So to be totally honest, I'm an average surfer at best. But I absolutely love surfing and do it as much as I can. You'll never see me landing an air reverse or linking together 6 turns in flawless succession. But I love being in the water with friends and the joy of connecting with the ocean. That said, I always want to get better and I want to be able to rip and have fun in any condition - especially the surf at my home break. So when the opportunity came up for me to order a custom board, my initial question was "Is it worth the extra time and investment??" Well let me save you from trying to answer that question yourself and just tell you - YES!!! You wouldn't just go and drop several hundred dollars to buy an expensive 3 piece suit without getting it tailored right? The same goes for a surfboard. Your board is THE thing that connects you to the wave. - that gives you that addictive feeling that only you as surfer knows. Why not make it the best it can be - specifically for you, specifically for your spot, specifically for your goals?? Plus, I looked around and a new board off the shelf starts around $600 anyway. Groundswell boards **CUSTOM SHAPED*** start in the same range $600-800. Um hello!!!
So I got connected through Groundswell Supply and started my custom board shaping experience. Let me tell you, they know their stuff. They walked me through all the details that go into board shaping and design - like helping me think about where, why and how I surf. Also thinking about things like rocker, concave, tail shape, board material and resin. Those are all super important details and despite surfing for over 10 years, a lot of that was over my head to be honest. But they helped me get it all dialed in. Here is a snippet from one of the emails I got: "Just wanted to be sure you are ok with an EPS foam blank and Epoxy resin on your new board. The EPS blank and epoxy resin combo is stringerless. The material is stronger, tends to be lighter and has a more buoyant feeling. Plus the materials are more environmentally friendly than their counterparts. This material works best in waves under 6 feet and is ideal for conditions we have here in San Diego most days. I usually recommend Polyurethane blanks with Polyester resin for big wave boards as they can feel corky on a big wave." Groundswell then connected me Donald Brink to start the order. I decided to go with one of his fish models, the Fishermans Friend. Working with Donald was amazing. He is like a wine connoisseur but for resin, foam and hydrodynamics. It was amazing to interact with someone who got to know me and understand where I surfed, my style and my quirks. He even looked at what I was currently riding and kept all the good parts and got rid of the bad parts: Pull in the tail a little here. Shorten it up a bit so it will fit tighter in the pocket. Let's put a little extra form under your chest so it will paddle even better than your current board.
So I just received my board last week. WOW. Totally worth the wait. Not only was it absolutely beautiful, it was mine. It was made for me. And all those little details added up to create a ride and connection with the ocean that is like nothing I've even been on. So ya, I went out for a dawn patrol this morning and scored. I had a little peak all to myself all morning and for real, had one of the more fun sessions of my life! The board was made for my home breaks wave and for me - and I could feel it. It paddled so well and the shorter size truly does make it fit into the smaller sections giving me even more room to maneuver. Plus it is super fast but loose right when I need it to be. I'll never be able to buy a board off the shelf again. It just doesn't make sense. I'm super stoked and grateful there is a place like Groundswell that can connect me to these incredible, experienced craftsman. Together they've brought even more fun, performance and joy into my favorite sport. So ya, if you're thinking about investing in a custom board, it's worth it. And if you do, you'll be like me: never able to not buy a custom surfboard again.
By Nick Abrams, Encinitas CA
]]>Asymmetrical : a·sym·met·ri·cal / āsəˈmetrikəl
adjective:
1. having parts that fail to correspond to one another in shape, size, or arrangement; lacking symmetry.
"the church has an asymmetrical plan with an aisle only on one side"
synonyms:
lopsided, unsymmetrical, uneven, unbalanced, crooked, awry, askew, skew, misaligned; More
disproportionate, unequal, irregular;
informalcockeyed, wonky
"the quilt pattern is asymmetrical"
“asym” for short
having parts or aspects that are not equal or equivalent; unequal in some respect.
Asym surfboards. Unique. Different. Confusing. All true. Mis-understood is the best descriptor. Yes, one rail is longer than the other. But there is much more to the asymmetrical surfboard. As with all design blogs, I try to cover the basics, understanding that you should contact a professional shaper for the deeper nuance of surfboard design.
Carl Ekstrom first implemented the asymmetrical design into his personal boards in the ‘60s. Ekstrom quickly understanding that he displaced weight differently on his toes (balls of feet really) than on his heels. The asym, like many design concepts, came and went as the modern surfboards evolution progressed at warp speed, often times changing so quickly that many concepts didn’t have time to ripen on the vine.
In the mid 2000s Ekstrom’s design idea was rekindled when La Jolla’s Richard Kenvin and Ekstrom began tinkering anew. Ten years later (2015) and here we are; the modern asymmetrical surfboard is no longer looked at with a raised brow, but rather an inquisitive tilt of the head.
It is generally held that the toe side rail should be the longer rail and the heel side should be the shorter.
I disagree.
I’ve owned and ridden numerous asyms, and I am of the belief that the opposite is true. A short toe side rail (the sensitive, light footed, balls of my feet side) gets the rail and the board up the wave face quicker, over and over again, allowing me to generate speed. Once I have all the speed I need, I can transfer to the longer heel side (not sensitive- but heavy footed; and oh by the way, this is why single fin surfboards feel so solid on the heelside/backside) and bury more rail, carry more speed, and put more weight into the roundhouse cutback turn.
I am not alone in thinking this way. Asym snowboards are designed this way.
I tried them both (heel side long, toe side long) before I decided. I’m a regular foot, and my favorite asym was made for a goofyfooted surfer. The guy didn’t like it, so the shaper, with the board languishing in his garage, gave it to me to try. I didn’t want to give it back.
But there is sooo much more to the asym then the rail outline. I had completely different rail line rocker on my last asym. Fins, fin placement, rail rocker, center line rocker (is there a center line?), and bottom contour all variables in the equation. But asyms, by their very nature, do not equate. They are two different boards in one. You’ll be best served if you think of the craft in that vein.
If you leave this blog with only one take away I would hope it would be this: with asyms, there is no right way. That is true of all surfboard design, but on a different intensity with asyms. You must experiment. Be open-minded. Be willing. – SB
For many pre-80s generation surfers, it is a design that never left our hearts-- an old flame. All it takes is a flash back to the pocket surfing of Mike Ho, Larry Bertlemann, Shaun Tomson, Rabbit Bartholomew and the greatest single fin rider of them all, Buttons Kaluhiokalani, for our imaginations to rekindle the magic of the single fin. Recent 70s era documentary films such Bustin' Down The Door and the Hot Buttered Surfboard documentary titled Hot Buttered Soul, and endless YOUTUBE searches have reignited the single fin torch.
The modern single fin employs all the latest bottom contours, refined rail structure, precision rockers, and new constructions techniques. Our trusty 6' 6" wing pin looks as if it was featured in some sort of FOX reality TV show: 21st Century Surfboard Makeover. We left the clunky overweight beast in 1980, dinged, yellowed, and boxey. We've come back to them in the 21st century and they are refined, sleek and polished.
Despite the upgrades, paddle out on a single fin for the first time in a long time and reality sets in. They simply don't perform in the same manner as the multitude of multi-finned boards that took her place. That's not a bad thing, in fact, I'm here to tell you that that is exactly why a good single fin is so special.
A modern multi-finned board, with its wider tail area and precise rocker, likes to go down to the bottom and up to the top. They are designed to stay away from the middle of the wave: bottom turn, then straight up and do it again. Nothing wrong with that! Except, however, when we start to miss-time things (as I sometimes do). Heck, with all that speed, it’s not hard to be “a touch off” on occasion.
The power of a good single fin is in its ability to temper an overzealous style, to reacquaint you with pocket of the wave thereby polishing up your timing. So much of our contemporary surfing on multi-finned boards takes place away from the power of the wave. We race out to the flats for our bottom turn or we run out on the shoulder for our cutback or we constantly look to take our board up high into the lip. Rarely do we stall mid-face and feel the trim of the rail line.
The single fin demands that you get to know the wave before having your way with her. You must sit in the pocket, in the juice, in the power and wait for her to give you the speed. And this mid-face, power pocket surfing allows your surfing to become more thought out, dare I say, more stylized. You are forced to work with the wave rather than against it. You must slow down, find the juice, find the speed. The speed isn’t handed to you (as with a wide-tailed multi-finned board). This is why a single fin is good for your style. Ridden properly, single fins make the wave give you the speed, not the board. And this, in small doses, does wonders for your surfing. When you do get back onto your multi-finned board, you should have a new found sense of timing, a sense that the wave dictates the dance- not vice versa. – SB
Area:
Area is the measurement of the fin as measure from base to top of fin multiplied and the front to back of the complete horizontal surface of the fin. The more area, the more hold the fin will have. Aside from holding power, the size of the fin is based on the weight of the surfer Area is the most important number to consider when determining fin size. Futures organized their catalog with an area increasing from left to right. This way the fins to the left in the weight category are looser and the fins to the right have more hold.
Height:
Height means exactly what is sounds like, the height of your fin. Taller surfers might find that deeper fins fit them better and shorter surfers might like less fin height. The length of the surfboard used to be considered the most important indicator for surfers when picking a surfboard, but now surfers realize that they can ride shorter boards because volume is much more important than length. Just like surfboards, fins have benefited from recent advancements in technology, and now height is just a component of area. The deeper the fin, the more leverage when rolling onto the rail. Greater height aids stability and overall hold, just like increasing the area.
Base:
This is the size at the largest part of the fin that mounts into the fin box. The larger the base the more drive the fin will have in bottom turns. Base is an important aspect of area as increasing the base will make a dramatic difference in the drive you feel out of your turns. If the board feels stiff or hard to turn, applying a fin with a smaller base, less rake, or more flex might free it up a bit.
Rake:
The rake measures how far back the curve of the fin goes in relation to the base of the fin. The more rake a fin has the longer and more drawn out turns become. The more upright a fin, the more pivoty it feels. Fins with a large overhang are considered to be lower aspect ratio and they will be more stable because the fin tip corrects and holds the board straight. This is good when the conditions are heavy or for sweeping cutbacks. Fins that are more vertical (higher aspect ratio) allow quicker direction changes and can be excellent for tight pocket surfing.
Understanding fin design and performance requires some explanation of how fins are made and the basic design elements. Without sending you to college for a PhD in Fin Science, we will save you the tuition and break down some of the key points.
Fin Base Design:
Plug style fins have two tabs spaced at the bottom of the fin that require a fin key or snap in system for holding the fin in place. Full Base designs connect to the board along the entire base. This amounts to 60% more attachment than plug systems. In a full base design the flange around the box creates surface area that strengthens the bond to the fiberglass which is the where the strength of a board comes from. Full base designs offer a glass on feel for improved performance. Additionally there is one installation screw to tighten instead of two.
Truss Base:
When the tang (or base of fin) is clamped in the box with the setscrew the tang is compressed horizontally. This compressive force is dissipated by the trusses into the solid base of the fin. The trusses act as I–beams with their long axis running the width of the tang. The long axis of the truss resists lateral loading on the fin during surfing keeping the base extremely stiff. The use of truss and I-beam technology gives the base of the fin a maximum stiffness to weight ratio. This enables Futures to have 60% more base than plug systems while still remaining extremely light and stiff.
In a comparison of plug systems to Futures Fin systems boxes were removed from actual boards. Elements of the board that would be in the board with or without the system were removed in order to make the test as even as possible. All resin used in installation was kept attached. The foam under the plugs on the side plugs was removed as well as the stringer attached to the center plugs. In the test the total weight of plug system proved at least 2 grams heavier, approximately the weight of half a nickel. It is worth noting that plug systems need to bond to the deck of the board or the stringer to have adequate strength. The more volume in the tail, the heavier the plug system becomes.
Foil:
A foil is a cross section of the fin that effects how water flows across it. Airplanes have different wing foils for different performance benefits, and your fins should too. Futures has created different foils for different speeds, conditions, and performance feel. V and V2 foils feel fluid and drivey, and have the ability to generate speed while flat fins break free sooner and are better at controlling speed. Often surfers prefer flat foiled fins in fast powerful surf where they do not need to create additional speed.
Muscle memory attained from riding glass-on fins will translate well to flat foiled fins, which offer a similar feel. Futures has a flat foiled fin line-up in many templates for every size, shape, and style of rider, from finely-tuned smaller templates for groms to full-size templates for pro talent like John John Florence, Jordy Smith, Clay Marzo, Pancho Sullivan and Rob Machado.
V Foil:
V-foils are designed to maximize lift with a minimal amount of drag. Fins with this V-foils help find speed that you did not know was there, or help you get that extra gear to really find drive in your turns. The leading edge of the fin is more rounded accepting more water flow at all angles of attack, and making the fin feel very fluid rail to rail.
Futures V2:
The V2 foil creates drive in turns, but breaks free in the lip like a flat fin.
A V2 foil is a V-foil and flat foil blend. It takes the best speed generating attributes of the V. (at the base) and transitions into a flat foil in the tip for a controlled release in critical turns. V. foils feel fluid and drivey, and generate more speed during turns. Try the V2 if you are transitioning from flat sided fins, because the benefits of the vector foil base will be noticeable but the change for your muscle memory will not be too drastic.
Tow foil:
The tow foil is designed for stability at high speeds. Instead of maximizing the lift, this foil is stable with very little drag. The foil is convex on both sides with a small amount of camber or asymmetry.
Flex (spring & load):
Flex affects the way the board feels on the water. Stiffer fins are responsive but more difficult to turn while flexible fins allow spring out of turns, they can, however, be noodley and kill your drive if they are too flexible. Flex can make the difference between a board being too stiff or perfect, or making a late drop vs rag-dolling down the face of a wave. Different fins are defined by the amount of flex they have. In this section we break down the differences in stiff to flexible fin types and how they are impacted by wave size as well as their turning and overall rideability.
Speed Generating Flex:
Fins with more flex and engineered foils are the best for speed generating fins. They feel springy, fluid and responsive, which translates into a positive feeling for light-footed surfers or for when the waves lack power. These are a great option for that grovel session, because you can create more speed to get your board down the line. On the Ride Number Chart, fins showing seven to ten are classified as speed generating.
Balanced Flex:
Fins with medium flex and flat or subtle concave foils are balanced fins, and the best for all-around performance. They feel solid in overhead surf and are still lively enough for performance surfing in serious waves or everyday conditions. The elements of both sides of the speed spectrum are evident in this category. On the Ride Number Chart, fins showing 4-7 are classified as Balanced.
Speed Control Flex:
Fins with less flex and flat foils are the best Speed Controlling fins. They feel solid, engaged and predictable, which translates into a positive feeling for powerful surfers or in powerful waves. The swell of the year will be more successful with a fin that can handle the speed of over-head waves. On the Ride Number Chart, fins showing 1-4 are classified as Speed Controlling.
Rake:
The effect of rake on feeling is a significant factor on determining which fin is right for you. Blended fins have elements of both hold and pivot in them. When compared to the upright rake, there is additional fin area behind the trailing edge, often due to a thicker tip, but there isn’t as much overhang as in laid back fins. They perform well in the pocket and on the face, allowing for a nice blend of both styles. Laid Back fins perform best when surfing on the wave face, in point break style waves with longer walls. With more total area of the fin behind the trailing edge, often due to more overhang, these fins want to hold, allowing for a longer turning arc great for burying your rail with authority.
Construction:
Futures takes the same materials and uses them differently in the construction of a fin to get different performance qualities. The Blackstix design by Futures are designed with a springy twist in the tip, while the Techflex design are designed to open out from the middle.
It is impossible to look at the shape, foil, and flex of a fin independently. They all work together to create the feel under your feet. The Blackstix for example are designed to feel lively and to generate speed when you might be held back by the conditions. The V2 foil carbon fiber base creates lift, and the tip has less carbon so the tip is snappy and flexible. The tip is designed to rotate perpendicular to the stringer during turns springing back releasing energy at the end of turns. Picture pulling back a bow and then releasing the arrow at the end of each bottom turn.
The Techflex on the other hand, has a flat foil instead of a V2 so Futures designed the fin to open out so the cant will increase as the fin flexes in the middle (where there is no carbon). This enables the fin to generate more lift. The carbon in the tip makes the tip extremely responsive.
Materials:
Carbon fiber material has one of the best strength to weight ratios of any material. The energy you load up on a carbon fiber fin comes back in a burst of energy because of its resiliency.
Texalium is aluminized fiberglass that is stiffer than basic fiberglass, but more flexible and springy than carbon.
Honeycomb material has a lightweight hexagonal core. This material offers the fin the feel of glass-ons. Engineered with a medium flex pattern, stiffer than Blackstix but more flexible than glass and Techflex fins. Fiberglass fins are stiff and tough for heavy conditions. You may often find these on boards used on the North Shore on in Mainland Mexico.
G10 is an extremely stiff material with many layers of compressed fiberglass and epoxy. Perfect for big surf and tow-in boards, G10 offers the ultimate in drive and control.
Thermotech (natural composite)is a molded resin with a long fiberglass matrix, This composite material fuses into a snappy and lightweight fin that retains the proper flex pattern for performance.
Understanding a fins base is helpful to see why what makes a fin stronger and more stable in varying conditions. Here we define the base style to demonstrate how the base affects performance.
Here is a simple way to look at your fin selection process and to pick the right fin:
Feel (Ride Number)= Flex + Rake + Foil
Futures created a method of rating a fin for feel which they call “Ride Number”. The ride number is an indicator of the feature combination that will fit your desired result. In order to feel more secure on the face of the wave we suggest you choose fins close to one in ride number. They're often a favorite among powerful surfers or in powerful waves where controlling speed is important. You’ll feel a solid engagement to the water for a more stable and predictable ride. For a more fluid, springy and responsive feel choose fins closer to ten. They’re usually a favorite among light footed surfers or in small waves. They’re great at helping create speed when the waves are weak. Fins in the middle of the scale close to five will feel neutral in your board. They’re not made to control or create speed or to add any premium feelings to your board - they simply let your boards original character shine.
Choosing the right fin:
Select from each of the three elements below and then match to the fin styles that have these characteristics combined.
1.) Fin Size
X Small (75lbs – 115 lbs surfer)
Small (105lbs – 155 lbs surfer)
Medium (145lbs – 195 lbs surfer)
Large (180 lbs+ surfer)
2.) Fin Type
Speed Generating (Ride Number 10-7)
Balanced (Ride Number 7-4)
Speed Control (Ride number 4-1)
Now that you have your degree in fin technology it's time to get your fins on! Click on over to the Groundswell Supply store to see what we have available. If there are any Futures Fins not featured on our website or if you need help selecting the right fins, feel free to email service@groundswellsupply or call (760) 621-4444. We're stoked to help improve your surfing experience.
All photos courtesy of Future Fins
A Short History of Surfing
Surf history is an expansive, cloudy subject that quickly fades from HD video, to dull black and white images into a hazy world of folklore with few definitive statements. The following words are distilled from numerous books and magazines, but mostly they are secondhand stories and firsthand observations from over half a century of surfing.
The oldest surf story known dates back around 500 years and concerns the Maui chiefess Kelea. I never even knew her name until recently, but it was another woman, born centuries later that would ignite my generation as Gidget led me and millions of other boomers to the waves in 1959.
Initially surfing for me was a counterpunch to the overwhelming stimulus of a new sport, a new sound, and a life I never even suspected existed. By the time I entered high school I was obsessed with riding every break in California, and soon expanded my dreams to include the world when Bruce Brown became my travel agent. I must have been in the sun too long, because I was blind to a history far older and richer than any American sport. To my arrogant mind my peers and I had discovered real surfing, and all who preceded us were essentially kooks. The idea of learning surf history in my youth was about as appealing as learning ancient history from a schoolbook. My world revolved around all the fun I could squeeze from the newly invented foam surfboard.
The Beach Boys may not have all been surfers, and they often seemed to miss the biggest set waves of youth culture, but they were dead right when they sang, “Catch a wave and you’re sittin’ on top of the world.” If you’ve ever surfed, you realize they nailed it.
Still, neither they or even the great Dick Dale could point the way out of the barrel, and it would be decades before I realized that surfing was far older than what my father and his surf buddies did on wooden planks at Santa Monica in the 1930s. Even that seemed almost like a different sport to the turns, cutbacks and noserides my generation was practicing.
When I finally did attempt tracing surfing’s origins everything evaporated into a world beyond film and even written language. Still, in time I came to believe that surfing was as natural as falling off a log and that the first humans probably paddled those logs out to sea and enjoyed the rush of being pushed back to shore by whitewater. If that is so, which it likely is, surfing is actually as old as humanity itself. While this is mere speculation on my part actual proof of surfing’s antiquity exists in 4,000-year-old carvings from Chan chan, Peru, where it is believed people from that country sailed to Tahiti to become the island’s first settlers. It I also fairly certain that the ancestors of these Tahitians found their way to Hawaii and were among the first to ride the perfect waves that would make Hawaiian surfing a natural and national pastime. While the aforementioned story of Kelea is mythical, many historians believe that men and women surfed in equal numbers in ancient Hawaii. When surfing was revived in the early 1900s, however, it returned as a Western activity, compete with Western ideas of sexism in sports, something that essentially relegated woman to the shore until fairly recently. Because of this modern surfing was raised by single parent Duke Kahanamoku with no idea of who its mother was. As an Olympic star the Duke was able to spread the word about surfing far beyond his Island home. Thankfully by Duke’s time we had good cameras and sharp pencils to record surfing.
When I finally grew up and became interested surf history I went back about century beyond my time, until I faced a few scant paragraphs penned by non-surfers, empty pages and contradictory facts. My frustration had about peeked until one evening in the early ‘90s. I rose from dinner at a restaurant in Waikiki to admire one of Duke’s wooden boards, wondering about that sturdy vehicle when I was jarred awake by a familiar voice. Turning around I was greeted by Duke’s star pupil, Rabbit Kekai. Rabbit motioned toward Diamond Head while offering a living history lesson that surpassed all the surf books I’d ever read. “This board used to be solid wood and weighed over a hundred pounds,” said Rabbit, rapping it with his knuckles, revealing a hollow sound. After it was hollowed out it only weighed about 75 pounds. That’s when I won the Diamond Head paddle race on it. I can still remember returning to shore with Duke standing right there in the sand, cheering me on.” With that, Kekai walked on to join his dinner companions, never realizing that his few words forever turned a tattered sketch from the past into a 3-D feature film as I visualized a robust and youthful Duke Kahanamoku sliding for over a mile on this very board as a child called Rabbit awaited his turn in the shore break. It’s possible Rabbit was riding that very board in a 1930s newsreel of him surfing Waikiki, weaving through a pack of stationary riders, frozen on their “logs.” Rabbit, who has surfed for around 90 years, influenced everybody who ever saw him, including all of the kids who rode his wake at his home break, Queen’s. Premier among that ‘50s crew were Donald Takayama, Paul Strauch and Joey Cabell. They in turn influenced the next generation of Queen’s surfers, including noseriding king David Nuuhiwa, Pipe Master Gerry Lopez and power broker, Barry Kaniaupuni.
Next up were Larry Bertlemann and Montgomery “Buttons” Kaluhiokalani, whose low rotational styles proved directly influential to today’s top surfers. Using shorter boards than most anyone in the mid ‘70s, Bert and Buttons pushed their boards deeper onto the rail and further up the face than ever before, launching into previously impossible moves like 360 degree turns.
It was around this time that surfers who had been bred in the relatively isolated outpost of Australia arrived on Oahu’s North Shore to begin a competitive dominance that has yet to wane. The Aussies may not have been superior surfers to the Hawaiians, but they were far more seasoned competitors to surfers who traditionally took a much more relaxed approach to wave riding. Where the surf media sold the mantra “Rip, tear, lacerate,” Hawaiians and to a lesser degree Californians were generally more concerned with the art of soulful flow. And while the newcomers did take away most of the hardware in the ‘70s, one still has to wonder if the results would have varied if the new Hawaiians had been raised in a more competitive environment.
One of the biggest inventions in the surfing world more resembled a toy than a surfboard. The Morey Boogie, which was developed solely by Tom Morey in the early ‘70s featured the first soft materials and zero learning curve. Because of this and it’s low price, the Boogie has probably brought introduced more people to waves than any single device in history. The Boogie also led to the development of the full-sized soft surfboard when Morey and legendary surfer Mike Doyle collaborated on a board that would eventually become the prototype of today’s department store, entry-level surfboard, which now speckles most lineups.
When pro surfing was launched in the mid 1970s California pearled on takeoff, and went from the top of the heap in the ‘60s, to a competitive joke, Except for the women’s divisions initially dominated by Margo Oberg, few U.S. males ranked anywhere near the top. Of course were numerous world-class surfers in the Golden State, but most of them were riding boards in the ‘7’6” range, while the average Australian surf star was riding something a full foot shorter. Also, U.S. surfers generally lacked contest experience in a time and place when competitive surfing was nearly considered counter revolutionary. It got so bad that by the time the Australian backed Stubbies contest was held at Black’s Beach in 1979, anti contest forces had torched the porta potties, and there was a sniper was stationed on the cliff with a 22 caliber rifle, apparently ready to fire some warning shots (I’m giving him he benefit of the doubt here) at contestants before Newport competitor Lenny Foster boldly disarmed him.
Undeterred by the naysayers, surfers came in droves from as far north as Santa Cruz where Richard Schmidt and Vince Collier represented the new wave, and a young Dave Parmenter proved there were hot surfers in the nearly unknown Central Coast town of Cayucos. Surfers from Santa Barbara, Orange, LA and San Diego Counties came together for the first time in ages, as California surfers again proved themselves worthy of center stage. But it would require Australian surfer stars Peter Townend and Ian Cairns to really rev up the competitive machine in the U.S. as they took charge of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) and helped train a new crew of future pros, not the least of which was then future multiple World Champion, Santa Barbara’s Tom Curren. Internationally, mid eighties surfing was dominated by Curren in California, while fellow Californian Joey Buran managed to crack the top 16 a few times. Hawaiians Dane Kealoha and Johnny Boy Gomes ruled Backdoor Pipeline while Australia’s Tom Carroll demolished Pipe, until his countryman, Mark Occhilupo, upstaged him. South Africa’s Martin Potter ripped into a world title, and while not as famous as some on the list, his influence would prove profound in Southern California where Matt Archbold, Dino Andino and Christian Fletcher followed him into the sky. Meanwhile, the surfer who many consider the father of aerial surfing, Kevin Reed, was flying above the crowd in wilderness locations north of Santa Cruz.
The nineties were a parade for the ages as longboards returned in force, making smaller waves more accessible. Some of the longboarders from the ‘60s like Nat Young, David Nuuhiwa, Herbie Fletcher and Dale Dobson dusted off their acts while a pre-teen Joel Tudor took notes from ‘60s surf movies, and began a sort of Karaoke of Nuuhiwa at first, until Tudor had eventually polished his act and beaten the old masters at the game they had taught him. It all came down one day at an Oceanside Longboard Club Contest where 13-year-old Joel put his legendary audience on alert with his turns, cutbacks, precocious style and brilliant noseriding. There were others in the mix too, but most of them were riding long tri fins in a progressive fashion. And so it was Joel’s nearly solitary act that gave young surfers permission to sneak back in time and ride boards their parents had stashed in the rafters more than decade earlier.
Perhaps even more surprising than Tudor’s debut, was the East Coast invasion where a place not known for its waves, Florida, would eventually produce the top competitive surfers in the world. Amazingly world champions Frieda Zamba, Lisa Anderson, CJ Hobgood and history’s most dominant competitor and arguably greatest surfer, Kelly Slater, were among them. But surfing’s family tree was splintering by the Slater era, with Kelly being the newest growth on the performance branch while the longboarding Tudor on a heavy longboard, and then Laird Hamilton on a board with a paddle, went the other way. Stand Up Paddling (SUP) fueled a debate in surfing as hot as the issue of gun control among the general population. There is not enough room here to discuss the conflict, but it could be summed up by saying that opponents see SUPs as offering their riders an unfair wave catching advantage, while proponents see them as an evolutionary inevitability and something offering the freedom to ride whatever they like in the lineup. While this conflict would normally work itself out as experienced SUP riders yielded way to those with an obvious paddle disadvantage, the SUP has proven a feeder pond to inland masses who arrive on the coast without the slightest idea of a millennia of surf etiquette. Now, the buzz of motorized surfboards can be heard as it is every decade or so, something that if they catch on could turn a spark of discontent into a forest fire.
All vehicles have their place in the ocean, but some might be best used beyond already crowded lineups where they can enjoy the vast resources of an ocean big enough to accommodate anyone on anything. Competitively speaking that brings us to the present where Slater remains in the hunt for his 12th World title. But there’s so much more going on than what brilliant Aussie goofyfoot Wayne Lynch once termed “Gaudy Metal and Ego Trips.” Surfing for the average rider has been radically altered by the consistent refinement of wetsuits, the introduction of shaping machines, molded boards and discount stores selling surfboards for a hundred bucks. What were once secrets are now blurted out around the world after being well documented by video cams and wave-hungry explorers. Surf brands appear in department store windows in Omaha. And yet even with all this pressure on a limited resource clued in surfers can still find a few waves alone from time to time.
"Don’t hog all those darned waves."
Duke Kahanamoku
Surfing has never been so popular or so diverse as it is now, with women claiming their rightful place in the lineup, SUPs making their stand, longboards filling in the gaps on small days, tow ins taking Everest sized drops, kids carving harder and blasting higher than ever, and alternative wave craft via the Alaia and the Paipo returning us to our roots while we race forward at the same time, on smaller, lighter surfboards.
These are exciting times in surfing, with great challenges and opportunities. My hope is that we all learn to share our precious, delicate and limited resource, and that artificial waves and artificial reefs open up endless gardens of delights for us, our children, and our children’s children. I further hope that we cease battling each other, and unite against our true enemies, the polluters. Surfing is a gift as old as humanity and as new as John John Florence’s future great, great grandchildren, who will someday discover surfing for themselves and feel like the first ones to be “sittin’ on top of the world.”
In 1972 Chris Ahrens was a surfer living on a pristine beach in Australia and wondering if he was going to eat that day, or not. It was then he wrote his first story for a surf magazine and was rewarded with fifty American dollars. Having [metaphorically speaking] learned to fish, that piece led to thirty years of countess bylines in various newspapers and magazines and every major surfing publication in the world. This was followed by three popular books on surfing. Through years of interviewing surfers, Ahrens learned the skill necessary for his work in interviewing major celebrities for Risen Magazine.
After seven years as editor in chief of Risen, Ahrens wrote and directed the award-winning documentary D.O.P.E. (Death Or Prison Eventually). That in turn led to a contract with HarperOne to co-write the memoirs of legendary skateboarder, Christian Hosoi.
Ahrens works as a full-time writer and lives on the beach in Cardiff, California with his wife Tracy and their cat, Clara. Twilight in the City of Angels is his first novel.
SUP for the first time!
So you are ready to take the plunge and try one of the fastest growing water sports in the world! Stand up Paddle to me is one of the best ways to enjoy being on the water! As a certified SUP Instructor I believe it is important to take a lesson for your first time with a certified instructor someone who is going to really look after your safety and teach you proper stroke technique and just set you up for a positive experience for your first time. But if you plan to venture out with out a lesson here our a few tips you need to know.
1. Know the conditions!- Every time I get a call for a lesson I am looking at the wind conditions and surf size, making sure it will be safe for my customer and that their experience will be enjoyable. Just be aware that whether you are heading out on a lake our ocean the conditions can change very quickly so be alert and aware of your surroundings. We do not want you to be on the next episode of I shouldn’t be alive! There are several good websites you can use to see the forecast of the wind and waves before you head out.
2. Equipment- For your first time on a SUP I would encourage a bigger board around 12 ft with a width of at least 30 inches. The bigger and wider the board the more stable it will be for you I put my customers on the 12”1 Laird Paddle Board with a 31 inch width it’s a great board that is very stable and great to learn on and it could hold up to about 270 Pound person. If you are smaller you might not need such a big board but again in my opinion if it is your first time the bigger the board the better. To judge the size of your paddle it should be about 9 inches above your height. It would be good to have a leash and a PFD in case you fall.
3. Get in and out of water- Most injuries happen on a SUP whether on a lake our ocean when you are about 5 feet from shore. In lakes you are not worried about waves but many people get to comfortable coming in to shore and if they are standing on the board and get into the shallow water there fins hit the sand and they go head first into the sand and that is not fun! For the ocean you need to be aware of the waves, I have seen so many people when coming in on a SUP not paying attention of the wave that is coming behind them and you know what happens next. So when launching and returning to the shore I would encourage you paddle out on your knees and choke up on paddle like a canoe or you can get on your stomach and prone paddle with the paddle head flat side under your chest. Once you are in a safe place get ready to stand.
4. Stand, Paddle and Turns- Once you are out in the water its time to stand! You want to get a little momentum paddling on both sides of board on your knees while your hands are choked up on the paddle close to the blade of paddle, make sure your knees are in the center point of board most boards have a handle in the center of the board you will want your knees on either side of the handle. You will get on all fours with paddle in the right hand or left whatever is comfortable for you with the blade of paddle facing towards the water. Don’t hesitate and jump to your feet if it is hard for you to do both feet at once you can step up one leg at time and make sure you are centered with the handle of board in between both feet and your feet facing forward shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Eighty percent of your balance stems on where you are focusing so once you stand focus straight ahead not looking down at board or water it will be a lot easier to balance.
Then start the paddle stroke with one hand on top grabbing the paddle handle and the other half way down the paddle. Keep your arms extended with a slight bend in elbows which will force you to paddle more with your core. Rotate your hip and reach to nose of board put paddle in water the paddle should be perpendicular which will force your top arm to straighten and stroke throwing top hand over like throwing a punch and other shoulder rotates like a one arm row. All the power in your stroke will be how far you can reach towards nose of board and stroking to your feet if you go past your feet it will slow down your recovery. You will probably switch your stroke after 3-4 strokes depending on wind and currents to keep you going straight.
A couple of basic turn strokes that you will need to know is the Front sweep stroke turn which you would put paddle in water angle blade away from board and stroke away from board at a 45 degree angle. If Paddle is on right side it will turn the board left and on left side it will turn board right. The back sweep is just reversing and throwing the paddle to the tail of board and stroke to the nose do this 3-4 times and then throw paddle over and do a front stroke this can turn you around pretty quickly just make sure you bend your knees a little to braise yourself and keep you from falling in water.
5. Be Prepared – Its good to communicate with someone that you will be going out for a paddle and where. Also to have plenty of water, snacks and what my wife always calls me out on is putting on sunscreen! So these are just a few tips to make your first time on a SUP safe and enjoyable know get out there and have fun!
Written by Tyler Lennon, Paddle Instructor/Trainer with Cove Paddle Fitness
]]>Black Monday. December 5, 2005. That’s the day that contemporary surfboard manufacturing changed forever. As many of you know, this is the day that Clark Foam shut down. Abruptly. Without telling anyone. Just a long fax, sent to Clark Foam customers everywhere, basically saying, “No Mas.”
It sent shock waves throughout the industry.
Today those waves are still being felt, but not so much in the form of shock, but rather innovation: waves of innovation.
Since that day we’ve seen the rise of new foam blank companies and renewed interest in EPS foam and earth-friendly, eco-conscious manufacturing techniques. There are foam blanks made out of mushroom fibers, sugarcane and soy by-product. There is an old standby, epoxy resin, and new to market bio-resins from linseed oil as well as cloth weaves produced from hemp and bamboo. New sustainable products are being tested and brought to market each year.
If you want a sustainable, environment-friendly surfboard you can get one. There is one catch: you have to ask.
In general, the industry isn’t going to offer it to you. Tried and true manufacturing techniques using polyurethane foam and polystyrene resins (not so earth friendly) continue to dominate the market place. Two reason for this. One, a majority of the manufacturing process-- the set-up, the tools, the labor force, the vendors, they have all perfected, if you will, working with and selling surfboards produced with the “two polys”. Second, these standardized poly constructed boards are proven in the water. We know the flex patterns, we know how they work, we know why they work. We’ve shaped them by the thousand. We’ve laminated them by the thousand. We’ve broken them. We’ve fixed them. We’ve perfected them. They are reliable. Therefore, the manufacturer is reliable. Reliable manufacturers tend to stay in business.
So, the feeling is…”why change?”
Millennials have stepped up to the plate with a new culture, a holistic life ethos based on living clean, living healthy, living ‘as one’. This means our environment comes first. Surfboard manufacturing has found a sliver in this lifestyle. We can raise chickens, home school our kids, do yoga on SUPs and by God we can also build a more earth-friendly surfboard.
Two examples of the many options out there: Grain surfboards, they make finely tuned wooden kit-surfboards with epoxy resin. A gorgeous surfboard that rides incredible and that is earth friendly (plus you build it yourself- so some pride in ownership is inherent). One of the high performance-oriented manufacturers is …Lost Surfboards, which offers an EPS blank with SuperSap resin in their popular high performance models ridden by World Tour professionals. All of these boards as well or better than the more traditional manufacturing methods.
Why aren’t all boards made this way?
Retrofitting an entire industry, from the labor force, to the equipment, to the tools, to the vendor offerings, it is a slow process. What is needed is for demand to increase. That demand would increase exponentially if a World Champion caliber surfer, a Kelly Slater or Nat Young or Mick Fanning or Gabe Medina could and would win an ASP World Championship riding a sustainably built surfboard, and to then proudly and loudly proclaim their sustainable surfboard. You’d immediately see 15-year olds around the world demand the sustainable option.
There is momentum. Firewire Surfboards is producing 100% of their surfboards with Super Sap resin (an eco-friendly resin on the market). Firewire team riders Michel Bourez (Bourez is #5 ranked ASP surfer in the world) and Sally Fitzgibbons (ASP #2) are both riding, competing and winning on sustainable surfboards. For what it is worth, I’d like to see these two professionals proclaim the sustainable nature of their boards louder. Furthermore, the industry has one shining light, E-tech Glassing and Surfboards is the world’s only sustainable surfboard manufacturer. Earth friendly only! They manufacture sustainable surfboards for …Lost Surfboards and Channel Islands Surfboards.
Baby steps. There is progress. Until that time, it’s in our hands -- the savvy customer. You and I. We can slowly change the perception. When you order your next custom surfboard ask about “sustainable” options.
A great resource for understanding the sustainable surfboard options can be found at SustainableSurf.org. – SB
In the late 1960s the waves on the Hollister Ranch were California’s ultimate prize. There it was, one of the last private, undeveloped landmasses in Southern California with points and coves and favorable winds secured under armed guards that could have ridden shotgun on John Wayne’s stagecoach. But no gun totting cowboy was gonna keep us out, pilgrim we were determined to ride those perfect waves which we heard lacked riders most days.
It was mostly the stuff of legend and coconut wireless rumors that drove us to such obsession. Then, Surfer Magazine’s Ron Stoner fanned the flames with photos of Skip Frye and Mike Hynson, confirming the rumored perfection was, in anything, understated. But to surf there you had to be a ranch hand, a guest, or a member of an elite fleet, the local surf club in town. We were none of the above. Being foot soldiers in this war, or natural first line of attack was to walk in. Bad idea. We were five or six miles in as the offshore winds whipped our boards around so violently we had to grip our boards tightly so they wouldn’t be blown away. When a guard on horseback insisted we turn around, we marched back to the car, like condemned men. It turned out okay as we were rewarded with decent and nearly empty Rincon that evening.
The next attempt worked better. The Ranch was to be subdivided, and we would take advantage of that tragedy. It was my brother Dave who figured out that we could approach the offending real estate company in Santa Barbara, act like we were potential investors, and be granted 30 day passes. We dusted off the suits we had graduated from high school in; put them on over equally musty ties, pressed white shirts and our best spit shinned shoes. We walked into the office imposters and walked away with one of the most coveted prizes in surfing 30 day passes to the Ranch.
Apparently the greedy land grab failed after a year or so, and Dave bought a Ranch boat, while I stuck to my home breaks and basically forgot about the place. Then came John Severson’s 1970s offering, Pacific Vibrations, and surf lust started up all over again.
One hot, mushy afternoon I was sitting in the sand at Beacons with Peter Pinline when he wondered aloud if anyone had a decent Ranch boat. I said that my brother Dave did, and since Dave was living in Kauai at the time, it should be no problem borrowing it for a day or so. The boat was parked in the family’s garage and I called my parents to say we were going to have a few visitors for the night. We arrived on a Friday evening, and I was greeted by my mother on the phone with Dave, who had just then called from Kauai to ask her if the boat was okay. She said it was, told him she loved him and hung up.
We ate dinner, I took my old room, Peter took the couch, and the other two passengers, Jack Jensen and Lauren “Buttons” Montgomery, slept in their car in the school parking lot across the street. This was a turbulent era with Viet Nam protests at their peak, and some knucklehead lit the school on fire that night. The fire department and the cops were soon there, questioning these transients surfers who were camped out at the scene of the crime. Jack and Buttons finally convinced the cops that they were in the midst of a surf trip, the flames were doused and nobody was arrested.
We had a full two hours to make Santa Barbara, so we awoke early, backed the car into the driveway and prepared to attach the boat to the bumper hitch. Bumper hitch? We seemed to have forgotten that one little item. That morning was spent in various junkyards seeking a bumper hitch, which nobody had. When we finally did locate one, the guy wanted 75 dollars for it, which, in a time of 40-cent gas and 150 dollar a month rents, was the equivalent of a month’s wages. You could buy an entire used boat for 75 dollars! We looked and called and begged and… Nothing. So we split for home, stopping at Doheny on the way, in order to rest. And there we were, 40 minutes from Encinitas, as the dream waves we were seeking, peeled forever into a newly formed point after the river had flooded and moved sand into just the right formation.
The next day was just another lousy day in the boring old paradise of Encinitas. As youth usually don’t, we hadn’t yet realized we had it made. I know that now. So, here’s to the joy of here and now!
For years there had been “flexi flyers,” which were basically sleds mounted on four wheels. There were also four-wheeled boards with wooden handles attached to them. But there is no record of anyone riding an actual skateboard prior to 1950.
The first recollection I can find of anyone seeing a skateboard comes from La Jolla surf legends John Dahl and Carl Ekstrom in around 1950. The boards consisted of steel wheels on a wooden plank, made by then popular La Jolla surfboard builder Peter Parkin. As a kid Ekstrom recalls making his own version of Parkin’s board, and bombing hills throughout the city with his friends, before helping introduce the latest diversion from boredom to young surfers in Los Angeles. Dahl, meanwhile, formed a gang of skaters, whose symbol was a gold-capped seal tooth worn around the neck, striking four-wheeled fear into the local citizenry by risking their necks on the city streets.
Once the device hit the nation’s media center, Los Angeles, it didn’t take long for kids across the country to follow the leaders, rip apart their metal-wheeled roller skates and hammer them onto two by fours.
Skateboarding remained primarily an underground activity from then until 1962 when LA lifeguard Larry Stevenson introduced Makaha Skateboards to the general public. As often as not skateboarding was then called “sidewalk surfin’ ”. The new sport imitated surfing right down to its new anthem, from a melody lifted from the Beach Boy’s hit “Catch a Wave” and repackaged as “Sidewalk Surfin’ by surf music duet, Jan & Dean who in 1964 sang Grab your board and go sidewalk surfin’ with me…
Skateboarders soon ditched metal wheels, adapted clay roller skate wheels and began venturing into better tricks and steeper terrain. Leaders of the Makaha pack Bruce Logan, Woody Woodward, Danny Bearer, Torger Johnson and Greg Carroll quickly rolled to national fame.
While clay was fine for smoothly groomed roller rinks, it was too hard for the coming thrill of vertical riding, or rough streets, where a single pebble could mean a broken arm. As it would several times in subsequent decades, skateboarding went out of favor for a time, and died. Makaha folded, only to return when the sport did again, in 1969. That’s when Stevenson upped the game through the invention of the first kicktail on a skateboard.
Bruce Logan, who had yet to experience a growth spurt, had graduated high school at a height of 4’11” and was training to be a jockey. Stevenson easily lured Bruce away from horses and back to his first love, and hired him as his number-one test pilot. It was then Bruce put together the world’s top skate team for the time, which included younger brother, Brad, Ty “Mister Incredible” Page and Rusty Henderson. The team did various department store demonstrations around the country to stunned audiences who had never before seen tricks like Bruce’s “space walk,” or “headstand spinner,” and skateboarding made its biggest wave yet when the Makaha Team appeared on Johnny Carson.
Skateboarding again fell out of popularity, but came rocketing back in the early ‘70s, in part because of the addition of urethane wheels and press-in precision bearings. By 1973 the Logan family, then called “The First Family of Skateboarding” and including mother, Barbara (who ran the show with her eldest son, Brian), World Champions, Bruce and sister Robin, world-class skateboarders Brad and Brian founded the world’s most popular skateboarding company, Logan Earth Ski. Aside from the Logan family, Earth Ski riders would eventually include Hall of Famers Dogtowners Jay Adams, Tony Alva. While there were far fewer girls skating in the ‘70s, they were well represented with Laura Thornhill, Ellen Berryman, Kim Cepedes, Ellen O’Neil and a smattering of others.
Logan and Page ruled the freestyle world, vertical skating, but that style of skating was about to be eclipsed by a more vertical style made possible by urethane wheels. It was then, in the mid to late ‘70s that skateboarders first began launching beyond empty swimming pools, into the air. The aerial proved significant for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it was eventually borrowed by surfing. This allowed skateboarding to repay its debt to its big brother and, for the first time, assume its own identity.
Aside from Logan other skate teams like Bain were quick off the line and ripped into the act with stellar teams. But when times got hard and Bain and the Z-boyz found themselves looking for a home, Logan took up much of the slack, leaving Stacy Peralta to Gordon & Smith, to join a powerful team that included the original surf/skaters, Skip Frye, Mike Hynson. A few years later Joe Roper joined the crew, along with Doug “Pineapple” Saladino, Steve Cathy, Chris Miller, Neil Blender, Dennis Martinez, Henry Hester and Laura Thornhill, among others. Like Bain before them, G&S employed fiberglass in their boards, but when they introduced Fiberflex to the street, downhill skating began to resemble skiing with a liveliness never before achieved.
Another major shift for skating occurred in 1978 when Florida’s Alan Gefland introduced the Ollie, a move that opened up the skate world to endless performance possibilities. Around that time one of the skate stars from the early ‘70s, Stacy Peralta joined forces with George Powell to form Powell/Peralta, which gave birth the Bones Brigade. Gelfand was Peralta’s first recruit, followed by Mike McGill, who would go on to invent the 540 aerial or "McTwist" in 1984. Other members of the team included future skate legends Lance Mountain, Tony Hawk, Steve Caballerro and freestyle genius, Rodney Mullen. While the number of great skaters during the 1980s is too numerous to mention here, it was Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi who basically dominated the era. Where the relatively clean-cut Hawk could be compared to an Olympic athlete, Hosoi had all the swagger and vices of a major rock star. During their peak years, most fans were either for Hawk or Hosoi. The division could be seen right down to the trucks you use: Independent for Hosoi and his followers, and Tracker for Hawk and his crew. The differences also reflected in the skate mags, with TransWorld Skateboarding pouring more ink into Hawk, while Thrasher tended to side more with Hosoi.
For years the battles raged as Hawk reaching deep to invent new tricks nearly weekly, while Hosoi continued to hammer out the soulful basics, flying higher and with more power and style than any skater previously had. The rift became complete when Hosoi missed the first X Games 1995, and Hawk went on to win the comp. Turns out Hosoi was hiding from the law in Japan at the time, after a decade’s long addiction to drugs finally got the better of him. It would be years on the run before Hosoi was finally arrested in 2000 for transporting crystal methamphetamine across state lines, and serving five years, during which time he did the most radical turn of his life, surprising the world by turning to faith in God, a change that would eventually lead to his becoming an associate pastor with another radical skater turned pastor, “Alabami” Jay Haizlip.
Skateboarding is now a legitimate sport with some top pros making far more than the average bank president. Skateboards are used around the world by young and old, as many of the greats from the past forgot to quit riding and skaters like David Hackett, Rodney Mullen, Tony Magnusson, Eddie Elguera, Jay Adams (RIP), Steve Olson, Steve Caballero ,Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi and Tony Alva continue to rip well into middle age.
The styles they invented are still relevant, but new-school skaters are doing things they never dreamed of, like Danny Way with his super ramp that offers heights dwarfing even Hosoi’s greatest achievements. In 2005, Way’s comfort at great heights led to the most radical leap forward ever when he vaulted the Great Wall of China. Another red-letter day for skateboarding occurred when Tony Hawk landed the first 900-degree turn, after 10 attempts at the 1999 X-Games. Making the feat more impressive was his being over 30-years-old at the time. While 30 is no longer the outer limits of performance skating, back then most skaters had put their boards aside to pursue their fortunes, something that has proven ironic since Hawk’s fortune has been make through skateboarding and his net worth exceeds 100 million dollars. Other skateboarders to make the millionaire’s club include Tony Alva, Ryan Scheckler, Rob Dydrek, Rodney Mullen and Lance Mountain.
Even a short history of skateboarding would be incomplete without including the on-edge, gut wrenching subspecies called downhill. This blood sport first peaked in the mid ‘70s on the hills of La Costa and Long Beach’s Signal Hill where skaters like Henry Hester, Dennis Schufeldt, Chris Yandell, Bobby Piercy and John Hutson ranked high among those willing to trade skin for pavement. Taking things to the streets in the new millennium are G&S (again), Sector9, Gravity, Bamboo, Land Yachtz and Penny, among others. Look a more extensive story on downhill and longboard skateboarding in a future issue of Groundswell.
Skaters would eventually be ticketed for breaking speed limits on city streets. When that, the first Ollie, and the first 540 occurred…when Christian Hosoi boosted over ten feet, then skateboarders thought there was nothing more to be done. But, not everyone thinks that way, and then as now as some kid is quietly practicing to shatter all records against the Great Wall. When that happens a new world of possibilities will again open up.
Eventually all the records will fall, and the great rides will fade like a footnote in an old history book. The new kings will be heralded by their followers while most of them will never know what it’s like to have their own model or make a fortune from something so seemingly elementary as a skateboard. For each one that makes it big, there will be a million more satisfied to skate to school, do a kick flip, or carve a swimming pool. Most of them will never go beyond that point. But when they’re at the apex of their own peak they won’t care. They won’t be thinking the names Peter Parkins, Bruce Logan, or Tony Hawk when they’re up there, either. When space is before you and gravity begins to pull you back to earth, there’s no time for reflection on the past. This is a moment when all senses are on go, and everything is burned into the memory of a kid who will feel the wind in their face and the rush of landing four wheels on pavement.
This article is dedicated to the memory of Jay Adams, 100 per cent skateboarder, Original Seed, and a skate pioneer who recently died in his sleep, just hours after surfing deep barrels in Mexico. The entire skateboard world wept at the news of his passing.
The Long Paddle Home
Morning, September 4, 2014, Cardiff by the Sea, CA.
There are no spaces left in the lot, so I walk the three blocks from my house to the scene of yet another petty crime as a two-to-three foot swell struggles toward a pack of swimmers, bodysurfers, bodyboarders, shortboarders and longboarders, all of who feel entitled to a share of whatever rolls in. The aforementioned sub groups have been locked and loaded in what could be described as a 20-year heat, a range war whose outcome is determined daily by wave possession. Sadly, that usually means the surfer with the most volume in their vehicle gets the most waves, regardless of ability.
While I’m contemplating the lineup, three stand up paddlers (SUPs) stroke quickly to the outside. One continues past the break, toward the kelp beds. One stands guard in the channel, waiting for whatever scraps swing wide. One attacks the peak like a shark in a tuna pen. As he devours every set wave, the grumbling in the lineup is nearly audible from shore. Before he gets another wave, three other SUPs have joined him. To my surprise, they hold their fire, and one of them apparently chastises the wave hog, who seems to take his scolding to heart and paddles down the beach. The other SUPs politely get into the rotation, sharing waves without incident until they paddle out a quarter mile, to explore the kelp forest.
This brings up a question of resource management. In this case the resources (waves) are limited. What is virtually unlimited is the greater portion of the ocean, a vast liquid world where nobody objects to whatever non-motorized vehicle someone brings to the party.
While an increasing number of SUPs are venturing beyond the surf zone, many of them still want to ride waves. They have the right, but few among them would disagree that it seems fair for someone with superior paddle power to give way to some with less.
Surf’s packed and not worth a go on my 7’0” anyway, so I spin on my heel and begin my march back home, mumbling beneath my breath as I retreat. One guy in particular attracts my venom as he walks by dumbly smiling, dragging two drugstore sponges by their leashes through the sand. I gaze downward as I pass and mutter something nasty, just beyond earshot. That’s when I notice his artificial leg. Right then and there I vow never to judge anyone by his or her choice of surf craft, again. Although it takes less than a week for me to break my vow, this encounter forces me to contemplate what vehicles should be allowed in the lineup. While the simple answer is all of them, safety and common sense eliminates vessels like powerboats and six-man outriggers in crowded conditions. SUPS? Maybe. Maybe not. Should they be regulated? Segregated? If so, what regulation of high-volume longboards?
It’s not the board, it’s the rider.
--Unwritten longboard proverb
Skip Frye often rides boards over 10-feet long and it’s never been a problem for anyone, to my knowledge. Well, maybe for one guy. Someone recently heard a beginner with a department store softboard and paddle gloves call Frye, whom many regard as the patron saint of style and grace a kook, rebuking the legendary Frye for catching what he deemed “too many waves.” Forever the gentleman, Frye, who never interferes with anyone, simply paddled in without a word. I can’t explain why this guy was wrong, but we all know he was.
There is a group of amputee kayakers who ride Cardiff regularly. Most everybody is stoked to see them enjoying a temporary reprieve from immobility and gladly share the lineup with them. It seems that regulating the break according to vehicle type is no easier than deciding who is a kook.
Hawaiian bodysurfing legend, Mark Cunningham, who jokingly calls himself “the lowest life form on the totem pole,” drives the nail home. “In Hawaii there seems to be a lot less prejudice about the type of craft you ride than there is in the Mainland. Nobody would call Brian Keaulana a kook because of the craft he’s riding.”
Searching for the original SUP
According to Wikipedia, “The popularity of the modern sport of SUPing has its origin in the Hawaiian Islands. In the early 1960s, the beach boys of Waikiki would stand on their long boards, and paddle out with outrigger paddles to take pictures of the tourists learning to surf. This is where the term ‘beach boy surfing,’ another name for Stand Up Paddle Surfing, originates.”
If SUPing was “beach boy surfing” in Hawaii in the ‘60s, there should be reels of film, stacks of photos and countless words from the not so distant past. But Wikipedia is partially correct, as some beach boys were among the first to ride SUPs. John “Pops” Achoy ranks with the most notable among them, and he passed on the sport to his sons Leroy, Ricky and Bobby, who was unique in the late ‘70s, using a longboard with a paddle to take photos of tourists.
Pipe master, SUP convert, Gerry Lopez, who grew up surfing Waikiki recalls seeing only one surfer riding the South Shore’s outside reefs with the assistance of a paddle in the ‘60s. Prior to that, he heard rumors of the legendary Scooter Boy using a paddle while riding Waikiki with his dog, Sandy, in the 1940s.
Doc Paskowitz recollects seeing Duke Kahanamoku pick up a canoe paddle in the early 1940s and take his board out to the lineup to catch a few waves. We’ll never know if this was spontaneous on Duke’s part, or something he had learned decades before any of those reading this were born. Turns out the search for the first SUPers is something of a Bigfoot hunt.
Still, using a paddle with a surfboard seems obvious, after the fact. In Hawaii and Tahiti surfing and paddling are so closely intertwined that it would seem likely some ancient riders used paddles to catch waves. Ancient art pieces prove that ocean-going canoe riders caught waves standing on their craft. Is it surfing? It surely looks like it. Still, there’s little doubt that surfing for most of its recent history has been up the proverbial creek with nothing but arm strength to propel it.
To my knowledge there is no evidence that SUPing was in common practice until around the year 2000, when Maui locals and dynamic watermen, Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama inadvertently changed the surfing world. Initially, they used SUPs on tiny summertime waves that would not normally warrant their attention. Eventually they scouted out increasingly remote and otherwise inaccessible spots on SUPs, where they rode alone for years. Blame Laird (does anyone do that to his face?) or thank him, but lineups from Cardiff Reef to Broken Head are increasingly being ridden on SUPs.
Hamilton, who credits the SUP for much of his outstanding fitness, also says that SUPing has helped him stay interested in wave riding when the waves are as small as six inches. As the James Bond of the surfing world, Laird could make line dancing in cowboy boots on a skimboard cool. While SUPs may have caught on without him, the super hero’s endorsement has greatly helped SUPers gain legitimacy.
The biggest worry about SUPs, however, is not from traditional surfers who have grown up with surfing’s unwritten rules, but from inland, where molded planks are stacked to the rafters in department stores and their riders are multiplying like an invasive feeder fish waiting to leap over the dam and into the big saltwater pond. Kids locked into the middle of the country are weaned on images of wave riders, and with no ocean in sight, they do the next best thingthey learn SUPing in the local rivers and lakes and eventually head for the nearest coast, fueled by “North Shore” (the movie) dreams, to attempt surfboard riding. Older adults are often attracted to SUPs as body parts fail, to stay fit, as a check on their bucket list, or just because it’s fun. They’re all coming, but nobody’s leaving.
Rules, unwritten and otherwise
At this point cities are free to enact bans on SUPs at their discretion. Cities like San Clemente have done just that, by relegating SUPs to their own zones.
The blessing and the curse of SUPs is that you don’t have to be particularly athletic to use one, as kids skimming over lakes and bays around the world are finding by learning to balance and paddle long before they ever touch the ocean. While many see in the SUP industry realize this as a benefit to business, others fear surf-ready tourists will soon geometrically explode into already crowded lineups.
While some push to regulate SUPs, others worry that the resulting restrictions could make our sport far less free than it has been. The main three options in play are State regulation, self-regulation, or the increasing tension brought on by accommodating the status quo.
If you take too many waves here (in Hawaii) people aren’t gonna call a cop; they’re gonna educate you directly.
--Legendary waterman, Brian Keaulana
There have always been unwritten rules governing surfing. These were common sense approaches that attempted to help divvy up waves somewhat equally. Legendary surfer Sam Reid made as good attempt as anyone ever has in writing them down, 50 years ago:
1) First surfer on a wave has the right-of-way.
2) Paddle around a wave, not through it.
3) Hang onto your board.
4) Help other surfers.
Perhaps it was modern surfing’s (and SUP’s?) father Duke Kahanamoku who summed up the rules best with his version of surfing’s golden rule, saying, “Don’t hog all those darned waves.”
But some surfers don’t seem able to help themselves from hogging every darn ripple in the ocean. Of course not everyone with a paddle is a wave hog, and many are among the most courteous in the lineup. By nature, however, wave hogs are attracted to bigger surf vehicles the way their culinary counterparts are to bigger forks, something that is no problem until there’s not enough to go around. When called out for their gluttony, wave hogs often site Reid’s rule number one.
While effective in it’s time, that first item actually became obsolete during the longboard resurgence of the mid 1980s when there were suddenly two drastically different sized boards at the same crowded break, something that offered those on longer boards an obvious wave catching edge. Twenty years later, SUPs upped the game again, which may be nothing more than Karmic justice. According to surfing’s poet laureate Derek Hynd, “I note a certain poetry in longboarders being usurped by SUPs after so many years of longboarders taking advantage of their lineup power.”
How about updating Reid’s initial rule to read: “The surfer first to their feet has the right of way, unless they have a superior paddling vessel to another surfer competing for the same wave. In such cases, the surfer with the paddling advantage should yield to the surfer with less wave catching potential.” I know it’s ridiculously wordy and won’t fit well on a sign in Ventura’s C Street parking lot. I also realize that most surfers don’t pay attention to written rules anyway. As Hynd says, “There can be no unwritten law when there's no possible lineup authority short of physical intimidation.”
Dave Daum of King’s Paddle Sports agrees. “I don’t see outside regulation being the answer, and SUPers are self-regulating more and more all the time. There are still those who don’t get it, but whenever one of the regulars sees someone on a SUP doing laps in the lineup, they will probably talk to them and that usually corrects the problem.”
The SUP controversy may soon become a moot point anyway. Reid Inouye of Stand Up Paddle Magazine believes, as an increasing number of other do, that “The future of SUPs are not in the lineup anyway, but in offshore exploration.” If, in fact, droves of SUPers abandon the surf zone in favor of paddling further out to sea, this could, ironically, increase the average surfer’s wave count.
Scott Bass is a master of a large range of surf vehicles. He has been SUPing for over ten years, but has basically quit, except in small conditions, or to accommodate his sometimes aching back. Bass feels that the SUP dilemma will eventually self regulate, but not without the possibility of exploding first. “If a major lawsuit goes down against someone using a paddle, SUPs will either not be allowed in the surf zone at all, be relegated to their own spots, or have to stay 500 yards away from surfers without paddles.”
Pretty much anywhere you surf, you’re better off on a stand-up board.
Gerry Lopez
With few exceptions like Laird and Dave and now young guns like Kai Lenny, not many surfers can or care to ride powerful reef breaks on SUPs. A minority of surfers can handle waves like Pipeline on any board, so smaller, easier breaks tend to attract the masses. While these waves accommodate all types of surfboards, some people consider the innate glide of the SUP perfect for average and below average days, especially in Southern California where the surf rarely tops five feet.
It’s another packed out Memorial Day, and Joel Tudor and his oldest son Tosh have been enjoying a few decent waves at Cardiff Reef, before melting into the warm sand. Joel was one of the original SUPers at Cardiff Reef, but eventually dropped the paddle in response to not wanting to be a part of overcrowding. At one point Joel even considered helping get SUPs banned from Cardiff, but quickly realized the down side of increased regulation in the lineup. He’s been around long enough to believe that if given enough time and no outside regulation, surfing will regulate itself, just as it always has. According to him, “Self regulation in the lineup is already starting to happen.”
Although I live within spitting distance Cardiff Reef, I hadn’t surfed there in nearly five years, not since SUPs became a dominant force. It’s late summer, the weather’s hot, the water’s warm, the surf is a fun looking two to three feet and it’s a good opportunity to test the self-regulatory theory. In spite of being severely outgunned by the six or seven SUPs in the break, I prone paddle a thin 7’6” out, and brace for the assault that never comes. I am surprised to find everyone getting along and politely taking turns, regardless of board size. Everyone, me included, get a decent amount of surf, and I for one, paddle in satisfied.
It then occurs to me that long before SUPs hit the lineup, the surfing world was banging rails, flattening tires and sometimes pounding on each other over wave possession. So, maybe it is the surfer and not the vehicle after all. Regardless of what we ride, the hope is that we will eventually learn from our turbulent past, work out our differences, and attack our true and common enemies, polluters.
For now it seems things have indeed worked themselves out at Cardiff Reef, and I am encouraged they will in other parts of the world also. Our sport may have once again survived those of us who participate in it. All is well in the surfing world. But wait; is that the sound of a motorized surfboard on the horizon?
Without admission fees, dues, lift ticket, or uniforms, surfing remains a bargain and an essentially free and unregulated activity. We paddle out, catch as many waves as possible and are left without a care in the world. If you’re a surfer, you know the feeling. But is there a cost to maintaining this free lifestyle?
While we are carefree as we ride waves, the ocean we ride them in is under direct threat by overly zealous developers, criminal polluters, and other abusers. On a smaller scale, each time someone hoses down their driveway it sends a toxic river of motor oil, pesticide, pet waste and crap you would never bathe in, into our favorite playground. Each time someone’s car spews oil onto the street, it ends up in the lineup and somebody will eventually be riding over that cancerous, black liquid. Sadly, not a day passes without the Pacific chocking on the stench of human waste, bedpans and materials deemed unfit to touch land. If all of this waste were placed into a toilet, it would need to be twice the size of the Rose Bowl. Hope you’re not eating when I ask you to imagine such a royal flush.
All of this is discouraging, so what can we do about it? Plenty.
While few of us are macro polluters, most pollution is caused by people like you and me, and only we reverse it. We all contribute to the problem in our own small ways, and there are things we can do halt that putrid rising tide. You may know many of these but they bear repeating:
1) Don’t walk over discarded plastics. Carry a bag to dispose of inorganic waste found on the beach.
2) Don’t cut the strings of helium balloons and watch them float over the ocean—once they deflate they tend to land in the sea where they can become hazardous to sea life.
4) Get active in local politics run for local office and vote for candidates who have a strong record of protecting the ocean.
Attend city council meetings whenever a topic relevant to clean ocean water is being addressed.
5) Eliminate or at least limit your use of toxic chemicals and pesticides.
6) Keep your car free from oil leaks, and don’t let the hose run when washing your car.
7) Use as little plastic as possible and reuse plastic bags.
8) Use organic, biodegradable cleaning products—vinegar is a good one.
9) Pick up for ten other people.
10) Corporately you can support one or more of the ocean- minded environmental groups listed on the Marine Conservation Organizations website: http://marinebio.org/oceans/conservation/organizations.asp
We don’t have to live on a planet fit for nothing but cockroaches. As the current caretakers of this earth, we owe it to our children to leave this planet cleaner than we found it. So next time you’re enjoying a free ride at your break of choice, think about the wonderful gift you’ve been given and what it takes to keep it useable for yourself and future generations. With your help we will not only maintain what we have, but we can reverse this downward trend. They say there’s no free lunch. Well, there are no free rides either.
“Can you name anything that isn’t surfing?”
Inventor, Tom Morey
For most of my years as a surfer I thought of surfing narrowly simply as a wave ridden by standing on a foam and fiberglass surfboard. Somehow I managed to ignore four thousand year old cave drawings from Peru where people are portrayed standing on canoes, riding waves. Closer to home, the Chumash Indians made the point by riding waves at Malibu on their plank canoes, centuries ago. Is this surfing? I’d say so.
We all agree that the ancient Hawaiians surfed on various boards, including one called an Alaia. Still, I always wondered if they were turning and getting barreled, or simply standing there, as various centuries old sketches would have us believe. My curiosity peaked one day at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu as I stood, staring at an Alaia and wondering if the rider of that board would have ripped by contemporary standards. I think I got an answer about 10 years ago when a group of surfers led by ex patriot Tom Wegener revived Alaia surfing. The new Alaias were of roughly the same dimensions as those of ancient times—around seven feet long, 17 inches wide and nearly an inch thick. To most these vehicles seemed impossible to ride, much less ride well. Then, seeing Wegener, Rob Machado, Ryan Burch and Richard Kenvin control the finless drift and finesse their way into tubes at places like Scorpion Bay and Uluwatu, made me realize that our forebears probably did get deeper and carve harder than previously imagined. They were certainly going faster.
A few years ago I received a gift from Tom Wegener—a soft foam Alaia made by The Seaglass Project in Australia. The board, which is far thicker, wider and consequently more buoyant than traditional Alaias helped me realize the joy of finless surf craft, by moving faster than I previously thought possible.
Around that same time I received another wonderful gift, this time from fellow Groundswell columnist Scott Bass in the form of a handplane. While I have yet to master that art, I first used handplanes, (formerly called handguns, a term that was mercifully changed in response to increasing gun violence) a few times in the early ‘80s. While this little projectile enhanced my bodysurfing experience, I have yet to ride a wave from peak to shore on it, or beat previously un-makeable sections, as handplane masters do. (Check recent images from the August 2014 swell that slammed into the Newport Wedge for brilliant use of handplanes.)
To round out my alternative quiver I purchased a surf mat from Australian Mark Tomson. Among the aforementioned items the mat, surprisingly, had the steepest learning curve, and proved deceptively difficult to ride. Because of that I don’t surf it often. Still, when I hook into just the right wave, there are few vehicles that offer greater satisfaction. This, in part, is due to the rippling of the mat against the ocean, transferring the feeling of the wave to the rider. The biggest difficulty for me comes through not knowing how far to inflate a surf mat. Sounds simple, I know, but mat inflation needs to be fairly precise, and is counter-intuitive since the less air pressure they receive the faster they tend to go. Another challenge arrives in the need to squeeze and release the mat to control its speed and movement. Lifting and lowering the legs at just the right time further complicates the dance. Locally, mat surfers Henry Hester, Ken McKnight and Peter St. Pierre move through the gears to gain speed that is matched by few other surf vehicles. In the plus column, surf mats can be stored in the trunk of your car, so you’re never without a good, compact wave-riding vehicle.
I have far less experience with Paipo boards, having only ridden a beautiful balsawood one once in the late ‘60s in Waikiki. Though I only rode a few waves, I can still recall how fast that board moved through the water.
The Paipo, which helped give birth to the modern progressive surfboards of today, was mastered in Hawaii by several surfers including Valentine Ching, whom I first became aware of through viewing some of Richard Kenvin’s rough cuts for his steadily evolving Hydrodynamica project. Looking closely at the Paipo, you can trace some of the lines of the mini Simmon’s, a 1940s Bob Simmon’s twin fin derivative.
According to one of the leaders of the current Paipo movement, Johnny Wegener: “The Paipo naturally places itself in the pocket of the wave, and accelerates quickly. Being in the prone position, you can fit into tubes that a stand up surfer may not even notice. Paipos will help you look at waves differently, and notice inside peeling sections at your home break that everyone else paddles over.”
The next time you feel the need for a change of equipment, consider looking beyond foam and fiberglass into the world of surf mats, Paipo boards, handplanes, or Alaias. Regardless of what you ride on a daily basis, these craft will broaden your surfing experience, and, you just might be surprised how much fun you’ll have.
Chris Ahrens
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It’s common knowledge: no single design component affects the surfboard more than the surfboard fin.
I have a nice stash of surfboards to choose from. Not a single one of these uber-designed, modernly crafted, handsomely finished water craft performs as it should unless something is sticking out of the bottom. Don’t believe me? Try riding your board without fins.
I gave fins lip service. It was all talk, no action. I rarely tried new fins; rarely changed out my fins. I didn’t move my fins around. I would buy a surfboard, perhaps ask for a suggestion from the shaper or the surf shop employee, screw the fins in and away I went. Two years later, when I sold the board, you guessed it, I sold it with the same fins.
Did I sometimes buy fins because they matched the color of my board? Ummm, I’d like to say, “No, I didn’t.” Buuuutttt… maybe once.
The point is I very rarely strayed from the original fin incarnation.
A few years ago I custom ordered a surfboard from a renowned master surfboard craftsman. He designs boards. He designs fins. He designs lots of cool stuff. He’ll make anything, and he does so with meticulous precision. His name is Carl Ekstrom. He is a design guru. He dons a wide brimmed, white, straw hat.
Carl made me one of his gorgeous asymmetrical surfboards, with five fin boxes, and two different rail outlines and two different rail shapes.
Carl unveiled the board and said, “Scott, have you given any thought to what fins you are going to ride in it?”
“Well sort of. I brought all my fins in a bag. ” I muttered, hoping for some insight.
Guiding my crusty old ‘bag-o-fins’ towards Carl I half-pleaded, “Which ones should I use?”
Carl handed me a box with five or six different fin templates he had produced in his shop.
“Why don’t you try these out and mix them up with some of yours,” he suggested in his kind paternal manner.
So that day that’s what I did. I followed Carl’s suggestion. I mixed and matched, all different types of templates: sizes, shapes, cants. All different types of constructions: plastic, fiberglass, carbon, foam tipped – and yes, even colors -- as instructed by the master.
I spent three hours at a favorite beach break, riding waves, switching fins. Riding more waves. Running up the beach to swap fins. Riding more waves. Running up the beach to move fins. It often only took me one wave to decipher the fins worth in that particular board. Like morning prayers and meditation, the more I did it, the more I liked doing it.
Fifteen years back I was interviewing shaper Rich Pavel about his speed dialer fins (a fin cluster that he came up with by more or less bi-secting a keel fin and slightly separating the two halves). At one point Pavel waxed on about the early days of marine-ply keels. He explained that occasionally, if he was in experimentation mode, he would ride a wave to the beach and break the fins off the board, right on the sand. With salt water running out of his nose he’d break out some sandpaper and grind the fin rope down a bit, then attach a new set of keels. He’d standby, eating a sandwich and watching the tide move a foot or so as the resin cured. Thirty minutes later he’s paddling back out.
I didn’t have to go that route – I had Futures boxes.
I did end up with a unique combination of fins in my Ekstrom that day -- unique and hideously incongruent. Nevertheless it proved the best combination for that particular board. Four completely different fins all-together: Carl’s handmade wide-based front quad fin; a tall and rakey plastic back quad (dug out from the bottom dregs of my fin bag no less, with decades old waxed and dog hair attached); an uber-modern hex glass large Pancho Sullivan template; and a Kelly Slater/Sean Mattison inspired nubster in the middle box. Five boxes. Four fins. All different: some stiff, some flexible, one white, one red, one black, one green and black. The board worked insane, and to this day is the fastest – Point A to Point B – down-the-line surfboard I’ve ever owned (with a tip of the hat to my friend Chris Christenson who has made me some fast ones too).
I’m going to go out on a limb here – you are like me, and a bit lazy when it comes to fins.
C’mon, come clean. When was the last time you switched out your fins in the same session?
We all know, intellectually, that a different fin set-up is going to change the boards performance.
When was the last time you actually experienced that knowledge?
Do yourself a favor. Set up shop on the beach with a bag of fins or even just two different sets. Ride a few waves. Switch the fins out. Ride a few more waves. Switch the fins out again.
I was surprised how quickly I noticed the difference in my Ekstrom’s performance. I gained a new experience. Plus the numerous boards in my garage took on new life as I was inspired to do it more often, and I do. In fact I carry that bag of fins with me in my truck at all times.
I hope you will do the same. – SB
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