The King Returns: How the Hamboards® Classic Came Home to California
Some partnerships are business decisions. Others feel like destiny.
When Derek Horn and I signed papers to bring Hamboards Classic production back to Southern California through his BIRCH® Longboards, it wasn't just another manufacturing deal. It was bringing the King of all Longboards back to where it belongs.
The Koastal Connection
Most people don't know this, but Derek and I go way back. Years ago, when Hamboards was still finding its footing, Derek was manufacturing our Logger decks through his company Koastal. He understood what we were building—not just skateboards, but a completely different way to surf on land. His craftsmanship spoke for itself.
Then Koastal closed its doors. Like so many American manufacturers, the economics pushed us overseas. We found capable factories in China, kept the quality high, and grew the business. But something was lost in that transition—a connection to the soul of what Hamboards represented.
The BIRCH Renaissance
Fast forward to 2025. Derek has built something special with BIRCH Longboards right here in Irvine, California. He's become one of the premier longboard manufacturers on the West Coast, known for his birch construction and meticulous attention to detail. We'd already been working together successfully on Lucid Grip products, and I watched his operation grow with genuine admiration.
Meanwhile, I was focused on building SUPSKATE®, my new brand that's taking land paddling in a completely different direction. The question kept nagging at me: what happens to Hamboards?
The answer was sitting right in front of me.
Why the Classic? Why Now?
The Hamboards Classic is where it all began—our 74-inch masterpiece that put land surfing on the map. For years, riders have called it the "King of all Longboards," and honestly? We've been too humble to claim that title.
But let's be real: the Classic earned that crown.
The Hamboards Classic is the King of all Longboards. And the King is coming home.
It's the board that proved you could truly replicate the feeling of longboard surfing on concrete. The HST truck system (which I still consider the heart and soul of what makes a Hamboard a Hamboard) delivers that authentic surf rail-to-rail carving that nothing else can match. No other longboard—regardless of length, truck design, or marketing hype—gives you that same pure surfing sensation.
Now, with Derek bringing it back to California in premium birch construction, handcrafted with the same obsessive attention to detail that built both our reputations? We're ready to own it.
The Painted Classic Collection
Derek isn't just making "a" Classic—he's launching with five distinctive colorways that honor Hamboards' heritage while pushing the aesthetic forward. Each Painted Classic features:
- Premium birch construction manufactured in Southern California
- Our patented HST truck system (the same technology that's defined Hamboards since day one)
- Hand-crafted quality with Derek's BIRCH standards
- A dual signature showing the collaboration between BIRCH and Hamboards
- Serial numbered authenticity
These aren't replicas. These aren't knockoffs. These are genuine Hamboards Classics, manufactured to the exacting standards that made the brand legendary, now with the added soul of being handcrafted right here in California.
That first carve, that first deep rail turn that feels exactly like cutting back on a wave—there's nothing else like it. And now it's being crafted with the same pride and precision that California craftsmen have brought to surfboard manufacturing for generations.
Full Circle
There's poetry in Derek manufacturing Hamboards again. The same hands that shaped our early Loggers are now bringing the Classic back to California. The same commitment to quality, the same understanding of what these boards need to be.
For me, this partnership solves a problem I've been wrestling with: how do I build SUPSKATE without abandoning the Hamboards legacy? The answer is I don't have to choose. Derek keeps the Classic alive and thriving while I pour my energy into the next evolution of land paddling.
For Derek, it's a chance to manufacture the most iconic land surfing board ever created while building BIRCH into the premier longboard manufacturer on the West Coast.
For Hamboards riders—both the die-hards who've been with us since the beginning and the newcomers discovering land surfing for the first time—it means the Classic is back, better than ever, and made in America again.
What's Next
The first Painted Classics are rolling out within weeks. Derek's got birch materials arriving and samples in production across all five colors. You'll find them on both Hamboards.com and Birchboard.co—same board, same quality, same HST trucks.
After all these years, the Hamboards Classic is coming home.
And it feels like it was always meant to.
The Hamboards Classic is handcrafted in Irvine, California by BIRCH Longboards.