Coral Reef owner comes out with 'Ribber' wetsuit

Tony Jones, long-time owner of Islands Hawaiian Furniture and Coral Reef wetsuits, has come out with his most recent creation: the custom-made “ribber” wetsuit that has extra padding to protect ribs, for those who don’t surf that much.
Corky Carroll first broke the story on his blog titled, "Jonesin' with Tony."
His store that sticks out like an island at 14161 Beach Blvd. in Westminster has been selling wetsuits since 1980
Jones started his Coral Reef wetsuit company out of his years of experience in dealing with rubber and a competitive industry that forced him to develop his own brand name.
His wetsuits have since been known by surfers and divers as one of the toughest around, fit with his own patented Thermilflex neoprene that he says keeps you warmer, is more flexible and lasts four to five times longer than any other suit.
The wetsuits, which range from long johns to spring suits, contain a special rubber formula he developed from his days as the owner of a waterbed manufacturing and repair business.
Jones and his family were known for King Neptune’s waterbed company, where he would use the phrase, “We build the best and repair the rest.”
As the waterbed industry began to slow down, Jones decided to shift gears but still use his decades of knowledge in rubber.
After sewing wetsuits out of his garage for personal use, Jones got the idea of opening up Coral Reef Dive and Surf, where he first sold wetsuits and surfboards.
But he then had another hurdle to jump, he said.
With the surfing industry beginning to take hold in the 80s, bigger stores wouldn’t sell wetsuits to him because they didn’t want the competition.
That’s when Coral Reef was born.
“I thought, ‘lets name it after the ocean,’” he said.
Today, Jones uses his own custom-made machines to sew the wetsuits out of his store, sometimes for special orders and repairs.
He dropped the “dive” from the title of his store in 1999, when scuba diving shops began closing down all over the coast because the sport began to lose popularity.
Jones also stopped selling surfboards around the same time and quickly replaced them with tiki furniture that seems to take over the store today.
But over the years, Jones has still been able to keep his wetsuit business afloat.
“We’re sold out all the time,” he said. “I can’t make them fast enough.”
While he takes a break on Mondays to surf and catch up on orders, Jones now sells anything from board shorts and surf vests to rash guards and leashes.
For more information one may log onto www.coralreefwetsuits.com or for Jones' travel packages to Fiji log on to www.fijitravel.com.