Robert August
For Robert August, you’d have to wonder if it’s been all downhill since that fateful day in the Indian Ocean back in 1963. After all, The Endless Summer’s Cape St. Francis segment has become a sort of shorthand for the perfect surfing experience, surviving nearly 40 years of changing tastes with equal amounts of aplomb and naivete. Even the most jaded modern surfers catch their breath when they stumble onto those jade cylinders rolling through at Bruce’s Beauties.
Working in Jacobs' Surf Shop in Hermosa Beach, August began shaping in 1966, not long before the shortboard revolution rendered the boards of the day obsolete. "Overnight, longboards weren't cool anymore. Dewey Weber, Bing, Noll, Hobie all quit. I had to adjust." He opened a restaurant in 1971, an ordeal that he says almost killed him, then launched Robert August Surf Shop in Huntington Beach in 1974 (which would later merge with Huntington Surf and Sport to form HSS Longboards).
He stocked the shop full of shortboards, all the while feeling that something was missing. "In the '70s, you couldn't even find a longboard blank. I knew I wanted one, but I didn't know if it would sell. Finally, I made five of 'em and everyone came in the shop going, 'A longboard, wow!'" The longboard resurgence of the '90s pleased August as much as anyone. His board sales returned, and when Brown made Endless Summer II in 1994, August returned for a cameo appearance.
The rest is history, Robert August Surfboards has become the stable for the most talented longboard riders in the world. The highly refined shapes and designs coupled with the subtle beauty of clean, classic style is the hallmark of Robert August Surfboards. Every board in the Robert's line is the culmination of years of refinement that delivers boards that are the standard of excellence to which all others are compared.
Models and Styles from Team Riders: Robert August, Wingnut, Mark Martinson, Mike Minchinton, Mike Doyle, Corky Carrol, Paul Strauch, Jericho Poppler, Alex Knost and Dodger Kremmel.
