The more we go forward , the more it becomes what we’re really looking for…and the closer we get to it , the better the performance gets , and the quality of enjoyment it delivers. …the marketing crap we all have to put up with seems hell bent on destroying the great benefits of simplicity and purity in surfing and surfboard design , and I have become cynical…I don’t think I’m alone…(lol)…making surfboards is a cultural pursuit , far more than it is an “industry”…where have we gone wrong ?
“Where have we gone wrong?”
Affiliations with the purpose to overstand.
Wide ranging landcape. Form preps to posers, neck beards, hipsters, hardcores, pros, not to mention the age groups. There’s so many tribes, many of which have no respect for one-another, or simply don’t care. Maybe it’s always been this way.
There’s the other side of that coin too: “Where have we gone right”?
14 line blues
lyric 4-5-4
…ambrose…
surfing is an entry level drug
Shaping is hard dope.
give everything away
but keep the sahping bay.
I feel somthin’ slippin’ away
gettin’ old now
I did go surfin’ today
three lauu lau, poi, ulu
add up to a fine nap…
To simplify,…ask an old man
how to live , sit still a while
live the words, live clean shape clean,
dont do hard dope,
Shaping and Surfing
drugs of choice.
…ambrose…
pharmeceuticals
are for kooks.
The internet, facebook, twitter and now instagram have spawned an ego machine that is out of control. Narrcisim is through the roof and has become a mental disorder propagted by these types of interaction…I believe.
G’day Paul…my view , although far from unique, may be somewhat different to most , because a little over 4 years ago , I didn’t even know how to turn a computer on , let alone realise the global effect it would have …Ive remained relatively unaffected , because Ive always had a cynical attitude towards the advertising industry (lol)…but when I view the general landscape out there , many people are swamped by it , and complicate things for no apparent reason or advantage…it’s just an observation. The last major quantum leap in the availability of information was in the year 1450 , when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press …just another observation…The internet has become the Miss-Information Super Highway for the unwary…(lol)
Ghetto my friend, you took the words right out of my mouth.
Gary Linden once told me, “The surfboard industry isn’t one”.
It took me years of board building to totally understand that quote.
Why after 30 years do I still do this?
Why don’t you get a real job?
2-3 recessions.
Three surfboard factory jobs at once to feed my family.
Dangerous and toxic chemicals.
Reasons not to do this out way the reasons to.
Why?
Simple.
I LOVE WHAT I DO!
I probably spend 40+ hours a week making surfboards for people I’ll never meet.
They have absolutely no idea how hard I work at this.
Pouring my blood and sweat into making the best product I physically and mentally can.
And guess what I do in my spare time?
You guessed it, I build surfboards.
I truly love what I do.
Tired, broke, no retirement plan, it’s probably killing me.
I think I’ll go make some surfboards…
Simplicity.
Where have we gone wrong?
I haven’t.
Anybody who truly knows me,
knows that I have never given a **F*ck **about what has happened with the state of the surfboard biz.
I love what I do.
Rage against the surfing hype machine!
It has **NO **affect on me.
Simplicity.
hi kayu i dont think its important… just enjoy mucking around with the tools and dont expect recognition. im with PJ its all in the ride not the destination
“Where have we gone wrong?”
I belive it’s the speed we go through life…You’ll get there, slow down and enjoy things…
Yep, marketing and perceptions have margenalized many a craftsman. Machines can even make retard son of a bitches into shaper/designers in the eyes of the fool. You have to ask yourself why are you doing it, for me I love it, but nobody else seems to care.
Where did it all go wrong?
There are way to many peanuts doing it, for reasions that in time they ‘may’ just descover, dont exist to them.
The industry is 90% bullshit, fake lost souls.
Stressed, angery and bitter.
Ahhh Kayu,
You’ve hit that nail right on its head!
Kayu wrote:
“…making surfboards is a cultural pursuit”
That perfect phrase sent off a light-bulb in my head. It encapsulates an attitude. Now I can
see what’s really going on with Sways. It doesn’t put everything
into the context of a cultural pursuit, but it allows the richness of
that dimension.
Anyone who believes that making surfboards is a cultural pursuit can never go wrong.
I think that phrase deserves to be on the Sways page header.
Dave
“Where have we gone wrong?” The all mighty buck.