michael dolsey surfboards

They are sub-standard! Unlikely to recommend.

 

I have a 6'8 Epoxy fish that I purchased this summer, it is still holding up. I have 5 boards and I totally enjoy all of them, but this board has become my go to board for small to shoulder high days.

 

And there you have it

 

I thought China stopped popping those pos out years ago

 

This is the guy pushing that E-Fin. Claiming its for helping older or physically challenged people to surf who need paddle assistance, but putting out all those videos showing 20-something kids using the fin to out-sprint-paddle the lineup and rack up wave count.

 

Nope. There's a dude locally still pushing them, and from his FB marketplace posts it looks like they keep coming in. He's pushing low-cost toy boards to beginners and fking over all the local shapers and surfshops in the process. Everyone knows who he is and his name isn't worth s*** in this town.

DOLSEY BOARDS ARE GARBAGE

 

Are they all epoxy. ?

 

all the dolsey boards are. He imports popouts from china, slaps his name on some, and sells boards of other people who are doing the same thing as well. He has a warehouse in Norfolk and caters to the shops in the area that sell popouts, as well as a healthy craigslist presence. You see a lot of guys riding them locally who have progressed beyond the wavestrom but don't want to shell out 500+ for a poly board and don't know any better anyway

 

His website is a TRIP. You know that company Alibaba that will basically sell you ANYTHING you want as long as a dirty factory in China can figure out how to scrounge up one? His website is like that only focused on wave riding crap. He has like 15 different surfboard technologies and some of them "Plastitech" (Really?) sound like truly toxic shit while others "Soft Top or Surfboard Budget" sound like they were actually written by the chinese laborers who build them. Truly a glimpse into the dark side

 

There's a surfboard shop near me that is promoting and selling this board for 700$ hahaha. Saw one on Craigslist that said ride 3 times...great board ..400 firm. I called the guy and asked what it was made of but he couldn't tell me.
Ive never heard of someone buying a board for 700 and didn't know what it was.

 

I paid less than $500 for my fish; all the other fish boards were sold out and no one knew when there would be new inventory due to COVID. I have high end boards, I wanted to try a fish. I am not disappointed; this board handles well and is durable.

 

Under $500 for a brand new surfboard? Whoever is selling those is undercutting hard working craftsman who build surfboards in your home town, to make a quick buck on Chinese made trash.

 

True, and worse you are getting a inferior product that is harder to repair cheaply and conveniently, and won't hold value.

Look at the post above....$700 in the shop new, use it three times and the asking price is $400. Sad to see such a large segment of the surfboard market taken over by these use and toss disposable boards.

There's no reason why a hand shaped fish from a reputable building that costs $550 new can't be used for years, repaired easily and cheaply when needed and still worth $250 years later. Isn't it a better investment to buy something that loses $300 in value after years of use rather than after three sessions?

 

So cheap Chinese junque (haha, see what I did there) isn't many surfer's cup of tea, mine included. They just don't "feel" right to me.

But hey, it wouldn't be prudent or logical to reason that 100% of "Chinese boards" won't work for 100% of the surfing world. Especially in light of the fact that probably 50% of the surfing world chooses to ride a Wavestorm, a thick shapeless piece of cheap foam with practically zero foil.

Bad analogy? Maybe. But another fact is that many "name" shapers of our past are selling Chinese popouts under their labels. How many surfers really know who shaped the floating piece of shite under their heels? I seriously doubt that the LibTech factory near me is pumping out the thousands of boards I see regularly under the feet of the thousands of kooks from Seattle whom choose to ride them.

There's no doubt about the value angle though. The more well-known the shaper, the more valuable the board. You can choose to have your bathroom remodeled by an experienced, licensed contractor or you can save a lot of money by hiring a bunch of wetbacks and forsaking any semblance of quality control. There's a reason that surfboard shapers fall under the "craftsman" category.

So Chinese popouts aren't for everyone. But just like everything else in this world, there is a place for them.

I'd like to take one out to the Wedge on a decent day just to wreck it. Just my personal opinion tho

 

From a purely capitalist standpoint you're absolutely right, but I think I differ on ethical terms. I mean, I could probably make a living selling garbage to tourists and one-session surfers who are going to paddle out once on their summer vacay and stash the board in their garage for 20 years. That's who Dolseys are made for.

Would I want to do that? No. Do I think that's an honorable way to make a living? No. To be honest, I consider many things that are technically illegal more honorable than pushing low quality Chinese crap.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't have a problem with the boards as much as I have a problem with what they represent and who ends up getting the short end of the stick.

 

Sad to admit, but I bought a Michael Dolsey lb years ago for my daughter who was learning at the time. It is clunky, lunky, and rides like you're towing a kettlebell behind you. My daughter never really took to surfing (maybe because of the crap board I got her), and now the board sits at my beach house. I lend it out occasionally to land locked visitors as a means to discourage them from surfing, and it works like a charm.

 

Brilliant!