Credits: David Tepper

During the colonial era, sailors where very familiar with the coast of  Baja California . Vessels filled with trade merchandise, which traveled between Manila and Acapulco. They stopped to stock-up on water and food supplies, & while hunting at an estuary next to the mouth of a river, they discovered what is now called San Jose del Cabo. They continued on to Acapulco, and from there the merchandise was transferred on from Mexico City to Veracruz, then on to Spain.

After World War II, a few veterans discovered Marlins, which still inhabit the Sea of Cortes. The Marlins attracted tourists that enjoyed hunting and fishing. Soon after,  the first luxury hotels where opened, and it became quite a popular destination.

In the 60′s and 70′s, it quickly became known as the most exclusive vacation spot for the “rich and famous” within it’s radius to Hollywood, California. It was a favorite vacation spot for many celebrities, such as Liz Taylor, Mick Jagger, Elton John and John Wayne.

The trans-peninsular route to “Cabos” was established  in the 70′s. California surfers and snowbirds began to populate the beaches. However, it’s  first airport wasn’t opened until 1984.

After the opening of  the “Los Cabos Mexico Int’l Airport”,  many successful hotel franchises became interested in Cabo. The population in Cabos has more than tripled since the 90′s, along with the incredible expansion of the tourist market.

Source: “http://www.cabosanlucas.net“

David Sterman and Anthony “Ace” Conlon take to the Podium with there Grape Skimboards. Congrats!!!

Check out this practice sesh from team rider David Sterman.

Owner, shaper, and a super-rad guy.

          Little-grom Paul took his first ride on a skimboard at age five. The guy was so stoked on the sport, and even more stoked when Kerry Tobin made Paul his very own board two-years later, and it instantly became Paul’s best friend. He skimmed all throughout his school years, with as much passion as day one. When Paul reached age seventeen, he started working at a local skim shop, Victoria Skimboards. It didn’t take him long to realize he was definitely gifted, since he went from razor-blading woodies to teaching co-workers how to shape in less than two years.

Even though Paul had created so many amazing boards for Victoria, he wanted to try something new. So, he started shaping surfboards in his backyard, with the help of Anthony Visolay, a good-friend of Paul’s, to get him going. Needless to say, the boards became super well-known and wanted. Soon after Paul’s shapes became popular, the first-ever artificial wave was created at Wave House in San Diego, California. Paul got the opportunity to shape a Flowboard for Bill Bryan to use while riding the artificial waves. The owner of Wave House strongly admired Paul’s Flowboards, so she asked Paul to make fifty-nine of them for the grand-opening of Wave House in South Africa. Paul was stoked, not only to make the boards, but to go to South Africa to deliver them! It was one of the best times of his life.

When Paul returned to California, he came back to a bunch of leftover foam. Instead of letting it go to waste, he decided to shape a skimboard with it. The foam was enough to make ten skimboards. As if making fifty-nine boards and delivering them in another country wasn’t huge enough, a Japanese distributor saw the skimboards Paul made, and asked him for three-hundred skimboards. Paul came to the conclusion that his backyard wasn’t going to cut-it anymore. So, he ditched the back-yard, and opened Grape Boards in San Clemente, in 2003.

Paul is still working super-hard to this day, making boards for Skim City, EOS, Laguna Surf and Sport, and other distributors. He also makes a ton of other shapes, like Alias, surfs, and SUPs. If anyone deserves recognition for perseverance, hard-work, and determination, it’s definitely Paul.

Welcome to the Grape Skimboards website.  Check out our team riders, our product galleries or shoot us a message on our Contact Form.  We look forward to hearing from you -

Paul Wade
Owner / Shaper Grape Skimboards