In 1993 Gulf Stream Surfboards was born out of Jools, the shaper's, back
garden in Croyde. Jools continues to shape all of the Gulfstream boards, "I
started Gulf Stream with the intention of producing high performance
surfboards to fulfill my own needs as a surfer and do the same for my
friends. It made sense to make them as good as we could, so that they would
last longer." Fairly quickly, however, word spread and Jools's boards were
in high demand. Gulf Stream now produces hundreds of boards each year as
apposed to the dozen or so, initially planned, "Apart from that not much has
changed since we started! We still make every board as good as we can, and
we still surf them as much as we can."
"Custom orders continue to make up 60% of our sales and we are always
pushing board design in the endless quest to make that magic board." All of
the boards are made at the factory in woolacombe, where after Jools has hand
shaped them Ellis, our art worker, uses water based acrylic paints to create
a unique customised design for each board. The next stage of the process
then passes on to Matt, who laminates the boards with his resin concoctions
and then finally JC, our sander and polisher, finishes them to perfection.
We also offer a professional ding repair service, and boards can be
dropped off to the woolacombe shop, which is attached to the factory. Our
other shop is situated in Braunton, and long with the woolacombe shop, has a
full range of boards (we carry about 100 boards all year round), wetsuits,
accessories and clothing. Everything you need, and some things you don't
need, to go surfing!