C4 Waterman, based in Hawaii, has acquired Boardworks, a global surfboard distribution company located in Oceanside, California. The business will remain in Oceanside and will be operated by Bob Rief.
Rief's career has included high-ranking positions with companies such as Nike, Reef, Sanuk, and C4 Waterman, making him a natural selection for the position. Phillip Rainey, Gretchen Gamble, and Robby Ellingson will remain with Boardworks in their current capacities.
“I am happy to announce to the Boardworks shapers, global distributors and retailers world wide, that we have acquired 100% of Boardworks as of this morning,” said Mike Fox, one of the founders of C4. “I will retain the majority of the equity and my partners Brian Keaulana and Todd Bradley will share the balance.”
Boardworks represents many famous shapers including Bill Stewart, Mike Eaton, Mike Hynson, Ben Aipa, C4 Waterman and many others. These shapers' products are sold by Boardworks around the world through a series of distributors. All the boards are constructed through Boardworks' proprietary TEC (Thermal Epoxy Compression) process.
“Moving forward, we will be looking to add more core shapers to the the Boardworks fold, including stand up paddle board (SUP) shapers, further strengthening Boardworks' position in the SUP market,” added Bob Rief.
Mike Fox, Todd Bradley and Brian Keaulana are the founders of C4 Waterman, a Hawaii based company dedicated to perpetuating the lifestyle of the waterman. In conjunction with Dave Parmenter designed products, C4 is known world wide as the leader in high performance SUP boards and Pohaku branded paddles and accessories.
“This acquisition is chapter two in a 15 chapter volume called bringing our life passion for the ocean to fruition in a series of products or product categories aimed for use by watermen around the world,” said Fox.
