Surfaddicts Law - the fastest path between 2 points is not a straight line

General Discussion
1

 

 

Not really, but has anyone noticed when surfing a hollow wave with
power that even when it seems to be critical to make a section where you
might be tempted to trim into the fastest line, that often (not always),
if instead you sink a rail and blast some high G-force turns you will
still make the section that you thought only the shortest path of a good
trim would do - hence the “fastest path between 2 points is not a
straight line”. Pumping is a small version of this I guess.

It seems that there is some sort of conservation and transfer of
energy going on. As you gouge the turn you are putting energy into the
board (like the way you transfer the energy of your swinging legs to get
a swing going), once at the top you are now on a steeper more powerful
part of the wave closer to the energy centre, then a bottom turn does
the swing like thing again, etc etc.

Has anyone noticed this or is it my imagination, or alternatively,
yeah, yeah we all know this why are you bothering to state the obvious.

I love that feeling when you can see a long, long wall ahead and a pitching section, and instead of racing for it you just blast off the bottom as vertical as you can and gouge off the top and still make the section. Probably only done that 20 or 30 times in 40 years of surfing but I think I could remember every one of them if I put my mind to it.

Was going to take today off and go for a surf, but fisheries reported a 5m GWS 20m off the point that I was going to surf, so I went to work instead… bummer.

 

2

hi 'surf addict' ....

 

sorry to have to break it to you ,

 

but ....

 

  you blew it , mate !! 

 

the surf was PUMPING today !!!

 

 And , there were  plenty of people in the water , so  your chances of a shark attack were around one in two hundred , at the most .

 

  We must get together for a surf one day ,  as I want to see / document these 'vertical' turns you talk of, especially at pitching scarborough .

 I will keep an eye out for you ...maybe the next time you are at Ross's shop , bring your board and have an early surf , first ?? [sundays , especially , are often less crowded then]

 

there WERE  a few young crew ripping this morning .... [not surprisingly]  I got photos , too !

 

 cheers !

 

  ben

3

Depends on the board, I think. Thin, flexy modern shortboards with complicated bottoms and three or more fins create a lot of drag when just trimming. These boards are designed to be worked… speed is gained by pumping, weighting and unweighting, leveraging off fins, and tapping into lift created by concaves and rails.

The thicker, flatter, old school boards with single fins and more efficient bottom contours trim faster. At least that’s been my perception over the years…

4

Hi Ben,

I've got a policy, I don't surf at any break where a GWS (especially a 5m one) has been reliably reported until at least a few days have elapsed. I guess the guys up at Scarborough figgered they was only a pack of littel tigers up there which weren't really worth bothering about.

Ben, I'm too old and slow to even catch the little Scarborough closeouts, let alone go vertical on them. I can still go vertical, but its easier on the bigger, more powerful and perfect waves in Indo, not that I catch that many of them unless I've been there for a few months and have got my act together again.

You should get yourself off to Indo with me, there's still some return flights with Air Asia for AUS$145 return! We could get together and torture your brother into revealing some secret spots before we go.

Regards,

Dave

5

Hi nj_surfer,

Yep thats right, thrusters don't like straight lines. What I'm really saying I guess is that you can often do bigger turns than you think are possible, cover a lot more ground, and still make the wave, which all seems a bit counter-intuitive.

Cheers,

Dave

6

This is modern surfing. There was a revolution about 45 years ago so we could surf like this.

7

What Mike D said.

8

"I can still go vertical, but its easier on the bigger, more powerful and perfect waves in Indo...."

 

 

  my brother has told me otherwise .....

 

" Ben, I'm too old and slow to even catch the little Scarborough closeouts, let alone go vertical on them "

 

 

okay , let's see if I got this right ....

 

you say you  can "still go vertical "  ,

 

but also that

 

 you are "too old and slow to catch ['closeout' waves] " ???  

 

ha !

 

 you are not making any sense there, mr. travers ....

 

I think I better come and film you one day , so the folks at swaylocks can see what REALLY happens when you hit the water [if you ever do, that is ?]

 

  I'm getting flashbacks to "LeeDD" , and his empty boasting about how he 'ripped "double o'h o.b." , back in the daze'  [yet no-one here has ever seen him actually surf !]

 

I guess that is why internet forums are so easy [?fun?] for 'some' people , eh ?

 

 ANYONE can use them , and for whatever reason[s] [?insecurity , perhaps ? ] , be anonymous ,  and claim all kinds of stuff , thinking that "no-one knows the difference " haha  .

 

.....COME on , people !

 

 We are not that naive / gullible /  stupid , here  in Australia !

 

 ...we have a VERY good built in anti-bullshit radar , better developed than a lot of other places , because over the centuries , we have been fed so much [crap] , we almost need to wear gumboots  

 

anyways ,   dave ,

 

as you imagine the surf has been crap here , for ever ... scarborough never breaks , don't bother checking it

 

 

  all the more for us ! 

 

yeehaa

 

  cheers

 

  ben chipper , scarborough

9

Ben, I stand by what I said… Dave

10

I hope to be able to FILM  you very soon , then ...

 

  to show ross , nathan , matt , jacob in the longboard shop you loiter in so frequently ....[ and myself  and my brother Simon ] how much you 'rip' ...obviously he wasn't watching your waves closely enough over the ? months? you have spent together in Indo ? [the mccoy mcnuggets must have blinded him with their speed and vertical ability , I guess ?  hahaha ]

 

Or , perhaps  you are a bit deluded  [or , worse, lying , Dave ? ...a lot of THAT goes on here , I have noticed , over the years ...but it's called 'exaggerating' , to make it sound more acceptable / 'not so bad' ...ha !] ...Which of course happens among the older , fatter ones here who don't surf [much] any more .... they tend to live in the past , I have noticed.

 

[ I guess if it makes you feel better about yourself , then .... "whatever , duuude "...]

 

But  , please , mate ...

 

  if you are going to come into the Longboard Shop and talk it up ....

 

 ...then ,  just realise that people there are going to be interested in seeing you "surf" . ESPECIALLY if you call yourself   " surfADDICT" [?!] ..... then they will expect to see you in the water , at least once in a while ?

 

  anyway ,   no more from me on this subject ...

 

re: the subject that you originally posted on ....

 

" Fall Line"  is a movie worth watching .

 

It featured nat young and wayne lynch , in vicco . Some of the footage appeared in "a day in the life of wayne lynch" , which accompanied 'tubular swells' [a hoole / mccoy movie] , when it was , thankfully,  re-released on DVD . Nat mentioned it in his "Nat's Nat , and that's that !" book .

 

 ...anyway , Mr. Dave Travers , I hope to finally see you out in the water , 'one day' , perhaps ?  [or not ? .... ]       

 

:)

 

  cheers mate !

 

keep it real

 

  ben

11

Ben, you have a fine line in character assassination going!

A guy, Glenn, who I surfed with in Indo sent me the first two photos below.

The text of the email was:

"Hi Dave

I wasnt sure weather that was you out the back or on the inside.

Regards

Glenn Mac"

It was me on the outside. Glenn and I were the first ones out at about 7am. We started near the point as the Mountain was looking big and heavy, but after a delayed pullout from Pyramids because it was such fun (probably went vertical a few times)  I was caught by a large set at the mountain when addling back out and realised it was not so bad, so surfed the Mountain with Glenn and two others for around 45 minutes before another 10-15 surfers came out (there were probably another 20 who didn’t come out because of the size). They were intimidated by how the Mountain looked and stayed at the point, so the four of us had it to ourselves for over an hour. I stayed out for 2 hours and got about 10 good waves.

Second photo is Glenn and I (I’m on the right) reliving the surf later that day.

Third photo is the same spot but on a day that was bit bigger. That’s a surfer in the lip in the middle of the frame

I have surfed ths place for about 6 years for several months a year and have gotten hundreds of good waves. I will be spending 10 weeks there in 2013, tickets and accommodation booked already

No I don’t surf Scarborough. I’ve been in the water in Perth for maybe 8 hours in 20 years, and that was 8 hours too many. I’m sure that the people who live there occasional get some decent waves, for me its a one hour drive, it takes me the same amount of time to go south to a much more reliable set of reefs.

By the way, these photos were taken in 2009. I met your brother Simon the first time I was there in 2006. I was riding downhill bikes exclusively from 2000 to 2006. Simon saw me for the first few weeks (he had been there a while) when I had not surfed for 6 years, and yeah I surfed like absolute shit.

 

[img_assist|nid=1072490|title=Indo1|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]

 

[img_assist|nid=1072489|title=Indo 3|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]

 

[img_assist|nid=1072488|title=Indo 2|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=147]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12

ha !

 

 speaking the truth  is never "character  assassination" , mate.

 

 It is , as I mentioned previously , an AUSSIE trait ...

 

.....it's called keeping it REAL / keeping people GROUNDED [ie: in REALITY !] . Surely you have been an Aussie LONG enough to have noticed THAT , Dave ?!

 

  and NONE of those photos show you surfing , or 'going vertical'  .....so ...

 

?????????????????????????

 

  To me , it just seems that you are just confirming  this ...

 

  " Simon saw me for the first few weeks (he had been there a while) when I had not surfed for 6 years, and yeah I surfed like absolute shit. "

 

okay ...

 

  a 'surf addict' that had not surfed for 6 years ???

 

 

said it before , I'll say it again ...doesn't make sense ...contradictory messages getting across .

 

strange that you wouldn't let simon ride your board ...were you scared he would say it didn't work for those kind of waves [Surely  INDO waves pitch more than scarborough , Dave ?]

 

  websites are funny things ,

  they allow people to bullshit all they like ,

 

  but

 

?don't like people confronting bullshit with the truth [?!]  .  odd. People delude themselves here regularly eh ....

 

  maybe you should change your name from "surfaddict"

 

 to

 

  'talk it up' !

 

come on mate , with the amount of hours you spend standing around in the shop [and driving there too, by the sounds of it ...an HOUR south of scarbs ?  doubt it!]  , you could have been surf [addict]ing every time , and your ability woulda improved by now .

 

  if you have been surfing 'forty years' , then surely by now you would be good , rather than , in your own words 'surf like absolute shit' [thank you for at least THAT bit of HONESTY , mate !]

 

  out

 

 

anyway , I guess what I learn from this is ,

 

1. you have no intention to surf ,

 

by the way .... trigg ["the point" that you "surf" ??  ha!]  is a closeout , too [so ..... ? another contradiction ?!] ,

 

2.   and that it might be time for me to stop feeding these , I guess ! [look how they MULTIPLIED !] 

 

[trolls]

 

 

 [ because 

 

3. you  get upset by being challenged about your comments ]

 

ben

13

 

I have been surfing for damn near 50 years. I do not consider myself to be “good” at it. I would honestly describe my ability as “OK”. Many other folks think I’m really good at it.

But, most of them surf far worse than I do. So, it’s all about perspective, I guess.

 

PS: Seems like there’s a lot of axes being ground around here. You’d think it was a lumberjack forum.

14

" PS: Seems like there's a lot of axes being ground around here. You'd think it was a lumberjack forum. "

 

thanks sammy

 

  .....classic !!

 

  that is my favourite 'Monty Python' skit of all time !!

 

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zey8567bcg

 

 

yes

 

I guess I  'should' adopt the 'just live and let live ' attitude  here , eh ?

 

[you know .... let people say whatever they want , if it makes them feel good about themselves [they will anyway ... :)  it's very rare that I actually " grind an axe " ...might need the 'Python'  crew to refresh me on how it's done , eh  ?  ..... "i'm a lumberjack and i'm okay" , etc ]

 

  :)

 

 

  cheers

 

  ben

15

What Mike D said and a lot of swimming.

More complex. Down the line knowledge of not wasting energy, board flex and snap, instead of  one “big” move.

16

Ben,

The point was Avalon Point, an hour south of where I live, thats where the 5m GWS was reported see http://www.sharkalarm.com.au/sightings

I’m tempted to end this debate with a not so elegant rebuttal, but I’ll exercise restraint.

Thats it Ben, with luck I’ll never bump into you again.

 

17

Hey Ben, I think you should call the dogs off. Don’t know if I missed some incident somewhere but I think you are angry at the wrong bloke.

Like you, Dave is a good guy, passionate about his surfing and I have never heard a boastful, mean or nasty word from him.

I am sure 99% of us surf better than we think and frankly I for one am happy to live in this illusionary world. I love coming in and believing I got the best wave of the day and everyone was staring in admoration and jealously. That why I avoid any video footage. The usual response from me and most people is " is that me! I look like shit."

Keep doing your thing Dave. I would love to have had half the waves you have got in Indo the last few years.

18

I’m 64 and want to start busting some fuckin airs. Tired of being an old fart. What are my chances of landing a few???//

19

You young guys really do need help! Jus U turn off da bottom, mo speed betta, as you launch ( an un weight will help) , grab both rails an jus kamikaze da landing. Oh hope you don’t snap doz bonez, eh?

Oh and you’ll score big, no make wave, no soul…

20

 

Yup. I used to shoot a lot of photos. I mean, a lot. I’d show them to the gang and the subjects would often say “That’s not me. I don’t surf like that”. Someone would usually chime in with “Sorry, but you do”.