Okay , it IS Andy Irons surfing this thruster [‘somewhere in mexico’] …
… but , I couldn’t help thinking how far surfing and board design has progressed in the last thirty or so years .
I watched this on dvd and it happened so fast , I had to replay it in super slow motion to see what he and the board were doing …
enjoy !
cheers
ben
Good stuff Chip!! That is sooo RADICAL! If the wave were a slow small beach break then maybe not so much but that is such a heavy move in good sized surf. That is the leading edge of absolute high performance surfing… Of course the boards are allowing for that level of surfing… It inspires me to build things that will allow our surfing to go farther and farther into the ultra radical zone… Critical moves in critical surf… Yup, that’s where I’d like to go… Even though we ride giant boards in comparison for our SUP gig, I always study what those guys are doing and the lines they draw… Great brain candy that sequence… Thanks Chip!
Last time I saw Andy Irons surf he was like, 5 or 6 years old. Oh!!Where did the time go!!! Wood_Ogre is fealing kind of old, Best I don’t look in the mirror!!!
Fancy sounding thread title there Chip
Not sure that standing on top of the lip instead of under it is progress, but I will take your word for it.
Not sure that standing on top of the lip instead of under it is progress, but I will take your word for it.
It’s probably a good trick for those crowded days when everyone else is under the lip… LOL!
full-tilt, full-speed surfing. i like it.
Interesting sequence. I had never seen that type of maneuver broken down that minutely before. Until now, I had assumed that “getting air” involved generating enough speed to actually launch board and rider to an altitude at least slightly higher than the maximum altitude of the lip (at the time). Those stills make it appear to be more a variety of stall, where the lip has fallen more quickly than the rider. Understand, I’m not in any way underestimating the skill required to track to a position to perform the act in the first place. But as a 57-year-old, overweight, East Coast surfer who is unlikely to experience the process firsthand, I’m curious about what actually happens.
-Samiam
Sequences like that, really show how the true father of modern surfing is George Greenough. Compare the line that Irons draws on the face and then look at old pics of George. Same tight, high-G turns. Same low-wake tracks. Fantastic!
How much further is it possible for surfing to go with out tow-is or ats or more gear? The most proggressive surfer in my opinion right now is still Kelly. WH-WH-WHA!!! I hear you say. I remember a sequence in Surfer a few years back ( I believe it was when he was off the tour) that broke down kelly’s way of cutting back. The way he moved in conjunction with the wave brought a subtle, but nonetheless new, look and level of speed to a standard turn. There still isn’t really anybody applying “body-physics” to a turn the way he does.
Ben,
Interesting sequence in that in Dec. 1969 at Swamis, in Cal. on a thundering 10’ low tide day I did the same thing on an
8’ 2’’ single fin ‘‘minigun’’. (A term from the day) My run across the back of the wave was at least 50 feet before re-entry. It’s all in the timing, and does not require special skill to do. And NO, I’m not equating myself to Mr. Irons in ANY way. Just noting that more is being made of it than it deserves. It’s an exciting maneuver that needs the right wave, and good board speed to pull off. It’s something within the reach of most above average surfers, if they have a good board under them. Modern short boards make it more possible in smaller surf, at lower speed.
Yeah Bill but… I’ve been out when Bruce and Andy were in the lineup. Those boys rip… and they’re moving way faster than we were back in the 60’s and 70’s (or 80’s and 90’s). It’s not so much about single moves, but how they link them together… consistantly. They also surf triple overhead waves like they’re nothing… on 6’2"s. And… I was paddling back to the lineup and caught a glimps of Andy sooo far back in the tube I didn’t think it was possible for him to make it out - like a good twenty feet+ - but he came blazing out like it was nothing, brushes off his hair, then launches a big 360 air to the hoots of all the groms (who also rip).
Still the best move I’ve ever seen anyone do was back in the 70’s when I was on the Huntington surf team as a Bing guy… Bobby Nishi - who surfed (surfs) equally well regular or goofy - would drop down the face with tons of speed, pull into the tube, blast out the back, turn back towards the wave and drop back in without missing a beat. Never seen anything else like it.
Kendall,
I can’t imagine blowing out the back of a wave, and then turning it into a re-entry! Beyond awesome. My comment was to the single maneuver. I’d never seen it done before I did it. And I did it in a desperate attempt to avoid getting slapped down by the section. I was amazed to have ridden the back of the pitching section, and enter the wave face again. What you say about the Irons boys is true. They are in a rare class of water athletes. In a league of their own.
I think these pictures say the exact opposite…It’s the surfer not the board. Your own avatar shows MR doing a bottom turn no different than AI its just that in the 80’s no one thought about flying over the section or pulling floaters. Jeeze, I can do a floater on a hull and I’m 55 years old…but in 1980 I wouldn’t have even thought of trying something like that. I’m not taking anything away from AI but he is standing on some pretty big shoulders, guys that showed him that it was possible to pull an air or floater. I give Andy and Slater credit for connecting it all that together and doing it on waves of consequence.
Bottom line; I think Andy could have pulled this on just about any short board with more than one fin…
Bill… you ripped. I did too in the day. Now I just smile as the 12 year old girls paddle past me catch a wave… paddle past me again… it used to be when a clean-up set was coming, I’d paddle my ass off and hope to get through. Now I continue plodding away, take a breath, and let the wave unload on ny head.
Maybe today’s surfers aren’t faster (except Roy)… I’m just slower.
Another new generation guy that stands out in a crowd is “Barney” Barron. He surfs twice as fast as anyone out at Steamer Lane. Other guys do airs and try to catch back up to the wave. Barney’s timing is perfect. His landings put him right back in the juice, and he turns on rails. You can hear him cutting through the wind as he passes by. Kinda how BK would get six turns in at Sunset by the time other guys were completing their 1st bottom turn.
