The evolution of a surfboard.

Today for the most part when you go to a surf shop and look at the different boards in the racks you will see models. What people have come to expect is a certain surfboard shaped a certain way. It has a specific name and sometimes even specific color schemes.

If you have a certain model board you particularly like that has gotten well worn from use you can go buy another board of the same model and find it will surf pretty much like your last one.

It’s really pretty easy to replicate a certain shape via the various CNC shaping machines now days but to replicate a shape by hand is not that easy. It takes a lot of hand shaping for a guy to get to that repeat ability factor that so many surfers have come to expect.

Short boards have continued to evolve so that usually what is the hot item this year won’t be next year. Something will replace lasts years models and last years model may not be available anymore. But long board and alt board models once introduced may stay available for multiple years. Actually there are some long board models that have been around for decades.

I make a few boards that were first introduced in the mid sixties. Have they changed? Yes, though the right term would be evolved. These boards, or models, are still identifiable as the same board from the sixties but on close examination they are different. That’s a good thing. Small incremental changes in a design are what should happen over time to get the design to its optimum.

In the Sixties boards where going through rapid changes. Because surfing was advancing at a rapid pace the boards were going through changes continually. Even the models. You may see a certain model made in ’66 then see that same model made in ’67 and it may be noticeably different. Then of course that same model was not made at all from ’68 to ’82 and the ’82 make is different from the ’67 make. If you wanted the same exact board in the old days you may have gotten disappointed because your old board was not replicated well or the model went through some change.

Change was what happened in times past. Change is not what you see these days. Is the way we do things with surfboards today better than the way we did it in the past? Because models evolved in the past bad and now they don’t better?

Well you tell me… does riding a different surfboard, one that you will need to figure out better for your surfing? Does it help you advance? Or riding the same model over and over do that?

D.R.

My Story post 42

It was spring time in So Cal, sunny days and a nice warming trend in the air. My friend and work mate Richard had some how gotten a pass to the ranch. Which meant that he could drive into the lower ranch during the day. How and where the pass came from I have no idea but was sure glad Richard had it.

Having a pass meant you could drive into the ranch to surf, at the time few could. Without a pass if you wanted to surf the ranch you had to launch a boat at Gaviota and motor up. Driving in was much easier… and faster.

Sinse Richard and I worked together shaping for Morey-Pope we could plan a day trip for a certain day during the work week. Get some extra work done the day before the trip so as not to get behind with our work load. Or, find ourselves a little ahead of schedule and take off around noon for a run up to the ranch and an after noon surf.

Not sure how many trips we took, maybe 5 or 6 but what I do remember is that we never saw another soul on the beach or in the water… we were always by our selves.

I still remember one day in particular at Rights and Lefts. A good 4 or 5 hours of perfect head high plus waves with not a creature in site but us guys. Richard myself and our other work mate Donny. Other than the water being a little cool it was sunny and warm with no wind and that beautiful A-frame peak. Take off, bottom turn, climb and drop, maybe a small turn back and ride the wave almost to the beach as it tapered down from over head at the peak to waist high on the inside. Pull out and paddle back for another.

When we got tired we’d sit on the beach and watch that perfect peak while warming up and having something to eat… for me it was trail mix. Then when you couldn’t watch anymore paddle back out and surf again until you were too tired. We could surf until there was just enough light left for the drive off the ranch. Once on the high way if it was dark it didn’t matter.

I went back to the ranch one day 1985, the day after Thanksgiving that year. Got a boat ride with a friend of one the of the guys that worked for me back then. We surfed a few different spots and the last being Rights and Lefts. The whole day there were boats and surfers at all the different spots. Rights and Lefts must have had at least a half dozen guys in the line up. A couple guys that lived in the ranch were among them and weren’t too happy to be sharing the spot with boaters.

I had a good time and got some good surf that day but it was nothing like what my memories hold from earlier times.

D.R.

The essence of foil.

I’ve looked up the word foil in the dictionary but don’t find a definition that comes close at all to what in surfboard lingo we call foil. Unless you think a blunt sword is close.

Once you get bit by the surfing bug and develop your abilities surfing and have handled a few different surfboards the chances of realizing the beauty of a fine foiled surfboard and getting hooked on the look is pretty strong. To the discriminating surfer a surfboard can become a piece of art. Short board, long board and anything in between can be a sculpted thing of beauty.

Simple lines, simple curves and how they are formed and fit together when done well can be something very pleasing to look at. It can take years to acquire the ability to sculpt a piece of art. Taking what you see in your head and using imagination and your hands to make what you see, be pleased with what you see and have others enjoy what has been crafted.

So what is foil? To me it’s the complete package of curves that make a surfboard. From how the deck curve relates to the bottom rocker curve which in turn dictates how the foam volume is distributed nose to tail. How the rail line and rail shape moves along the length of the board, as well the way the deck and bottom is crafted from rail to rail.

It starts with a profile. Cutting a surfboard in half from nose to tail at the center and seeing how the bottom and deck curves relate to each other. The look of a profile will depend on the surfboard itself and the boards intended use. It may have more thickness a little forward or a little more aft or have an even taper. How the volume graduates into the nose as the deck and bottom curves converge, how the tail lines flow. It’s all in the profile.

Deck crown may blend it’s way from rail to rail down the length of the board with more curve forward and flatten out the back as the profile tapers through the tail section. And as the profile tapers the rails turn with crisp edges sharpened for a positive cut on the wave face.

There really is no formula for a nice clean foil. We may have some what standard bottom rockers or typical bottom curves but how the deck lines work with bottom lines? It can be very personal to a shapers hand. CAD programs may make seeing a given profile easy. But, seeing something on paper and then seeing the same thing full scale with all the other elements can be a completely different thing. There is no easy way to a nice foil.

Once you get the look of a nice foil in your head it just doesn’t go away… a picture impression. If you have a finely foiled surfboard you can look at it for hours and never tire it's look.

The beauty of a finely foiled machine, you see it with your eyes, feel it with you hands and almost instantly know it will feel good under your feet.

D.R.