RealSurf Surfers' Forum

Using the rails to turn also changed to turning on the fins.

Definitely right Felix.
Anyhow, if I happen to balance a coin on my nose and someone else can do it too and makes an international career out of it I can probably claim dibbsies but who cares?

I've never been able to balance a coin on my nose.

Please accept my posts in the spirit in which they are intended. I figured I was adding to you post, not criticising it.

Nick Carroll wrote:
and yeah roy! So did titanic four-metre slabs of six inch thick wood. We're all right onto them hey.

Carrol you industrial auto bot if you are attempting to snidely refer to the mighty longboards created in my blokely shop then you should educate your good self regarding their thickness, which is typically only 2 inches to 2.25 inches thick for boards up to 17 feet long in order to lower the COG and increase flexibility.

If on the other hand you refer to the unsurfableshmegenerreplicas of recent fame, then carry on, as you were. . . . . .

^^^
Funny. I read Nick's post as saying that your reference to early Hawaiian short boards had about as much reference to the modern shortboards as the 6" thick logs of that time did to your "long" boards.
Didn't think he was particularly putting shit on your boards (in this post anyway).
But Nick, if you were, that's cool by me, too.

I was just having some fun

Felix et al's posts re tail turning vs forward foil are most interesting -- exactly what lay behind the Brewer mini gun vs the McTavish etc wide tail vee.

You can see how those two competing theories -- born out of the surf conditions experienced by each crew (Hawaiian power and the need to cover ground vs Australian wedginess and the need to go vertical) -- have shaped board design ever since.

The third element -- the Californian Flat Curve, ie Fish, log longboards etc -- always seemed to be on its own in the debate, probably because it was never gonna drive a super successful elite competitive board design.

The fourth element, much more recent -- the high speed foil born out of tow surfing -- is gonna have its say in the next couple of years.

Most trippy interesting elite boards (ie all those being ridden by KS) seem to blend forward foil with tail-turning and tow attributes ... much shorter than conventional designs, wide points forward, yet more fins than ever.

Great time to be a surfer these days as far as boards go!

Nick Carroll wrote:
I was just having some fun

Same here !

It always amuses me in an exasperated sort of way when people talk about shorboards or longboards as if it's anything other than a length criteria.

.

Beanpole wrote:Westerly was right
One thing about the evolution of the short board is the move from riding from the front to riding from the tail. The first shortish boards operated on the idea that you would ride from the front like fish do.
The big thing with Simon and you can see Baddy Treloar was a big influence on him was the whole drive from the tail thing. Its a real Sydney style. McCoy works off the same idea. That was why thrusters changed everything so much.

North Coast waves didn't inspire that style at all.

Jeez this is the kind of blinkered Sydney-centric view that Queenslanders and other right minded people have been fighting for years.
Even pre '64 the world didn't end at the tick-proof fence.

Greenough/Hayden/Algie Grud and the Alex Headland crew may have a different view of things.
"Baby" predated the lot by close to a generation.

steve shearer wrote:

Beanpole wrote:Westerly was right
One thing about the evolution of the short board is the move from riding from the front to riding from the tail. The first shortish boards operated on the idea that you would ride from the front like fish do.
The big thing with Simon and you can see Baddy Treloar was a big influence on him was the whole drive from the tail thing. Its a real Sydney style. McCoy works off the same idea. That was why thrusters changed everything so much.

North Coast waves didn't inspire that style at all.

Jeez this is the kind of blinkered Sydney-centric view that Queenslanders and other right minded people have been fighting for years.

Greenough/Hayden/Algie Grud and the Alex Headland crew may have a different view of things.

ahah'' i wanted to say exactly that''
but did not want to upset the brookvale crew ha ha.
greenoughs last word on all this would be the diffinitive

ha ha ...Steve and Huie, I actually wrote a reply say the same thing but my signal dropped out here and it didnt send and I then thought I couldnt be bothered ....I surf with a guy who is good mates with George and hear all sorts of interesting stuff about then and now....

Being such a dyed in the wool sydney kind of guy who can't see past the lighthouse at Palmie or the harbour bridge to the south for that matter it is natural that I should see all progression in surfboard design as eminating from Brookvale. Whats wrong with that. Its not like you banana benders actually made any developments in surfboard design

Sorry Felix wasn't having a shot at you just making a bit of a statement re: if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it.

I think that back in years long ago there was much more of a connection between Brookie, Cronulla, Woolongong, Newcastle, Byron, the Goldie and the Sunshine Coast (and Victoria). Shapers and surfers seemed to effortlessly move between places and not get caught up in the 'one is better than the other' argument. It just happened that most of the shapers of influence happened to be in Brookie in late '66.

One of the forgotten innovators is Jim Pollard who grew up in Manly, moved to Newcastle and then up to the Sunshine Coast. Somewhere along the way he invented channels and a whole lot of other stuff.

Pollard...

Yep...and a fella brought in an absolutely mint garage-sale find to gloat over the other day. A 7'6 from Caloundra about '75, it had radical double concave and an outline all about drive...Looked like it had Nias on the mind...

I digress...

Josh
www.joshdowlingshape.com

yeah, Jim Pollard was at Mooloolaba for a while, he also taught 2 young shapers by the names of Peter Wallace ( Stumpy ) and Mick Grace. Both Stump and Mick became excellent shapers and still are today, they both were big fans of the 6 channell and I was lucky enough to work with Stump for about 7 years and ride Micks bords for a while also.... They tell me that Jim was the first guy to ever do a channell bottom and was very innovative with design....

Josh, would love to see pics of the board you speak of if possible ??.....

Hey MP,

Its to my regret that I did'nt get pics of that board...alas...

I can though...same guy would happily bring it back in to gloat again!!!

Josh
www.joshdowlingshape.com

So joining the dots together again-Uncle Bob starts surfing on the gold coast, comes down to Brookvale to shape, hangs out with Greenough, bails back to the sunshine coast and Hayden. Is supposedly the best surfer in the world at this stage according to Bob Cooper but hardly anyone sees him surfing Noosa. Then bursts onto the scene again with the v bottom which is taken to Hawaii.
Then hangs at Angourie with Greenough and crew before relocating to Lennox.

It seems to me Bob usually says we when refering to design developments. I reckon his surfing has actually been somewhat down played compared to his peers from the time. Pity he wasn't in MOTE.

well the Innermost Limits of Pure Fun lays it down pretty clearly.....and seeing Bob at Boulders on a 10 foot day July 07 pulling in on a bomb is more than an exclamation point.

Hey Steve...

Is there a photo from that session with Bob in a nice, solid legged prize-fighter speed-trim?

Yep, does him justice...

Josh
www.joshdowlingshape.com