Modern times

Seriously… can surfboards get much better than today? Right now you can rip a wave so hard and with such awesome control, that is w/experience, of course. How can you NOT be satisfied with the high performance boards of today? Other than as a detour for an “alternative perspective”, WHY does anyone bother with kneeboards, sponges or bodysurfing?

… going fishing ?

its pretty simple really dude … not every one is 5 10" 70 kg super atheletes surfing in warm water like kelly… why would a board that kelly likes to ride in the tropics suit a 90 kg guy surfing in 9 degrees c water in a 5/4 steamer ,hoody. boots, gloves. rashy under neath… headaches when you duck dive… and be able to paddle it out of a heavy impact zone …against akiller rip… Certain designs suit certain cats … i surfed a single today in the morning , went to a thruster in the arvo … found my style had smoothed out a bit and carved nicer lines … try somethin else and see what happens… Fish are fun in small waves … and width/float is good in cold water … theres so many different options for so many different conditions ( sometimes i like onshore)… but aside from that all… I just built a board (mal EPS and balsa sandwich )that has exceeded my expectations and performs better than any of my friends bought ones … What im trying to say is you dont really know what there is out there to discover unless you look for it … either that or acccept what your surfshop or lastest mags feed you… whateva gets you stoked i rekon

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WHY does anyone bother with kneeboards, sponges or bodysurfing?

I’d rather bodysurf a good shore break that hop along on a small wave. I can really feel the wave when I bodysurf. Next purchase is a sponge…then my quiver will be almost complete. I have no desire to kneeboard. Maybe one day.

WHY does anyone bother with kneeboards, sponges or bodysurfing?

why would a painter only use one style of brush stroke and brush to pain this master piece?

first off i do all of those so i find that rather offensive. i garuntee i can get a deeper barrel on any of those craft than 90% of pro surfers.

last year during a nice long interval swell at about 4-5 ft, it was super shallow with light offshores creating jsust these heaving hollow waves.(i am bodyboarding) i take off super deep in the pit. set my line and disappear behind the lip to surfers are paddleing out as this is happening right when they are about to reach the shoulder i get fired outt of the barrel like a mother Fncking bullet do a quick little bottom turn and launch a cheap air off the back and paddle back out when they see me back in the line up the were stunned “holy shit dude how far bqack in the barrel were you i couldn’t even see you for a second there” i just grinned with their shortboards they would never be able to get those barrels like i was.

ever see the coming off the dawn segment in innermost limits or Echoes in Crystal voyager? have you ever gotten that deep, and then made it out? If you have why aren’t you on the world tour?

Bodyboarders have and continue to do maneuvers on their boards that surfers can only dream of.

until the major manufactures wake up and try to improve the materials that they are using the we are at a wall. release your mind and your body will follow

The point of this thread is “can surfboards get much better than today?” Real surfboards. Not mass produced popouts like the common sponge.

Surfboards are at a tremendous point in their evolution. Not, as it seems you are saying, solely because of “high” performance potential, but becuase current boards can be dialed in to the right conditions and for the right surfers by shapers who have had the experience to see all the design elements of the past and their respective successess and failures.

I think it is dangerous to question why any other surfer would ride the board they choose. It demonstrates a narrow view of the surfing world and limits your possibilities for pure enjoyment. I was a professional bodyboarder for a minute a decade ago and I have to admit, now that I almost exclusively stand-up surf, I see the decided advantage to being prone in maxed out hollow conditions. Alternatively, I love to ride a log when it is ankle high and reeling. I guess the point is- different rides for different waves for different surfers.

Next steps in surfboard design will be an integration of the “old” (functional volume and paddling for the average to experienced surfer) with the new (foils, fins, materials). I think we are seeing that process with the advent of “new” fish by Pavel and others.

Thoughts?

i think you’re a little confused there, buddy. or perhaps your perspective is just terribly skewed. you’re the one that made the comparison between modern standup surfing and bobyboards, bodysurfing, and kneeboarding. perhaps you wanted everyone to jump on the Davidson bandwagon and say “no way, man…my CI thruster is better than anything anyone could ever make…EVER!!!”, but that won’t happen…especially not around here. innovation is about the only thing you can always count on (aquafiend’s stingray, dale’s surf mats, etc.). watch mark cunningham bodysurf. watch mike stewart bodyboard. and on the same day at the same wave in the same lineup…those guys will REALLY take you to school. “mass produced popouts like the common sponge”…apples and oranges, buddy. different craft designed to suit a different purpose. that’s like saying that a bentley is a better car for everyone than a minivan just because it’s handmade, so no one should ever drive a minivan…even if you are a soccer mom that has to cart around 12 kids 7 days a week.

the board i ride is not a mass produced pop out sponges, while a vast majority of people who are bodyboarders ride model line boards, there are actually no top of the line board that ARN’T hand shaped by skilled craftsmen mine is a custom designed and custom shaped board for my specific height and weight and style of riding. it was designed to be a prone board but it is still an excellent board for dropknee , kneeling OR STAND UP. and parkerdavison it also said why would anyone bother to ride a kneeboard etc. that was the main point i adressed with the story. I also mentioned boards can improve past what JC, T&C, CI and all the other major manufactures are doing. and please don’t descriminate against people who ride an other wave riding vehicle they are trying to get stoked just like you just there method of doing it is different. Iff you do discriminate then i hope you end up like my dad with a horrible knee and ankel that can’t bend enough for you to stand up on a surfboard anymore so then the only boards you can ride are those “mass produced pop-out sponges”

thank you,

Kyle Dexheimer

“Surfboards are at a tremendous point in their evolution.” Exactly! Its all about progression!

What’s left to explore that’s truly original? Whats “new” except lighter and stronger? Most surfers know standing is the most progressive way to surf and that = the most progressive designs.

Why havent sponges changed a whole lot since Morey invented the Boogie back in the day? 30 frickin years ago? Now theyre mass produced by the millions: $19-$59 at a Wal-Mart or Costco! “Performance” sponges sell for $100-$175. How much time do you think it takes to make a $130 sponge? My guess is less than an hour. Theyre made by highly skilled, well paid American shapers? The people who make the most money off sponge production are the middlemen. Too bad for spongeworld because the middlemen arent fueling anything progressive except more numbers and more money.

State of the art, made by the real thing: highly skilled American artisans

actually they have changed quite a bit. what has changed in surfboard construction and design in the past 25 years. thats why the retro movement is occuring we exhausted our ends and now we have begun to circle back. we have been using PE/PU construction since the 60’s. and templates are to drastically different from the 80’s. bodyboards what has changed their life time their flex patterns the material. i have the original morey boogey that came as a lkit that you put together sitting in my basement. at the time it was state of the art even though it had no slick skin. you ride a wave it’s like sliding around on jello, fun but it can improve. then we have the next step in the evolutionary process, the Mach 7-7, stiffer no stringer or anything swallo tail for better hole redfined outline fun board still more room for improvement. then cut 15 years later to my board taking all the information gleaned from the past 20 years of bodyboarding, transition rails, channels, carbonfiber stringers, Polypropleyln core,surlyn slick skin , new bat tail for better control and hold then the swallow or round. this thing can ride on inverted wave faces with no problem.

and please don’t make me bring up surface boards. have u seen these POS they are surfing’s version of the walmart costco sponge. it takes about an hour to shape a good bodyboard it’s half the size of a surf board so that makes sense.

i don’t care if you don’t bodyboard but just respect that their are people who do it and enjoy it.

Rather ironic, isn’t it? Parker puts down kneeboards but then posts a picture of a Fish which was invented by a (hello)…kneeboarder! Yet another example of a failure to understand the breadth and depth of the history of surf craft design.

And he who fails to understand the past surely cannot anticipate the future.

My original point was about progression: “Seriously… can surfboards get much better than today?” Everyone knows the original fish was a kneeboard. But the board in the photos is a surfboard. The fish progressed from kneeboarding to standing use. Kneeboarding and sponging are alternatives to regular surfing. Thats not a put-down or a bad thing. Its just the truth.

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WHY does anyone bother with kneeboards, sponges or bodysurfing?

because its fun man

What’s left to explore that’s truly original? Whats “new” except lighter and stronger?

well its obvious to me that lighter and stronger is progression…maybe engineered materials and flex…there’s lots left to explore…but only if your open minded and curious about materials…

too bad though…most guys just want to ride poopees…yeah i call that a 40 year stagnation…

Lighter and stronger will definitely dictate design change. Sure, you could argue that the changes are small, but they are changes.

With the eventual better understanding of the materials available and their composite use, something a lot of people here at swaylocks have right now, we will see more change.

Not just overall strength and flex, but positional and tortional flex. Perhaps hollow skins with tortion bar rails. I won’t even go into fins.

It’s more exciting now than I’ve seen it in years. And the enticingly dangerous cutting edges seems to be flashing before us right here on the screen, not in China or Thailand, or the well known high volume brands scattered around the world.

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“Seriously… can surfboards get much better than today ?” …reading the above responses , it’s good to see… the short answer is … YES !

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But the board in the photos is a surfboard.

wrong again, there buddy. the board in the photos is a fish…that would make it a kneeboard. it’s simply been adapted to better suit standup surfing. michael jackson’s skin has progressively become quite a bit lighter over the years, but that doesn’t make him a white guy. i’ve seen pics of people standing up on a bodyboard in the barrel at backdoor…does that make those “walmart popout sponges” you’ve been talking about surfboards?! i think not.

try new equipment…and push yourself beyond the limits of all of them. your negativity is kinda messin’ with my chi. look at history…most of the bad shit that has happened has stemmed from ignorance and narrowmindedness. a little change in perspective on your part wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

and as for what you call “the point of this thread”… it all depends on what you consider “better”. my shred sled of choice will always be a big ol’ log, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before anyone sees me pump-pump-shred-carve-shred-pump on some potato chip thruster. so, seriously…can surfboards get much better than they are today…i say they were better 40 years, so i’m keepin’ the golden age alive. surf what you want, but don’t blindly condemn everything that you clearly have no understanding of or appreciation for.

There’s a thread and photos about that board in SurferMag’s Design Forum. That dreamy green stick is a Gary Hanel Twinzer Fish. Or as the decal says “GH Surfboards”. Glassing by Moonlight. The owner ordered a surfboard because he always rides standing up. No one has been dumb enough to call it a kneeboard.

Maybe you should take a dose of your own advice. Try some new equipment. Push yourself beyond the limits of that “big ol’log”.

dont you know holding a boat upright like that is dangerous?

isnt there a boat building forum on the net somewhere?

maybe there someone could suggest building a mini-tug boat companion to turn that barge…