And I believe, to one degree or another, depending on what part of the board you’re talking about, and what kind of waves you intend to ride it in, you want the board to penetrate the water. That’s my point… and that’s why I like to dull all my edges. Don’t get me wrong, I like edges. Just not hard, sharp ones you see on a lot of modern boards. I’ll put a hard, sharp edge around the tail of a board, then dull it. For me, it’s all about flowing with the water instead of skimming across it. Just my preference.
Steve has made a few of these boards. I’ve seen him surf them. He rips. Kinda like Slater on the table.
Steve isn’t trying to say this is THE design for the future. He’s just pushing people’s conceptions of what surfboards are supposed to be. He’s made all kinds of trippy stuff. He’s got boards glassed with chicken wire, two-part boards, boards with metal stringers… He’s one of the most experimental “big-name” guys out there. Mostly just playing around with different ideas… what’s wrong with that?
Bill Stewart once bet someone he could win a contest on an unshaped Clark blank… no shaping, sanding, or glass… just a fin shoved into the foam. He won the bet.
This supports Oneula’s (mine too) - “it’s not what you ride, it’s how you ride” philosophy.
Bill Stewart once bet someone he could win a contest on an unshaped Clark blank… no shaping, sanding, or glass… just a fin shoved into the foam. He won the bet.
This supports Oneula’s (mine too) - “it’s not what you ride, it’s how you ride” philosophy.
wow he has some balls
also i agree with Oneula’s quote
“its not what you take to the waters edge its how you ride it once your in” - some one , some where
We saw one at a contest at Malibu- the guy who rode it (I think it was Steve Walden), rode it well. It was a couple years ago and I don’t remember much else except the one I saw had retractable fins that came out of the rail (parallel to the deck) like a switchblade. Weird.
Steve has made a few of these boards. I’ve seen him surf them. He rips. Kinda like Slater on the table.
Steve isn’t trying to say this is THE design for the future. He’s just pushing people’s conceptions of what surfboards are supposed to be. He’s made all kinds of trippy stuff. He’s got boards glassed with chicken wire, two-part boards, boards with metal stringers… He’s one of the most experimental “big-name” guys out there. Mostly just playing around with different ideas… what’s wrong with that?
Bill Stewart once bet someone he could win a contest on an unshaped Clark blank… no shaping, sanding, or glass… just a fin shoved into the foam. He won the bet.
This supports Oneula’s (mine too) - “it’s not what you ride, it’s how you ride” philosophy.
Anything can be ridden by anybody. Anything can be ripped on by excellent surfers. Guys who think out of the pack, like Tom MOREY used to, for instance, are good for surfing and an inspiration for all of us.
But Silly that might be because he is missing the nose facets, don’t worry it will be slower if he adds them.
Just my 2 cents worth I think that the facets are there to slow the board down so that it stays in the curl. … .
Slowboard noseriding designers have been trying to get marketable slower boards for years, and now, at last, a slowboard design breakthrough which looks stealthy !
Well the tail facets shouldn’t really be a problem as the water isn’t flowing around them, but the nose facets are going to be a useless drag factor any time they are in the water.
Silly if you can get me some dims on that board you showed, I’d be greatful. I want to make me something like a blend between the Walden and that one (less angles).
I’ve been toying with the idea of a board with morey boogie type rails. I did it once then cut them off and put on more traditional looking but still angular “pinched” rails.
This board looks like it has square rails. I bet they work well if the thickness is just right. Kinda what Wegener was sating about the Alaia boards with the square edge on the rail.
I think the walden kind of has similar design concepts that Simmonds had, parallel rails along the middle, slightly pulled in at the tail, and concave bottom.
I saw one of those Walden boards being surfed at a local beach break… in the 2-4 foot beach surf, it seemed to surf more or less like any of the other similar sized boards around it. Not my cup of tea but the guy riding it looked like he was having fun.
well i am going to raise my head over the poppies and say i find it attractive .The french have a word i beleive which translates roughly Ugly Beautiful.I noticed the board a few years ago and what i remember of the design concept it seems to add up on paper.Speed and sharper turning for a longboard re the straight edges.love to try one but it may be out of my class re the control.But if your a special surfer,could be fun
…Breaks and angles in the outline would be critical to have in the right spots and there would be a criticalness for the rider to deal with them that curves don’t demand–curves are more forgiving–there’s a lot bigger place to lever effectively on a curving outline …
Funny, after I made my second post and was driving to work thinking about outlines done in line segments, it occurred to me that I should have written something about how curves are probably much more forgiving of design errors. Not sure about your point re rider errors - requires more brain flagellation. The other half of my thought was that there is probably some progressive relationship between the number of segments (which bears on segment lengths) and how critical some of those aspects are. Walden hasn’t used many segments here…
I have to agree with Balsa. That is a poor design concept. If your good you can surf almost anything and make it look good. Walden and Rex are just trying to be revolutionary and failing at it…miserably.
What exactly are they failing at? Steve Walden has made tens of thousands of boards. Most of them are “normal”. So he’s made a few oddballs. He’s just mixing it up, and keeping himself entertained and educated.
When I invented toys for Mattel, Hasbro, and a bunch of other toy companies my motto was “there is no such thing as a bad idea… some are just better than others”. Being creative requires that you think that way. Otherwise… you kill creativity. You end up in a box with six walls, and you never look to see what’s outside.
Without shapers trying different stuff (regardless of how goofy it may seem), all surfboards would be the same (thruster), and we would have been totally screwed when Clark shut down.
For “free thinkers”, surfers are one of the most conservative and slow to change groups around.
