In the latest Surfer`s Journal there’s a picture of a board shaped by Geoff Goulden, “Camel.” He calls it the “best tube-riding board ever.” He rode it at God’s Left, Supersuck, G Land, Padang, and One Palm Point - always leashless, for 6 months, never lost it. This is the freakiest board I’ve ever seen, and it shows how crazy a board can get when it’s designed for only one thing: a long left barrel. It has 4 fins. The “middle” fin is adjustable in a Bahne type fin box. It is situated about an inch to the right of the stringer (looking at the bottom of the board, nose up). From the angle of the photo you can’t see how big the fin is, but it’s clearly the biggest fin in the board. The right (or inside since it’s only ridden on lefts) side fin looks to be about 2" tall (but it’s hard to tell in the photo) and about 6" long. On the left side of the board there’s two fins. One appears to be a mirror image of the right side fin. The other one is a few inches forward of it and is a half moon shape, about 2" tall. The right side of the tail is sorta round or maybe squashed shaped. The left side of the tail is “twice as wide” and has a harder corner. You can’t see the nose in the photo, but it looks like it’s probably pointy. Truly a “one trick pony” of a board? Long left barrels are a pretty good trick to master. Anyway, I just was really blown away by this board. Not too useful for us normals who don’t ride pefect barrels everyday, but interesting nonetheless.
Only if you’re going left. [smile] Rob Olliges
This is one example of how easy it is to get some things misconstrued. He said he never wore a leash or leg rope but didn’t say he never lost his board. The board has battle scares.