February 7th, 2024

Introducing Justin Buford

Photos by Josh Frates & Alexandra Pallas
Introducing Justin Buford

Welcome to the team Justin Buford! Justin has been a part of the shop since we opened in 2010. He was a true local grom who would spend his days skateboarding in our parking lot and washing rental wetsuits when he wasn’t in school. His family lived just up the street and his step-dad is one of the best surfers in town. His brother-in-law comes from the legendary South County Surf family the Ledbetters. Surfing is who and what Justin is, it’s in his blood. 

Pacific City is his home, but he is just as comfortable on the road or in an airplane. He spent the last couple of years living in Southern California honing his skills on a longboard and working at a surfboard manufacturer. Currently, he is traveling the world in search of waves with his girlfriend Rosie. Together they’ve already been to Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand. But this is just the start of his travels. Over the years he’s been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Haiti, and taken numerous trips to Baja. He’s seen a ton of the world for someone so young, and it’s helped shape him into the well rounded person he’s become. We are honored to have him represent the shop and continue to be a part of our story. 

We aren’t sure when he’s going to make it back to PC, but we know he will soon because it’s his home. In fact, his family recently moved right next door to the shop! So keep exploring the world and riding waves most of us can only dream of Justin. Thanks for being with us from day 1 and looking forward to numerous adventures to come! 

Latest Articles

Visit the blog
Welcome to the team Justin Buford! Justin has been a part of the shop since we opened in 2010. He was a true local grom who would spend his days skateboarding in our parking lot and washing rental wetsuits when he wasn’t in school. His family lived just up the street and his step-dad is one of the best surfers in town. His brother-in-law comes from the legendary South County Surf family the Ledbetters. Surfing is who and what Justin is, it’s in his blood. 
It felt a lot like home, Ireland. I suppose in a bizarre way it is, as my ancestors planted their roots in county Sligo on the North West coast of the country in the early 1700's after immigrating from Scotland. Ireland has been at the top of my travel list since long before I found out there was surf there. I formed images in my head of what the landscape would look like from seeing pictures, videos and hearing stories of infamous rocky basalt point breaks and shallow heaving slabs. Every image I had crafted fell short in comparison to seeing it all in person for the first time.
Houdini was the ultimate escape artist of his time, and it’s pretty obvious that this was the reasoning behind the naming of the Firewire Houdini; a board built with large, powerful barrels in mind, as well as the act of disappearing into those barrels and then escaping while still standing. So will the Firewire Houdini have you escaping the best barrels of your life, or will you suffer the same fate as the namesake with a fatal punch in the gut when you paddle out into some bombing lineup?
“You’ve got to pay to play” or something along those lines, is what we tell ourselves whenever a board is broken during a session. When you get comfortable enough in waves that require a step-up board like Lost’s Sabo-Taj model, the likelihood of snapping it is pretty high. Extra glassing offered from many shapers can help, but it still takes just one bad wipeout or mistimed positioning to kiss your favorite PU board goodbye. So when Lib-Tech took its “dang difficult to ding” technology and combined it with Lost Surfboard’s slab hunting Sabo-Taj, could a board be born that finally holds up to heavy conditions? Let’s find out….