Mikey DeTemple is the first person who I want in the FEATURED SHOP/FAN spotlight because the WAX BUDDY would not be on the market if it was not for him. Let me tell you the story of Mikey and me.

It was 2009, 7 years ago and I went down to Second Beach in Newport RI to surf. As I was getting out of my ford pickup, I saw Mikey DeTemple, professional surfer from Florida and Montauk. Mikey was cleaning his board, actually struggling to take the dirty wax off his long board with a credit card. The waves were clean and sets waist high, so we both wanted to get out there as soon as possible.

mikey-detemple-2I gave Mikey my prototype WAX BUDDY and asked him to try-it-out. In just 5 minutes he was done and said, “WOW where can I buy one of these?” I said, “you cannot right now” and he said that as a traveling surfer, “I have been around the world and I have not seen anything like this before! It really makes cleaning your board easy and fun again!”

I replied “Wow, thanks! I just made it because I too am a longboarder and the existing combs on the market did not work for me, so being a designer, I designed my own.” He told me that I needed to patent it and to bring it to market.

I went back to my Architectural office and asked my staff, “hey guys, do you think I would start selling this product to surf shops?” Two of my staff (who surf) said absolutely yes. The next day we all sat around the table to come-up with a name for this product, They asked what it did and I said “this little buddy really helps me take off my old dirty surf wax” and one member (Jonathan Clancy) jumped up and said, “then that’s it, we’ll call it our little WAX BUDDY.” I drew the product up, had it patented and then had a mold made and produced 5,000 pieces to share with the world.

This is how the Wax Buddy got started and I would not have done this without Mikey telling me that I should sell this product to surf shops and surfers all around the world. Thanks Mikey from the bottom of my heart. You have a lifetime supply of WAX BUDDYs when you want them.

— Ron DiMauro, Founder

mikey detemple wax buddy