SHAPING TOMORROW
Gary Linden Opens Up On His Roots And Future

From left: Linden with one of his agave boards, and another with agave rails; Harvested agave stalks, still drying.

“The other exciting thing I’ve been doing is my agave boards,” he says, pulling it out. The agave gives the board a richly textured grain and a soft straw-like color that’s striking. “They’re 100 percent environmentally made. That’s one thing I’ve been working on for a while,” he explains. “This one is glassed with fiberglass and resin, traditionally, but I’m going to be doing 100 percent agave boards. I’ve got cloth made out of the sisal from the leaves and we’re going to use resin from the sap of the plant. I want to show that it can be done.”

To get the materials for the boards, Linden says he goes out himself to harvest the stalks from roadsides and backyards. Like bananas, agave grows, fruits, and dies, so Linden’s not cutting down anything that’s alive. He says he’ll wait a year for the stalk to dry before cutting it down. He then mills them and makes a blank.

With the recent push toward making sustainable surfboards or “green” biofoam, Linden wants his agave boards to make a statement. “It’s not something I want to promote as a product. I want to show people that if you’re going to be environmentally friendly, you’re going to market it, and you’re going to tell the world about it, then make it 100 percent,” he says. “Don’t say, ‘Oh, it’s a little bit better.’”

His unique boards may also give Linden a leg up in the post-Clark Foam era. More surfboard companies are outsourcing to countries like China and less are being made locally in the United States. By the very nature of his business, Linden feels he can maintain a competitive edge, even if it’s a small one.

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years, so I should be able to make a handmade, custom surfboard to fit an individual. That’s my value. And my value will be enhanced by the fact that everything’s getting outsourced. You can’t get a shirt custom made anymore, or a pair of shoes, but you can get surfboard custom made for relatively cheap.”

Walking back into the shaping bay, Linden puts on a dust mask and picks up the sandpaper once again, moving his hand back and forth over the surface of the board.

“I’m just trying to be as flexible as possible so I can adapt to whatever comes my way. I’ve been in this building for 30 years and of course I hope to be here for a lot longer,” he says. “I want to make surfboards for the rest of my working life, so I’m going to fight for it.”