RIDING IN THE GREEN ROOM

By Margie Church, Editor

Mike Doyle Custom Surfboards for Rippers and Schoolies

This schooly would never survive a ride in the green room. What am I talking about? Surfing. A ride in the green room is when a surfer is covered by the pitching lip of a wave; a tube of flowing water. Novice doesn’t even come close to describing the depth of my ineptitude (or fear). I’d be going through the rinse cycle and lucky to come out of it alive. Hopefully the guys from “Baywatch” would be on duty that day. However, professional rippers such as Justin Jalufka, Morgan Faulkner, and Jordan Isbell ride surfboards made by Mike Doyle Custom Surfboards, of Corpus Christi, Texas. Mike Doyle is also the go-to guy for those who love the sport and surf recreationally. He’ll build your custom board based on your surfing habits and experience, and finish it with graphics that will only be described as gnarmax — beyond cool.

Testing the waters

Doyle is a native Texan who traveled the world with his military family. As a cash-poor teenager in Ventura, California, he learned to repair his own surfboards out of necessity. In the late 1970s, Doyle moved to Corpus Christi and hooked up with area surfboard shops to do their repair work. He also worked under local legendary shaper, Steve Tyau, making fins for Tyau’s production shop. He also began a career as a carpenter. It seemed natural then for Doyle to make the transition using his knowledge from Tyau and his carpentry skills to build surfboards. Along the way, he met his wife, Julie, a third generation Corpus beach local. Working together, their business started to turn a strong profit, and Doyle hung up his carpenter’s belt for good.

“We started with a couple of blanks and before long, we had more orders than we could handle,” Doyle said.

Watching the surf reports

Surfboards common in the 1970s were 10-to 12-foot-long beasts with a one-size-fits-all mentality. “It didn’t matter if this was your first day on the water or if you were a professional;the boards were extremely heavy and maneuverability was a battle,” Doyle said. “Seemingly overnight, the boards got very narrow and 3 feet shorter. They remained that way for the next dozen or more years.”

Chopping 3 feet off the board’s length significantly reduced its weight and improved maneuverability. Polyurethane was and remains the core material. Silmar® surfboard resin (SIL66 family) was there from the start too.“The generation of board builders before me proved that Silmar resin was the clearest and best choice for beautiful, strong surfboards,” Doyle said. “It’s the only resin I’ve ever used,and it remains the only resin I want to use.”

With the help of his professional surfers,Doyle has developed designs that help rippers boost huge air and react quickly. “The guys on our team are probably the best in the state. They lead the pack in design,” Doyle said. “My age group is riding different equipment and I can’t ride a board like they do. I have these young guns [men and women] to run this modern stuff so I can stay in tune with the way the market is moving.” Their feedback and using Mike Doyle Customs in competitions have lead to a significant increase in sales for Doyle. “These guys ride the boards and drive the market. It makes good sense,” he said. “They dominate their divisions. That’s what it takes to be sponsored by us. You have to have many trips to the finals.”

Doyle’s competition models are finely tuned in terms of weight, number of fins, and the wave conditions in which they’ll be used. Two layers of fiberglass are used in construction to reduce weight without compromising strength. Doyle has been glassing even longer than he has been shaping, and his riders have the advantage of fine tuning their own glass jobs by communicating their needs directly to him.

“I’ll get in one of the boards that a team member used, repair it, and offer it on our used board rack. It’ll be gone within a day,” Doyle said. “Whatever these professionals are riding, everyone wants. They are young, tattooed,serious, and they’re solid watermen.”

At the retail level, Doyle said his shop takes the Russian roulette out of buying a surfboard. “A customer walks into a shop that has hundreds of boards and becomes a victim of the sales person who may not even be a board builder,” Doyle said. “He’s there to sell you a surfboard.”

Doyle has some samples in his shop but during a private conversation focuses on taking the time to understand what his customer wants during a private conversation. He sizes the board according to its rider’s age, weight,ability, surfing patterns (where and when they surf), and the style they want. Long boards are back but there are plenty of shorter length
board designs for all kinds of wave action.

After the core is shaped, the Silmar resin is catalyzed and laid down. “Once the Silmar resin is kicked off [catalyzed], it’s like water,” Doyle said. “It has unbelievable clarity.” This is exactly what Doyle needs to show off his handcrafted graphics. Many times the customer will have color samples or ideas of what they want their surfboard graphics to look like. Doyle has a host of photos of graphics he’s already done to help inspire ideas too. No matter what, his hand airbrushing and painting skills make every board as unique as its owner. The MDC company logo is silk screened onto rice paper, placed on the graphics, and then the lamination schedule begins.

Usually two, four-ounce layers of fiberglass cloth is hand laid and rolled out with Silmar resin on the bottom of the polyurethane foam core. Three layers are placed on the top of the core. This schedule can vary depending on the surfer’s weight and how long the owner wants the board to last. After the laminate cures, the rough and sharp edges are trimmed
and the fiberglass lap lines are sanded smooth. Doyle said it takes about eight hours to complete a board.

How many Franklins will one of these boards set you back? Four to eight, depending on the board’s size.

Surf’s up!

As a sport, Doyle said surfing is becoming more popular all the time, especially in South Texas where the waves are constant and not humongous. This is especially appealing to girls and women who want to learn. And Doyle wasn’t kidding. His boards come with an opportunity to attend surf camps and take lessons from the pros.

Driving along the Texas coastline one can see surfboards of all shapes and sizes strapped to pickups, sport utility vehicles, or atop mom and dad’s old four-door beater. Most likely the vehicles will be wearing several bumper stickers such as: “Don’t Eat Imported Shrimp,” “Friends Don’t Let Friends Ride China Boards,” and “MDC-Mike Doyle Customs.” ’Nuff said!