Cortez Surf Boards

maz2995

Hi folks,

Anyone got one of these boards? I was looking at getting a cortez as an alternative to a Bic board for my first board purchase any advice either way?
Thanks

Burgerman55

where have you been checking it out?

maz2995

I was looking on troggs surfshop website they have some good deals and offer free delivery to Ireland

Burgerman55

some good stuff there alright

there is no way one could justify wandering into an irish surf shop and pay the type of cash they're looking for
and you can add the likes of the Great Outdoors, 53 Degrees North etc to that list

neon_glows

Well surf shop in Tramore is very reasonable (I should know im working there) and from what i here shops in lahinch are in the middle of a price war.

You will always pay that little bit more in a shop but you get to the see the products for real, get all your questions answered, help setting up the board right and most importantly help picking the right board for you.

Many beginners left to there own devices would not pick out a surfboard suitable for there level.

I would also like to remind you that if your product gets damaged in the post it would be worth checking out where you can go from there? Shipping is expensive and you may have to pay to ship it back for a replacement.

Also what happens if you snap or lose a fin, i know when someone purchases something online and then gets stuck with a problem and come to me im very unreluctant to help.

Lastly what happens if the board you buy doesnt end up right for you? That you need a bigger board or something, only last week i sold a board to a guy who was adamant he could handle a 6'4'' performance shortboard when he couldnt i took it back and swapped him something else on the rack becuase im a nice person...

All im saying is be carefull when you buy online... I do not for one minute support the idea of paying for over priced equipment from surf shops that are trying to rip people off but dont forget for every shop thats ripping people off theres another that isnt. I keep a laptop beside the till in the shop i work in.

loctite

+1 to Neon Glows...

I am sick of people accusing Irish surf stores of trying to rip them off. I've seen the offers that Neon Glows has offered and they are as good as anything that you can get in the UK.

I've said this time and time again...

We have higher rates of VAT in Ireland

We have higher minimum wages in Ireland... (so in effect all of you bic bandits that are buying in the UK are driving up the operating costs for small businesses in Ireland and then spending your hard earned cash abroad)

Shops will have to obtain boards from UK distributors, that means we are effected by adverse currency xe, to which some distributors are not willing to renegotiate prices, and we have then to deal with delivery charges which are incredibly expensive.

But keep spending your money online... we'll just outsource all our retail stores to the UK...and our jobs, cheers.

Not The Real Scarecrow

Agree with the above posters but I have to admit that I have seen boards for sale in Irish shops that are between 100 and 200 euro more expensive than buying them and getting them delivered from shops or manufacturers in England.Its all well and good saying about advice and stuff but in this day and age I don't think you can put a price like an extra 100 quid on a board and rationalise it with the advice argument.
Its also probably way cheaper and obviously better quality to get a board shaped and customised in Ireland than it is to buy an imported board in shops in Ireland. I only saw recently a board for sale in an Irish shop for roughly 450, the guy that makes them is selling them in England to Irleand with delivery for 300 to 350, with vat included, so thats a 100 mark up.That 100 quid could be better spent on a better board or extra equipment.I see plenty of posters pushing the buy Irish bit but at the same time they sell cheap chinese boards or boards imported from elsewhere.If they were serious about keeping the Irish surf shops going then they should buy Irish themselves instead of buying cheap boards abroad and jacking up the price.

Burgerman55

i'm all for supporting irish shops but not when getting fleeced (and particularly not when the service is crap too)

loctite

Meatwad wrote: »

.I see plenty of posters pushing the buy Irish bit but at the same time they sell cheap chinese boards or boards imported from elsewhere.If they were serious about keeping the Irish surf shops going then they should buy Irish themselves instead of buying cheap boards abroad and jacking up the price.

That's a ridiculous statement IMO. The reason cheap imported boards are sold in stores is because the end consumer will not pay for a custom or Irish board. Of course any store would gladly put a local shapers work in their shop, but the reality of it is, local shapers charge in excess of 650 euro for around an 8ft board. (Cequential)

I'm sure that a local maker would discount their price to a store but stores have to charge VAT and add their own margin. Posters are arguing over 300 euro for a crappy popout. They are hardly going to pay more than that... Its a vicious circle. The more you buy abroad, the less likely the prices are to fall, the more shops that will close = less competition.

Most of the posters don't have a clue how much it even costs for a store to even buy boards in, but yet they are very quick to state that they "Jack up" the prices and "rip them off".

I was not in business for myself but it is more than obvious that a lot posters on this thread are not. You seem to think that for a business to add a margin to its products that it is unethical or a rip off. It is a free market, and you have the option that if a price is too high in this country you can buy elsewhere, but unfortunately retailers have to buy outside of Ireland and are constrained by high operating costs (VAT, wages, elec, rents... all of which are some of the highest in Europe).

It is more than infuriating to read some of the posts that Irish shops are a rip off when I know they are not. I have yet to find a site that were selling O'neill suits as cheap as we were in Ireland and the UK. But yet posters tar all shops with the one brush....To echo what Neon Glows has said previously, not all shops are rip off merchants.

tedshredsonfire

+1 Loctite,
Don't be afraid to haggle, there are some great deals going out there as some shops are feeling the pinch. Good advice is worth a lot more than E100 if you buy the wrong board and can't surf it your stuck with it. Kudos to neon for swopping it again and where will that guy go to buy his next board? online or to his local shop, to the shop cos of the service and advice he should have heeded at the time.

Can't see too many online shops saying yeah send it back if it doesn't suit and we will swop it.

Burgerman55

this "advice" your referring to ted, is that where the sales assistant picks out a board (typically one that he has in large quantities) and suggests this is the board for you

i was in lahinch lately and the type of advice received was rubbish, may as well have approached some auld wan up in centra and asked her what colour board i should buy

in the great outdoors in dublin, the little french bloke was trying to sell me a 6 ft 6 board despite the fact that i told him repeatedly that i'd only been surfing a few weeks and was unlikely to be out more than once a month

my advice - do some research about the board that might suit you best, typically consulting with people who surf frequently. then buy if from the cheapest source, maybe allowing an extra 5-8% for one purchased in a shop (as opposed to an online purchase)

tedshredsonfire

My advice on boards is go long.
5-8% will only account for Irish vat if you sell online all you need is a warehouse while a shop in a town will have a higher rent and rates etc. The main pint I was making was Kudos to neon glows for swopping the board even though the guy didn't take his advice to begin with. The biggest issue facing local shops is people trying on suits checking out boards etc and then when they know the right size buying online to save a few pound. What will they do when the shop is closed down.
I have a business near the border (not surf related) many people go north for cheaper prices many others come back and say "heres the price up north don't expect you to match it but how close can you come?" these loyal customers are the only reason i am still in business today.

loctite

Burgerman55 wrote: »

this "advice" your referring to ted, is that where the sales assistant picks out a board (typically one that he has in large quantities) and suggests this is the board for you

i was in lahinch lately and the type of advice received was rubbish, may as well have approached some auld wan up in centra and asked her what colour board i should buy

in the great outdoors in dublin, the little french bloke was trying to sell me a 6 ft 6 board despite the fact that i told him repeatedly that i'd only been surfing a few weeks and was unlikely to be out more than once a month

my advice - do some research about the board that might suit you best, typically consulting with people who surf frequently. then buy if from the cheapest source, maybe allowing an extra 5-8% for one purchased in a shop (as opposed to an online purchase)

Well Lesson learned Burgerman... don't shop with em. Don't tar all stores with the one brush. You have named two stores, how is that a representitive sample of all the surf shops in Ireland??? It isn't, thats why!

The number of customers which I did not sell boards to this summer because they were inappropriate size, I've lost count. Burgerman, you are just generalising and defaming honest hardworking retailers. I suggest that you price around in retail stores as much as you do online before you start making your acqusations!

kodute

loctite wrote: »

Well Lesson learned Burgerman... don't shop with em. Don't tar all stores with the one brush. You have named two stores, how is that a representitive sample of all the surf shops in Ireland??? It isn't, thats why!

The number of customers which I did not sell boards to this summer because they were inappropriate size, I've lost count. Burgerman, you are just generalising and defaming honest hardworking retailers. I suggest that you price around in retail stores as much as you do online before you start making your acqusations!

I don't think he was tarring all shops with the one brush, just the 2 specifically called out.
Also the advise about doing your research is very valid and applies to everything you buy.

Also fair play to you for turning away people in these times. Not easy but the right thing to do if there wasn't a suitable board.

Burgerman55

apologies loctite if you felt i was overly generalising, perhaps i was
i'd love to receive a consultation from someone as knowledgeable as yourself, unfortunately in the stores visited to date the level of expertise has been pretty poor (and this is not simply limited to the two mentioned, they were merely my most recent stops)

update on prices though - 7 ft 6 cortez board in 53 Degress North (blanch and carrickmines) for 290 - thats pretty good value from an irish store as far as i can see

Burgerman55

picked one of these up and gave it a go yesterday
good purchase i must admit
290

Leinster

53 Degrees North are doing a 9'2 Cortez longboard for 399. Surely thats good value? Does anyone know what I can expect from a board like this? Its an epoxy board and feels very light..

spaceHopper

To answer the orgional question - either will do for your first board it needs to be wide 22 inch is and about 18 inches taller than you. It shouhd have enough volume to float you well. If you go for a bic 7'9 you'll sell it on agian no problen when you want to get a "better" board, bic have a better name.

Cprh

To stand up for all irish surf shops, like all other retailers, they are feeling the pinch from the a super strong euro against the pound and dollar. It cant be easy to compete. And that's accross all sectors.

90% of Irish surfers (IMO) don't need and probably wont ever need a custom board. It is only when you get to a very high level that, that type of performance tuning is needed.

This year I got an 8ft mal fibre glass, single fin with s/b. It's grand - does what it says on the tin.

Last year I got a 6ft shortboard/fish cross breed and it goes very well in medium surf.

Both were from different Irish websites, and both were €300. SO I'm not too worried about snapping em or dings.

I also have one good shortboard (Firewire) which I bought from NI surf shop.

My point is, people will vote with their wallets, and if you are a begginner, or imtermediate, Cortez boards are grand. Buy it wherever it's cheapest or most convienient and go surf it, that's the important thing.

Peterd66

I have a 9 2 cortez (and a bic 7 9 natural surf2) and I love the cortez, always catch a wave with and very steady, wouldn't sell it for the world. I will sell the bic to get an epoxy minimal!!

Peter

Jackrum

To anyone who is looking to buy a Cortez board, I have an 8ft epoxy mini mal and so far so good. Very stable, can pick up waves with ease, also very quick (too quick sometimes!). Just one thing to remember - be gentle with them, they are not as hardy as the Bic plastic boards, I already have a shallow dent on the face of mine.

This is my first board and I trawled through all the various options before buying. Bought in a local surf-shop and after much haggling I got a decent deal.

Hope this helps someone!