No offence to the author. You might want to check out this link. I thought it was written without bullshit and media hype which seems to be about as rare as hens teeth with some surf publications.
straight talk, or sales pitch with this summer’s trend? debatable. “here’s what you need to buy now, your old board doesn’t work so great…” Where have we heard that before? Every year it’s the same theme, but a slightly different solution. Not saying I wholly disagree with the suggestions, but it’s salesmanship…
Sounds exactly like my go-to, everyday board I’m riding right now, only in a quad version - two inches shorter than the thruster I was riding, slightly down rails with a tight bottom radius, wider, flatter, fuller nose, battail, EPS, slightly larger front fins than rear with good flex. I built this board for average to below average surf, which we get 95% of the time here in New Jersey (well, maybe more like 80-90% of the time). I’m 45 years old.
Have faith that the guy still has some soul, and he’s not trying to sell you his new line. I’m a believer.
…well its all hype but necessary.
you know always will be a segment that needs to hear what the mags and top shapers say (no matter if its the same thing…)
also, a % that always are scanning for the ultimate stuff…
for me is trying to rebuild the wheel…the wheel is a perfect desig, the future in the wheel will be in the materials or may be not wheel at all…
the funny stuff there is the picture of a machined shape with a Skill on top…and the sentence say Rusty mowing foam…
lie, hype…like everything in this industry
we are not a big industry
we are tiny but to sell something expensive or elite you need to hide that for the “common people”
When you get old and crusty like some of us you learn to take anything spouting ‘new and improved’ with a grain of salt. If the claim is to ‘revolutionize the sport’ or targets the ‘EXTREME HARD CORE surfer ONLY!!!’ run, don’t walk to your garage, pick out the rattiest most beat up old longboard you can find and hit the surf. It can give a more real perspective than any sales pitch you will read or hear in any magazine or shop environment.
Seriously… if you can get copies of old buyer’s guide issues of surf magazines you can do a quick and easy ‘hype comparison’ study. “Extra flip, reduced thickness for sensitivity, etc” will likely be replaced in a year or so with “Relaxed rocker, added thickness for increased flotation, etc.”
Don’t buy in to it… it’s all a relentless tail chase designed for one purpose and one purpose only… to increase sales. Try as many boards as you can and decide for yourself what works for you. Stick with it and practice practice practice rather than trying to buy your skill with the latest gimmick.
Some excellent points there john. I have worked out that thick, wide, front foot boards work really well for me. Cool? no way, High performance? No way ( for me at least ), fun?, wave catching machines?, lightning fast?, Carvy?, Yes way!!