I was chatting with Mr Wegener recently. Tom is of the opinion that future surfing is going to take the direction of riding unbroken swells on huge boards, bringing back the experiences of the Ancient Hawaiians. I must say that when riding big boards, I definitely feel that I am entering the subconscious realm of past big board riders, and I am sure that they live on with us. It feels good.
Roy.
PS Any surfer who ends their life without enjoying the big board experience has missed out. It’s all about the old ‘Make it easy’ school of surfing.
PPS If Cheyne were ever to take off on a forty foot wave on a 13 foot plus, big heavy board, then the whole surfing world would be wanting to see it.
illuminationcomes slowly but it comes to anyome who goes there… the rocker component of the 16’ board that tom blake made from the relics availiable at the bishop museum had considerable lower rocker and were more of the ‘‘plank’’ school than the "log"svhool which were higher rocker component simular to your current rocker profile that preceeded the flatter boards if I’m not mistaken …the door to riding the swelling crests of the far outer reefs are being accessed by the OC1 guys especially when they fly the outrigger these craft are way light and are generally finned with articulating fins these components were not availiable to the KUUPUNA ,(my spring) a term for ancestors ,although the length of these one man outriggers exceeds that of the blake experimental archeology,21’+ad high displacement like the OC1’s…the boards left behind by the chief ,as with other collectables,were not the most advanced examples as the best examples were ridden to death…the only access to the highest shape forms in this genre are only accessable by intuitivly feeling out the info by touch and bringing the concious appreciation of the outside glide to contemporary life…truely the next dimension is worthy of concious attention…kudos for your effort… you may not have heard my example of the soft fiber traction achievable with wood making wax unnecessary .the ancients surfed w/ a malo the technique bordering on high science was easily lost in history with the concious effort of a hundred years of trying to make waveriding on a board easier for beginers and accessable to the masses…the desire to ride somthing more challenging is a natural response for the higher minded surfer not satisfied with the mundane…stimulus change is the bane of the human condition…ambrose…don’t forget the mat dimension.I believe this was also a medium for wave riding easily obscured and lost in antiquity…tanning the bladders of sea dwellers was certainly accessable to the highest aquatic craftsman/shaman and if the greeks used them to swim the hellispont surly the polynesian "scientists ‘’ were privy to this ‘magic’
There’s something about a heavy board, and that is that the rider is a smaller proportion of the overall weight of board and rider. Thus the rider is not able to completely dominate the board, and must ride with the board, going with the flow more.
The experience is less about individual expression than about simply being there. Is it really true that the earliest big Hawaiian boards had more rocker?
The trick is to hang on to them, and not to swim into them. My head is in great shape thanks. The worst hazard to the head is alcohol. Be careful about alcohol, mate.
I recall in one of the recent movies that Laird’s goal was also to ride the unbroken ocean swells, but with his hydrofoil board…
On Cheyne riding the huge wave on the huge board… I’ll have to go back and do some research, but wasn’t there a reason that the big wave boys don’t use big boards? (Talking tow-in by the way. I think the paddle in crew still use decent size boards.) I know they like their boards heavy, but what about the length? There was some reason in there… Too much planing surface to skip around?
early hawaiian boards were liberated tree forms the rocker was limited by the physical limits of the tree 1st and the creative bent of the designer 2nd,…after the introduction of milled lumber,a evolutionary influence in itself,design limits easiy accepted by builders because of construction simplification and ease of -d u p l i c a t i o n- changed surfboards permanently and to return would require a mountain range of unlearning to regain the forestry awareness to selectivly aquire the "good’’ tree …the threat of questing the understanding of old design parameters to conteporary mindset is to challenge the basis of what the rank and file “I KNOW WHATS GOOD” contemporary surfers. Changeing the contemporary boarrd too much is difficult to get popular acceptance …this is good to be outside the popular agenda makes it possible to get waves to ones self for a few years,unfortunatly the first increment of mainstrream acceptance is the application of alternative forms to popular spots can meet with negative response i.e. the guys that abuse the advantages of the new forms…I had bum vibe input from catching too many waves with a board 3’ shorter and 3’ feet longer but the option of alternative spots and luring other riders out on pedestrian forms to surf alternative spots fills me with glee when these regular boards don’t make the grade and the frustrated riders return to regular spots where the contemporary specialized equiptment shines and gain a new appreciation of alternative boards and alternative spots…defensive comentary is expected and welcomed from mainstream “good board guys” and most interesting when the modifications to mainstream design reflect the way outside the box weird ship design guys like they were never were an influence and wavy Davy from the commrcial navy is the accepted orignator of the ground breaking design change when the underground shaper/dishwasher/ waiter/ car mechanic/ skater /consortium was the real source of the applied creativity that gelled the free thought’‘’‘’…ambrose…the board was so big the paddling crew was increased to multiples upward to four or six that all but one at a time bailedafter catching the wave to allow the solo rider the ability to make the flat spots and extend the ride to its longest potential… hit on the head or opening the door to the possibilities of another dimension beyond accepted limits…HE HE HEE…or maybe HE’E NALU
Gotta admit I love riding big boards… o.k though not as big as you guys (roy etc.) but im a grom and theres nothing better than catching the swell doing a biiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggg turn and backdooring it! there is Nothing better!!! it rulz i love doing this on a big 10ft single fin.
this also makes small waves feel bigger when’ you catch the swell.
Rode a 12’ board in Waikiki; didn’t feel the Duke nearby but what a blast. Not too crowd friendly. Did have to walk back quite a way in order to turn the thing.
In Pacific longboarder mag I saw your letters. Sounds like a fun board your making ‘The Ultimate Glide!’ Have fun shaping and surfing these and other boards.
Waikiki sounds nice. Most twelve footers are flattish with fairly parallel rails which means that you have to get right down the back to find any rail curve. As an ex shortboarder I am lazy about all that walking so I put in seven inches of rocker and dial in heaps of tail curve from halfway up the board. It is thus possible to tail turn the board from the mid point.
