SO stoked on the cork boards. Been on bamboo for a couple of years. Cork feels better in that it’s not so stiff and dampens the ride. Doing exposed cork deck on the next one for sure.
Here’s a shot of an exposed cork deck w/ carbon rails. This is one of Drewtang’s contract glassed ones shaped by Neilson, going to Japan.
I like the idea of not having to wax the board!
Cork deck on Alaias.
""its all ok with all these other building process but I insist that
with a normal construction you can have the “feel” and you really can go
whatever part of the wave; yes, you can do a cranked bottom turn to hit
and smash the lip/curl at Pipeline, Teahupoo, Zicatela, etc, etc
Why almost nobody do that? Because is too dangerous not due the board.
The ONLY real problem that I found with the PU boards are the fatigue and that s because we exceeded the products limits""
hiya reverb all this you say is true. .first to paddle out and risk injury . second having plenty of backup boards no matter what they are made of. third to accepted in the rotation. i consider myself a novice with riding the barrel and lots to learn as i havent surfed pitching lips over doh. and even then im lucky to snag a good deep one…the waves i ride are safe because its sand or shingle bottom…
i think weight just doesnt make any difference whe all your doing is pulling in or surfing evasively. sure its cool when its cruizy walls under 4ft but ive never really noticed any major improvments in my surfing from board weight ( except for my body weight as ive put on 10 kg and now sitting at just under 200pounds) i get more waves from improving fitness. paddling hard and frowning alot at people in the lineup.
heya beerfan. speedneedle makes nice boards for sure
hey huie we can talk cork and fibers on the phone. roy was using some interesting fibers back in the day as well btw. i have used dynel in boats.
i have seen some very well adhered cork products in the flooring industry
knowaloha ive been surfing my own boards for 8 years but started playing with glassing paipos 25 years ago. i spent about 30K on r and d and building and made about half that back. I ended up relizing that volume and shape have more relevance to me as a surfer. although i use to tech to make strong boards that can literally fall off the glassing rack. i been hearing 4 pound this and 4 pound that and i have made a few shortboards under that weight using mike sabins methods and those early balsa surf like new so long as they are not neglected with water intrusion. just a pity i couldnt shape for arse
bb3 i see tha value of cork as a bulker and damper. like when its not glassed over it has huge potential espeically if the cork patch can be replace or restored a year or so down the track. its obviously dent resistant if you glass it. drinks a bit of resin imo if your careless or glassing traditional.
so back to the inlay idea . im kicking myself for not making a softboard yet. but corks the answer. you know how bert was always on about how the
compands work better under 2 inches thick and shit they were awesome responsive boards on the rail if you could paddle the f$cking thing. well its gotta be a 2 inch compsand with another inch of exposed cork. i ll contact some on an old board and let you guys know if it blows my hair back
holyshit im getting the buzz on
“I ended up relizing that volume and shape have more relevance to me as a surfer.”
I think more and more people are finally starting to come around to this idea. Unless you’re catching waves you’re not improving/having fun. Having enough volume in a shape that allows you to do want you want on the wave is key. The construction method is secondary to that for sure.
A dog is a dog, regardless of what it’s wrapped in.
Going outside the traditional poly build, just opens up lots of possibilities and makes it much easier to execute them. Having the boards last longer as well is just an added bonus.
The thing is too, none of the stuff we’re talking about is really even high-tech. It’s pretty old, standard tech for most other composite industries. It’s just the surfboard building world has been in this Clark-induced coma for so long and is just starting to wake up from it.
In the end, it’s just fun to try new stuff and see how it works.