So, since I am no longer traveling full-time around the country in an RV and I have since settled…read moreback down in an oceanside home here in Indialantic, I decided to get back into surfing. I grew up surfing along this stretch of coast, from Sebastian to Cocoa.
It wasn't long before the ocean was calling me, I would wake up in the middle of the night and hear the waves pounding, dolphins waiting.
I began looking for surf shops on Google Maps, reviewing them on yelp, trying to avoid tourist type stores who mainly specialize in selling as many T-shirts and bathing suits and beach towels as possible. I was looking for a small local business, not a chain, who specializes in surfing, and similar water sports. Many years ago I bought my first surfboard at the 'Quiet Flight' surf shop in Cocoa Beach, Yes I love Ron Johns, but 'Quiet Flight' is the small more personable business tucked away in amongst neighborhood homes along the avenues.
So I noticed this little obscure dot on the map, fairly nearby, called "FoamWorx surf boards" ( Full name being 40 Toes FoamWorx ). I decided to pop over and take a look.
When I arrived I entered and met Matt Tatum. He's the owner of this little neighborhood establishment. Actually I found later the shop is not that little. After chatting with Matt I found him super personable and genuine, we rambled on back-and-forth about our military days, state of the union, religion, politics, babies, and then surfing! Lol Love this place already.
Matt is a professional surfer and has surfed waves from Florida to Hawaii, known by many. Then he got into actually crafting surfboards.
He could see I was intrigued by this, and immediately began giving me the tour through the door in the back and out into the big shop. Filled with surfboard "blanks", all kinds of sawhorse stand type of setups used to hold surfboards while he shaves, forms, and coats these babies until they emerge as a glassy gem waiting to be adopted by a new owner who will take them out and make them an extension of their own body uniting with the ocean waves. He had separate rooms for different phases of his craft, and probably most impressive was his 3-D CNC machine, huge, well it has to be huge to accept surfboards of all sizes!
Back in the show room I met his wife Jill, and beautiful kids. Everyone so friendly, we enjoyed great conversation and lots of laughs.
Talking surfboards, I told him I was interested in a longboard, but I need it to properly fit me in regard to my size and weight obviously. He happened to have one in the show room, already waxed. He insisted I take it out, 'take it around the block a few times' that he knew it is the perfect size and shape for me. He Attached a leash and a fin, helped me load it into my SUV, and said go have some fun and let me know how you like it. Holy cow, this is not a cheap surfboard, and he just pushed me out the door with it to go ride it lol. You won't find this type of personal business at Ron Jon's fyi.
So I did, I could tell I was out of practice, and anything that did not work right was my fault, but I could tell that this was the type of board I wanted. Wow, was my heart pounding again to be back in the salty waves.
I returned the next day, and brought back his longboard, minus one fin lol. I told him I had no idea where the fin went, I didn't have any major crashes, only noticed that I started surfing sideways at one point.
He laughed, I have plenty of fins!
After much more great conversation and laughs, I decided to go with a brand new longboard identical to the one I just rode, but this one was new and unwaxed, and had a totally cool paint scheme designed by him, signed by him, and named "Zeppelin ". Sweet.
He gave me a great price, I also ordered a board sock, and leash. I also needed the cross bars for my luggage rack on top of my SUV. He took it upon himself to order those for me as well, custom for my vehicle.
A few days later Jill called me, and left a message that all my stuff was in and ready to go. I showed up the next day, and Matt had everything set aside. He was in the back working on some boards for some other customers, and stopped what he was doing.
Matt began attaching the leash and fin, he showed me the luggage rack parts (Thule) he had ordered, so we stepped outside into the blazing sun and he started installing the surfboard rack to the top of the car as I helped. Again, what other main stream surf shop would go through all of these efforts to take care of just one customer? ( rhetorical)
I couldn't thank him enough, and the family had become fans of my YouTube channel, so I promised to come back and do a YouTube video of them and his shop and his process, his craft, of creating surfboards.
I feel it is so important to get someone like him, his work ethic, his craft, his business, his experience out and more open to the public, local and afar. He deserves it, and his customers now and future, deserve him.
