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