Quote:
“judges might be the general surfboard buying public”
What you address here is marketing and economics.
If the judges of surfboard performance is the buying public, the future of truly high performance surfboards, those ridden by the best surfers in the world, will grind to a halt and what sells rather that what is truly high performance will be the direction of the performance evolution. We see four fin boards moving on to the scene more and more simply because they will trim faster than a board with a center fin, but they have no parachute, center fin, on them. so they don’t decelerate like a thruster will. Stop is just as much a part of performance at the highest levels of surfing as go. That’s why the boys on the ASP tour surf thrusters. Stalling is a big part of high level surfing and one can stall a thruster like crazy.
The buying public simply cannot drive the future of surfboard performance. The don’t know enough and they can’t surf well enough. What the buying public drives is what will surf easily and catch waves easily and thus what will increase the speed of their learning curve, most don’t have a clue what that is. They driven by shine, color and their present whim.
I’m done here.
Good Surfin’, Rich
I’m not even talking about judges. I think judges as far as their judging’s influence on surfing are complete irrelevent to actually going surfing and enjoying it. I think competition has to some degree ruined the sport. I used to feel otherwise, but it seems very clear to me now. The massed don’t drive the sport…the creators that have gone out on limbs give birth and the hype masters take over and drive it literally into the ground until there is nothing left to milk from it.
I am told I should respect the owners of big clothing companies and ASP judges, the editors and writer of surfing publications, surfing pros and a host of others because they have been sucessful, surf well or have done this or that for surfing.
Your right…the surfing public does buy shine, color and their present whim and thats exactly what the above mentioned like have pushed and called the state of the art…but…rather than sell them what your correctly described as the right board…they instead pushed the pointed nose twig as if it would somehow magically change them into their favorite sponsored surf star. Why should I respect any of these people for that? On a personal level and just human beings I like many involved in that side, but I wouldn’t say making alot of money off surfing is helping surfing. It can be seen as a bit parasitic. Not all of the industry is bad. There are alot of interesting and great folks out there…I just don’t think they are involved in the larger side of things.
It was not until recently pros and the like began trying so called retro stuff and different boards. Not because their sponsors pushed them to or because they thought they were better, but because of an underground movement that happened all by itself because of a couple of surf movies that showcased guys like Tudor looking like they were just having fun and looking smooth doing it. Surfers looked at that and said…I can’t surf like Joel…but I can do what Joel is doing and have fun. Now the industry moguls have jumped on it full force with their plaid program, their argyle shorts program and thier 70’s looking tee shirts program and an entire new fad has been born. Screw the neo hippie movement in surfing too by the way. I’ll take punk prior to it’s corporization any day.
The good thing about this fad is the emphasis at least was on proper floatation and fun. Not how many airs or floaters you could do at your local contest or sponsorship. Thankfully…the American Amateur contest scene is in shambles…the bloodly rip off’s of kids money deserve it. Hopefully the trend will continue to the pro ranks until they find a system not so owned by the rag manufactures and mullet wrappers.
In this new culture…as in the past culture of hype…everyone is a guru…with the latest and greatest. My hat gets tipped to the guys who have continued to progress with board design, fin design and other aspects of the sport unheralded by the media and who could care less about being a guru or with the cool crowd. Those craftsmen who have stuck with their own ideas in spite of the tide going totally against them. There are many…so there is much to look forward to if you look close. I think you are also correct about a surfboard renissance, but it will take some weeding out also.
As for respecting the sucessful hypesters…I respect that we live in an enviroment that allows folks to follow their dreams and become sucessful. I don’t hold an ounce of respect for very much any of them have acomplished with regards to surfing. If anything…their acomplishment has been to create chaos where there was once order. A pecking order that is. Earned and not bought.
Like Dora said years ago: " Professionalism ( so called ) will be completely destructive to any control the individual has over the sport. The organizers will call the shots, collect the profits, while the waverider does all the labor and receives little. Also since surfing’s alliance with the decadent big business interest is designed only as a temporary damper to complete fiscal collapse, the completion of such a partnership will serve only to accelerate the art’s demise. A surfer should think carefully before selling his being to these “people” since he is signing his own death warrant as a personal entity. "
Regardless of the feelings on Dora…he hit it spot in back in 1969. Right before the first collapse. Many surfers consider those years when hundreds quit surfing to be the most memorable…but it barely lasted a decade before the hypesters did it again and as usual with full approval of the so called gurus wanting to wallow in some of the pixie dust.
Surfing itself for those who love the art of actually surfing…is still about paddling out and being …out there. Not about who thinks your what or the surfings ten most important men.