Deep Design: Daniel Thomson on Surfboards, Physics and Simmons

General Discussion
101

 

So, what’s the concensus, that Thomson’s shapes being a bit different than the norm is more BS than revolutionary? I’ve been lurking around here for some years but it’s hard to get a feel on the pulse of whether his designs are generally admired here or discounted.

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That’s certainly not what I meant.

Actually I’m quite happy that there are people that try to take it to a higher level instead of doing things like it’s done for decades.

Thanks for posting it!

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I wasn’t singling you out, my apologies if it seemed that way. I’m just trying to judge the temperature towards Thomson…I guess also reacting to surffoils statements about credit and kooky tail shapes. Either way, I like his direction and like that he’s chosing his direction based on scientific theory, wrongly or right applied, as opposed to more arbitrary reasons. I thought it was an interesting article that certainly had a place here.

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https://swaylocks7stage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/IMG_0269_0.JPG

102

I like em!

I’m going to do my rendition of a couple this winter.

They look like fun.

VH.

103

 

 Respect is a  two way street.  If given freely, it shall be received, no strings attached.

  It takes two to tango.   And this dude’s not dancing alone.

  Wisdom is knowing when to hold ones tongue.

VH.

 

104

 

Ye supplicants of math & science.  Deceivers, blasphemers, heretics and harlots.  You defile the Temple of Inanimate Objects with Soul.

Have you forgotten how Prometheus breathed life into your inanimate clay forms?

Would you presuppose to cure lepers, give sight to the blind and cause the lame to walk of your own accord?

The simple beauty of the feathered wing defiled by Bernoulli and Calculus.  All for your vain quest to rival the gods, breach Mach 5 and inhabit the heavens.

You have enticed your brethren with a beguiling and satanic philosphy of Science:

Hypothesis – idea

Experiment – build, test, measure

Data collection – record

Conclusion – evaluation

(and when you succeed)

Replicate – do it again

 

Could you not communicate with chisel and stone?

Were templates not enough?

You had to have electromagnetic theory and the Skil 100 planer?

Thy turbulent thoughts have created resistance and drag for the mainstream.

Damn Sir Newton, damn Michaelangelo, damn da Vinci, damn Gutenberg, damn Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee!  Damn all ye supplicants of Science! 

Sweet verse oh poet, so diverting and entertaining at times.  And yet, a venom lies within.  Sadly, thy melodic stanza oft carries bitter flavor and acrid scent, methinks contempt and elitism.

 

105

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PDeK6rprA4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

106

I’m guessing you missed the part where that’s exactly what I was doing, and just expressing my opinion. I’m not the one who started calling people names becuse of their different view. Respect begets respect - I saw mutual disrespect here, no apology is in order (that’s right, I can admit to my errs, but I take nothing back).

 It’s a bummer that threads like this and the hand-shaping thread have to spark such animosity. There could great discussion going on about this topic, but someone always seems to feel the need to throw a turd.

107

My father called me

hey ass hole I said my

name 's not asshole 

 it 's ambrose.

his name was ambrose too.

He was quite opinionated.

…ambrose…

my father told me the

 definition of an expert.

 

 

108

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je3IIZTjaJQ&feature=related

 

dora lives

…ambrose…

only as a thought form.

109

wow - ok

lets continue the discussion

anybody ridden one of these wakeboard style boards? maybe when the guys doing shuvits and riding fakie can learn to rip switch too so they dont have to hop back to their normal stance to keep surfing down the line then a board like this will have a place? hardly anything new though - they were doing these in the 90's some with fins on the noses too but it never took hold.....surfing with fins really is a directional activity. you are not going across a wake back and forth or up and down on a ramp......

symetrical design seems to have a better place in finless surfing. snowboards and skateboards have no fins. wakeboard fins are so small they are basically channels. watching guys like machado and burch and lynch on their finless crafts sliding in the lip and riding every which way is pretty awesome.....

i really like the board on the far left of the pic on the opening of the thread.

110

I like to see new things. However there is nothing new here. I have been seeing variations of the same theme for 40 years. If a person shaping boards gets the attention of the media he will shoot to the top of the heap no matter what he is shaping. The Groms will want the shapes and Mom and Dad will buy them.

    . As for the scientific quotes …I have been hearing them for 40 years also. Most of them are hype.It has always been this way and always will be.

   My statement is about how things work and has nothing to do with any individuals. I wish this Guy all the best.

 

111

I had to sign up after reading so many pages of banter from people who haven’t actually ridden one of these boards,

I’ve owned and ridden a ‘wakeboard’ style tomo for the last 4 months, goes amazingly well for me in  knee high to double overhead with just a change of fins,(and leash). The nose channels are not for riding fakie like some have suggested, they are to give the abrupt front end lift through turns (bear in mind the nose is buried upto the stringer line through heavy rail turns), this works exceptionally well from my experience, the board catches no more edges/pearls no more than an old fashioned shape yet allows for a far easier more exciting ride, I love it.

 

I do also agree that tomos sciency bs is just for media hype and to get people talking, seems like it works quite well.

112

 

See this is exactly why I like the idea of experimenting with designs like these and trying to engineer a better board. It’s just like snowboarding - those boards ALL started out uni-directional, and the first few “twin-tip” boards that could ride switch were just awful. Once someone finds the right formula though, it could really step up the progression in surfing. Being able to ride switch with the same speed and control opens up a whole new level of what you can do on a wave. I truly do hope that someday someone is able to design a board, either finned or finless, that can truly do this without sacrificing the control of a regular finned board.

I think the guys making boards with harder edges and more pronounced concaves up to the rails are on to something, but they need to fine tune it. With the right edge design and concave/vee setup I think you could achieve a board that grips the water like a thruster or quad without actually needing the fins to do so. But this is why theres nothing wrong with experimentation… 

Without off-the-wall design ideas, something like this

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Could never have turned into this

113

tomo’s boards aren’t meant to be ridden backwards. the nose design is that way because of the parallel nature of the planshape, and to eliminate swing weight. it doesn’t have to be a diamond, it can be chopped, square, arc/round, whatever.

I’ve been riding my own versions, and for me they definately work well as a hpsb replacement.

114

Tradition is the one thing I love most about surfing , validated by the growing interest in the performance of older designs and history…the biggest competition in surfing these days, is the competition for the consumer dollar…hopefully ,there will always be younger surfers coming through who can keep the faith…

115

i love getting barrelled, turning the board in critical parts of the wave, flying down the line, and other associated feelings with riding waves much more than i love traditions and history. tradition and history does interest me, but no where near as much as the act of riding a wave on functional equipment. 

116

Can you do it as well as Michael Peterson , on a retro single-fin?

117

IMO , the lines between valid design and marketing hype have been totally blurred since the creation ,and jockying for ownership of the pro-circuit, and the billions$$$$ that go with it…time alone will decide whats valid and whats not…meanwhile ,enjoy your surfing  , as you know it.

118

I don’t profess to have 10% of the talent of Michael Peterson, and i certainly couldn’t do the things he did if i was on a retro single fin. However, modern equipment allows me to do most of the things that MP did, plus some that MP might not have been able to acheive on his retro craft. 

I’m not sure where you’re going with that comment, because this thread was primarily about a shaper whose ideas are progressive and fresh, not history. 

 

 

119

Thommo is great surfer , and I’m a fan…but all those who drink from the well  should be greatfull for those who dug it in the first place…everything you see thats new , is sitting on a very firm foundation of history , and wouldn’t exist without it…

120

I agree they are a very valid replacement for the ‘modern’( lol) shortboard,so much easier to ride too.

I don’t think they will catch on unless the shapers with the marketing dollars start to make versions of it(obviously they invented it , right?),people really don’t want to accept a change in the path of function over aesthetics and sharp pointy noses(those things are dangerous you know!).