Saturday, February 9, 2008

A simple thought

Board above is a late 80's Al Merrick shaped by Al himself. A very full outline for the time and a complete magic board. I decided to hang on to it and put it away for another day. I recently gave it a ugly paint splash make over since it was yellow and old looking. While I was painting the board I had "A simple thought". What will board design evolve to? Is the tri-fin going to stay the design of choice. Or are we going to see designs like the 5 fin become more mainstream ?Just check out Mick Fannings current quiver which includes a 5 fin bonzer. Maybe we are to narrow minded to think that the fin setup is the only difference maker. When in reality the outlines, rockers, flex, and and bottom contours are as important as the fin set-up. Where am I heading with this ? Alot has been made of whats called the retro movement. When in fact its not retro it evolution. Sure it may be older designs. but shaped with modern knowledge and materials, and surfed by contempory surfers. The Hull design is a perfect example. The design has been there for years, but because the current trend is to seek out the new from the past, surfers are enjoying the benifits. Thats evolution not retro. With all this said I came to the conclusion that this paint splash board shown above is not current or is it retro, Its just a damm good board to have fun on.
Surf On Jdub











4 comments:

john said...

Jdub, nice thought line there. about a year ago I went back to riding egg shapes, not hulls but the egg outline with a double barrel concave or flat panel vee whichever you prefer to call it through out and flat thru the fins. Have ridden this design as a single fin, quad, and with twin fin keels. The board works insane with each fin set up. I am convinced while fins are improtante', outlines / planshapes are just as important. Nice simple thought. So where did you surf today with the waves a ragin'!!!!!

Beetlejuice said...

Agree w/rev-rails, bottom ,rocker are most important.

FREERIDE said...

Thanks for the feedback. And as far as the surfing for today goes I have to say I missed it. Its very seldom I dont surf but I had to tend to my wife who had surgery yesterday.So as you can tell from the longer winded post I am dry dock untill she is on her feet.

Felipe Siebert said...

Who is the music?