Tarsan Stand-up Paddleboards owners Pam and Gene Smith in front of the photo wall of customers that they moved from their original Hermosa Beach store to the King Harbor store. Photo

In 2006, legendary big wave rider Laird Hamilton invited Gene Smith on a stand up paddle from Malibu to Latigo Canyon, where Hamilton lives. The two had met through their mutual obsession with fitness. Hamilton thought stand up paddling would help Smith in his recovery from a near fatal head injury suffered while skiing in Mammoth that winter.

Days after that first paddle Smith bought his own SUP. The following year he opened Tarsan Stand Up Paddleboarding on Hermosa Avenue, a block from the water. The store was a passion project for Smith and his wife Pam. Smith, whose nickname is Tarsan, is a serial entrepreneur. His other businesses include merchandise licensing agreements with the NFL, NBA, MLB and MLS.

“People thought paddleboarding would be to surfing what snowboarding was to skiing,” Smith recalled in an interview this week.

His store became ground zero in the South Bay for the growing sport. Locals like Molokai champion Danny Ching and international champions like Hamilton, Kai Lenny and Trouter Slate were regular visitors to the store. Smith became a top ranked competitor at the annual Dana Point Battle of the Paddle. In 2018, the last year the race was held, he won the open stock division.

Four years after opening the Hermosa store, when hindsight would show the sport’s popularity peaked, Smith and his wife Pam leased a 3,000 square foot space on Harbor Drive. The store was the Nordstroms of surf shops. Professionally taken photos of customers lined one wall. Boards were staged like sculptures. The store backed up to King Harbor,  a short, protected paddle to the open ocean and the migrating whales.

Tarsan Stand-up owner Gene Smith with Laird Hamilton and Hermosa Beach shaper Pat Ryan on the Tarsan dock in King Harbor in July 2014. Photo

Tarsan Stand-up kids camps became a South Bay summer tradition. Tarsan lessons and paddleboards were favorite auction items at local charity dinners.

Then the sports popularity caught the attention of big box retailers. Tarsan sold boards by local custom builders such as Joe Bark and Ching for $2,000 to $3,000 and custom carbon fiber paddles for $150. CostCo and West Marine began selling imported “popout” boards for $300, including a paddle.

What began for the Smiths as a passion project and evolved into a prosperous and beloved business, became, as it had begun, a passion project.

At the end of December, when their King Harbor lease expired the Smiths closed the store.

Smith cited the 5 percent on gross fee charged on top of rent, combined with cheap imports and declines in the sport’s popularity as reasons for closing the store.

“We feel blessed for the 10 year run we had, and thankful for all the people who’ve told us they will miss us. But my accountant told us it was time,” Smith said. ER

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