wrcsixeight
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2012
- Messages
- 537
- Reaction score
- 0
There is nothing green about Surfboards, or their production. Toxic and wasteful at every stage of construction, this is not likely to change much.<br><br>A part of what bothers me so much about surfboards, is that in a quest for lightness, and super high performance, that very few surfers can actually take advantage of, is that the surfboards are very fragile and are yet just another disposable product in a disposable society which seems to take pride in how much it can dispose of.<br><br>Modern high performance surfboards can break easily and ultimately wind up in a landfill. Sure broken boards can be repaired, but they never ride the same afterward, the flex pattern is different, they are heavier, and repairing the board is labor intensive and also produces a lot of waste.<br><br>Which takes me to the point of this thread. But first a little background.<br><br>16 years ago, I was a partner in a short lived surfboard factory. A large and powerful hurricane was spinning off the coast of Baja, and a friend and I wound up driving around a lot to find someplace that could take best advantage of the large powerful conditions.<br><br>We wound up somewhere where there was a strong sideshore current, and a lot of consistency to the incoming swell. Making it out past the breakers was very difficult, and then the longshore current was so strong, that paddling at 90% effort, I was barely making any headway toward where I desired to be to catch the best waves. I was riding a shorter board. Basically the longer the board, the faster it can be paddled, but the longer the board the harder it is to maneuver when one actually catches a wave.<br><br>That day, that session, I decided I wanted to make a longboard which could handle not just catching, but riding larger waves, and the next day I cancelled plans to make a small wave Nose rider and instead drew out the lines for the board I envisioned the previous day.<br><br>This was only the third board I had ever shaped at this point in my short lived manufacturing days, and it was far from perfect, but overall I was pleased with the final shape. I also had very little experience in laminating at the time, and did a pretty poor job at that too.<br><br>Anyway the board worked great for what I designed it for, and surprisingly it also worked very good in small waves too. It was not my favorite board for small waves, and in most bigger conditions I'd prefer to ride a more maneuverable shorter board. Basically it was a very capable all arounder. I'd teach beginners on it, I'd lend it to friends visiting from out of town, I'd use it on bigger days that were really crowded where it would give me such a huge advantage in wave catching ability that it earned me much hatred, and grudging respect, from the crowd.<br><br>But the board was not very strong. Because I had bought the rough blank intending it to be a bigger board, I had to plane down into the softer weaker foam to get the smaller board out of it. Because it was my first glass job, there were many bubbles in it, and the glass was not pushed properly to the foam, so it was and is kind of soft.<br><br>So after several years of fairly steady abuse, a bunch of stress cracks were opening up on the hull, the deck was filled with deep heel dents, and the board was ready to snap in half, and I was kind of resigned to this occurrence and tried to convince myself I didn't care.<br><br>My regular longboard was in drydock for repairs and I decided I would ride this other board in some small to medium size conditions, yet I had forgotten the fin I normally used in this board and did not want to have to goto my storage unit to get it. I had another fin with me, but it was significantly smaller, but I threw it in anyway, and went surfing.<br><br>Much to my surprise, the board rode better than ever. Faster, looser and gave no signs of side slipping, or not having enough fin, and I was no longer in any rush to repair my other regular goto longboard. I was surfing it so much, all the stress cracks on the bottom were widening, and I could feel the board flexing significantly under my feet as I rode it, and I knew it was going to snap in half soon.<br><br>Now, a new surfboard in this size range is now a minimum of $800 dollars, likely well over a grand, and there was some sentimental value in this board as well, after all we had shared some glorious waves together and it was also the third board I ever created. If it snapped, I could fix it, but as I typed earlier, a snapped, repaired board is never the same, and not always repairable either.<br><br>This surfboard is also an unusual shape, combining elements from boards popular in the mid 1960's and a few attributes from the mid '90's. I don't have access right now to make and glass my own boards so basically if this board snapped, it was destined for the landfill.<br><br> Number one, there is no way I could find a similarly shaped board in some surfshop, even if I could afford it(which i cannot), and having another shaper try to replicate is not really possible either as they all have their own ideas as to what works and what does not and are very stubborn in their beliefs.<br><br><span style="font-size: 13px;">I decided to re enforce this board before it broke in half. <br><br>More background....<br><br> In 2002, after returning from 3 years travelling overseas, A friend showed me a hollow surfboard he made out of wood. Sure it was heavier, but it was so beautiful. I was allowed to ride it and was surprised that as heavy as it was, it rode so well. Since he was more of a carpenter rather than a surfboard shaper, we made a deal where I would show him how to make and glass a surfboard with a proper shape with the proper techniques if he would show me how to construct a hollow wooden surfboard.<br><br>Anyway that was over 10 years ago, and that first wooden surfboard I made is strapped to my roof over my head in my Van right now as I type, and is affectionately called 'Old Faithful'. I have made 6 other wood surfboards. I have not bought a surfboard since I was in NZ in 2000.<br><br>I had some Cedar left over from the third wooden surfboard I ever made, and decided I would use this to re-enforce the Foam board which was about to break in half. In the center of most all foam surfboards is a wooden stringer which adds to the strength and is also a shaping aid for symmetry. I used my plunge router and removed the foam and fiberglass to a 1/4" depth over the stringer 5 inches wide along the full length on the hull and 3 inches wide on the deck, and inlaid this cedar and glassed back over it, with some carbon fiber strips to better hold the two halves together. It was a huge amount of work, and at the final stages I was having issues with the original bubbles in the polyester resin glass job repelling the epoxy, and I could not get the board properly sealed. It would absorb salt water, get heavier, turn yellow, delaminate and likely end up in the landfill.<br><br>I got frustrated, tired of looking at it, working on it, and put it back in storage where it sat for the last 8 months.<br><br>In the mean time I kept surfing my other wooden surfboards, and many days I kept dreaming how that unfinished board would be perfect for such conditions and how I should really just finish it. A few weeks ago, I pulled it back out, determined to get it sealed and back in operation.<br><br>I just accomplished this task a few days ago. My biggest concern in re-enforcing this board was that it was going to be heavier, and significantly less flexible. I was not sure how much of a factor the flexibility and lightness were in the positive attributes of how this board rode previously. Basically, all this effort I spent in re-enforcing this board might yield a negative result in the way it rode, and all the my effort and time and materials mostly wasted.<br><br>So yesterday, I take it out in some small to medium conditions. When I first jumped on it, I had to get used to how it floated, which is always different board to board, and this board was always a bit bizarre, and felt even more so now as it had been well over a year since it last saw salt water. Surfing is actually 95% paddling and about 40% of that is muscle power, and 60% is technique. Small changes in weight distribution front to rear can have huge impacts on the speed at which one can paddle, to both get outside the whitewater and to catch waves. I've been surfing for well over 30 years now, and fairly quickly get centered and trimmed so that I can apply some torque and get some paddling speed.<br><br>Hitting little bits of wind chop tells me this board is not flexing very much, but it is still several pounds lighter than my regular go to wooden longboard. A wave comes, I spin around, catch it easily, jump to my feet, and go to bottom turn, and the board tracks straight, and I fall, but on it so I do not lose it, as I do not wear a legrope/ leash when longboarding.<br><br>Jumping on a different board always takes a bit of getting used to, but I was rather dismayed at the first attempt to turn it. I am very used to my other longboard which has more curve in the tail and allows easier smoother turning, and on the next few waves I do better, but still am having some issues as the board feels a bit stiff, and slow to respond. I had made a new removable adjustable wooden fin for this board, and I remembered that I had put it all the way backward in the box which could be a big part in why the board is responding slowly, and with this in mind I decide to push it a bit slower to give it time to come under me after initiating a turn.<br><br>There was a bit of a crowd out, and two different swells running, and I had primarily taken the waves from the smaller more frequent swell, and was now getting more comfortable. I had seen the horizon grow a bit darker with a little warble on it, a sign that a larger set of waves was coming and I raced seaward to meet it.<br><br>It was a beautiful set of waves that travelled from below New Zealand, and I was in a prime spot to catch the wave, and better yet, nobody else was in the immediate vicinity to contest my priority, or to get in my way. I easily catch the wave early, take a slight angle on the drop and see that the wave is lining up beautifully. I delay doing my initial bottom turn for a bit as timing is pretty critical for this, one does not want to ride too far in front of the breaking part of the wave, nor get stuck behind it. I am very familiar with this particular surfbreak and jam the bottom turn from the tail of the board then take two steps further up the board to keep the rail flatter in the water, less deep in the water, so the board can accelerate easier.<br><br>Trimming a longboard is done either of 2 ways. One either moves their front leg forward, then their back leg forward in what is called shuffling, or one can take the back foot and place it in front of the front foot, called cross stepping. Cross stepping is much more difficult but infinitely more graceful to watch, and satisfying to do. Doing this in a critical part of the wave such as when it is heaving and getting ready to break, is pretty much the goal when longboarding.<br><br>Cross stepping is seen as the traditional way of longboarding, how surfboards were ridden in the 50's and 60's before the shortboard revolution came and changed everything. Some of the best examples of traditional surfing come from the time when it was not classified as traditional surfing, but just surfing. Check out the Original Endless summer for examples.<br></span><a href="http://www.hulu.com/search?q=The+Endless+Summer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.hulu.com/search?q=The+Endless+Summer</a><span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">As one cross steps forward in such a part of the wave, one is also accelerating. The further one gets from the tail of the board, the less control one has of the board.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">It is difficult to explain the feeling of being propelled by a wave. It is usually referred to as 'The Glide'. Beginning surfers almost never achieve "The Glide' and most will give up on learning before they ever get this feeling. Standing on a surfboard, riding a line of whitewater straight toward shore is not 'the glide'. Yet most beginners who can achieve this still find it fun and think they are surfing. They are not. Not even close.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;"> 'The glide' is when being propelled on open wave face, nearly parallel to shore. Those that can achieve 'The Glide' are hooked for life, and can never forget the feeling, and might allow the entire course of their lives to be changed forever as regular achievement of 'the glide' is necessary for one's soul.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">So after my initial bottom turn on this wave which traveled 6 thousand miles to meet me, I cross step forward to 2/3 the way up the 9 foot 4 longboard, and the board accelerates like a rocket, and the other surfers are hooting at the wave, and my positioning on it as I zip across its face. </span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;"> As the wave moves toward shore, it feels different water depths, and likely, eventually slows down. If I stay at 2/3 forward trim, I will outrun the wave. One must redirect, turn back toward shore, and possibly back toward where they came from on the wave so as to not lose it by outrunning it. Cross stepping backwards to the tail is more difficult than cross stepping to the nose, but I've had 30+ years of practice, and once back near the tail, I can turn hard. I do so, applying my full 220 lbs as hard as I can while still going at a respectable clip, buckets of water flying upward from the bottom of my board. I launch the nose of the board over the top of the whitewater redirect it back toward shore, and expect to wipeout.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">Yet the board swings back underneath me and with more confidence I throw another bottom turn in, as hard as I can go, grunting with effort, expecting to fall again, but instead I accelerate out in front as the wave feels bottom again stands up and starts accelerating again. Cross step toward the nose, and get going a zillion miles an hour again, before backpedaling again, throwing another cutback in, bouncing off the whitewater, and doing it all again.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">By this time my Thighs and calves are burning from exertion, yet the wave is still going.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">And I hear this laughing. I then realize it is me.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">Seratonin and adrenalin overload, tickling the inside of my skull.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">I begin to outrace another section, backpedal, turn, fully expecting to fall, still giggling, and somehow the board swings back underneath me as if it is saying: "let's do this!" </span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">That wave was 30 minutes into a 2 hour session. I caught close to 4 dozen waves in that time. I never fell again, the resurrected surfboard felt like an extension of my body, of my mind.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: small;">It could have wound up in a landfill, yet now it will likely never will.</span><br><br>
<br><br><br><br></span>
