Style and Flow

#maxstylee

 

I have style/flow skateboarding and would say Iam WAY above average in that department, at least in my eyes...but thats with a carver type board, cant do any of those crazy things kids do now...grew up in the 70's and 80's and competed freestyle, did very well...even now in my 50's I look as good as I did then...HOWEVER, I cant seem to surf the way I carve on my carver...but without a doubt, helps with surfing with regards to style and flow...your right tho, trying to make it look good is tough. If I didnt skate, I probably would like a complete idiot.

 

"kinesthetic"

I have a small bit of intelligence, but man, I had to look that one up.

 

I look at it in a similar way, but with more "science" behind it, I guess. I'm about to get stupid, so hold on...

I think of it this way... our eyes really don't see beauty... our brains do. And our brains are always trying to make order out of our world. Whether it's two or more notes played together in a chord (discord or harmony), or whether it's two or more colors put next to each other (complementary/contrasting vs they just "don't go together")... our brains either get excited about it, or consider it too chaotic and distasteful. The same thing can be said for patterns (stripes and plaids?) and forms (balance, etc.).

So in that sense, surfing... if viewed like dance, as the movement of many different forms (the body, the wave, the board, the lines... and the changing speed of all of the movements)... can either be pleasing or not to our brains, depending on how our brains make order of those visual images. Some movements are too easily interpreted, and we find them boring. Others are more creative and complex, and so they become interesting and pleasing. Still others are too disjointed, erratic, or lack elegance, and so our brains reject them.

 

I agree with the part about developing style and flow (not sure about the "their own" part) but that's another topic.

and...I agree with the part about movement being pleasing to the eye or not, and with LBCrew's reasoning behind it.

For me anyway, after that it gets complicated. The person doing the surfing isn't trying to be pleasing to someone else's eye, at least not to the detriment of actually surfing. In fact, at least for me, the way I like to drop in and set a rail line mid face, hold a hold a high line, drop down into the flats with just far enough to come up and hit the lip squarely...on and on... are almost completely based on how it feels (or produces gratifying results) and very little do with how it might look from the beach (the style and flow part).

It just seems strange to blur the line between what the rider is trying to do, and how it looks from the beach, when the two may be rather unrelated.

 

I prefer to see grace upon the wave. To me, the wave is graceful, regardless of conditions, and when one is upon it, she or he must become one with it. When such occurs, grace manifests itself, and grace is the essence of beauty.

 

my impression of style & flow on a fish

[video=vimeo;134282623]https://vimeo.com/134282623[/video]

 

I got this book. It's all photos. Surfing photos from the 70s it's called. Or something like that. I believe they have an 80s version also. But anyway, it's all old school photos. Those guys have style. Of course, they're not doing the maneuvers guys are doing today, but that wasn't what it was about back then. I think at least, I wasn't born. It's hard to put into words but they all look like there just cruising and pulling big arcing turns with a real laid back style. But most of the waves are huuuge Hawaii stuff. It's pretty cool to see how even though maneuvers have changed....style hasn't. Just kinda rambling here. So I'll stop. But if you ever get the chance to give the book a peek I suggest you do. Good coffee table book to just pick up and flip through

 

This dude is F-ing rad. He's so mental, he's genius. Talk about out of the box style... this is a whole 'nother level. He's someone I've admired for a long time, and he's somebody people say is "disabled."

[video=youtube;7dvQ1JRVmNw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dvQ1JRVmNw[/video]

 

Did you se the story about him getting ripped off on Surfline?
His mother told him that his financial planner has been ripping him off and stole his life savings, leaving him broke. And he said "she must have needed it really bad"
So awesome