Requiem for a surfboard
Most of us have been caught in a compromising situation from which we emerged to find that our beloved had split. Literally. In two. That beloved board we had surfed for so long, that we had come to rely on so much, suddenly gone. The nose floating away. The tail still tethered to the ankle. Irreparable.
Not all boards are special but most of us have had a few that were. The ones that somehow formed such a powerful nexus with the image of surfing held in our brain that they could be surfed on instinct alone. This is the most likely mechanism for that profound connection we feel to these boards. We all have some sort of mental image of what we are doing that is projected on to the reality of our surfing. And this is long lasting. Most of us can recognise our mates by the way they surf from a much greater distance than we could possibly recognise them by other means. Many of us have had the experience of noticing a surfer and thinking they surf like someone we once knew, only to discover that it was, in fact, the same person.
When this internal portrait of our surfing maps closely onto the design of a board something special starts to happen. Our movements naturally match the optimum control pattern of the board so that it seems to respond to thought alone. In turn this creates a cognitive space for elaboration. If the mind is focused completely on holding the board through the path of a particular turn, it cannot focus further down the line, nor can it respond as quickly to unexpected disruptions such as that piece of chop exerting a greater force on the rail than allowed for. It allows time not to expand but to be sliced into ever finer pieces so more thought can be applied to the actual surfing. The surfing then becomes more precise and more fluid as more adjustments can be made for the ever changing surface over which the board is travelling.
But if there is a direct connection between the technical aspects of our surfing and the design of that special board there is almost always a secondary factor similar to the placebo effect. We believe in the board. It inspires confidence and confidence is the sine qua non of surfing ability. Believing that you are a good surfer, perhaps sadly, does not guarantee that you are one, but to doubt your ability will always reduce it.
This secondary process can lead to a psychological dependence on the board that ultimately is not helpful. One of the worst things that can happen to your surfing is for it to freeze at a particular point in its development. As we age this is almost inevitable to some degree. The mental construct of our surfing becomes stronger and stronger. The neural pathways from which it arises become fixed by constant use and so resistant to further change. In this way we lose the ability to quickly add new techniques to our repertoire, though it can be done. Consider Kelly Slater for example. His genius resides as much in his ability to constantly renew his surfing as it does in his freakish control.
Most of us unfortunately do not have that degree of control nor the opportunity to constantly reimagine our surfing in the best waves in the world, so we remain vulnerable to stagnation. Perversely those special boards can contribute to this. We keep them for years and fall into a standard pattern of surfing on them. We may even be tempted, if they break, to simply order a duplicate. All the easier now with digitally stored design data and accurate shaping machines. Yet no matter how high the standard we were achieving, the way forward is to change up.
If you work with a particular shaper have a look at their more recent designs and go for one. If you are buying off the rack, choose a shop with experienced staff and use their advice and your own judgement to select something. There will probably be elements that you preserve from the previous board, the basic dimensions for example, but equally there is nothing wrong with a complete change.
A different board forces us to change. It breaks up those frozen neural pathways and while initially this may cause problems with control, in most cases these will be quickly overcome. The pros may have the time and opportunity to work incrementally through design changes as they have constant access to a shaper and an unlimited flow of boards. The rest of us need to progress in jumps. By the time we are due for a new board designs have moved a greater distance forward than we can manage with incremental change. We may never quite catch up, but that in itself is all the more reason to keep trying. //blindboy
Comments
vale lightning bolt belly channel, i came in from snapped board at kirra, walked past billy racks old shed, billy scratches his chin, "i got just want u need" billy say's disappearing into the chaos that only he knew as orderly. " a bloke from hawaii needed money so i swapped for this. She'll be perfect for you, you hyperactive little bastard" he grins as he shoves it to me. Billy was spot on, it surfed itself.
Pearl Jam , Janes Addiction,and a 6'4" Gunther with a swallow.
Am hearing you bobhawke. Early 90's, had a 6'4" Gunther with a swallow, single to double concave. Surfed that thing from 1ft beachies to 8ft Wilkes in Fiji. Never missed a beat. Still have her at home but she is no longer in her prime. Her once ample 2'5/8" thickness is reduced to about 1'3/4" on both sides of her stringer. Bottom is still in great shape though. I wonder if a shaping machine can work a duplicate just on rail shape, stringer thickness, and bottom shape alone. Will have to fill in the blanks with the deck.
Not machine direct, although you can scan it, but instead, a few manual measurements and plot points into a surfboard design program like AKU Shaper and well, yep, you'll get pretty close to the original ;)
Cheers wingnut2443. Always loved that board. Loved it to near death. Will look into AKU Shaper and go from there.
"If you work with a particular shaper have a look at their more recent designs and go for one. If you are buying off the rack, choose a shop with experienced staff and use their advice and your own judgement to select something."
mmm, another simple idea? Swap boards with ya mates!
Sure, ya mates board might be over or under volumed for you but you'll get some different sensations and ideas ...
Oh, and fins, swap around ya fins ... on your boards and on ya mates when you borrow them!
Damn blindboy sent this story to me via email over the weekend. I received it just as I pulled up at the beach for a surf on Saturday. Read through it while sitting in my car then promptly paddled out and BROKE MY FAVOURITE BOARD!
If BB pens a story about surfing injuries or the like it's going straight to the junk folder unopened.
Wow that fin system is a real throw back to the ol' days!
What type of board is it anywho?
Wot? FCS is a throwback..?
The board is (was) a PCC by Stuart Paterson at Cronulla.
Strange break. Never seen that before.
You're not the pig of steel by any chance ?
Strange spot for it to break! How'd ya do that?
Got compressed in a small backside barrel and the rear fin/tail hit the bottom while my feet were still on the board. Yeah, it was shallow.
Christ, you must have been digging your claws in.
I put the pig in pigdog.
Shit! Board looks pretty new too
Well stu look on the bright side cause now you have an excuse to get a new board ...sad/happy.
So true for all of life BB - let yourself get stuck in the same routine and you'll exclude yourself from new opportunities and the growth and insight therein.
Best thing that ever happened to me was break a brand new board on its 1st wave at
6-8ft point. The board felt really good pulled in snappo was devastated as I was going to
Hawaii the next day it was my new 7ft gun. Then hassled my good mate Stuart Darcy for a 7footer and realized how much better his boards performed and never looked back.
Thanks Darc
One winter at TOS cost me 13 boards. No shit. Fucking expensive winter. Got to try a lot of boards. In the end I went for single fin aluminum with double concave
Ok. There was no aluminum board but the snappage ... Whimper
I know the pain. I broke 3 in a week in 2012. All straignt through the middle. Different days, different conditions. In the end all I could do was sit on the sand and watch everyone else having fun .... staring at the early morning pastels and just imagining boards.
Nothing like stepping outside your comfort zone when it comes to board choice, ya never know what you'll discover. Busting boards is the best way to look around.
I snapped three boards in eight waves at a west oz beachie, tried my best to snap the fourth cause I was on a role haha, but that Dahlberg Pipedream just wouldn't break.
On a recent trip to our south coast caravan my beautiful wife backed my van over my (beloved) 5'6 Mini Simmons shaped by Stu Paterson of PCC. "Silver lining" was that she was so distraught (knowing my connection to said craft), she assured me that I instantly needed to order a newy. Fast forward a few weeks, my new 5'5 is currently on order.....new board froth building....
Gman good work placing that board behind the wheels,noticed you dropped an inch,ill have to try that one and best part is, she feels guilty...awesome mate.
Put my knee through the deck (4 year old kneeboard). If it was a plastic board it would have snapped. But it is a hollow wooden board, 8 mm thick paulownia with no glass and easily repairable. I'll add a kneepad of 0.8 mm bamboo veneer for added strength.
For computer design BoardCAD is free and has more output options.
Grab the new v3.0.1 from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/boardcad/files/