So after reading all the recent garage shapers are the devil and surf shapers posts recently i thought of as many great surfer/shapers i could think of and most are from the sixties/seventies although they still exist today just not by the same numbers. This lead me to think about the types of people that are on swaylocks. This can almost be broken down into a few groups.
Group A: Those who want to take surfboard construction to the next level. ie lighter faster stronger epoxy vacuum bagging and whatever else
Group B: Those who want to take surfboard construction back a level. ie
heavier fast and stronger logs single fins fishes volan and so forth
Group C: Those living in the here and now ie have refined PU to what it is today by building on their past
So while i think that our current PU shortboards will one day fall to the wayside, will our PU logs ever be replaced? Will Group A ever devolop the feeling of glide that group B lives for? Will group B ever accept it? Will PU ever disappear before I die or cant surf anymore? (based soley on the ride of boards not enviromental actions)
I can’t see that the PVC/EPS/EPOXY combo will take over PU as the PVC feels like crap, however berts Balsa’s are heading the right way as balsa feels decent.
Thats the thing I MUST have, these surftech boards DONT feel good. they feel like your riding plastic not fibreglass!
However the GROMS are the future and the majority of them are very sceptical hence wont try new things.
(for the record I’m not stereo typing groms as I am one)
So no I think PU will be here for a long time yet…
I think that there is still a lot of life left in PU, and there will always be traditionolists. times move on but you still have people today who buy wooden and volan boards, so the will always be a market for good PU boards.
But in terms of actual materials PU has probably already fufilled its full potential, and as new materials are developed it is understandable that builders will want to experiment with these and apply them to surfboard construction, eventually a better material will take over. I think in the next 10-20 yrs we will definatley see a big shift towards new materials, and I feel the time is right for another big revolution in the surfboard manufaturing industry, but I don’t think that PU boards will die out completely just for nostalgic reasons,
the construction of a surfboard using a polyurethane blank and a polyester laminate is still alive because it is simple. anything else is not simple and will therefore not easily push PU off its throne. Polyurethane foam boards feel good and not plasticy and over boyant, we know a lot about how to shape it and new materials would need different shapes and curves.
there is still a hell of a lot of development in polyester resins and PU can also be glassed with epoxy or whatever else. there is an average of goodies in PU/glass boards many other constructions can beat only in some aspects but for people like me it is important to know what else is there and how it performs. when we find something that is as “simple” but better, PU/glass is history. till then it is a good compromise. . .
it will always remain in some form , just like the wooden hollows are still made …
they will always have there place in the market , probably not to the same proportions as the past …
i was told an interesting tid bit recently …
the american foam producers dont intend to expand production numbers into the future , currently keeping production numbers static …
wonder if there seeing any market trends …
as far as group a ever wanting be like group b …
na sorry cant go there …
when you can get you 9’ longboard vert , do airs and 360s on it , somehow an old log just wont do it for you anymore …
i just watched a short 7 minute vid one of my team riders made ,when the world sees it , they will freak big time …hes pulling air 360s on his longboard , vert backhand 360s , forehand 360s and both forehand and backhand airs , and hes only had his camera a few months …
aquafiend , made valid points , but they had more to do with construction techniques than materials …
i just watched a short 7 minute vid one of my team riders made ,when the world sees it , they will freak big time …hes pulling air 360s on his longboard , vert backhand 360s , forehand 360s and both forehand and backhand airs , and hes only had his camera a few months …
regards
BERT
now THAT’S the sort of Swaylocks footage I’m talking…innovation in materials and riding…
Any chance your rider would consider ‘premiering’ it to the swaylocks forum ?
“when you can get you 9’ longboard vert , do airs and 360s on it , somehow an old log just wont do it for you anymore … i just watched a short 7 minute vid one of my team riders made ,when the world sees it , they will freak big time …hes pulling air 360s on his longboard , vert backhand 360s , forehand 360s and both forehand and backhand airs”
That sounds just like kayak rodeo tricks. Why would anyone want to force a 9’ longboard to surf like that? Its fun because you can? It’s fun to throw more spray? I wonder how many surfers ride longboards because they want to pull off shortboard tricks? Stand, stomp, pivot on the tail all day but those curves still won’t fit. Not even close. No matter how light the longboard they never will. That’s why surfing had a revolution.
Give me a longboard carving clean lines, driving from the center. Walking forward into trim. Pure feelings. Those natural curves fit hand in glove. Always have and always will.
My current 6’6" thruster is predominantly polyurethane. Clark Foam P/U blank. DHP urethane resin. Red X boxes and Next Generation fins are both polyurethane. About the only non-urethane components are the stringer, S-glass and the milled fibers.
How long have polyurethane blanks /glass been around now ? 50 years ? Since Hobie and Grubby. It will be interesting to see what replaces it in the future. Just think of all the performance benefits that may come with this new technology. Bert and Greg may already be on to this, but unfortunatly we cant go to our local shops and buy one to try.
all the performance boundries of urethane have been exhausted …
i havent seen a new move invented in 10 years …
with new technology youll see new manouvers being invented …
the next generation always wants something to make it stand out from the previous generation …if you try and give a kid the same thing his dad rode , forget it …
Quote:
Why would anyone want to force a 9’ longboard to surf like that?
because no one else can …
dare to be different …i can guarantee no one in the world could repeat those manouvers on p/u p/e …
thats why the future of performance surfing wont involve old tech …
I think that this video your talking of would go a long way to helping you establish many of the points that you speak of…lighter, faster, more manueverable etc…
It’s tough to keep saying the same thing because pretty soon it falls on deaf ears. Seeing it is entirely different.
I for one am one of those that are on the fence about the next revolution. I think that without the proper push, people like me will revert back to what we know best and remain rooted in polyester…
Do you have plans to put a few clips of it on the internet? Personally, I’d love a copy, but to change things you need to reach the widest audience possible.
Lemme know.
I’ll send you my address and whatever bucks you need to cover shipping and or viewing.
While I whole heartedly agree with Bert there is that deep rooted portion of an industry hell bent on NOT changing. The question that I see today isn’t one of whether PU will survive but wheather PE will. There is little doubt in my estimation that PE won’t because of government intervention. 1162 and MACT are pretty specific about this. Where that leads the core material of your standard board is yet to be seen. I’m pretty sure though that the technology that has sustained us for the last 50 years won’t be the one that sustains us for the next 50.