LOCAL

Surf on land with Hamboards

The Daily Times

Don Sandusky poses with his hamboards on Aug. 7, 2017.

Don Sandusky has had success selling, marketing and designing products before.

He has worked for NASA and DuPont and holds a Ph.D. in polymer physics from the College of William and Mary. He also created the Spalding Neverflat Basketball and started his own sporting goods company that he later sold.

His latest project, though, is a family affair.

In Huntington Beach, California, Sandusky's cousin, Pete Hamborg, designed the Hamboard – a surfboard on wheels meant to give riders the sensation of surfing, even when they are on land.

Riders can either kick their Hamboard around like a skateboard, or push themselves along with a "SUPSkate," – a land paddle that propels Hamboarders around.

"Hamboards want to turn, they really want to turn," Sandusky said. "And if you are prepared for that, it’s just a terrific experience. People in town see me paddling along. I’ll go out for 10 mile rides and get a terrific, fun workout and a terrific, fun ride out of it by paddling. I won’t hardly kick one time for 10 miles."

Sandusky joined the family operation five years ago as owner and general manager, and the rest has been a whirlwind, he said.

Don Sandusky works on one of the trucks for his hamboard.

Since Sandusky joined the team, Hamboards appeared on Shark Tank in 2013 and are now an international brand, with sales in countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, Japan and England.

"I mean, this is crazy," he said. "I would not recommend anybody try this because there are so many people in the business community to reject innovations. My research advisor at NASA was famous for saying 'You can recognize the pioneers; they’re the ones with all the arrows sticking out of their back.' "

The average sized Hamboard is three foot nine inches and costs $199. A 24 inch board costs $155, while a 6 foot 6 inch board costs $549.

Although the company started in Huntington Beach, Hamboards has local roots. Sandusky spends his summers near Bethany Beach.

Sandusky also sells Hamboards to many local surf shops. One of their distributors — Coastal Surf Supplies — is based in Ocean City.

According to Sandusky, Hamboards have found a niche market. Sandusky said he tries to make the experience "authentic" for the riders and often partners with surf shops who aim to do the same.

"The magic happens whenever you synchronize a shop’s desire to have something new," he said. "A shop needs new news. A community needs a new sport, they need a new thing to get behind. At the same time, the local entrepreneurs recognize it, too, and they look around and say 'OK, what’s new, what can we get behind, what works for us?'"

And local businesses are starting to pick up on the Hamboard trend.

Surf shops such as Endless Summer in Ocean City and East of Maui in Dewey have done a good job selling the product, Sandusky said, and businesses are enjoying the product themselves.

Some of the hamboards made and produced by Don Sandusky and his company, Hamboards.

"(Sandusky) was here last Wednesday and demoed it and it was received well," said Phil Wakefield, manager at Endless Summer. "A lot of people were riding the boards. A lot of people were interested in it, that intrigued a lot of people. Whether or not people buy them, it’s definitely a conversion starter."

At East of Maui, manager John Hardy said, customers are totally enthralled when they see the board. There are even Hamboarders who will ride from Dewey to Bethany and back, Hardy said.

"They’re cool," he added. "It’s a workout and you can shred and do whatever you want on them. "

The company is on a "textbook" S Curve — a trajectory that tracks cumulative revenue versus time in the shape of an "S" — Sandusky said, and are readying to enter the second part of the S Curve.

It takes a long time to get people on board with a new product, he added, especially in today's business climate where companies want to continue to make money and are reluctant to take risks.

Sandusky said startups such as Hamboards have two options when it comes to growing: invest "lots" of time or "lots" of money.

The creators of Hamboards decided to invest their time, Sandusky said, in ensuring the brand remains authentic, which has always been and always will be their goal.

Sandusky said they do this by utilizing what's around them: social media.

"That’s why we don’t do advertising," Sandusky said. "We don’t do really any product marketing... All we do is promotional videos and social. We participate in some key events with demo days, but if we let six months go by without producing another video on our YouTube channel, I get hate mail – I get slammed for, 'Why aren’t you doing this?'"

Even though Hamboards aren't in every local surf shop, Sandusky isn't dismayed by that.

He said people still love and appreciate the Hamboard, especially in stores that try to be authentic to the product.

"But only a few places can be authentic (as) core sports equipment shops," he said. "They have people who walk through the front doors who want to try the new stuff. And pioneers are underrated, and they are to be admired. So I’m really thankful for the local shops who have pioneered our brand."

On Twitter @hughesg19