Turner Summerski Ltd - Important Announcement

[Steve Church]

There seems to be a lot of talk on this site and on NCDSA about Turner and whether they are making boards/not etc. So, I can now put the record straight.

Turner Summerski Ltd is a new company owned by myself and Peggy Turner - no other Turner company exists so if you are offered a newly manufactured board claiming to be a Turner it ain't!

We are currently manufacturing and testing prototype boards for the next race season and are happy to announce that we have already built classic long and short nose cutaways and fullnoses with some incredible new features that will translate to race wins. We have elevated our classic designs to a completely new level of performance - Both Peggy and myself can't wait for you to sample them!

We will be launching the new company in the early part of 2004 with a brand new website.

We won't have 2004 season boards available until then and are not taking orders/manufacturing client boards until we have finalised our product line. However, we do have a limited stock of 'Turner Downhill' boards available for any racers who need one.

Turner Summerski Ltd are happy to receive trade/client enquiries and to answer any questions you might have. please email me at, steve@turnersummerski.com

Thanks,
Steve Church and Peggy Turner

Turner Summerski website

[Rick Stanziale]

Turner Summer Ski and slalom skateboarding are synonomous to me. I think it's fantastic that Turner, Ick, Fibreflex, et al have been able to offer product to this generation of racers.

This from a guy who still enjoys the Comet "Race Wide" (I hear they're going for big bucks on eBay)

Slalom,
66

[WeS Carpenter]

that is interesting news,
wish josh and myself didnt have to learn of this here, but hey thats business

so does that mean that anyone who has purchased any handmade board from turner the past 8 months , actually didnt purchase a turner.

so are you offering refunds to those buyers who have now learned they ARE NOT infact riding a turner.

you should let them know that they are riding a JWS.

[Rick Stanziale]

I'm confused (among other things).

[Mickey Williams]

Turner Summerski Ltd

<i>Limited?</i> Hmm, well at least the name isn't pretentious, and you're starting off by treating the existing kick-ass employees right. All I know is I want an Aurora and whatever that squared-off black thing was that Josh made for slalom cross. <font color='white'>No matter where it comes from.</font>

[Rich Stephens]

mighty confusing to a new slalom guy like myself too. is there a post on here somewhere that explains the whole backstory to all the changes in company names and owners that's been going on so we can figure out who is who?

(i own a deck that says "turner" on it and I have no idea who made it but it seems to be a good deck to me. don't know when it was made either but it was purchased a few months ago.)

-Rich
(my deck: http://www.3jar.com/rich/skate/newboard ... turner.jpg

[Steve Church]

To halt the confusion:

''....so if you are offered a newly manufactured board claiming to be a Turner it ain't!'' - This was posted to back up the fact that we are not manufacturing new boards for sale until early 2004 and that the new company is officially TURNER. I'm not suggesting there are copies available. Apologies if this caused any confusion.

There's nothing 'pretentious' about the name - the company is registered in England - we don't have 'Inc' over here. It's just UK law.

Wes and Josh's boards made at the Turner Shop up to a few weeks ago ARE Turners. I have a Blackbird made during this period in the company's history and it's a damn fine board.

As for the company history - Turner Downhill ceased to be about a year ago and Peggy continued as Turner Summerski until recently. The new company was formed in order to fund development work into new materials/construction techniques and to ensure Bob's legacy continues well into the future.

Rich - you're board is a Hybrid model made by Turner Downhill.

Any further questions please email me.

steve@turnersummerski.com

[Frank Nelson]

Just like to say:

I have a Blackbird and an Aurora made by Wes and Josh and I am really pleased with them! I dealt with Peggy and, over a period of time have got to know her. I think the new move can only cement Bob's legacy and help Peggy deal with some of the business wrenchs thrown her way.

At the end of the day I want to see Turner Summerskis out there. I believe and hope that 2004 will be a great year for Turnersummerskis and I want Peggy to benefit from the enterprise.

To Wes and Josh I wish you well. Having emailed Wes I know how hard these guys worked.

Good Luck to Steve and Peggy

Frank

[Mickey Williams]

This was posted to back up the fact that we are not manufacturing new boards for sale until early 2004 and that the new company is officially TURNER.

So I'll ask the question - are the boards in the new production made in the shop in California?

[Steve Church]

Mickey - No the boards won't be made in the old workshop. We are currently making prototypes in Europe.
Thanks,
Steve

[Mickey Williams]

Mickey - No the boards won't be made in the old workshop.

Poser.

[Karl Floitgraf]

If you don't mind me asking what was the difference between Turner downhill and Turner summer ski?

[Rich Stephens]

Good question. There were two answers to that question detailing the history of the companies but they have been deleted. With no explanation. I'm emailing the Editor now to find out what the deal is.

[Wesley Tucker]

Rich,

I don't want to change this to a "How SS.Com Works" topic, but I also noticed the missing posts.

Don't forget, though, that with SS.com, posters can delete their own posts. It's not necessarily an issue with a moderator or webmaster as it is with other slalom skateboard websites.

Perhaps everyone just thought better of pursuing the "poser" joke and made the decision to just remove it? Just as my post has no bearing on this topic, neither did the direction the thread was taking.

Then again, maybe the webmaster scrubbed it himself. Who knows? It's important, though, to remember that with this website posters can make their own decisions and change things they see fit to alter.

[John Gilmour]

I knew Bob well enought o say he wouldn't care much where the boards were made- just as long as they met his standards of performance fit and finish well enough to bear his name. Bob was a designer not only a worker.

Bob and I had talked several years ago about having others produce the decks- he had no objections.

Bob also told me a large percentage of his business was in Europe as opposed to the USA- many decks sold in the UK and also many sold in Europe under the "Double Deck" name.

From a standpoint of history making decks in Europe now the European Union exists would remove importation tarriffs and likely get Turners under peoples feet for less. If Turner can show enough interest at a lower price to the Europeans- economies of scale/demand might even make it possible to offer the decks at a lower price in the USA even if imported from Europe.

IF Turners are solely to be made in the USA the labor costs as well as the importation costs will be high relative to other countries. The higher prices might result in fewer decks ordered and which of course....makes the price higher etc.

My best wishes to Peggy and Mr. Church on their endeavor.

[Mickey Williams]

From a standpoint of history making decks in Europe now the European Union exists would remove importation tarriffs and likely get Turners under peoples feet for less. If Turner can show enough interest at a lower price to the Europeans- economies of scale/demand might even make it possible to offer the decks at a lower price in the USA even if imported from Europe.

This should definitely get some kind of award for BS/meat ratio. If you think that the bar to Turner Summer Skis gaining mass market acceptance is EU tarrifs, you're delusional.

[Mickey Williams]

Rich,


Don't forget, though, that with SS.com, posters can delete their own posts.

I didn't delete my posts. FWIW.

[Rich Stephens]

Wes, good point except one of the messages deleted was mine! I've received a perfectly reasonable explanation about what happened and the go ahead to just post again.

Basically the first missing post covered the original 70s company, then the "turner downhill" era which included Howard Gordon I believe, and then jumped to this current "ltd." era. I piped in to say that as of the Worlds in Morro Bay this year, two guys called Wes and Josh were making boards under the name Turner Summerski and continuing development based on Bob Turner's recent designs/ideas (and with Vince Turner in on it somehow) and as far as they knew, their operation was "Turner Summerski".

You can read other posts in this forum topic from those guys and from skaters about the excellent boards they were making. From the posts above, it appears the first they heard about the Turner name having been sold off to England was Steve Church's opening post of this thread claiming the name and saying "no other Turner company exists so if you are offered a newly manufactured board claiming to be a Turner it ain't!" Smooth way to do business, huh?

My hope is that Wes and Josh keep making their boards under a new label and do well. Perhaps they should get their own forum topic here, and all the positive posts written about their "Turner" boards should be moved to their forum so as not to influence people about future Turner offerings (the new turner has the famous name but will have to live on their own rep: which starts, well, two whole days ago. not off to a very good start, are they? ha!).


John, nice points on the EU perhaps being a way for the boards to cost less. However, this Steve Church could have started his own line with his own name instead of...well, instead of what has happened...

-Rich

[Adam Trahan]

If Wes and Josh make boards, and they want a forum here to promote boards, let me know and consider it done.

[John Gilmour]

It is my understanding that Peggy Turner and Mr. Church are friends and have agreed to do business together. Mr. Church and Peggy Turner certainly have no interest in making anything that isn't worthy of the Turner name. Mr. Church is a Turner enthusiast and huge collector of the classic decks. He is one of the best candidates for maintaining the Turner Legacy.

Turner boards have always had high prices. My hope is that the prices of production might allow for some sort of traditional distribution system to reach more people. It would be nice for the prices to fall as well.

Turner boards just need to exhibit consistent production and I think they will quickly regain the luster they have enjoyed in the past. I think Europe is a good place to look for consistentcy.

[Eddy Martinez]

I took my Bob Turner Full Nose off the wall where it is displayed, I mounted my Radikal trucks and my Avalons on it and ran some cones with it this week. I had a blast. The board is very quick and responsive. Turners are a part of nostalgic era that will rise again. Eddy Texas Outlaw.

[Tiger Williams]

Here is what I know.When peggy took control of Turner she wanted to keep all quality control in San Diego.The year off that Steve is talking about between Turner Downhill and Turner Limited was one of the busiest years of my life.If that was a year off I need to go back to work and get some rest.Peggy,Steve Sherman,Dave Smith,Paul Dunn,Mike Masey,Lynn Kramer,Wes Carpenter,and Josh Englund all worked to get the shop up and new designs going.Wes and Josh made all the new Blackbird,Aroura,and all the carbon fiber boards.They also made the proto type slalom cross boards and proto type slalom shapes for Dave hackett and Steve olson.
I was told by Peggy that Steve Church had found a manufacturer in England that could possibly mass produce a Turner Quality product cheaper than we could in the U.S. We are suppose to see a sample anytime.As far as Wes And Josh,they are going to still work on R/D Projects here.We still want time to surf,skate,and do more than just make skateboards all the time.
The information on this page from Steve Church is news to us here in San Diego.Myself,Wes,and Josh are learning about this the same time you all are and at the same place,here at slalomskater.I have been getting phone calls for the last two days about these posts.peggy is out of town right now so I don't have a way to contact her right now to clarify just what exactly what Steve is trying to say about board production.I am just as confused as the rest of you.All I know is that those of us that got new Turner boards this year are grateful to Wes and Josh for their hard work in between their busy scheduals to bring us such beautiful decks.We all have regular full time jobs and Josh is going to college at the same time.
The bottom line is this is getting blown all out of proportion.As far as I am concerned the way things are is what Peggy says and no one else.So until I hear from her this is all hear say...Thanks,Tiger

[Rich Stephens]

Any update Tiger, Wes, Josh...anyone? What are your guys' future plans now?

-Slim

[Rick Stanziale]

All I know is I want one of those Blackbirds like Wesley Tucker has. The minute I saw his this afternoon I knew I had to have one. Where do I send my money?

[Aaron Morris]

Rick,
The Blackbird are great, but I don't think they have anymore. I got the last one they has i think. There is a pic of mine and the rst of my quiver on the random slalom topics then go to whats in your quiver.
Aaron
Teams Turner Summerski and Radikal trucks

[WeS Carpenter]

Rich,

Josh and I are looking forward to continuing to make completely custom truly handmade slalom racing boards.

We were honored and proud to make boards for turner, but when peggy got in financial trouble, I believe she felt the only way to continue without sinking the turner name was to sell it.
The new admin. didnt respect us enough to even give us the time of day.
Where i come from, no respect recieved , none given, period.

So josh and I are forced to start our own company.
Hopefully we will be granted a deck forum of our own and the wonderful things said about our decks that reside in thie forum , will be moved to our own.

From what I hear the new turners are being produced in france , with the turner shop being in the Uk. I maybe wrong but that is what i have been told.

Further more,
I would like to again Personally thank, Steve Olson, for riding a deck Josh and I handmade for him, to a 2nd place in the Pro A class at La Costa 2004.
And also congradulate Josh Englund on his 2nd place in the Class B division on yet another of our handmade decks.

Coming Soon,
new website, new company name, podium finishes for those on our decks.

Peace, Love and Unity

[Rich Stephens]

Wes, that is great news! You can count on me becomming a customer.

[Glenn S]

Josh and I are looking forward to continuing to make completely custom truly handmade slalom racing boards. Hopefully we will be granted a deck forum of our own and the wonderful things said about our decks that reside in thie forum , will be moved to our own.

I hope that slalomskateboarder.com continues to support the makers (especially new ones) that "are" actively involved in making decks or product for the sport of slalom by providing them with their own forum. A prerequisite ought to be though that the product maker ought to keep active in the forum, or continually makes new product that keep the skaters active in the forum.

I always felt that this was the vision of the site from Adam Trahan to support those that are involved in the sport without want for money to do so.

There are forums, Comet, Kryptonic, Gullwing for instance, that have not seen any activity at all really, and they seem to have vanished from the sport. Maybe they should be dropped and lobbed into the “general deck discussion”, or such, to make room for the makers that are involved in this site and supporting the sport and its skaters.

I was a big motivator in getting Adam Trahan to add certain product groups and subjects and he happily made it happen. Wes, I'd really like to see a forum for Josh and your decks. If you remember I took a couple of pictures of your decks up in Morro last year and told either Jani or Adam to post them and I believe they did. I think they are the only pictures posted of your decks anywhere.

What are you gunna call your boards or company? And are you gunna be making them out of secret resins, and keep me "guessing" ;-). Can you post some pictures. Send them to me and I’ll host them for you on the site here, I still have access on the site to do that for you.

[Adam Trahan]

Thanks for the kudos Glenn.

I'm hoping that Jack will take the lead soon. One of the community sites that I built up and handed off died shortly afterward because the new editor did not do anything. He didn't put anything into the site and it died. I don't want to see that happen here.

It's sort of hard for me to not do anything, if Jack gave me some sort of responsibility, I would carry through on a "as needed" basis IF I was given that permission.

I still check the site everyday and there are things to do but well, it isn't mine and Jack hasn't been very wordy with me on what he plans to do. So in this I am stuck.

I think we would all like to see an anouncement.

I'm glad to see the craftsmen at Turner are still at it. I totally understand the reasoning behind this and it is my understanding too, no respect shown, none given.

These are good words.

adam

[Martin Drayton]

Before you write Turner off, please drop a line to Steven Chuch for an update on developments...Cheers.

[Jim Slater]

I am now the proud owner of a new custom turner and the build and finish are second to none.
Steve Church has pics of the new Monster and I hope he posts them for you guys.
I had the first ever cutaway in the UK in 1977 (now owned by Turner Team Rider Chris Linford) and it is an honour to have one again as part of my 2005 quiver.
Many thanks Peggy and Steve for allowing the genius of Bob Turner to continue.
I cannot thank you enough
Jim Slater