Wilmington-based P2P Rescue is in the process of launching its own line of surfboards.

The company, Paper Plane Surf Co., holds the new Hello.SURF brand, which is a mid-level cost surfboard line that includes eight different sizes, all geared toward the intro-level surfer, said Cliff Ray, founder and owner of the company.

The company started manufacturing the boards at its location off Windmill Way in the Dutch Square Industrial Park and placed its first round of product in local surf shops in May, he said.

Hello.SURF surfboards are currently being sold in Sweetwater Surf Shop in Wrightsville Beach and CB Surf Shop in Carolina Beach.

Ray, however, is looking to build the brand with sales in surf shops along the East Coast.

The idea for P2P growing into the surfboard-making business came about during the COVID-19 pandemic when the rescue board industry wasn't faring well, he said. The company during the lull in the rescue market turned its sights on perfecting various surfboard models and building a trademark for its own line surfboards.

The surfboard market has stayed in demand since the pandemic, he said, with certain boards on the East Coast difficult for surf shops to find and get from overseas and California builders.

"I thought, 'Let's build some surfboards.' So we went looking and during COVID, the surf shops primarily weren't able to get some of the .... intro-level surfboards," Ray said. "And when you say intro that means a couple of things. That means somebody's first or second surfboard but also price points. So those price points retailing intro-boards are $500 to $650."

The brand Hello.SURF is able to meet that price point, he said, competing with board brands made overseas and in California. 

The company also launched its own contract surfboard manufacturing business, separate from the Hello.SURF business, Ray said.

Ray said they make their surfboards at the Dutch Square location, from cutting the blank surfboards with its own CNC machine to shaping, painting, fiberglassing and finishing, he said. 

The surfboards, which come in a range of sizes, are meant to be the transition board from a soft-top surfboard to a fiberglass surfboard, he said.

Every surfboard also comes with its own unique hand-painted, splatter paint design, Ray said, adding that his 6-year-old daughter has also come in to be an artist on some of the boards.

The company has trademarked a "name tag" type of logo for the brand Hello.SURF.

Each Hello.SURF surfboard has a different way of saying "hello," he said. There is a 9-foot "Aloha," an 8-foot "Yo" and a 7-foot "Hola."

"If you look at a name tag, the name tag, says 'Hello, my name is,'" Ray said. "And so that's how I developed the brand Hello.SURF, because it's a polite introduction to a [surfboard]."

The company will soon launch its own website, he said.