes it into production and onto the racks. “He’ll (Fletcher) machine, like five or six boards… And they’ll be sent to different people. And then he’ll get the feedback from those people,” explains Ben. “And he’ll send, you know, one to Rossi (Patagonia team rider and former CT surfer, Dan Ross). And then he’ll send one to one of his buddies that can barely do a bottom turn. And Rossi might love the board and the other guy might hate the board. And he’ll sometimes go with a dude that can’t surf and go like, ‘well, we got to make aboard for this guy to ride’.” Ben claims that for Fletcher the gratification derived from taking an average surfer to a new level of performance is often far more rewarding than ego- boosting props from a pro. “He wants models that translate through the whole pyramid of levels. When a customer comes back and tells Fletcher that board’s ‘rad’, like I did something I’ve never been able to do – even if it’s just a simple of the lip – that’s where he gets his enjoyment out of it.”
While Fletcher and his crew may be reticent to force-feed the market new designs, that doesn’t mean they don’t get excited when they do release a new model. For example, if you wander into a Patagonia store you may be greeted by a gleaming step-deck gun spearing towards the ceiling. It’s hard not to pick one up and at least contemplate the possibilities. These lance-like creations with a ridged edge on the deck that scoops into a lower rail are what Ramon Navarro recently rode to victory in the Lobos por Siempre Big Wave Invitational at Punta Lobos in Chile and later used in the 2023 Eddie. “He loves them,” insists Ben in relation to Navarro’s newfound commitment to the unique design with the flatter deck and stepped out rail. “He gets all step decks now. He swears by them.” Sam concedes the step decks are a glasser’s nightmare but suggests Navarro’s passion makes the finicky production process all worth it. “After he (Navarro) wins the Lobos contest he’s going ‘hands down the best gun I’ve ever had. This thing totally works’… I saw him just a few weeks ago, and he rode both of his boards in the Eddie. He went from the 10’0” to the 9’6” for the second heat and he goes, ‘The 9’6” magic – insane’ and I believe him. The glasser in me wants to go ‘please be making it up’ (chuckles). But as a friend I see it in his eyes. I know he’s not making it up. And then I told the guys in the shop the 9’6” is just like his newborn.”
As a confirmed surfboard junky in a room full of people dedicated to making boards, it’s easy to see how the lunchtime sit-down might drift into detailed discussions about topics like length vs width and thickness and the average surfer’s current pre occupation with volume. However, I’m also dying to ask a broader question – about the impact it had on staff when Yvon Chouinard announced in September last year that he would be giving away 100 % of Patagonia’s profits to causes aimed at saving the planet.
Ben Lemke insists that it certainly caught him by surprise.
“I was like, ‘Whoa, I didn’t expect that,’. I expected him to give a good portion of his fortune away… When I spoke to Fletch it was like, you know, he wanted to see real change in his lifetime. He didn’t want to be like, oh, you know he passed away then I’ll give it all away. He wanted to actually see shit happen… Yeah, it’s pretty interesting, you know, it’s a whole new battle, like, figuring out how do you get rid of all this fu$%*&g money?”
Ben is also quick to explain that Yvon practises what he preaches. “He drove the same car for 20 years and refused to buy anew one when it finally broke down… he’s very inspiring. And he’s very, like, he’s re
He’s like, a real human. He’s not like one of these corporate crazy dudes that you can’t approach or anything, he’ll approach you, which is great.”
Meanwhile, Sammy is typically candid when offering his take on Yvon’s unconventional approach. “He’s controversial. He doesn’t care. He does what he thinks is right… and some of it blows up. A lot of people just call bullshit and other people go killer. And you’re just going, ‘oh oh’, you know, and then it ends up working out and at the end of the day, you just go ‘wow’, he did it again.”
The world will watch with keen interest to see how Patagonia’s radical new business plan plays out. In the meantime Fletcher Chouinard and the crew at FCD will be working hard to produce and refine high-quality, durable craft that allows surfers from across the spectrum to feel the hum of nature’s energy beneath their feet. “It’s about making the best possible product,” explains Ben. “That’s what we want people to understand. Like, we’re not just doing this because we think it’s cool. We’re doing it because we care.
