Ask Carroll

[Natho]

Thanks Nick. Decided to throw in the towel on the board after seeing it in the flesh today. It just wasn't for me as it was foiled like a boat with way too much foam up front. Plus I had just seen the most beautiful board shaped by Pyzel that I think I have to get. I've still got a chubby after sticking it under my arm.

[crabmeat thompson]

Nick.

Would a Llama make a good pet?

[Davros]

Nick, as a major factor do litres give a close to accurate view of the board people should ride or is it just bunk from surfboard companies making it easier for surfboard salesman to push boards rather than have an idea about foils and surfboards in general.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick.

Would a Llama make a good pet?

Good god no. Awful creatures. Might as well have a fcuken zebra.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick, as a major factor do litres give a close to accurate view of the board people should ride or is it just bunk from surfboard companies making it easier for surfboard salesman to push boards rather than have an idea about foils and surfboards in general.

I think I might have answered this before?

I think super accurate volume measurements are really helpful, and most designers I've talked to about it agree with that. It's a good guide...but it's a very blunt one. It's gotta be seen in the context of a lot of other stuff: foil, rocker, outline etc etc. Like 27 litres in one board is not gonna feel the same as 27 litres in another.

But still, I mean calling it out as "bunk" marketing, as I've seen in some quarters, is pretty silly, most board makers who're any good will have known for ages that volume is a vital part of surfboard design and until the CAD machines and their software showed up, there wasn't any real way of measuring it except by the most unreliable eye method. If it's a vital part of design then surely it should be a vital part of any committed board maker's marketing system.

[Davros]

Thanks Nick, yeh I've seen the odd shaper get emotional about this so thanks for the answer

[Red October]

Those belly channels that you used to see on boards in the mid 80's- valid design or poor cousin to a well cut concave?

[Nick Carroll]

I think guys back then were finding their way toward concave. Vee had such a psychological hold on everyone at the time, surfers and shapers alike, but the idea that somehow, flattening out the rocker line in the centre of the board might help the board plane better, was kind of bubbling away in there. I guess that was the source of the belly channel, although god knows there was not a shit load of rocker in any board back then.

It feels to me like you've got to view all board design in the context of the times, like there were none, or very few well cut concaves in 1985, certainly none running out through the tail. So I think it isn't fair to call belly channels a "poor cousin" of something that didn't exist at the time.

[channels]

NC, a few years ago on the Surfing Life top juniors issue/trip, you wrote an epilogue that essentially said that although they were the 10 best Australian juniors, really maybe only one had a real chance of making the tour in a few years time, possibly it was Owen Wright?

How good does a kid have to be to make it? How many juniors these days do you think are living with false hopes ?

[Beanpole]

I had a Nat Young "Backhand Board" back in the day that had boxy rails, concave, nifty nose v and a very well tuned flexy fin. Bit of a funny story about how I ended up with it but the thing was I imagine Nat didn't shape the thing.
Just wondering which ghost shaper was doing the deed for him in those days.

[OddaP]

Why did vee exert such a hold?

[Beanpole]

Because of the shape

[Nick Carroll]

NC, a few years ago on the Surfing Life top juniors issue/trip, you wrote an epilogue that essentially said that although they were the 10 best Australian juniors, really maybe only one had a real chance of making the tour in a few years time, possibly it was Owen Wright?

How good does a kid have to be to make it? How many juniors these days do you think are living with false hopes ?

Look I think the current talent level and commitment required of a WCT pro is beyond extraordinary -- a long way advanced from anything you'd regard as commonly understood in surfing these days.

The junior depth in Australia these days is a real worry for anyone who might be concerned with surfing's Australian top end presence. To put it mildly, there's nobody within remote cooee of Parko or Fanning in the Australian junior ranks these days. I don't know how many of them are living with the hope of being top 10 WCT pros, but I sincerely hope none of them are, because there's nobody on the current radar who's got a shot. There's a couple with the talent, but they don't have anywhere near the commitment.

The girls' ranks are way stronger and I reckon we can be confident that Australian women surfers will maintain a big presence in the WCT for at least the next decade as a result.

But the boys? I suspect the great Australian pro surfing era may well be coming to an end. It's not so much false hopes among the kids as a who gives a shit attitude. Their options seem so broad, they might feel like there's a lot of easier avenues, and they're probably right, I mean after all, who would be driven enough to think they have a real crack at a world pro surfing championship these days? If they can be paid a couple of hundred grand to be a "free surfer", why go for the real gold?

I'll tell you who by the way. Kids from Brazil. Kids from Hawaii. Kids from Europe. Kids from anywhere surfing looks like their only lifeline.

[Nick Carroll]

Why did vee exert such a hold?

It was key to making the shortboard work.

Vee really shocked the longboard brigade, it was the centrepiece of Bob McTavish's designs of 1967 and it made the board roll on to the back third of the rail so it could turn up the wave face. This really suited Australian waves, less so CA waves where the longboard originated. Vee was also key - albeit in a less obvious way - to Dick Brewer's mini guns and everything that followed in Hawaiian waters. It got even to be a bigger deal with the advent of MR style twin fins (shaped originally by Brewer), which were all about tipping on the back end vee and driving off the fin and forward rail. It was also central to the Geoff McCoy No-nose idea which was the outline basis of the Thruster. The vee was built into every new surfboard idea from 1967 to 1981. So it wasn't like everyone was gonna let go of it all of a sudden.

I think vee was doomed once Hawaiian shapers like Pat Rawson began reintroducing Bonzer style single to double concaves around 1989. Maurice's reverse vee in 1991 completely subverted the idea and after that everything was open for inspection.

[Yuke Hunt]

Nick

Would a zebra make a good pet ?

[crabmeat thompson]

Nick.

Would a Llama make a good pet?

Good god no. Awful creatures. Might as well have a fcuken zebra.

Ok. I'll tell the kids we're buying a zebra then.

[godsavetheking]

There's no black or white answer to that Womble

[Nick Carroll]

Nick

Would a zebra make a good pet ?

Dear me no. Don't you know anything about large African fauna? Zebras are horrible fcuken animals. They bite, kick and resist all attempts to put a saddle on them. Indeed they're completely unbiddable. Fcuk 'em.