the rush of continuous rhythm

these are sad and unnecessary statements
i urge you to parse your own post and mine the consequences if its' truths.

the " best equipment " really is the best; all else pales by comparison.

keeping in mind i have been short-boarding over 50 years and have an equipment-bitterness issue.....
consider this fictional conversation in a california surf shop in 1965/1975/1985/1995.....

one shop worker: this board does not sell cause it doesn't work.
other: ship it to new jersey; they'll buy anything.

 

i agree w/everything you said.
(sorry).
your point about the fish i find especially relevant.
only thing i can add is that we no longer attach the leash to the nose of the board.
new or old; tweaked or not; it didn't work.

 

What's wrong with being realistic about one's position relative to the ever changing "state of the art." There has to be a point in your life where you just don't want to try to catch up any more, and you would rather just do your own thing.

Best for what though, right? I would guess asymmetrical boards don't have a place on the tour, at least not in the near term. If anything, based on current directions in pro surfing, I would guess boards will get more symmetrical, i.e. adding front to back symmetry. People seemed to react positively to Burch's surfing in the video, but it wouldn't win any heats.

And I want to surf like this:

[video=youtube;-MWkH579_Z4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MWkH579_Z4[/video]


So what board do I need?

It would be cool if you could describe (to the best of your recollection, of course) what shortboard you were riding in 1964.

It occurred to me this morning that a large portion of surfboard design (maybe the majority even) seems to not take performance into consideration at all. What percentage of total surfboard sales do you imagine are softboards with big square rails, flat bottoms, and three small rubber fins? Or for that matter, how often do large, "name" manufacturers come out with radical new designs?

 

what board do you need?
what do you want?
will you choose mundanity yet revere jjf?
do you gravitate towards those whose surfing you admire?
is the best possible at least an option?

its a big sport. room for all but high performance - sorry guys - is something MANY OR MOST
surfers admire.

 

It's a shame surfboards are kind of fragile and get forgotten and abused and destroyed, because it would be great if we could see and try everyone's 60's hacked longboard and try to understand what people felt riding them.

 

This past summer I acquired an authentic 60's G&S Stretch log. In terms of what people think of when they hear "performance," this thing's a dog. But I LOVE to ride it. It's a challenge, and it doesn't do a lot of things well. But it does a few things REALLY well, and that's what I dig about it. Figuring out any design, to the point of maxing out what it DOES do well, and really exploiting those assets that often go far beyond what "performance" boards can do, is the magic of any design.

 

and there are some magical ones indeed which only adds to our enjoyment of our already cool sport.

at the risk of undercutting my own assertions; how does the kiteboard industry regard the a-sym?
anybody know whether its yea or nay?

 

Kind of off topic, but the human body is not entirely symmetrical, especially from an interior viewpoint. Liver on one side, appendix on on side, stomach tilted. Heart on one side. Tai chi theory says you must nurture your mind/body in balance, but that requires some asymmetry in practice and form. I think this should hold true in surfing as well. Not sure how, but it sounds correct. To be able to translate that into foam and fiberglass? Good luck!

 

My opinion: Sure, on a world class left or right point or reef, that has a similar composition on every way, or even a beach break like Puerto.... That is the only realistic application for this, unless you are a shaper just messing around and trying new things. There are certainly Asym aspects that would enhance a strickly front side approach, I.E. thinny out the inside toe rail and having a round leading tail edge, where on the back rail there is a difference in volume, width and tail shape.... Yes, that would obviously be applied, to a degree with some success, while performing certain maneuvers would be difficult, I.E. digging in the fat heel side rail in during a roundhouse.... So, for every positive, there is a negative, but with a certain Asym, designed specifically for a certain wave, sure, I could see it being applicable. I.E. A pipe board custom for JOB....

But for the rest of us, without a world class auto-magical wave machine handy, I can't see anything but minor discovery, masked by a ton of frustration....

But I agree with a lot of the previous posts. When old subject matter is re-visited in the future, innovations can really make a big difference.

And I think it is safe to say that the guy in the original video has certainly dialed in these theories. But he is also posted up on a auto-migical, mythical "perfect wave"..... Give me a wave like that for a week, and I would take out every board a shaper could give me and try and figure each board out. Single fins. Whatever.... So, not that it de-values what the guy is doing, but you could probably ride a foamie on that wave and get some sick sh** going.

 

have no experience with assymetrical shapes,but I always thought everything is symmetrical for a reason.like u wouldn't want the highway to go from 30 ft wide to 5ft wide in 200 ft.or ur house door to have a 3inch gap at the top like my door lol,those are people who pretend to know construction stuff.everything is supposed to square and symmetrical in our world,dont know who came up with it but its some smart common sense.i imagine u have to ride with a certain style to ride a board like that,like the young dude with the long hair from Australia,craig Anderson I think it is.the guy in the video tho definitely put on a clinic

 

here ya go:
http://whitelines.com/snowboard-gear/buying-guides/asymmetric-sidecuts-explained.html

I know, different sport, but the issue is similar.

I think once people get this dialed, we may see "goofy" and "regular" boards. This may be another bigger hurdle for shapers, and especially for shops and sales.

 

The idea that asymmetrical boards are for one-way waves, or perfect waves, is an old misconception that still lingers today. And I'll confess that I once believed that, too. In fact, my first experience with asymmetricals was in Puerto Rico at Marias, where you only go right. But now, decades later, I've realized that it's a myth. What I've discovered is that, for example, a backside turn, speaking in terms of leverage and gross body mechanics, is basically the same whether you're going right or left... making a bottom turn backside, or a cutback going right. There are differences between the two, for sure, but in terms of mechanics, there's much more similarity between those two turns than, say, a fronside bottom turn and a backside bottom turn, which are radically different in terms of how you gain the leverage and pressure shifts you're after during each. And that's why it takes some getting used to when you first get on an asym.... you have to change your approach. But once you do, you start to sense the increased responsiveness, and begin to use that to your advantage.

 

Now you are speaking my language. Gotcha.

 

although this post sounds snotty i don't mean it that way (really).
marias has a sweet left.
did you ignore it cause you were on an a-sym?

 

sorry but in keeping w/the tone of this thread i have to correct that statement.
please insert "sometimes" between can and really.
you might be young for this but no matter how hard we tried the leash just did not go on the nose.

 

No... just that the rights were way better. Or I should say... I don't remember even noticing the left, the rights were so good. Maybe it was the northerly swell direction?

 

for what its worth that was one of my crowd-maintenance tactics there. pretend like you're after the rights
then pick off the lefts.....and, yes, i think a nw swell enables this.

one of the things that concern me about a-syms is painting oneself into a corner with respect to rights
or lefts.....i would maintain to reject that mindset in favor of an a-frame one.