Hamboards ride a new wave
SMALL BUSINESS
A Huntington Beach company's extra-long skateboards mimic the feel of surfing on water.
To keep his business going in these tough economic times, Pete Hamborg is counting on people to continue to spend money on basic needs: "food, shelter and a really big skateboard."
So far, enough people share Hamborg's view of life's essentials to keep his family enterprise afloat. Hamborg is the creator of the Hamboard, a nearly 7-foot-long skateboard he says mimics the feel of a surfboard on the water.
Hamboards have picked up a devoted following among hard-core surfers and skateboarders -- those devoted enough to the sports to shell out $395 for one of the boards. They are sold in specialty surf and skateboard shops and directly from Hamborg through the company’s website.
Hamborg says he sold $180,000 worth of his extra-long skateboards last year at a pace of about one a day. The company, which Hamborg runs out of his Huntington Beach home, is just breaking even after two years in business, he said. So for now, Hamborg, 48, continues to work full-time as an Orange County firefighter.
It all began in 1995, when Hamborg wanted to find a fun alternative to strollers for shuttling his younger kids to the park. He had four boys -- ages 1, 3, 5 and 7 at the time -- and another was born the next year. Hamborg cut a board out of plywood and screwed some skateboard wheel assemblies into the impromptu deck.
The board served two purposes: transportation for the preschoolers and a training device to get the older boys started on surfing. As neighbors saw the family on the boards, some asked Hamborg to make boards for them.
Despite the neighborhood popularity, Hamborg didn't think he could create a business selling the boards. Because of the great length of the decks, the plywood began to sag in the middle after continued use, and the bolts holding the wheels in place eventually would break through the wood.
A turning point came in 2005, when a man driving a concrete mixing truck through Hamborg's neighborhood saw the boards on the lawn and stopped.
"I heard the air brakes set, and the big diesel engine. This guy comes out of the concrete truck and says, 'These are really cool, why don't you sell them?' " Hamborg told the truck driver about the problems with the wood, and the man told him about an Anaheim supplier that carried a special European plywood that could take the stress. The tip proved correct, and Hamborg began to experiment with the rigid wood.
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