hey Nik …
[=1]
Quote:
[ 3]I read that article in some airport somewhere and don’t have a copy to refer to however, at the time you were quoted as saying something like (after trialing a bunch of the new tech and obviously different shapes) Taj wanted the same shape he had been riding. Kinda indicates that for all the hype about the advantage of structure over shape, it contradicts your assertion that structure is more important than shape.[/]
i will explain how that one came about …
i took these 3 boards to the goldy in feb 2005 …
one was modeled off one of Tajs favourite merricks , Nev threw a few numbers at me for the other , obviously being hand builds , getting them exact is not one of the easiest tasks …
these were the first introduction to the feel , as these boards circulated around the ranks over the next few months …
the rails were thinner than most crew were used to , because the last thing i wanted good surfers to feel was a boat …
in the process , there was a cautious approach because ,the fact the shape was different meant there was a mental barrier of thinking, " is this the best shape for me"?
i also had in that lot ,a full concaved deck which i rode , most crew saw that one as a novelty as well …
but in every case , even tho crew rode boards outside there normal dimensions , they could feel something going on with the flex that intrigued them and offered moments of inspriration , so it was a logical move to then go back to as close as possible ,a reproduction of a favourite shape …
this is the ideal starting point as you then have a feel for what the materials are doing …
from there again you can come back to shape as a means of tuning an unfamiliar medium as you become familiar with it …
so rather than blindly follow what others thought of the tech and what curves they thought should work best , Taj took it right back to basics and started from the only thing he knew to compare it too , his favourite shapes , for me it seemed pointless as i had covered that ground already and wanted him to ride what i had found to be effective , but for Guys on Tajs level ,to get to the level of sophistication they are at with there shapes , they really have to know there boards inside out ,if they are to have any chance of making progressive steps with design …
but they have to know the design trail that lead them to a certain point of the highest performance , because sometimes we can go on a tangent or even backwards in design , get a worse result and need to know where the last starting point was …
there had to be a logical line of understanding in the development of design changes …
so throw a guy on new materials , with different contruction and a shape different from the norm , then if its not right or better than the best board he ever had , what is the next move for a design change to improve things ???
have nothing to fall back on …
so credit there for taking the safest route to the quickest understanding of what is happening under his feet …
thats where the concave deck feels so right with composite sandwich , i did this last week , i had 3 new boards , all identical except different deck lines , one had a normal dome deck ,the other 2 were variations of the concave …
i also had 3 sets of fins to try , so i found this nice little quiet beachie on the central coast , parked the van near the waters edge and ran in and out 9 times changing fins and boards …
heres what i told someone else about the experience …
Quote:
I got some insane little beachies yesterday , surfed for nearly 4 hours , had 3 identical boards with subtle differences in deck shape , surfed all 3 boards , all with 3 fin combos , so it was in and out 9 times …
I didn’t learn anything new , but it was nice to get a refresher …
O I suppose I did learn something new , I can say tho , rolled decks just feel wrong …
thats why Taj now has dents shaped into his decks by FW , so his feet are bedded down …
fully concur with Josh , that the domed deck feels like your trying to surf with an air mattress between you and the bottom of the board , the concave deck lets you so close to the bottom , combined with the composite structure offering extra stiffness for the given volume and you have something that feels everything ,seems to respond so much earlier and makes you feel locked in , young crew who are doing rotational style airs are loving them , because they can go into a harder rotation and still feel like the board is sticking with them …
i hope that offers some insight into the comments i made …
in the pursuit of design understanding , there has to be incremental , logical changes, or else you can get lost in space …
regards
BERT
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That’s how I felt when I made the Peanut and then learned you & Bert had both done 'em too.
