This is my view (only) and something totally out of Sydney (OZ)… but anyone who isn’t riding a Thruster in 2004 is not keeping pace with the dynamic that’s happening in Australian surfboarding in the 21st Century. US surfboarding culture has developed along its own lines and has not necessarily followed the Thruster Concept (Simon Ando). Like the US is miles away from Narrabeen… and that’s all cool. But, for what it’s worth, Thrusters allow the most drive and manoevreability in ALL conditions that the average surfer will experience… and for every wave type that a Professional Surfer will experience also… whether they be a Kelly Slater, Andy Irons or Simon Farrer…or Nov…or Colman…or Gallagher…or perhaps, you. Please keep your eyes open and you can be your own judge. Oh… no offense but OZ still leads the surf world!
thank god for leaders …I for one am glad that all those who wish to be led are well accomodated…and as australia is confident in this pursuit is laudable and worthy of praise and support…the roots of australian aquatic organization has set the tone for the leader - follower relationship… american or if you will western american culture spawned a surf culture based on individual effort and self reliance , a definite drawback in a club culture…be that as it may…all surf cultural roads may lead to london…Jack London and his spirit of adventure captured the western american Imagination at a time of cultural depravity and desire to attatch itself to the dreamlike alternative that hawaiian surfing provided and still provides …this combined with the westward movement of the american culture makes the quest for things pan pacific and polynesian a logical step in our progressing evolution…thrusters…Master Simon Anderson…Kelly Slater World Champion,australian rules surfing… bravo… as the parade is led down the boulevards to the tune of Waltzing Matilda… be confident that out in the water there are a few who do not wish to believe in heat sheets scores and points and ratings and autographs and pictures and and and and andandand…but just love the ocean and the water and like minded souls who owe their state of mind to a group of named and unnamed hawaiian beachboys who guilessly shared their love and interdependence with the ocean and its moods with so many lost malahini souls in search of a center of their universe …In all respect that center is in the hearts of all who surf and the song that plays ,to those who have heard ,is not waltzing matilda…but : WAI KI KI …at night when shadows are falling , I hear your rolling surf calling , calling and calling to me * … ambrose…I am glad I surf …and so is my mom…she is 80 years old and cherrishes her surfing memories and cheers herself up by listening to the beach boys when she is down …a true California girl 3-5 generation … one of her great great great? grandfathers, for the embarrassed Cornwallis, surrendered the British general’s sword to General George Washington… Australia 's tradition of Tethered independence is well illustrted by their alternative breaking of ties with England and this comparitively sets the tone for the "maverick "(an un branded animal on the free range of the amrican west) american attitude…* try listen to George Helm’s haunting rendition…
thrusters do not glide
I for one could give a rats ass what competive surfing is doing. To me surfing is my lifestyle, not a sport. Single fin, fish, thruster, mat, sponge, or my body, makes no difference if I get to be in the ocean.
Ambrose, I’ve cut and pasted your words onto something that hangs on my wall in my office. Thank you (once again) for saying it so well. (And, thrusters will glide when bricks swim.)
i agree with everyone …all of the above comments are relevant in my life … i compete and endorse competition ,for the fact it drives development of equipment ,i surf because i love it ,its me and the ocean … regards BERT
Good Lord! I guess there will always be people who just don’t get it. Personal expression, preference and attitude are the most important aspects of the lifestyle of surfing. If you don’t have these aspects your living in a generic world generated by the full color pictures in the magazine. Some of these guys come across like they wouldn’t step in the water if they didn’t have thier “super power thruster”. I know guys who could ride a 2x4 and still have a great session. Come on fools wake up get your head out of the magazine and go surfing for once in your life. I’m willing to bet alot of these guys never been on a longboard and glided, or experienced a nice drawn out turn on a single fin. How about surfing with the wave instead of on top of it? When you open your eyes you’ll see that the guys you’ve been surfing with at your homebreak since you were a kid are the true inspired surfers… cause they love to do it. http://www.soulsurfertv.com
seems i just read an article on the “superbank” and according to Rabbit, the best guy out there, who gets the deepest tubes is a kid who rides single fins, full outlined ones at that…
I think the saying going like this," You paint on your canvas and I’ll paint on mine." Mike
yes Australia does lead the surf world!!!------your world. Seems to me You need to open your mind —a smidgen -----------------peace,love incense,light shows. bells and beads.
I think it was his hollowness, P. Jensen, who said that “If you surf a thruster you surf the board, and if you surf a single you surf the wave”.
Condolences ~ to one with just a three finned board: Neither leader nor follower, simply maritime, I scope the water constantly ~ fish mornings, surf afternoon’s alternately evenings are devoted to design. Among tool and foils I find no score. And so I’m off again to bathe ~ shoot that best, less ridden wave. Mahalo, Rich
dam hippies…that single fin comment was genius …i kinda got a soft spot for that hippy mentality …i was raised by one… man ,i hope i dont say anything to offensive to swaylockian’s ,wouldnt want to get tackled by all you guys
I hope Yanks dont choke on Bruce Hs fine words! Ill repeat them: "Anyone who isn't riding a Thruster in 2004 is not keeping pace with the dynamic that's happening in Australian surfboarding in the 21st Century! US surfboarding culture has developed along its own lines..that's all cool. Keep your eyes open and dont fall asleep! No offense but OZ still leads the surf world!" How many times does history repeat itself? You old dusty blokes may try to remember John Witzigs famous post-1966 World titles manifesto "Were tops now!" “A plastic drinking straw in sterile paper protective wrapper? A 75c hamburger? A carton of pasteurized homogenized castrated imitation milk? Sure! Left hand drive $50 Buick. Fall out shelter-America. Palm trees (plastic?) freeway highway byway anyway, there’s very good surf in Hawaii. There’s December Sunset with Hynson(,) Grigg, Diffenderfer, Dowing. Big motha Wiamea. Aipa Doyle Miller and Jackie good-vibes. The Duke with Jock - hot Jock. Beee-ootiful Haliewa, 60 guys out, or in, or somewhere. And there’s Barry and Garry land. And there’s an $11 flight to Kaanapali, Maui, another kind of America. America? It must be Plastic drinking straws are a bust. Maui …reeking of “the real islands”. Green, high mountains, green deep valleys, pineapples, slow, rainy, hot, sunny. Lahaina’s the town. Old whaling port, and it really says so. Docks, harbour, reefs, shanties, bars, dens, pits, plenty of slow smiles. A few tourists - mainly nights. Beee-ootiful town calls beautiful people - young people from U.S. east and west coasts are making changes there, making their peace there, making their love there. Spiritual centre. Christ centre. Lahaina-mother Maui’s third eye. Everyone surfs - or knows what surfing’s doing. Several small board shops - Thurston’s, Buddy Boy’s and Brewer’s. Maybe Willie’s. Strawberry Fields kind of. Boards are great. Small shops have the freedom to be great. They can change fast. These shops are one place where its really happening. R. B, Richard Brewer. The wheel of U.S. board design - pintail man. Does his thing once or twice or thrice a week at Buddy Boy’s. R. B. Dick is feeling things now - Vees, tuned fins, lack of length. Why? Herein lies a story. Up the coast a bit is Honolua Bay. Wow!! It’s just a little cool-green of course, thick, trees very trippy. Buddy Boy’s Bay. Slow bouncy drive, cruise to a halt. Silence till a set comes through. Mmm. Wall’s good. Its come up a few feet! Aaaagh! Did you see that curl? That’s a tube right there. Lets get into those Mothers! Paddle off the ramp through brown rainwater for 100 yards, moving past the inside dribblies now. Looking up - another set hitting outside - Wow. That’s bigger than it looked in there - must be six feet. Faster paddling. Move past the bowl. Aaaagh!! That’s a cathedral! Six feet high - moving fast, throwing hard and perfect - out - arching curving down. … keerrack!! whoomfff. Water’s so clear! Green flat rock. Glassy bay. This take- off looks tight. Deep water onto a ledge - in front of a cliff with a just cave. Just cave? Bring good karma with you …no pukas, bad karma? …Well …Honolua breaks boards as well as perfectly. Set. Visible a half-mile out, swinging on those outside reefs. Runs wide. … then in! Wow. This thing is stacking up! Might just move out a little more! Take the second one I guess. First one looks mighty good! About 6 feet. Aah … let it go. Ulp! That’s got to be eight feet!! Wooo!! Bowling slightly even here on the take-off! Now. …easy. … two paddles. …lift-off! Deerop!! … down into that curve. …bring it up on edge. …GET IT ON!! Thhrrust! Move it out! Up. Under. Curl. Coming over! Right over! (that noise) Inside! (that feel) A GIANT GREEN CATHEDRAL AND I AM THERE. Positive-Negative Pow!! Infinity. Curl just going further ahead of me, but it’s right! This situation is flawless. Now only water visible sky gone - can’t see out but who needs to because time is gone. Seconds? Minutes? A lifetime. Crystals. Soundsmells. Tastefeels. Forever. Now. The door is open. The wave laughs, board breathes, sun smiles, Cruise out into … peace … Good Honolua is a tube from take off to calm centre. This day Nat and I had our deep Vees going. Ted S. had his 8’9” pintail in one piece till it was two pieces. Buddy Boy was visiting Him on most rides - in spite of his overlong machine. George did It quite often. … Paule made It. Six hours at six to eight feet. Only a few there. Coupla cameras, coupla shapers–one was R. B. Dick was digging the whole thing. Those Vees - pulling turns in the most tight spots, gaining speed in those turns, thrusting out of them. Making waves, making them tighter. Pintails were beautiful - in the fall line. Magical Mystery Tours. But the U.S. - going round, up, thru- thrusting!! YOU got the speed. YOU went where you wanted - when you wanted. Said R. B. when asked - “They work.” Dick Brewer went to his groovy tin shed and made a beautiful pintail - ‘V’ bottom. Just a basic change of design - no “yippee-we did it first” because who is “we”? We are all brothers ‘V’ is one change - many many more coming up from many many people - so names don’t matter. Minimum drag and high rise tails, flex tails, interchangeable flex tails, false bottoms, keels rather than skegs, bat ray bottoms - it’s all happen\ing. So dig it, brother." Bob McTavish - Surf International magazine February - March 1968 A note to would-be American “innovators”, please read that line again: “Minimum drag and high rise tails, flex tails, interchangeable flex tails, false bottoms, keels rather than skegs, bat ray bottoms - it’s all happening.” Yanks need to comprehend it`s all been done before! Most likely before you were born! Doesnt that sound familiar to some of Swaylocks recent furious “debates”? How many times does history repeat itself? Ted Spencer, Little Red, Lahina, Maui, December 1967. Photograph by John Witzig http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1967o0101mctavish_howto_sw.html 
I think Bruce H rides a fat penguin drew
What if you were the best in the world and nobody else gave a shit. Would you still be number one?
Come on man, do you really believe that? Anyone riding only a thruster in 2004 is living in the 80s.
riding only one kind of board is like painting a picture with only one color.
It doesn’t really matter what the Aussies say or what the Yanks say and certainly not what the judges say… it’s what you feel here (fist to chest) or here (grabs crotch) or here (finger to temple) when you get that perfect wave in the perfect spot riding your favorite board.