"water isn't that smart"

So I was at the coffee shop this mornin and ran into a kid that happens to be a very good surfer…proffesional at/near the top of his respective class, infact. While we were talking about my latest board I made the comment that it has some very unique features and I am not sure if it will work. Thats when he said " water isn’t that smart…they all work". Thought that a funny and ironic statement.

He’s correct. They all do work, It’s a matter of degree.

That statement combined with the Pauls toy reference is why so many people here making their own boards are having so much fun!

Yo ~

All boards work differently, would be how I’d say it.

When you as the plumber what faucet you want and he answers,

“they all work.” is that the advice your looking for?

Seems the fast way out of addressing what’s really going on to me.

As far as putting some kind of intelligence on how water works it has many moods, being life-source-fluid it mighty amazing stuff and even if it doesn’t think it’s probably the subject of more metaphorical statements than any substance.

Wet Thoughts:

minnows in the turning tide

boils spinning off our tails,

changing currents we must ride

‘till our fins and bodies flail.

Back to work, Rich

Bruce Lee wanted to be like water.

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Bruce Lee wanted to be like water.

be the water energy, not the fire…

And all boards work great in head high, glass conditions.

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Seems the fast way out of addressing what’s really going on to me.

Not at all…

His point, atleast the way I took it, was to just be stoked on whatever you’re riding and the water doesnt care. I dug the statement because it lacked any form of arrogance. The fact is, all the faucets do work and perhaps its important that we realize just that, and be less concerned with the faucets performance. Do you just want a drink of water or does the faucet have to give the drink in some special way? i.e…is the concern with perfect performance of a board killing the pure joy of just paddling out and the gift of sliding in? Yeah, I know, to each his own…thats cool by me. All in all He was just being cool and trying to alleviate my apprehesion about the boards performance. He was reminding me to what its all about…the Stoke.

Water is not that smart, that is a great statment it going along with my car is dumb, and guns don’t kill people. We on the other hand should be smart, we have to read the water and ask our board to do certian things if the board does not do what we ask in a timely matter it is not the water that is dumb, it maybe the surfer or it maybe the board. When the surfer is one with the board it is only he that makes the dumb move not the water. I was out the other day and was asking my board to do things that it could very easily do but I was not at the top of my game that day, the water was doing a very good job of doing what it does best the board was working great the surfer was dumb that day. We/I hope that these days do not happen very often, but as you get older and in less then the best of shape dumb days seem to come more often. Water is very smart it knows that it must get hard at 32F and turn to gas at 212F and stay liqued in between the two, boards are dumb they can only do what they are told to do they are like hand tools some do it better and faster then others, surfers on the other hand can go eather way.

i think water is very smart . . .

it can exist in three forms all with enique properties . . .

its a solvent and necessary component for life.

its effect on human civilization is close to countless.

and surfable waves require it . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water

But it is really pretty funny if you can laugh. Let your guard down about “design” forum and maybe think “Caddyshack” or something along those lines. “Water isn’t that smart” is kinda funny. Has water ever SAID something intellectual to you? Yeah, I know, in a design type of way it has. In this case, just funny. HAHAHA HA HA HA

That is hilarious! I really like that statement, 'cause it is so true.

In the spirit of this quote, I post a video that demonstrates how not smart water is, and also puts to bed the many assertions that ____________ “could surf a door.” This film features Taj Burrow, Rob Machado, and Kelly Slater surfing a door, a toboggan, and a snowboard, among other things. I would argue that these things are poorly designed to serve as surfcraft. However, “the water isn’t that smart,” and so they work given these fellows talent. Enjoy.

Excerpt from Fair Bits. Most of the rest of the movie is pretty damn funny, and features some good surfing of other, more traditional surfcraft.

–Ben

OK the faucet analogy is directed toward functionality.

There are thousands of different types of them. some are sound, some are junk. Surfboards are much the same. Some will stand the test of time, give long service, surf beautifully and look the part. Some are mostly filigree and fall apart rapidly just like some faucets. You don’t put poorly engineered faucet in a commercial setting and you don’t put a super flat, lightly glassed board out a double overhead Sunset.

It’s not some much about how tricked out something is as how well it functions. The water is the equalizing factor in the picture. It’s going to work things over and put everything to the test. Though to say, “They all work.” will always be a true statement. accessing things is a very critical part of the formulating process which the statement completely skirts.

I access fins constantly, they all work ~ “differently!” so in the end application to a specific performance picture is the challenge and the process. I’ve heard several very high level shapers say, “You have to be water when you’re shaping.” I’ll be working on that one as long as I’m alive.

So you ask a shaper about making you a custom board and he says to you, “They all work.” Would you be inclined to have him build one for you?

To me, with all it’s moods water has as much of an emotional nature as anything else. yet it’s to be great at keeping the cycle of life in motion. Indeed, in it’s own way it characterizes a mysterious divine intelligence.

Good Waves, Rich

I thought of the faucet with the turbine generating electricity

every time yoou turn it on…

municipal water systems

generating energy

now how smart is smart?

Or how much work is work?

…ambrose…

hi rich

minnow time of year is here

in the northern hemisphere

seein’ em in my town too

little boats in the river

hookin fry.

Aquafiend, I’ve believed that ever since I made the Peanut. I thought it might be great…might be terrible…but in the end, its just another surfboard.

However, on the topic of water’s intellect…

All life came out of the ocean, people say. But wait, maybe water created all life. On purpose, like, just as a means of transporting itself around. At first it was simple - just drink here, pee there. But water kept making more & more complicated creatures, until it finally came up with humans who would build vast networks of pipes, pumps, ice machines, and tanker trucks to transport water farther & faster than ever before.

-Paraphrased from Tom Robbins

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go complete my transport of some water approximately 7 miles from where I picked it up. In the process, I have subtracted some dissolved caffeine and added some dissolved salts, but the water’s essentially the same :slight_smile:

From the American philosopher Jimmie Dale Gilmore:

Thirst is not the answer, oceans come and go

I loved her seven seas worth, Lord I loved her so

But she let me down so easy, one slow drop at a time

I would’ve killed myself but it made no sense

Committing suicide in self defense

But I lost everything I brought her

When she said babe, you’re just a wave, you’re not the water

Centuries ago we were living on the gold coast

She was still in love with a long, gone, cold ghost

I was only trying to turn back the tide of her tears

I felt like an endless ocean, rolling through the fog

Full emotion drifting like a weather beaten log

I even thought that I out-thought her

Till she said babe, you’re just a wave, you’re not the water

I said someday we’ll love again, then you’ll know the score

I’ve taught you everything I know and maybe even more

That’s true she said, more than you ever will

I’ve said I’ve been your raging river, precious African queen

I’ve shown you everything that I’ve ever seen

But she knew more than I had taught her

When she said babe, you’re just a wave, you’re not the water

Well I followed her far and wide with all of my will

Water on the move, you know it never stands still

And I moved every muscle, just to prove it can be done

Then up some old sad river, where snow white lilies float

I came to her for mercy, but I hardly rocked the boat

She seemed surprised that I have caught her

But she said babe, you’re just a wave, you’re not the water

She said babe, you’re just a wave, you’re not the water

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So you ask a shaper about making you a custom board and he says to you, “They all work.” Would you be inclined to have him build one for you?

Probably not. Depends on who said shaper is. It would be kinda cool though if surfing was as free as it is sometimes portrayed and the shaper was a mystic who could lay hands on you and somehow, mysteriously, spiritually, magically, know what your life called for in a board and give you his gift to guide you in your pilgrimage:-)

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So you ask a shaper about making you a custom board and he says to you, “They all work.” Would you be inclined to have him build one for you?

Probably not

All boards do work…some better than others…but very few work not at all if physically sound…

Just watched a video featuring a bodysurfer doing 360’s…yes…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pWNg6FxApg

That is soooooooo sweet Nels. Kinda makes me wonder why we spend so much time trying to perfect/master a board that keeps us off the water.