It may cost less and may be better for the enviorment but does it really > work the same? My point is, is it worth it to lose performance for > lightness and durability. Dont get me wrong these factory pressed board > are a great concept, the use of divinycel is great for preventing pressure > dings. I just believe they should be using this technology in a different > manner. EPS foam…get out of here. I want a board I can lean into and not > worry about it shooting out from underneath me b/c it is way too light. > Epoxy boards just dont have enough flex underneath for me. The Corporate > world is trying to mold the way a surfboard is made after the way a > windsurfer is made. We have to remember we dont have to have the lightest > possible board. A wave will produce a hundred times more power than wind. > I think the way we are going now is good. I just dont feel right if I dont > have a hand shaped board under my feet from the local guy who surfs my > break. Sure there could be some refinments, but we dont need a full > overhaul. I think DHP may be the next best thing. These new adjustable > fins will be great. Just hang in there and dont give in to the radical > changes that the corporate world wants the surfing industry to make. The > proof is in the pudding. The boards you guys are making now work better > than any surftech, bic, tuflite, soft top i have ever ridden. Another > point is I work in a local shop that sells these boards and time after > time I have kids coming in to order a custom board but cant b/c they do > not do them. I called the reps up and they said the only thing they could > do was maybe do a special color scheme but that would take up to 6 months. > These same kids then go and order from a local shaper…good for > them…these corporate guys are slowly hanging themselves.>>> Klein Man GO! Thats right so on, Klein!! What we reaching for in our better surfing is highness performance and not the ecology of planets! To be true, if a one man wants really to make very bold statement in favor of the earths nature, then he must then ride bodysurf and no flippers or the rubber wetsuit. No the plastic leash. All over naked as in ancient days. No way pollute then!! Tell to them that they do BIG part to save planet for everyone! ould be the good thing for we who surf, for what person is worried when naked bodysurfer man (or the naked women bodysurfs, better to think that one!) dropping in on any of you waves! Teach them to remember, almost every equipment for the surfing way is very evil the environment, the cloth of fiberglass, the resins of chemicals, dust of polyurethane foams, the taping masks, and so it goes on. So teach them to save the earth, bodysurf the naked ancient way without neoprene suit and plastic flippers and no leash. When cold no crowds. Earth problems solved. No handguns either allowed! Good rules for surfers. My wave! Bonta
Computers. A lot of gurus can be found at the intersection of computers > and surfing. Shaping machines, CAD surfboard design, e-surf forcasts, > online surfshops. None of these were in existance 30… 20… 15(???) > years ago. All have had a major impact on the mainstream.>>> Women. This isn’t a breakthrough in design but a breakthrough in the > mentality of surfing. Women have always had their place in the world of > surfing but today we see women towing into giant waves, launching airs, > etc. I consider these people to be gurus. I think the mainstream is just > beginning to recognize the effect that women have had on surfing. We’ll > begin to see things from a whole new perspective as more women become > involved with design.>>> Imagination. The guy who’s happy surfing his local break doesn’t need some > guru to usher in a new design breakthrough. It’s the people who want to > launch extended gliding airs, tow into 100’ waves, ride inside of waves > instead of on top of them. This is where the radical changes will come > from. When imagination and physical ability go beyond the capabilities of > the equipment, it’s time for a new tool. This is the full trueness of the writing! If surfing is the revolution of circle, beware that one go around and around until end is beginning, become dizzy, bite own ass and imagine new great discovery has been found. No the way. Innovation of the trueness is for sure look the circular one way but turn sideways and more than like spiral going upward to around and around. No ass bite there. No confusion were end look as beginning! GO! Women more in surfing! Teach the ancient way to save planet and bodysurf as naked. Chasing a women is true revolution around and around. Bite the women probably. A man never get grip on understanding. Chase. Save the planet with more women teach to surfing ancient way! Special ideas of the few is dangerous. Shared is better. Knowledge is the power. Better to share the ancient way of saving earth with the womens naked bodysurfers. No wetsuit. No handgun. No bookie board. No leash. All natural is the way. My wave!
Again I post my original query, “Where have all the gurus gone?” Part 2: Probably either to work at a steady job outside of surfing, or to the boneyard…
But seriously…there needs to be leaders with vision. Someone mentioned Joel Tudor in response to Part 2 here. Suppose he decided to create/refine/whatever a 7’6" board and companion fin (s) of some design which would allow him the short thruster carve, single-fin trim, noseriding, and durability? And say he decided to take it on the WQS to see if he could quality for the WCT, and then maybe do well there (if the judging would allow)? Who is to say there couldn’t be one board design that everyone could find something to like about? It wouldn’t be catastrophic for the industry - say it was a board for 40/60 percent of the time. Someone needs to have the vision, resources, and huevos to take the steps. Right now too many would seem to be chasing dollar signs. Like the rest of us, to one degree or another.
All the changes we’ve seen, all the innovations- the change that would be the sweetest would be a change in behavior and attitude. it is hard to have a session with a crowd and not have an experience of greedy behavior or hassles around you.If surfing doesn’t make you a better person then maybe you aren’t doing it right. I see kids coming up here in santa cruz learning the worst of their elder’s ways. Eastside,westside,shortboard,longboard, boogieboard-We all love the same thing. Are surfers so blind that they think it is cool to be an asshole? I think it is more important to be a good person than a good surfer and if you are both-better still. After someone good dies in our community(Jay,Beth, Rita,Pat…)surfers talk the aloha way but seem to forget it after a few weeks. I get along with most everyone and feel funny about chanting down my “friends” but can’t we all get along.Your wave.
when someone comes up with a good dual direction type board its gonna change a lot i think, at least in performance type surfing. i always flash back on 5th and 6th grade at marina skatepark and the level of skating and imagine if someone showed up who skated like a modern day tony hawk. i guess you have to define what progression means. its not noseriding i know that, except maybe if you’re doing it in the barrel at mavs or something. maybe a noseride floater… anyway…skating had to die a death somewhat to come back in a new way. no parks and ramps meant kids had to take to the streets and developed a new way of riding, and then, new equipment. can’t see surfing dieing out soon, but its definitely gonna require a visionary athlete to demand the equipment to realize his needs.
Does anyone have any experience with the Swizzle boards that Tom Morey is now marketing? Looking at the ad in Longboarder magazine it sounds like there has been a continuation of Mr.Morey’s progressive thinking and use of new materials. I think that his history of this type of thinking and experimenting makes him a true guru in the history of surfing. Jon
If you ask me, progression in surfing is just like progression in anything else. Its in the form of a plateau. There will be flat periods where nothing really goes on. Then, all of a sudden its going to smack us in the face. I was just putting myself in the place of the very first man to stand up and ride a wave. Maybe he was sitting in his dugout canoe, coming home from a long day of fishing, and as the wave picked him up, maybe he just stood up to stretch his legs, and then it hit him “Man… This is fun”. The way I see it, we are blind to the changes that can occur… Until they do… One day, someone, maybe one of you, is going to be hit by a new realization, and it is going to yet again change the way things are.