Just got this email and thought I'd pass it on. Any of you near toronto might want to check out this from Silent sports; might find a good deal on surf stuff and be able to sell off old stuff too.
http://www.silentsports.com/store/store.asp?action=do&doaction=showpage&id=23

thanks for the heads up...they carry a fair bit of boards pretty expensive though I feel sorry for people in southern ontario dropping that kinda coin for boards...

Your're right about the high cost, but having been in the biz myself I can say I could never find a way to get boards up here cheaply, new or used. It was always tough, and the cheapest way I found was to drive down to WRV or wherever and smuggle them back, basically marking them up just enough to cover my gas and then I'd hope the customer would buy a t-shirt at the same time. Selling surf stuff is a hell of a way to make a living in the Great White North, thats for sure. I was pretty impressed after talking to Bruce at Silent Sports when I met him, and am stoked that someone in GTA has surf stuff and doesn't go crazy with prices or come off as a poser, which is the only reason I pitch his shop. Anyway, his big sale might be an opportunity to get a board or a wetsuit or something as cheap as possible, while supporting the shops that support the sport rather than starving everyone and buying crap on ebay or something. I've ridden both sides of this trail before, and neither is pretty. It's hard for me to give money to someone I don't know when someone I do know is trying to make a living, you know? My board was shaped in 1995, and my wetsuit came from a sale when a wetsuit factory closed in NTOL, so obviously I haven't bought dick all in a decade. I'm on a low surf budget for sure and spend my surf dollars on gas and trips to the coast, but still I'd love to get up to S.S and max out the credit card on a new 9'6 and a warmer wetsuit before fall...
Dan

Mate,

I agree with you it is tough shipping is the killer and I'm not sure if the demand here warrants the effort...I was more thinking at the time I wrote that about the guy in sauble beech on saturday telling me $1200 for a lost 8'6 is a good deal when I can get the same board shipped to my door for 500 and change...there r a few reatilers out there marking up boards astronomically...in australia top shapers dont even make close to that kind of a mark up, its a labour of love for them not a very profitable buisness, unless they focus almost soley on the japanese, for the true handshapers although the silent sports prices on bic boards arent too bad...I was wondering if you could email me regarding something I have been looking into I wouldnt mind an insiders view on my plan having only been invovlved with the Canadian surf scene since May...
thanks,

tylerdonaldson720@hotmail.com

Sure, send me and email and you can pick my brain all you want. You going to be at burlington on Sat am? Anyway, email is dparis@timberlineriders.ca

Another good guy who knows the inner workings is Tim Lee-you might want to pick his brain too. Ron McFarlane is another longtime surfer and great source of business info. Man, if I was to do it again knowing what I have since learned things would be much different, thats for sure. Oh well, in the end OTV cost about the same as going to business school or something and I made a ton of friends in the process, so it wasn't a bad experience when I look back now.