…what will be the “state of the art” surfboard…???..
And twenty years…???..
The problem is that the people making and using boards change all the time so in 20 years quads will be almost forgotten and theyll be reinvented as cutting edge .
The big manufacturers have a vested interest in keeping income and profits steady so there will be no major changes in design like there was in the 60 70 80’s.
I beg to differ. The next major design change is coming in less than 2 years - mark my words.
The “next big thing” will come from going back in history and finishing the development of all those great designs that have been discarded over the years to make way for the “next big thing” …
Process: Lots more automation, higher costs, and very few choices of brand.
Design: In general, ease of use and greater accessibility, so more dumb asses in the water. Includes flat-water paddling, wave pools, real waves, everywhere conceivable in the world.
The mainstream has been on track in both areas for the previous 20 years towards this. Good thing we’re exceptions here and make our own boards and futures.
**haa’ **
can tell what it will be in aus
citys full of wak jobs from middle east’’ what ausies are left will be working the croping farms for the china man
no dole for the surfbums
empty breaks no one to use them east coast will resemble pakistan
sorry but our political masters have sold us out haaaa’’
** cheers huie
**
**
**
In 10 years " state of the art’ will still be whatever Slater is riding.
Boards are already 99% perfect, theyve been through decades of refinement, maybe theyll be like modern cars where the shapes are all the same but we can order different coloured velour for the interior ?
They cant get any lighter or stronger without costs going up and makers need to embrace the theory of “planned obsolescence” where boards are designed to break so customers come back and buy another… this whole " bulletproof and weightless" thing is a crock.
Thank Christ for Sways or the world would be doomed to ride 6’2" X 18 1/4 pupe forever.
After over forty years in the biz…granted, that’s nothing compared to some here… I tend to agree with Pete.
Though… surfing has had its waves of popularity, waxed and waned. I’m wondering if ‘the next big thing’ will be something else entirely and surfing will be a fringe activity again. Kinda like windsurfing - it got big, then people discovered it wasn’t that easy after all. Garages have lots of dusty windsurfers in 'em and now you see all these roto-molded plastic kayaks on top of the Volvos and VWs.
Those are easy. They’re fairly cheap, you sit on your fat ass in 'em and use relatively few muscles to move said fat ass around on the water. They are clogging up my marsh, bouncing around the mud at low tide.
So - the next big thing? Figure out something with mediocre performance and minimal effort and skill needed to give the feel of actually doing something adventurous when it’s not, far from it. You’ll get disgustingly rich…
doc…I liked being out on the fringe…
depends on whether we can get in the water in 20 years. chances are we’d be risking all types of infections. the biggest advancements will come in the form of preserving our ecosystem. if we don’t do that surfing will be the least of our worries.
Hmmmm…I m thinking redwood and then maybe balsa.
In my opinion surfboards have not really changed very much at all over the years , they still look very much like they always have and they are constructed very similar to the way they have always been constructed, sure they use different some different materials but they are also still making boards out of the original material , wood . and in my opinion if you are lucky enuf to have a modern shape solid balsa board to surf you may not want anything else . Hollow boards are not new , coposition boards are not new , pop outs are not new , fins are not new be it single or multiple , motorized is not new , SUP are not new , wind surfing is not new . In ten years and in twenty years surfboards will still look like surfboards , some will be made from materials that we have not yet heard of , I suspect there will be a form of propulsion , which may help to relieve the overcrowding in the shore breaks because it may enable folk to surf offshore or in places that are too far to paddle to . I believe the vast majority of boards will be mass produced be it in the usa or overseas …BUT there will be a small but significant market of all handmade surfboards using traditional materials (wood) or a combination of traditional and new enviromentally friendly materials made by skilled master surfboard builders that only make boards to order and get paid a lot of money for their talents , in some countries like Japan hand made goods , made by skilled mastercraftsmen are revered and can still earn a good living yet only produce a very limited amount of product , it has already started here in the states ask Skip Fry to build you a board and see what it costs ask Ben Aipa to build you a board or any of several other famous skiilled master surfboard builders and you will find the prices are way up there , and so it should be , there are only so many great boards left in those old hands , even if you make your own boards or perhaps because you make your own boards , who would not like a custom board made to your spec by one of the great world class shapers still left ? And then surf it , dont hang it on the wall thats not what it was made for , whats wrong with paying a fair price something not mass produced that performes like something that is not mass produced and feels like or has that certain something that you cannot get from something that is mass produced . Anyhow I hope that is the way it will go and I hope to be around to see it .
Will not be a watersports life style here in West Oz, ran out of town by the sharks!
If you believe all the hype about fabbing (I don’t), then you’ll be able to spec your board and print it out at your local print shop. of course, you will be able to choose between having a live online mastershaper help you with your design or just a normal automated helper application.
Install solar power high speed thrust motors, pop a couple of antibiotics, and off you go on your finless wonder.
no more hand shapers, the game is up, all machine......... still will be backyarders and underground shapers that go feral, these mysterious people will only be known in the local area ( there names may never be mentioned in a shop if you want to buy something cause your price will go up) cause they cant compete and relise if they try they will go more bust than they already are. Only a handful of surfers will buy from them, being that they are mysterious people from a thrown back past, thereby keeping the shapers damaged goods for any chance of financial gain, most surfers will only buy brand boards from the marketing and image people that the magazines spruke and believe they got a great board for them.
OH, HANG ON, YOUR ASKING ABOUT 10 YEARS FROM NOW, NOT TODAY, SORRY, i GOT CONFUSED.
…in the year 2525 ?..go ask Zager& Evans.
…seriously though , I can see a return to the appreciation of a more rustic and wholesome existance , and less appreciation of things so detached from humanity…to fill a need is one thing ,but to satisfy it is something else alltogether…
- Young savvy surfing consumers have already been heard dismissing 'hand shapes' as inferior.
- The 3rd generation removed from WWII parents will have completely separated from the racist 'patriotism' that fuels Anti-Asian sentiment.
- Computerized shaping machine owners already offer custom cutting services for those who can't find what they want off the rack.
The writing has been on the wall for several years and is only getting clearer... OUTSOURCED IMPORTS. It's more and more that way for virtually EVERYTHING we buy.
I'd be very surprised if over 90% of the market hasn't accepted ready-made off-the-rack shapes in less than 10 years. The major player (Cobra/Surftech) has a large number of proven models (from a large number of proven designers) that have generally been accepted not only by retailers but more importantly by consumers.
Custom surfboards will be about as common as custom skis or tennis rackets today, I.E. not very. Anyone checked shop inventories lately?
in ten years everyone will be riding red kneeboards. Nothing else.
I tend to agree, though after peddling boards from major ‘custom’ companies like Weber, G&S and so from back in the '70s until a few years ago, I’d have no trouble saying that more than 90% of board sales back then and now were and are ‘off the board rack’ and the major decision for the buyer was ‘what color do I want?’. Production shapes always dominated. Custom orders were the exception rather than the rule, most of which were custom color choices.
Then again… more than 90% of surfers probably should have off the rack boards. No matter what they might tell you, they really are not that good at it. Nor do they know what they oughtta have, they just think they should have the latest, hottest thing. Sheeple.
Custom boards, made to the specs of the buyer, well…
Friend of mine was a very good surfer, still is. Did a lot of contests and did them well, surfed all over the world in small and large stuff. Still does. Still surfs better than most anybody in the water on his better days. And he had and has the money to indulge himself on boards and travel. Let’s say he’s got more than 40 years in by now, maybe 50.
And one time he and I were having a couple of pops and he said something that I’ve taken to heart.
“John”, he said, “Every time I order a board, spec out the length, the width, the rocker, the rails, everything…the board sucks. And when I tell the ( presumably skilled ) shaper this is where I surf, in this kind of waves, this kind of style and my height and weight and age, it works really well” …or presumably he’d find another shaper.
“So,” he said, “I’ve concluded I know nothing about shaping and should leave it to those who do”.
And this is from a pretty smart guy, one who managed to work part time and still build that into a multi-million dollar company operating in several US states and internationally, and got a lot of water time in while doing all that.
And having seen how well most of the custom orders by consumer would-be board designers didn’t work…including me… I can’t fault his reasoning a bit. Except for a few exceptional people…and I’m not one of 'em… off-the rack is what surfers should have.
On a parallel note, Paul Jensen pointed out that
But…as I noted above, 90% buy off the rack, always have. To swipe a signature quote here, for most of 'em surfing really is two turns and a wipeout and not a helluva lot more. Always has been.
And anybody with a planer, access to materials and an ego can set themselves up as a surfboard manufacturer. Compare/contrast that to this: http://www.webb-institute.edu/curriculum.html - the undergraduate core curriculum at a well respected school of Naval Architecture/Marine Engineering. http://www.webb-institute.edu/mathematics.html is the fuller descriptions of the maths involved. It’s kinda fierce.
This is what it takes to be entry level, working at the bottom. NOT lead dog, entry level. Not set up your own design office or boatyard or shipyard, that’s way more advanced.
There’s no standards in surfboard design, no metrics of performance or lack thereof. It’s more like ‘Dude, this board rocks’ from a semi-literate pro contest rider as a standard of performance for the masses.
As I also made a living as a boatbuilder and studied Naval Architecture/Marine Engineering, I think I’m qualified to say that you’d get away with that for about twenty minutes in the boat world.
Oh, and surfboards are planing hulls operating in breaking waves, at lots of different angles of attack, with gravity as the sole power source, and on nothing like the relatively flat water most boats and ships operate in. Steered and trimmed by the weight shift of the operator/cargo. So, real surfcraft design is maybe a couple orders of magnitude more complex.
Yet there’s no tank testing of various shapes in controlled conditions, few if any real numbers have been generated as to real performance. As Paul said above, it’s a few (trial and error) ideas from 10-30 years ago that dominate, however well they do or don’t work. Again, make perfomance claims in the boat world without those and you’d be laughed out of the room in a very few minutes. ‘Dude, this boat rocks’ don’t cut it.
What, me, cynical? Why would you think that?
On a completely different note -
Let’s see what becomes of that.
doc…
the state of the art
will be so artfully done
and the pedestrian pablum
will be acutly seperate.
surfing sanctuaries will be devoid of
discount drool and fine crafted
hand made hand paddled
boards will be cherished
and revered by an informed few.
the spectrum of said designs will
be high minded and capable
of riding many to a wave.
the mob ethic will persist
and contested venues will be
artificial spots tailored to
photo op conciousness.
all the guys riding "kelly’
boards will ride kelly boards
til they die,lead by the ring
in their purchase power nose.
Developments will be
on the news and introduced
with fanfare like they were
never before-availiable/existant.
the best surfers will be out on the body
on the paipo,finless ,riding the nose
taking off backdoor and everyone
will have a smile to share,or go home
to the chair and trodes .
…ambrose…
most surfers will never get wet
most builders will never surf.