An afternoon with O-matic Snowboards

With the motto “handcrafted by expensive machines” its easy to love O-matic snowboards with their fun no-BS approach to snowboarding.  Beyond the company and the names behind it, once you ride the boards you aren’t disappointed by the little shred company that could.

O-matic snowboards was the last stop on Day 2 and located in beautiful Encinitas in Southern California. When I was driving through town I wondered how hard it would be to spot the snowboard offices but it’s not hard to miss the massive poster that fills the window and with front row parking I found myself soon to walk into O-matic Snowboards.

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Upon walking into O-matic you get the full tour, almost everything is in sight of the front door which makes it very customer orientated with all eyes on the prize.  I was faced with Jason Kanes and Tanya Otero who would be my tour guides for the afternoon.  The best part was sitting down with both of them and just talking (some off the record so for my ears only) and what’s coming up for O-matic including possible changes in store for their snowboards.

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For those not familiar with O-matic snowboards, if there’s one company in snowboarding today that is built around having fun and not taking snowboarding too seriously…it’s O-matic.  Just like larger companies they have goals and you might be surprised what is written on their whiteboard of genius ideas.  Just imagine what they’ll do in the next 5 years with more expensive machines.

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The current 09-10 snowboard line is up on the wall in the office.  With team riders Chanelle Sladics, Todd Richards, Louie Vito, Hampus Mosesson and Mike Casonova supporting the brand and showcasing the boards on and off the mountains, the boards continue to do well.

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When it comes to invading personal space, Todd Richards is an artist at it with his Todcasts going out around the world every Tuesday (sometimes Wednesday but usually Tuesday).  I highly recommend checking them out, because the world through Todd’s eyes is amazing brighter and full of fun.  He wasn’t in the office when I visited but he was kind enough to give an O-matic snowboard to my twitter giveaway in San Francisco that weekend.

Louie Vito is also awesome as well for his dancing hobbit moves

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Jason Kanes helped start O-matic snowboards in 2005 he’s the engineer eyes behind the boards today.  When I visited he was in the back warehouse checking inventory.

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Tanya Otero, sales director for Omatic was hard at work when I came into the office but all smiles.

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Big thanks to Jason, Tanya and Todd for letting me swing by the O-matic office and leave with a O-matic Awesome to giveaway in San Francisco.  It’s always a pleasure to sit down with the O-matic crew and look forward to more fun times with them.