All That Is Sacred, Expo breathes life back into the craft of surfboard shaping

Soul is being presented in an event than can only be likened to the Detroit Auto Show... but for surfboards. Sacred Craft - The Consumer Surfboard Expo, is bringing together those who love surfboards, and all things surfboard related, under one roof for a weekend long surfboard extravaganza in Del Mar. SurfShot talked with the event organizer, Scott Bass, to get the behind the scenes take on what went into the making of the event.

Can you tell me the story behind how this whole idea got started?
Surfboards drove our culture back in the 50s: Hobie, Hap Jacobs, Dale Velzy. Then magazines came along and drove the culture. Then multi-million dollar soft goods companies took over the helm. In the past, the only reason we didn't have a surfboard expo was because the local, small to medium sized surfboard manufacturers didn't want to cause a rift with the local retailers.
Well, now, with the retailer not showing a whole lot of reciprocating concern for the small to medium surfboard builder, and bringing in boards with better profit margins from overseas, it's time to put surfboards and their makers back as the stewards and marshals of our culture.
It’s obvious retailers want better margins and that is totally understandable. Nevertheless, a lot of small to medium sized board builders have been squeezed out of surf shops. So I figured, let's create the world's largest surf shop and let the locals back in.

Describe what the Sacred Craft Expo experience is going to be like? Are there going to be babes in bikinis and massive booths like ASR?
Think of the most hardcore surf shop. It is our hope that the Sacred Craft Expo has that vibe. Down to earth and legit. At the Sacred Craft Expo surfboards are king -- surfboards and everything that has to do with surfboards. When you walk in you'll see an insane amount of killer surfboards; you'll hear the planners roaring, and you'll smell surf wax.
The "Tribute to the Masters Shape-off" is San Diego shaper Chris Christenson’s idea. The shape-off has shapers from seven different regions coming to Del Mar to replicate a board shaped by master shaper Mike Diffenderfer. The winner gets $1000. It's going to be cool. Plus at Sacred Craft there will be seminars and panel discussions and surf movies and a band for Saturday afternoon. There will be beer and wine and food there as well. So yeah, a big surf shop, old school style with the keg in the manager’s office. Babes in bikinis? I dunno. The Charger game will be on though, I know that.

You mentioned seminars, tell us about those?
Well San Diego Solar is a company run by surfers and they stepped up to sponsor the seminars and we have some interesting seminars thanks to San Diego Solar. "Pioneers of Board Building" will include Dick Metz, Mickey Munoz, Bobby Challenger, hopefully Hobie Alter too. Ned McMahon will give a sustainable surfboard seminar. We also have Paul Jensen and Danny Hess talking about wooden surfboards as well as new materials seminar. We want to offer the public some insight as well as give them an opportunity to Q&A the panelists. And we also have a "Globalization of the Surfboard Market" seminar which should be good too.