Curious to hear your personal opinions. What do you think was the worst decade for surfboard design? The best decade? And why?
Curious to hear your personal opinions. What do you think was the worst > decade for surfboard design? The best decade? And why? Arguably the best: For a worldwide explosion of raw, potently creative surfboard design, how about roughly 1964 to 1974. There
s never been anything thats even come close to that time period, before or since. It was a time of radical, sweeping changes, inspired and driven by design for designs sake, rather than functional design for fashions sake, or fashionable design for sales profits sake. These were years instigated and propelled from far outside surfings status quo, which seemingly became irrelevant almost overnight, struggling just to survive and adapt. Aside from other sources, serious levels of design intoxication were easily attained by ingesting regular doses of rapidly occurring discoveries… and best of all, everyone was welcome to participate. It was also a decade that offered greater quantities of easily accessable, quality waves (far less populated than available today), which formed the essential testing ground for a wide range of design theories.
Curious to hear your personal opinions. What do you think was the worst > decade for surfboard design? The best decade? And why? The best would have been 1500 to about 1510. You are in Hawaii, riding a wood plank on uncrowded waves – naked girls on the beach. Life and nature were the same thing. Shine http://users2.fdn.com/~shine
Curious to hear your personal opinions. What do you think was the worst > decade for surfboard design? The best decade? And why? The idea of a decade is too arbitrary, or maybe too long a time. Or maybe too hard a call? Figure the two most “stagnant” periods of “modern” surfing are sometimes considered to be from the after the inception of foam to (roughly) 1966, the noseriding era; and then the twin fin/neon beach era of the late 70’s/early 80’s (sorry - I’m a little hazy on exact years there). The former brought forth the burst of light Dale mentions: shortboard revolution. The latter gave way to the thruster. So in theory the worst decades of surfboard design may also have been the best… The nineties through today may be interesting to examine someday. It would seem to be the first period in surfing where old designs are seriously re-examined without benefit of some material or design evolution to spur the inquiry. There are simultaneous freakers like hydrofoils, mats, tow boards…lots of things in the stew, but no defining direction being worked at. Nels
Curious to hear your personal opinions. What do you think was the worst > decade for surfboard design? The best decade? And why? Contrary to popular, 1967 to 1977 was the worst decade…and sometimes one of the best For 10 years we kept experimenting and kept making some incredible mistakes. Big V bottoms that spun out, 5’ kneeboards/surfboards that bogged down, 8’ mini models with round bottoms and giant square tails. Sure it was fun and a really cool time, but there were more crappy surfboards than ever before. But when we got it right, we really got it right: Lis fish, Brewer mini-guns, Greenough fins! Oh, the price we paid for progress.
Curious to hear your personal opinions. What do you think was the worst > decade for surfboard design? The best decade? And why? The early seventies had to marry some of the poorest design inovations that had great merrits ultimately. We entered into the 17" wide, mini-gun era, with anti-rocker tails, they were being “ridden” at every beach that had even the hint of a ripple, with not very good results. Previous to this, boards were very much like the modern egg, fuller with more roll, but never the less, functional. After the initial mini-gun rage, it was the first twin fins, followed again by 17" wide more anti rocker boards. This led to the more modernized twin fins, evolving into the thruster. This era once again borrowed from the 17" phase, this time adding rockered tails to the flip tips, ushering in the new school techniques of air/slashing surfing of today.
Contrary to popular, 1967 to 1977 was the worst decade…and sometimes one > of the best For 10 years we kept experimenting and kept making some > incredible mistakes. Big V bottoms that spun out, 5’ kneeboards/surfboards > that bogged down, 8’ mini models with round bottoms and giant square > tails. Sure it was fun and a really cool time, but there were more crappy > surfboards than ever before. But when we got it right, we really got it > right: Lis fish, Brewer mini-guns, Greenough fins! Oh, the price we paid > for progress. HOLY COW! CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MANY LONGBOARDS WERE STRIPPED AND RESHAPED DURING THE SHORTBOARD REVOLUTION? I CAN REMEMBER BUYING LOGS AT GARAGE SALES FOR $10.00 AND STRIPPING THE GLASS OFF OF THEM (DIDN’T MATTER THE BRAND) TO SHAPE 7’8"s OUT OF THE OLD FOAM. A COMPLETE BACKYARD BOARD WITH TINTED VOLAN COST ABOUT $65. ONE TIME I HAD A GIRFRIEND(ARTIST) PAINT THE WHOLE BOARD COSMIC AND HIGHLY DETAILED PINLINES AND SOLD FOR A $15.00 PROFIT? IS IT LOVE? CUZ IT SHO’ AIN’T NO MONEY!!!
The early seventies had to marry some of the poorest design inovations > that had great merrits ultimately. We entered into the 17" wide, > mini-gun era, with anti-rocker tails, they were being “ridden” > at every beach that had even the hint of a ripple, with not very good > results. Previous to this, boards were very much like the modern egg, > fuller with more roll, but never the less, functional. After the initial > mini-gun rage, it was the first twin fins, followed again by 17" wide > more anti rocker boards. This led to the more modernized twin fins, > evolving into the thruster. This era once again borrowed from the 17" > phase, this time adding rockered tails to the flip tips, ushering in the > new school techniques of air/slashing surfing of today. WHEW!!!SLOW DOWN I’M GETTING DIZZY, OH SH-T! NOW MY KIDS WANT AIPA STINGERS AGAIN! CAN’T WE ALL JUST JUST BE FRIENDS!!!
The worst decade: I suggest 1955 to 1965. The boards that Dale Velzy was producing before 1955 were incredible: twin fins, hot curls with fins aka semi-guns, the pig with its wide point behind center and so forth. These shapes are direct predecessors to the Brewer Pintails of '68, Bing/Eaton twin-fins of '70, and the “modern” potato chips favored today. The advent of foam, I’m sorry to say, had a horrible effect on surfboard design. Just compare the common California shapes of '62 with Velzy’s '53 variations. The decade ended with the “noserider” and, to some, the end of functional surfing. Thank Nat and George for putting surfing back on the right direction. This is my opinion. What is yours? Rory
Curious to hear your personal opinions. What do you think was the worst > decade for surfboard design? The best decade? And why? I cant think of a worse decade for board design. Some may have been better than the others…The best decade for me so far has been the 90’s because thats when I started to ride my own shapes, and even though I was in my mid thirties at the start of that decade, I think I progressed the most in those 10 years. I hope I can keep my stoke level up till the day I die. FD