hi
saw this strange shape and wanted to share it…have included link to site i found it on www.realsurf.com/2009/04/09/meyerhoffer-%e2%80%93-the-evolution-of-wave-riding/
saw this strange shape and wanted to share it…have included link to site i found it on …Meyerhoffer – The Evolution of Wave Riding
crap
Yeah I saw this thing recently on their site I subscribe to. I like to keep abreast on what the take-over-the-world companies are doing with marketing and all that. You can go to their site and see the stoke if you like. You can also hear him describe his whole design and brain child in making it. I’ve never heard of this guy but maybe he’s the next Brewer or Hal Metric…he he he.
Boy, this thing has got quite a different aesthetic doesn’t it? It kinda goes to show you that there is a lot of cr… uh, stuff moving through the waters of the world. Barges hauling garbage out to sea to dump it, Cousteau’s research vessel headed for any destination, submarines that decide to practice a quick surface maneuver and cutting some Japanese tourist boat in half…guess we’ve seen it all, until now.
Reflecting back i think the different designs that come to mnd for a dinosaur like me, was Con’s The Ugly, Velzy’s Jacob 422, Ben Aipa’s Stinger, MOrey’s TheBlue Machine, Yater’s Spoon which was paralleled with Greg Noll’s Da CAt and other step deck copies. The G&S Stretch and Herbie Fletcher’s square nosed boards. Wide back twin fins were a new look too…they wailed on steep faces and tight tubes and were also famous for tracking on flatter slopes- I remember charging down the face to lay into a backside turn only to punch it and the tail was so locked in I would just fall off like a kook as the board continued on its way. Hmmmm, redesign needed. Guess a little toe in goes a long way. Live n learn.
This guy has decided to manipulate water in some interesting ways. No doubt a few peope will buy these if for no other reason just to be different. Remember the Edsel? I’m trying to reserve judgement on them, but I don’t think I would shape one for my quiver. Maybe these will become collecor’s items…that would be better than adding to the landfills.
Someone from around here has ridden a Meyerhoffer around here:
“Board flows like crazy- super good for today- don’t know how it would
work in chop but that thing could fly. Doc and I agreed the fin coulda
been pushed in a little but it was a straight up paddle machine.”
Said someone is a good surfer.
Ahem… I held a patent for a surfcraft with a convergent / divergent outline back in 1993, my boards were made by Aloha in northern Sydney.
Frank Latta, who shaped for Skipp surfboards in southern Sydney also was making similar boards back then.
Long before the Swizzle, the Cutaway, the meyerhoffer et al…
I’m not saying I was the first, but the ones we made 16 years ago work on the same theory and were very similar craft to whats now being touted as “revolutionary”.
http://forum.realsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=15611 call me Zippy.
This is one of the subtle versions made by Frank Latta and a few others.
The New Blue Easy model.
vell here ve go again!
industrialist designers
gettingk inn on da grount floor
off grount broking techknowlogix
I for on are behin tit 120% . period
The test bort iss beink sent to da pipeline
for the schedoolt event off der veirt borts
off da jeer. vell whad tellse cant you zay.
good luk gainst de tunder from under the
fat penguinant der cornycopious znake
zerpentine ono borts and da revolutionary borts
from dat lake in canadian prarie vere de vints
blow the ice at a huntret miles an hour
where dey test the real borts un zurfers
ja know bout extreme?Dey vill un weil
da shockink truth on may 1st int da Kremlin
red square where the kgb arre holding peter droyn
in the mad scientists lab makink sinkle fins for da
russian mob,taking over a beach near you soon
with zkillz…
vell if ya never herd it before
I just told ya
…ambrose…
pipeline may 18 holding period starts
da vaves are gonna be epoch.
I surfed my Peanut next to that guy several years ago. I remember him well, he had a lot of questions about it. Told me then he was working on something similar (but was surfing a self-made, very traditional single fin noserider).
hey you know those apple guys stole all their great ideas… must run in the family…
The two GSI boards that fascinate me are this one which I wouldn’t mind owning or the Webber mini-fish with those fins of his…
I think at least he owes you a chumby for your kids. they are the hottest gen y-z thing out.
but then this the same guy that bought used original REX picklefork two years ago.
i have been interested in this shape as a way of keeping me surfing cause of my arthritic hip and the wait for an op . Benny introduced me to the concept via sways and i had contact with Zippy on another forum . I talked to chops at Beach Beat uk who had made a number of short board finless proto types a few years ago based on similar outline . He made me a longboard version 9ft based on all info collected. He then went and made one for himself but slightly more fuller to cope with his size . . I would say i am a very average surfer with moments of mediocrity and it seemed to turn faster then my other longboards and at the same time be very stable on the drop.I gave it to my young mate who can do all the high performance tricks you see in the Dvd’s for his reaction . He again found it turned better then his Firewire but not as good a noserider [his noserides are 10 toes over]. Chops rode his on a very good swell this week and came out ‘‘babbling’’[his words] at how brilliant it was . Not saying its the best board in the world , just forwarding some info to suggest it is a design worth exploring and refining . I would like to make an 8ft with a rounded v
cheers
mpcutback
oh and its great for my hip
cheers
mpctback
I had the chance to check one out yesterday. We had a surf contest and Global sent a rep with some demo boards for people to try out. I talked to him for a bit about it and everyone on the beach was just confused and shocked looking at it. Didn’t get a chance to ride it because I was running around in charge of the thing, but I asked the rep to come back soon so I can take it out for a bit.
Besides the funky outline, I would say the rocker was very intriguing. It looked like it was bent in the middle, about 3-4 ft up from the tail. The nose rocker looked really flat from the bend to the nose, and the tail rocker was more of a curve. Very weird.
awesome!
stuff of legends
What happened was originally this “old guy” who used to surf in the early fifties than became a aeronautical engineer had these drawings of a “coke bottle” shaped surfboard. He said he used to ride em and they were the best of the bunch. A few months later I recieved a crude balsa model from some guy in Oregon/washington? that wanted something shaped like it the model. He felt that this was the way surfboards should be even though he did not surf yet. We made the board than it sat in the shop for weeks. He wanted someone to try it. Nobody was brave enough. Than one day we talked Mark into giving it a go. He hide it in a blanket as we crossed the beach. Mike Eaton, Carl Ekstrom and some guy from a magazine went to the beach with us. I told Mark to just go out on one of the side peaks not the main peak because we had no idea what was going to happen. Mark paddled the thing REALLY FAST because he was a competitive swimmer and could really extend his arms into the water. He made a left turn and headed directly into the main peak. Carl said he based everyhing he knew about surfboards that it would not work. Mark made a bead on a bigger set wave, the wider tail lifted the board quickly into the wave. We all held our breath as he made the takeoff than laid out a full rail bottom turn headed for the top of the wave and LAUNCHED IT than reentered the wave and made it. Ekstrom just said “huh” and walked off. It actully worked really good. Sent it off to its owner and never heard from it again.
Tried one of these out last Friday. Surf shop had a demonstration model. Paddled out at the north end of Ocean Beach San Francisco during a somewhat decent south swell that was producing shoulder high peaks turning into longish steep walls to the beach.
The board feels much smaller than 9’ in the water. Paddles nicely and the side cuts not only make it comfortable to paddle but also come in handy as places to grab when turning the board and climbing back on.
It was easy to catch waves with however because (I think) of the lack of volume in the tail, you had to make sure that you were far enough forward on the board to get it over the edge and dropping in.
Very stable and lively on the drop. Felt a little funny on the bottom turns because I wasn’t feeling the back edge of the tail like on my “conventional” longboard. It was more like a driving rail turn but towards the back of the board instead of the whole side. After I started to get the feel for it though I noticed that it had a smooth acceleration throughout a hard committed bottom turn that made me want to try it out in some bigger waves.
When trimming along a steep face the feeling was that the rails were “vacuumed” to the wave. Not like it was tracking but more like solid and fast. A slight shift of weight to the rear and suddenly the board was half as long and wanting to pivot on that back wide spot, something that felt like it would take a little getting used to but then would be a plus.
The board is very lively but with the moderating influence of that drawn out tail the liveliness was never jerky. It was kind of weird at first because your mind is saying that it is a 9’ board but the feedback is of something smaller.
The only glitch I felt was when trimming on a slopey face the water wanted to come over the inboard hip and run into your foot. I think that under those circumstances you need to be moving the board around rather than just standing there.
I don’t think this board is necessarily a better design but I would say that it is quite different, that it works, is very interesting and a lot of fun. The lack of volume might be very appealing to some.
They also had a 7’6" version for sale. Would love to try that out.
Here is one I shaped late 80’s. Ridden by my friend Mark Wichman, RIP.
I saw an 8 footer in person today at a local surf shop in San Luis Obispo. It's a brand new demo model requiring a credit card deposit and $20.00 for a 24 hour rental. I fished my credit card out and the guy in the shop found some fins for it. An hour or so later I was in the water.
I'm not sure of the glassing schedule but it is an opaque white EPS/epoxy with a nice gloss, light for it's size, and seemingly pretty durable. A moderate thumb test revealed no skin flex or pressure denting. It paddles well for it's size. Hourglass outline aside, it fits a 'pig' style board in template with the widest part back from center. I only caught a couple of waves but as Ace noticed on his version, the wide tail seemed to lift right up and push me in to the wave.
What definitely surprised me was that it seemed to draw a long turn with the fin all the way back in the box. As I waded out, I was pushing on the deck with my hands trying to imagine how much bite it might have in a turn. It felt pretty stiff but my initial take looking at it was it was sure to be squirrely. It wasn't at all. In fact it felt nice and solid on the few turns I did on it. That hour glass portion allows a comfortable paddling space for my arms to really dig in. I like to lay on my stomach and rest my elbows on the deck but there wasn't much room for that.
I hope to catch a few more rides on it tomorrow before returning it. All and all, for me it felt a bit small but still a pleasant surprise. I'd recommend that anybody interested take advantage of the demo program and give it a shot.
EDIT: 6/30/09... just got back from another session on same board. The surf was much better today with head high+ sets, glassy conditions and quite a few open-ended lefts at a local beachbreak. Again - easy take offs, stable drops and solid positive turns. Opening up my stance a bit gave better control on my backside midface turns and kick outs. I'd like to give it more time in good waves but it's going back to the shop. I'm not sure which component of the design is key or if it's the combination. All looks and country of manufacture aside, it feels like a good design and a solid board to me.
heres our J-lo Demos they have been in demo land for the last couple years[img_assist|nid=1044530|title=jlo- demos|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=67|height=100]
I like the name “Peanut” for these designs…so endearing. Still, they remind me of Hammerhead sharks, not real winners in the looks department…I wouldn’t date one, no matter how she puts out.
I used to be sensitive, now I’m just macho!
this thing looks suspiciously like the device my wife pees on whenever her “friend is late”. hittin the water tomorrow, maybe i’ll stop by a couple shops and see if there’s a demo board available(and then return it with a blue painter’s tape plus sign on the deck…heh heh)