Channel Islands Surfboards

Wow! The service here is zick! Best surf shop I have ever stepped into! It is so zane in here and the workers are most leygit. If you ever need to get a fresh new shred stick this is definitely the locdum to be in. All around just a zick place!!!

The staff is always cheerful and happy to assist. They have a great selection of clothing from swimsuits to wetsuits, hats, and various sundries They even let me use their floating launch when I first moved here and didn’t know where best to get my board out on the water.

Realized that I needed a new shirt while cruising the Zone. Moments like that remind me that I’m a curmudgeonly coot who desperately needs a 21^st century makeover.
So I upgraded my casual left coast wardrobe here, with approving glances from sweetie and the kid. Nice stuff, decent bargains too.
These days I have to remember that just because I think something looks cool, doesn’t make it so (translation: attitude is not enough), and vice versa.

Normally try to swing by when in town and pick up some gear. Always have had a great experience until now. Showed up at 10:58 and asked a female staffer on her way back into the store if my family and I could walk inside with her a little early. She acted like I was bugging her and said we don’t open until 11. When I said that was in two minutes, she again rudely stated we «don’t open until 11» and slammed the door in my face. Needless to say we passed on shopping there today.

My fiancé and I stopped in here after stepping in tar on the beach– these guys saved the day and helped us out free of charge. We’re not surfers, but they were so nice and helpful, they saved the day! They wouldn’t accept any tip, but they deserve all the business! Great customer service and looked like a great selection of merchandise.

When I am buying a new board or having a custome board made in Santa Barbara there are two rules — 1) It must be an Al Merrik and 2) I must get it right here, period! It’s a tradition and for good reason. In the words of Biggie «and if you don’t know, now you know!“Can also get used boards too, but I say BALLS TO THE WALL, get a new one if you wanna be a pimp!

Epic selection of boards. Great prices. Really friendly and knowledgable staff. Love this place

Everything from clothes to boards in an awesome shop in beautiful SB! Every now and then they will show free surf movies and serve free food/​drinks along with it. Great way to give back to the community and bring people together :)

H

I took two out of town buddies here so that they could buy some new surfing equipment. It happened to be their labor day sale so they made out with some great boards at a decent price. All in all, combined they spent over a thousand dollars that day. Something that was bothering and troublesome to them is that they did not receive a free bar of wax. Some might say that is not a big deal but the principle behind the wax ensures a customer for next time. The excuse was «since the deals are so good we are going to charge you for wax.» Not the best business move. They have so much inventory in there they should be lucky people are buying their «older» brand new models. Something else to note the sticker of my buddies board he bought would not come off. It was the worst process trying to get that sticker off. Btw, you guys lost two buyers and possibly even myself for I was thinking of buying my very first board sometime this week. Kudos.

This surf shop looks awesome inside as I entered I could not help being fixated on the ceiling that had the same shape as the counters that were placed in a circular format. I should have shot a picture for you folks but I was on a time table waiting for the tide to drop .They have a Hugh selection of new short boards in the back, I was pleased with there layout and cleanliness of the store and give them high marks.
I encourage people to take a look for them self in beautiful Santa Barbara.

This review is for the surfboard inventory only, I usually don’t go here to shop for any other retail merchandise.
Your local surf shop will probably have a few Channel Island boards in stock but if you’re really interested in a CI board then this is a great first stop. They usually have a wide variety of sizes of all the boards in the current and older catalogs, with a few rare gems along the racks, too. A huge selection.
The staff rides the boards and they’ve always given me great feedback about what works for them and what doesn’t, never afraid to tell me if they didn’t like how a certain board handles, and I’ve always appreciated their honesty and advice.
It’s a great place to actually see and feel the different sizes and models that you’re interested in so you can really get a feel for what fits your personal preference and ability.

Not going to lie I was disappointed this time. Every year I come to SB I pick up a Channel Islands hoody, as they usually have tons of selection and options.
This year, there was no female gear and only 3 hoodies for guys. Lots of other brands and so forth, but I wanted the channel islands gear.
The hubs was able to stock up and get lots, and I picked up a baby shirt for my neice/​nephew when it arrives. The cashier was a super hot Cali type girl, and that was pretty much the highlight.

The employees at the shop were very helpful in finding me the right board, leash, traction pad, and fins. The man that was working with us even put the traction pad on for us perfectly. This is an amazing surf company and I will continue to be their customer.

Seems like the inventory is becoming increasing limited. They used to have more to offer for casual wear. Maybe the new location is driving walk-​in biz down and now they cater more to board crowd.
The Beach House around the corner has more to offer.

The board sponsor and supplier for all the greats from Slater to Machado to Taylor Knox to the top groms and juniors like Parker and Conner Coffin and now Evan Geiselman. More than that though, a company devoted to supporting their sport and to providing the highest-​quality surfboards to the world. Evan Geiselman won the US Open Pro Junior contest on a Channel Islands board he bought right off the rack at his local surf shop, Red Dog, in Florida. This is someone who is a pro, whose father is a shaper, and who can get any damn board he wants. .. and he buys (before he was sponsored by CI) off the rack and wins the biggest contest of the year with it. When you have a young pro who doesn’t have to pay a dime for his boards buying one and trusting it for a contest like that, it speaks volumes more than all the pros a company sponsors to me. Moreover, the Channel Islands folks are always a pleasure to deal with and their retailers are also. Good people making a great product – no complaints here whatsoever.

Do you know Al Merrick? Me neither, but the hand he’s had in shaping (pun intended) modern surfing is known all over the world. If Kelly Slater and Rob Machado trust him, who am I to argue?
My story: an impromptu surf trip to New Zealand lands in my lap a couple of weeks ago… YESSS! Of course, I’ll NEED (yeah, right — any excuse) a new board for sure. Something shorter, for ease of travel. Something that paddles easily, and catches anything — who knows what the waves’ll be like in NZ? And it’s gotta be easy to ride — why would I want to spend my whole trip getting used to a new board?
…found the board that fit the bill at
. The Biscuit. I didn’t choose it, it chose me… Whatever.
On their easily navigable website, I found a list of all the retailers that sell CI’s boards, and called every shop from Australia to Honolulu to up and down the West Coast. Come to find out the Biscuit’s a brand new model — no one’s gonna see one ’til June. LAME!
Out of desperation, I called the shop, and spoke with Kim:
Alan G: Kim, I NEED a new Biscuit for my trip to NZ, and I’m leaving in like, ten days.
Kim: Let me check… (pause) Hmm, it doesn’t seem like we’ve shipped any out yet. I know we’ve got a whole bunch here though.
Alan G: I KNOW that you haven’t shipped any out yet — can you just send me one?
Kim: No. We have an agreement with all our local shops not to sell direct from here.
Alan G: (covering the phone) SHIT! (uncovering the phone) So, there’s no way then, huh?
Kim: Well, I suppose if your local shop doesn’t have any Biscuits, (Didn’t she just tell me that NO ONE had any?) and they didn’t mind us selling you one, Scott, the shop manager, MIGHT send one to you.
So after about 30 minutes of nicing-​up my local shop owner, (Thanks Jeff!) I got permission, and called Scott.
Alan G: Scott, I just spoke with Kim. She said I should ask you to send me a Biscuit.
Scott: We don’t do that.
Alan G: I know, but Kim said you MIGHT make an exception if I got permission from my local seller, and told you how much I really, REALLY wanted it for my trip to NZ.
Scott: Your local shop is cool with that?
Alan G: Yes.
Scott: What size do you want? You like Future fins or FCS? When do you need it?
Alan G: 5’8″. Future. NOW.
Six days later, and I’m pleased as punch. Got it in the mail today!

in the eyes of many folks al merrick is to surfboards as thomas keller is to fine dining. al shapes boards for some of the most successful and popular pro surfers out there like kelly, machado, rising star dane reynolds, and women’s champs sofia mulanovich and lisa anderson. in image-​intensive southern california, people look at their merricks as status symbols rather than just a rip stick.
but since the closure of clark foam and the switch that al made to walker foam, i’ve heard a lot of displeasure voiced by merrick loyalists. the grumbling bros seem to think that the walker blanks are too heavy. confirming evidence can be found in the used board sections of surf shops as more and more new merricks go back to the store. ey
just because the CI stick in the local surf shop bears the same logo as the board that slater won all those world championships, in reality the board in the store had about as much in common with kelly’s board as a monte carlo from the dealership has with the chevy nascar model.
however the new eps boards are supposed to be rather bitchin. don’t bother with surftech pop-​outs.
choose your weapons carefully.