Here's Oneula from Hawaii writing about the price of Roy Stewart's 12 foot Baron:
Personally I don't see the difference between this guy charging $10,000 for one of his handshapes and what Roy's trying to maket himself as.
http://www.hawaiibc.com/surf.htm
but you don't see anyone on any surfing webisites making jokes about what he's doing or charging for his wood slabs
What these guys are doing is defining whatever market they want to serve and setting the bar on price then waiting to see the reaction.
its all subjective as to what people will pay for something. Its perceived versus actual value.
The fact that Roy gets all this free publicity among the masses(Engaget is propably read by folks like Gates, Wozniak and others like them) who are not stuck in this closed off private world of "being cool" surfdom means that there's probably someone out there buying these things for some other purpose than using them how such certain groups think they should be used.
Hell all Roy has to do is sell a couple of these collector items a year and he's beaten out 80% of surfdomnites who think they know how to make them better than Roy.
Actually artist Marc Newson auctioned off a nickle plated Brewer shaped 5' tow-in board at Sotheby's for $220,000.00 so he's got roy well beat at $44,000 a board foot versus Roy's $2083 a board foot. So Roy's board is a steal!
http://most-expensive.net/surfboard
I know folks who wouldn't blink to bid $25,000 in an auction for a rare bottle of port or cognac and then throw a $50,000 celebration for select friends just to drink it all. These are the same folks who have no qualms of spending $35,000-$50,000 every 5-10 years buying the latest top of the line Mercedes, BMW, Audi or what ever for no really good reason other than to have one. Same folks who'll pay $25,000 for a custom wood door from this company: http://www.haleiwasurfboards.com/doorswindows.html for their multimillion dollar mansions on the ridge at Hawaii Loa or Diamondhead or Portlock.
or how about those geeks that flew halfway around the world to Silicon valley to get the chance to own the first all electric $100,000 supercar(Tesla)
Actually I believe there's a guy here in Hawaii building a $38,000 surfboard made from some super rare, sacred, and exotic New Zealand Kauri root burl root wood.
http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB4&Number=1763545&Searchpage=1&Main=1763517&Words=+heelnipstr&topic=&Search=true
"The Ancient Kauri logs being extracted from the north island of New Zealand today are radiocarbon dated at 45 to 50,000 years old - and older. At 50,000 years old, this wood pre-dates the migration of Neanderthals, the arrival of Homo Sapiens, the hunt for mammoths and all the cave paintings in Europe. These trees were already buried for 30,000 years before the onset of the Earth's last Ice Age! The Ancient Kauri logs are typically extracted from areas that were at one time bogs, but are now firmer and drier. The scientific name for Kauri is Agathis Australis. This species belongs to the Araucariaceae plant family, which means the trees are Conifers (soft wood), so they produce cones instead of flowers for reproduction. The oldest fossil of New Zealand Kauri has been dated to 175 million years old, making Kauri among the largest and largest species of trees in the world. Kauri trees do still grow in New Zealand today, but these living, growing behemoths are now protect4ed by law."
As an hobbiest penturner I can tell you that a 3/4"x5" pen blank of Ancient Kauri might run you up to $40 if you can get it. So if you glued enough of those little chucks of wood togethor to shape one of roy's 12'x3"x22" monsters it would run you around $65,000 just for all the little Kauri wood pen blanks to glue up into a blank.
Meanwhile a 5" piece of exotic wood finished with another $40 worth of a high end fountain pen kit could get you close to $250-$500 from a person who collects pens. And it all would take you about a 30 - 60 minutes to complete.
so how about a $425.00 Pen?
http://www.pianki.com/Caran-dAche-Varius-Metwood-Silver-Plated-Rhodium-Coated-Pens_p_983.html
or a $23,000.00 Pen?
http://www.pianki.com/Aurora-85th-Anniversary-Limited-Edition-Mother-of-Pearl-Fountain-Pen_p_2622.html
or a $42,000.00 Pen?
http://www.powerfulpens.com/visconti-hrh-divine-proportion.html
Again somethings value is all relative and subjective
Personally I don't see the difference between this guy charging $10,000 for one of his handshapes and what Roy's trying to maket himself as.
http://www.hawaiibc.com/surf.htm
but you don't see anyone on any surfing webisites making jokes about what he's doing or charging for his wood slabs
What these guys are doing is defining whatever market they want to serve and setting the bar on price then waiting to see the reaction.
its all subjective as to what people will pay for something. Its perceived versus actual value.
The fact that Roy gets all this free publicity among the masses(Engaget is propably read by folks like Gates, Wozniak and others like them) who are not stuck in this closed off private world of "being cool" surfdom means that there's probably someone out there buying these things for some other purpose than using them how such certain groups think they should be used.
Hell all Roy has to do is sell a couple of these collector items a year and he's beaten out 80% of surfdomnites who think they know how to make them better than Roy.
Actually artist Marc Newson auctioned off a nickle plated Brewer shaped 5' tow-in board at Sotheby's for $220,000.00 so he's got roy well beat at $44,000 a board foot versus Roy's $2083 a board foot. So Roy's board is a steal!
http://most-expensive.net/surfboard
I know folks who wouldn't blink to bid $25,000 in an auction for a rare bottle of port or cognac and then throw a $50,000 celebration for select friends just to drink it all. These are the same folks who have no qualms of spending $35,000-$50,000 every 5-10 years buying the latest top of the line Mercedes, BMW, Audi or what ever for no really good reason other than to have one. Same folks who'll pay $25,000 for a custom wood door from this company: http://www.haleiwasurfboards.com/doorswindows.html for their multimillion dollar mansions on the ridge at Hawaii Loa or Diamondhead or Portlock.
or how about those geeks that flew halfway around the world to Silicon valley to get the chance to own the first all electric $100,000 supercar(Tesla)
Actually I believe there's a guy here in Hawaii building a $38,000 surfboard made from some super rare, sacred, and exotic New Zealand Kauri root burl root wood.
http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB4&Number=1763545&Searchpage=1&Main=1763517&Words=+heelnipstr&topic=&Search=true
"The Ancient Kauri logs being extracted from the north island of New Zealand today are radiocarbon dated at 45 to 50,000 years old - and older. At 50,000 years old, this wood pre-dates the migration of Neanderthals, the arrival of Homo Sapiens, the hunt for mammoths and all the cave paintings in Europe. These trees were already buried for 30,000 years before the onset of the Earth's last Ice Age! The Ancient Kauri logs are typically extracted from areas that were at one time bogs, but are now firmer and drier. The scientific name for Kauri is Agathis Australis. This species belongs to the Araucariaceae plant family, which means the trees are Conifers (soft wood), so they produce cones instead of flowers for reproduction. The oldest fossil of New Zealand Kauri has been dated to 175 million years old, making Kauri among the largest and largest species of trees in the world. Kauri trees do still grow in New Zealand today, but these living, growing behemoths are now protect4ed by law."
As an hobbiest penturner I can tell you that a 3/4"x5" pen blank of Ancient Kauri might run you up to $40 if you can get it. So if you glued enough of those little chucks of wood togethor to shape one of roy's 12'x3"x22" monsters it would run you around $65,000 just for all the little Kauri wood pen blanks to glue up into a blank.
Meanwhile a 5" piece of exotic wood finished with another $40 worth of a high end fountain pen kit could get you close to $250-$500 from a person who collects pens. And it all would take you about a 30 - 60 minutes to complete.
so how about a $425.00 Pen?
http://www.pianki.com/Caran-dAche-Varius-Metwood-Silver-Plated-Rhodium-Coated-Pens_p_983.html
or a $23,000.00 Pen?
http://www.pianki.com/Aurora-85th-Anniversary-Limited-Edition-Mother-of-Pearl-Fountain-Pen_p_2622.html
or a $42,000.00 Pen?
http://www.powerfulpens.com/visconti-hrh-divine-proportion.html
Again somethings value is all relative and subjective
Live Aloha Always...
What is it?
http://culturalkapolei.honadvblogs.com/2009/04/01/oneula-hau-bush/
Where is it?
http://www.inter-island.com/eva.html
What is it?
http://culturalkapolei.honadvblogs.com/2009/04/01/oneula-hau-bush/
Where is it?
http://www.inter-island.com/eva.html
