https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GPYBSmQBvM&app=desktop
Brad Domke just keeps pushing the limits. I surf with some young men who paddle into normal sized Florida waves on skimmers, so it’s not just one guy doing it. Who needs volume?
Hey - yes, there’s a move at 2.10 which is pretty awesome.
I think he’s got balls and an innovative approach, but he needs training on the arm-flap style. Not full points for grace, is all…but I can’t knock!
JD
Who needs volume? Everybody who has to paddle for a wave, and even more if you have to paddle for a wave in a crowd.
But it was a pretty eye opening video!
Val Ching, and a lot of other guys, were doing the same thing at The Wall back in the 50s and 60s.
I’ve seen the Val Ching bits. I must have missed the part where he did cutties like that, and the cess slides, and seemingly jet-assisted bottom turns.
Pretty awesome video to watch.
One thing I am curious about, is the guy is just standing up like normal. When I watch video of people surfing finless boards, alot of it looks like they are crouching down for a majority of the ride. Is there something different with the skimboard, i.e. since the rails are really edgy that allows him to track better?
Pretty unreal to us mortals. But I’ve ridden beach break with this, couldn’t say I paddled in so much as swam to the edge of the sandbar and took the drop. Usually use it to kiteboard, though, not always in waves. It’s about 1/2 inch thick and 7ft^2 the extra length and surface helps. And fins… I sure can’t do what domke does, it’s pretty awesome, unreal…
I was speaking in general terms, as far as riding skims/paipos standup and the level of performance. Also, the well known Ching video was shot in waves that are far different from the above posted vid. So the moves would also vary, accordingly.
I always do my best to not out and out reject things that are new as a knee jerk reaction, but I have to point out what I see. What I see is a trend towards the wave being less and less a a part of the totality of the experience. Not much is different from skateboarding or wakeboarding. Yes, I can see that the wave moves and one can get covered etc, but AESTHETICALLY it is treated as a ramp for acrobatics.
My impression of the meaning of surfing has always been one of SYNCHRONIZATION by which I mean the finesse with which one is able to judge the movment of a wave, and attempt to place oneself in the right place relative to it, starting with PADDLING in the open ocean before you even catch it, continuing with turns etc that put you / keep you in the most critical section - the fastest ‘pocket’ in the wave, speeding through sections and cutting back through flat spots etc. To my eye this is GRACE and what ultimately makes surfing interesting to do and watch. What I see here is towing in (removing the hardest part of surfing - catching the wvae in the right spot and standing up and dropping in with poise and control) followed by acrobatics that in a way are not really ‘surfing’ inasmuch as they are less concerned with surfing the wave rather than the board.
I ask myself “Why isn’t this done on a trampoline or a concrete bank or on a wakeboard - what is the impotnace of it being on a wave?” Finless Derek Hynd is FAR more interesting because he catches the waves himself and surfs the waves (not the board) like a surfer. The vid of him at J-bay makes this one lookmuch less impressive. NO: I do not dismiss the achievements of people who do amazing things by towing into waves, but I am way more impressed by someone who PADDLES into a bomb and places himself in the perfect spot the barrel through poise and reading the wave. For those who have not had a wave ‘handed to them on a silver platter’ you might be surprised how easy it is to do all sorts of clever stuff on heavy waves when you you START standing up with speed and control in the pocket.
The point is that they do paddle in, that’s how Domke started. The tow stuff just makes for some cool vid opportunities.