Have you ever wondered what is going on in the mind of someone who sees opportunity where others have not? That is easily a question you could pose to Mike LaVecchia, the founder of Grain Surfboards. Through their unique design his surfboards are revolutionizing the surf industry says Seacoastonline.com. Would you believe the adventure started with snowboarding?
His father, a lawyer, and his mother, a stay-at-home mom, always encouraged their children to be open to new experiences and to never stop learning.
It is this curiosity and love of the outdoors, instilled in him by his parents, that drove LaVecchia to build his first snowboard in the early ’80s, and later to work at Burton Snowboards in Burlington, Vt.
While working as the assistant team manager, LaVecchia was able to travel with the younger snowboarders of the 1990s across the country and over the globe. But he felt drawn back home.
In his quest to never stop learning, LaVecchia obtained his 25-ton captains license. He began working for a sailing charter business on Lake Champlain.
“After a year or two of this I realized that I wanted to start my own business, I saw an opportunity that they were missing. I got some friends together and we bought an old wooden schooner named the Northern Spy and we ran charters on it,” he says.
In the winter months he began purchasing older wooden sailboats and fixing them up and selling them for a profit.
“I never studied boat building, it was just trial and error, and I had friends who taught me.”
“I had always thought about surfing, but boats had always filled that water need for me. But in 2002, a bunch of friends and I rented a home in Cape Cod for a surfing vacation.”
After the surf vacation, Lavecchia became hooked on the surfer lifestyle.
“Long Sands Beach was great for learning; no crowds or rocks and just a mellow spot to surf,” he remembers. “I started thinking about building a wooden surfboard, because as I started to get into surfing I started reading about the history of surfing and the evolution of surfboard designs.”
Through his research, he found a strong connection between surfboard designs and boat designs.
LaVecchia began to realize that he could create a business creating wooden surfboards, so he developed a Web site.
And Grain Surfboards was born.
Image from Grain Surfboards