Surf Media

When debating the relevance of new surfboard designs and materials, I’ve often heard people ask the question, “If it’s so great, then why don’t we see the pros using it?” My question is; has surf media (books, magazines, video, etc.) had a positive or negative effect on surfboard design? Do these media outlets inspire and push the design envelope? Or have they only served to homogenize the surfboard by laying out a strict set of rules that determines what’s “cool” and what makes you a “kook”? What if there was no Surfer Magazine, Surfer’s Journal, September Sessions, Evolution? Would we still be riding the same thing? Or would our surfcraft look wildly different?

What if > there was no Surfer Magazine, Surfers Journal, September Sessions, > Evolution? Would we still be riding the same thing? Or would our surfcraft > look wildly different? This ought to be a fun thread… I recently had the chance to lightly review a lot of late 60’s - mid-70’s surf magazines all at once, and a number of things seem to be true. Back then they only published every two months. We weren’t over-informed about anything, and the magazines didn’t have a relentless deadline hammering them at all times. When something new in surfboard design came out, it didn’t come out as a de facto marketing campaign - it was news - and everyone was at least interested. How many people here made keel fins in shop class just to see what they were about? Surf movies were rare - so we’d probably already read about key things in magazines by the time we saw the movies. Design could have long moved on by the time a movie toured. But the movies could get you off the design fence… Surfing was still young in, say, 1970. If you’d started in 1955 you would only have been surfing for 15 years. How many of us here can claim 25-35 years now? So when short boards came in, as others have said here many times, almost everybody tried them. Like it or not, longboards virtually vanished. Since magazines started publishing monthly near the end of the 70’s, and pro surfing started it’s current course around the same time, and “the Industry” reared up (“Industry” being mostly lifestyle products - surfwear)…things have changed. Money brought in a control structure. Content was needed to sell magazine ad space, and vice versa. My personal guess is through the early Tom Curren days (Channel Islands tri plane hulls - I could be a little off on this) magazines still covered new designs with “old style” journalism. By the time video killed the “surf movie” the magazines were in a fairly stagnant period. Longboards came back because surfing had many longtimers who were no longer kids. Hybrid and funboards for the same reason. Videos started coming out like kleenex…faster and cheaper…and they started having more influence. One could argue that the last 10 years have seen more diversity in surfboard design than any other period - and that was too hard to sell via magazines. The media and industry manufacturers have Balkanized surfing. In order to keep demographic target “core” groups they play to tight focus groups. “Surfers” hate bodyboarders, longboarders, hybriders, and funboarders. Everybody hates bodyboarders. Etc etc etc…When longboards resurfaced, shortboard magazines practically introduced the subject while calling for judgement by readers who had no experience with them, who judged the designs by the ages of the riders. All that gas expended, yet I’d have to say there would still be all the design diversity we have today. What we have today came about IN SPITE OF the surf media, not because of it. What I think we would have had without the surf media is a much happier, more integrated group of surfers. We’d be surfers, right, instead of longboarders and shortboarders and bookies and whatnot. The next level is the internet, and places just like this - of which there aren’t many yet. There is no stigma for someone accessing a website - no 45 year old buying an issue of “Bodyboarding Magazine”, or 15 year old getting “Longboarding”, hoping they aren’t seen by anybody they know. Like bulletin boards for people with serious illnesses, once you find out others feel the same way about something which seems obscure, what you have doesn’t seem so bad. And that’s just what some of these non-design threads provide - fuel for future design thought. Nels

What if>>> This ought to be a fun thread…>>> I recently had the chance to lightly review a lot of late 60’s - mid-70’s > surf magazines all at once, and a number of things seem to be true. Back > then they only published every two months. We weren’t over-informed about > anything, and the magazines didn’t have a relentless deadline hammering > them at all times. When something new in surfboard design came out, it > didn’t come out as a de facto marketing campaign - it was news - and > everyone was at least interested. How many people here made keel fins in > shop class just to see what they were about?>>> Surf movies were rare - so we’d probably already read about key things in > magazines by the time we saw the movies. Design could have long moved on > by the time a movie toured. But the movies could get you off the design > fence…>>> Surfing was still young in, say, 1970. If you’d started in 1955 you would > only have been surfing for 15 years. How many of us here can claim 25-35 > years now? So when short boards came in, as others have said here many > times, almost everybody tried them. Like it or not, longboards virtually > vanished.>>> Since magazines started publishing monthly near the end of the 70’s, and > pro surfing started it’s current course around the same time, and > “the Industry” reared up (“Industry” being mostly > lifestyle products - surfwear)…things have changed. Money brought in a > control structure. Content was needed to sell magazine ad space, and vice > versa. My personal guess is through the early Tom Curren days (Channel > Islands tri plane hulls - I could be a little off on this) magazines still > covered new designs with “old style” journalism.>>> By the time video killed the “surf movie” the magazines were in > a fairly stagnant period. Longboards came back because surfing had many > longtimers who were no longer kids. Hybrid and funboards for the same > reason. Videos started coming out like kleenex…faster and cheaper…and > they started having more influence. One could argue that the last 10 years > have seen more diversity in surfboard design than any other period - and > that was too hard to sell via magazines.>>> The media and industry manufacturers have Balkanized surfing. In order to > keep demographic target “core” groups they play to tight focus > groups. “Surfers” hate bodyboarders, longboarders, hybriders, > and funboarders. Everybody hates bodyboarders. Etc etc etc…When > longboards resurfaced, shortboard magazines practically introduced the > subject while calling for judgement by readers who had no experience with > them, who judged the designs by the ages of the riders.>>> All that gas expended, yet I’d have to say there would still be all the > design diversity we have today. What we have today came about IN SPITE OF > the surf media, not because of it. What I think we would have had without > the surf media is a much happier, more integrated group of surfers. We’d > be surfers, right, instead of longboarders and shortboarders and bookies > and whatnot.>>> The next level is the internet, and places just like this - of which there > aren’t many yet. There is no stigma for someone accessing a website - no > 45 year old buying an issue of “Bodyboarding Magazine”, or 15 > year old getting “Longboarding”, hoping they aren’t seen by > anybody they know. Like bulletin boards for people with serious illnesses, > once you find out others feel the same way about something which seems > obscure, what you have doesn’t seem so bad. And that’s just what some of > these non-design threads provide - fuel for future design thought.>>> Nels !!! Thats one of the best pieces of surfing-related insight Ive ever come across! Have you written more of this stuff (like for a living?) or have a website somewhere? Thanks for the good words. Garr

When debating the relevance of new surfboard designs and materials, I’ve > often heard people ask the question, “If it’s so great, then why don’t we > see the pros using it?”>>> My question is; has surf media (books, magazines, video, etc.) had a > positive or negative effect on surfboard design?>>> Do these media outlets inspire and push the design envelope? Or have they > only served to homogenize the surfboard by laying out a strict set of > rules that determines what’s “cool” and what makes you a “kook”? What if > there was no Surfer Magazine, Surfer’s Journal, September Sessions, > Evolution? Would we still be riding the same thing? Or would our surfcraft > look wildly different? … …I don’t know…I don’t read the mags much(at all really)Herb.

…I don’t know…I don’t read the mags much(at all > really)Herb. I hear you Herb.I read Surfers Journal.But whenever I need insight on sunglasses,tennis shoes,flip flops’ or board shorts I read Surfer or Surfing.

I hear you Herb.I read Surfers Journal.But whenever I need insight on > sunglasses,tennis shoes,flip flops’ or board shorts I read Surfer or > Surfing. The last great surfer I can think of bucking the “system” would be Cheyne Horan, drastically different boards with equally odd fin. Tom Curren made his statement with his no logo boards, it was an instant pull from the mound and into the dugout.

The last great surfer I can think of bucking the “system” would > be Cheyne Horan, drastically different boards with equally odd fin. Tom > Curren made his statement with his no logo boards, it was an instant pull > from the mound and into the dugout. Speaking of the surf media - I was into it all when Horan went with different equipment, yet found that Surfer’s Journal tv show about him last year to be really illuminating. Not going to Hawaii or Oz every year,I never had the chance to see him surf Lazor Zaps or that fin design. While I recall the American magazines covering it somewhat, it looked to me on tv last year that they should have paid a lot more attention. What I remember from back then was a Matt George profile of Horan that raised more questions than it answered.

!!! Thats one of the best pieces of surfing-related insight Ive ever > come across! Have you written more of this stuff (like for a living?) or > have a website somewhere? Thanks for the good words.>>> Garr Well, I guess it isn’t spam if you aren’t making a lot of money from it…:wink: http://www.vagabondsurf.com You sure don’t read me in the surf magazines any more, although I’m heading down to San Clemente (heart of Indian Territory in my world) next week for material aquisition purposes. Hoping the water is over 60 degrees, too. Nels

Fantastic letter, Nels!..just came across it. Thanks, man! (made my day!).

Well, I guess it isn’t spam if you aren’t making a lot of money from > it…;-)>>> http://www.vagabondsurf.com>>> You sure don’t read me in the surf magazines any more, although I’m > heading down to San Clemente (heart of Indian Territory in my world) next > week for material aquisition purposes. Hoping the water is over 60 > degrees, too.>>> Nels FINALLY SOMEONE WITH THE BIG PICTURE WHO’S NOT A PUSSY. I DON’T KNOW IF YOU’VE EVER SURFED AT AN EXTREME COMPETENT LEVEL(NOT KNOWING YOU), BUT YOUR SOUL IS RIGHT DEEPLY IN SURF NIRVANA. YOUR THE MAN!!! WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THE MAG WENT AROUND AND INTERVIEWED THE ‘REAL’ HOT SURFERS FROM EACH MAJOR BEACH THAT DON’T COLLECT NSSA TROPHY’S BUT LIVE A SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN DREAM…ITS BEEN YEARS…long live soul surfing…

…The last Surfer mag. I bought was around Christmas.$4.00+(I know if I subscribe it’s cheaper???that is I get 1/2 of my subscription 1/2 goes to my neighbors or the postal carriers,or looks like they been fed to my neighbors pitbull.)In the Pipeline section it mentioned that Roger Hinds had just joined the Harbour team.This news was over a year late(Roger took over my spot at Harbour)By the time this info was out in the mag, Roger was building boards on his own again behind Foam-ez in Westminister,A LITTLE LATE GUYS!!! NELS,I will be in S.C. ON Friday to aquire materials(Basham’s) and you?Herb.

NELS,I will be in S.C. ON Friday to aquire materials(Basham’s) and > you?Herb. Herb A trip to the candy store? - that sounds like fun. But alas, it looks like the Jury Duty Gods will be having their way with me… Nels

Fantastic letter, Nels!..just came across it. Thanks, man! (made my > day!). Aren’t “Surfer” and “Surfing” owned by the same corporation? I can remember when these mags were supported by board builders. Now the only people that can afford advertising are the companies that sell shoes,sunglasses,and clothes that are built offshore and have a five hundred per cent mark up. I would give my left nut to see John Severson get back into publishing “Surfer Magazine”. Thanks for the great post Nels.