It seems so to me.
It could be. I was at the ASR show in San Diego this last week and it seemed that most surfboard builders either were already making composite boards or were in the skunk works of designing boards. I saw the Lost composites and talked to John about the avaliability of carbon fiber, hes bought out for the year so no problems there. And I talked to Eric Arawaka hes got some stuff brewing too…we are not alone. There all talking about sheer / load, flex, torque, etc. Then you got all the others that have been doing it for years, a la Linden. Yes, we are not alone. I see good thing coming.
-Jay
Another overnight sensation…
20+ yrs in the making.
Three words; persistence, persistence, persistence.
Is the surfboard industry waking up? Did we finally set the alarm loud enough? Great to see this.
History Channel just now ran a program called Extreme Gadgets. Extreme sports driven by technology…direct quote…“everything is getting lighter”.
Surfing to mountain boarding and everything in between. Very good program.
Hey Greg,
Could it be that those that have saved those special selected seeds that have been hybridizing over the past twenty years have finally found some fertile soil to plant them in?
No doubt we’ll see some incredibly high performance surboards by 2010.
Livin’ the Dream, Rich
Wouldn’t have been possible without Swaylock’s…
Just the beginning of the push towards better boards. New vehicles coming from the shops will translate to new performance in the water. I can’t wait to see the next generation of top surfers performing with more horse power and lighter weights.
And yes … Swaylocks Rules!
The boards will improve. But what will we do with them? Will any of it ever be more beautiful, or more impressive than what Edwards, Lopez, MP, or Curren have done on the technology of their eras? Will these new boards allow the average surfer to get closer to surfing like these guys than they could get if they surfed the actual boards these guys did?
How will the new boards change surfing? If the lighteness and added durability (thus less risk of breaking boards) leads to a further skateboardingification of surfing style, I suspect there will be an even bigger backlash than there already is, the backlash that already has surfers seeking out early thrusters, fish, single fins, traditional longboards, etc.
So there is a question for Greg and Bert. We’ve seen what type of boards you build for the modern “high performance” surfer, be they the ASP top 44 or guys who for some reason want to do 360 airs on longboards. And we’ve heard and seen how the new boards will benefit guys hoping to go down that road. However, what do you feel the new technology has to offer the surfer whose goal in the water is Morning of the Earth and not the Quiksilver Airshow? I’m curious if you feel the new technology is good for this sort of thing or if such surfers (who most likely constitute a majority of surfers: after all longboards alone are 50% of the market) are better off just sticking with the old tech boards.
Uhh, I’m not Greg or Bert. Of course you knew that. Well here’s my Jessica Spiel:
You know that’s what the beauty of surfing is . . . each person can choose how they want their artistry to show on the waves. Whether it is carving Like Curren, Snappin like Slater, or Airing like Rat, Nose riding like Da Cat, rail turning like Liddle, or Walkin on Water like Jesus . . . as a surfer it will be ok to do that. They’ll have the new boards, new technologies. Maybe the technology can be adapated to duplicate the ‘retro’ feel . . . like they could add weights to boards to give a 50’s cedar feel or they can put a single fin, weight it, and shape it, so you too can have MR’s Twin fin. Even if the industry decides composites and feather lights rule . . . and regular boards become novelties like balsa is back in the day, today . . . with a place like sway’s there will always be those who can make boards out of traditional materials. Shoot, I’ve found tons of threads on an area I’m looking to get into: chambered balsa.