Channel Islands Surfboards Founder Al Merrick spent his younger years surfing the waters of Southern California. But after graduating high school, he realized that he didn't enjoy just going with the flow. Al soon decided that he'd much rather be working with his hands than hitting the books, so he dropped out of college and took on a few odd jobs, including growing flowers and building boats. Still, surfing was his main interest. Al decided to pick up a board planer and translate his skills from riding into design. Today, Channel Island Surfboards sells about 12,000 boards every year, and has become well known for shaping the boards of some of the best surfers in the world. Still, Al looks at his business the same way he did when he first started out: The money aspect and all the rest of it weren't the determining factors. “I set goals for myself to be the best that I could be at what I did.”