Shortboard surfing is inelegant

Post by **buzzy** » Mon May 31, 2004 5:35 pm

A bloke called Alan Weisbecker has written a few books and I'm reading one of them now; "In search of Captain Zero". Well, not right now as in this very second, but "now" as in in moments contiguous with "now", but not this very second. Because right now I'm typing. It's a bloody good book by the way. Recommended.

Anyway, Weisbecker says in the book that he's now principally a longboarder, having lived and surfed on ther north shore in the late 60's during the shorboard revolution etc. He's older now of course but he reckons that a shortboard is unsuitable for 90% of conditions typically encountered. He also says, in effect, that shortboard surfing is inelegant.

Now, I reckon he's wrong. While I'd agree that a standard modern thruster shortboard isn't suited to all conditions, I reckon it's suited to a lot, and other types of shortboards can be just as suitable for "longboard friendly" conditions as a longboard itself. Things like fishes, modern fishes, twinnys, eggs, double enders, 3.5" early 70's retro single fins etc etc...all are fine in small waves. And a shortboard doesn't have to be surfed to meet judging crieria. An appropriate shortboard can trim straight a la Terry Fitzgerald at Jeffries Bay. You can even walk one a la Nat in Morning of the Earth. Etc.

So, I reckon this whole "longboarding is elegant and shortboarding is a form of gymnastics performed irrespective of the wave's demands" is just plain wrong. But what do others think?

stuey · Post by **stuey** » Mon May 31, 2004 5:40 pm

I think that book title has you name in it.

Post by **nubby** » Mon May 31, 2004 5:52 pm

INELEGANT! whats this old coot want? us to all go surfin in tuxedos?

Post by **Morgan The Moon** » Mon May 31, 2004 5:58 pm

I've read that one a couple of times - it's a great read, but I agree with you Buzzy, he's got it wrong......

First things First, I ride a longboard - but it's obviously the rider that dictates the style not the board.

Look at Parko's riding, so controlled and full of style. Curren is another one who comes to mind.

A couple of weeks ago, I was out at a break and watching this guy riding these biggish waves breaking out at sea. His board was under 7'.His lines were so clean, his turns were so smooth and drawn out beautifully. I'd convinced myself he was riding a single fin, but nope...when he ran up the beach he had a thruster tucked under his arm.

Post by **random** » Mon May 31, 2004 6:09 pm

watch any comp surfer in small ish waves, thats unelegant!

thrashing sround, doing 15 turns on one foot dribble.... yeah i know it is necesity, and yeah i am guilty of it when its small.

free surfing, in real waves lik margerets, bells, sunset , any point break (DY, lennox, cresent, angourie, sandon, fuk you name it) when they are firing is poetry. not necesarily big waves, but clean lines and fluent surfing.

Post by **zzz** » Mon May 31, 2004 6:33 pm

I agree that certain styles of short boarding are also inelegant, particularly the slashy/skaty style, but I think that a shortboard is more suited to 'tuning into' the wave, its shape and form and energy.

Elegant moves - tube riding would have to be the ultimate in elegance in that the surfer is in the most critical and high energy part of the wave but is exerting virtually no energy themselves. Its far easier for a short boarder to acheive a barrel than a long boarder. Similarly cutbacks are pretty elegant in that they fit the form of the wave and its easier to achieve a long smooth arc that complements the wave shape on a shortboard than a longboard. Even the shape of a surfboard with its curved lines and tapered point are more complementary to the natural shapes of the ocean rather than the fairly square shape of a mal.

On the other hand I find it hard to see how mal riding can be classified as elegant in any sense. A re-entry or cutback on a mal usually looks extremely cumbersome. The 'trick' moves like 'hang tens' and 'spinners' seem to be unrelated to anything about the wave at the time, so I find it hard to find the elegance.

I reckon the most elegant surfing is achievable on a board like a 7'+ banks gun on 6-8' waves.

stuey · Post by **stuey** » Mon May 31, 2004 6:35 pm

how bloody semantic.

Post by **baldric** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:00 pm

how bloody semantic

Jewish?

Post by **zzz** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:02 pm

stuey wrote:how bloody semantic.

heheh - yeah reading it again it was a bit of a pile of wanky cr**p really wasn't it.

Apologies ...

Post by **theboat** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:27 pm

zzz wrote: On the other hand I find it hard to see how mal riding can be classified as elegant in any sense. A re-entry or cutback on a mal usually looks extremely cumbersome. The 'trick' moves like 'hang tens' and 'spinners' seem to be unrelated to anything about the wave at the time, so I find it hard to find the elegance.

i disagree. (but i am a longboarder)

i think the 'best' surfing you will see is in a WCT final, im not contesting that at all.

hoever, i think you will find the most elegant surfing by a traditionalist mal-rider on a point break.

that fact that you dont feel hang tens are elegant at all i find quite baffling. to see someone on the nose of their board, with absoloutley nothing infront of them in the curl of a wave i find very good to watch and elegant.

to see someone jumping away as hard as they can 'snapping' multiple turns as quickly as possible on a shorebreak, trying to get as vertical as they can, i find impressive but really... i find it quite ugly.

Post by **zzz** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:42 pm

theboat wrote: that fact that you dont feel hang tens are elegant at all i find quite baffling. to see someone on the nose of their board, with absoloutley nothing infront of them in the curl of a wave i find very good to watch and elegant.

Fair enough - I'll pay that a hang ten executed in a barelling wave has a certain elegance about it - the way it sort of appears to defy physics etc, but as a general rule I think full length mals look pretty cumbersome no matter how well ridden. I think pigdogging into a barrel, or a layback barrel are both far more elegant.

I also agree that fitting a million turns into a wave for the sake of it on a shortboard isn't particularly 'elegant' either.

I still reckon someone on a banks 7+ in big clean surf can achieve the most 'elegant' surfing. Its a pretty subjective topic but.

Post by **theboat** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:48 pm

yeah totally agree with you zzz, someone on a big shorty, on a big wave, doing big powerfull turns that seem to be sawing their fins off- thats good to watch.

Post by **wayback** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 12:53 pm

I read and enjoyed Captain Zero, but Weisbecker did come across as a man too sure that his opinion is the only valid one. Like me, he's (now) in his fifties, where achieving anything close to an elegant style requires a larger platform. Also, you naturally get more cruisy as you get older - in all respects. I agree that watching the average surfer on a short board in ordinary surf can be a painful experience, but the average mal rider is a horrible picture too. As a mal rider, I'd still rather watch a movie like Shelter than any longboard one, though I feel that elegance is determined by the surfer, not the board: Lopez on his single fin, Slater on a thruster and Tudor on a log - who's the more elegant?

Post by **offshore** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 1:02 pm

buzzy wrote:Anyway, Weisbecker says in the book that he's now principally a longboarder, having lived and surfed on ther north shore in the late 60's during the shorboard revolution etc. He's older now of course but he reckons that a shortboard is unsuitable for 90% of conditions typically encountered. He also says, in effect, that shortboard surfing is inelegant.

Whilst watching comp surfers on shortboards in one foot slop is "inelegant", many other times shortboard riding reaches dreamlike elegance that mals or boogers cannot hope to match.

Examples:

Andy Irons totally zoning on his backhand at 8 foot 'poo

Slater at Pipe.

Dorian at Backdoor.

Hobgoods grabless backhand tube riding.

Parko crusing in and out of the pit at superbank.

stuey · Post by **stuey** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 1:07 pm

Who the frig gives a farg about 'elegance'? what are yaz? A pack o handbag carryin horses hoofs? Oh dear I can't rip a slash cos its not elegant. ooo errr, is me lippy straight? But I can fall off elegantly. What a ridiculous word to associate with surfin. Its rip,snap, slash and burn everyone on yar inside.
Whats wrong wiv yaz?

Post by **the kalakau kid** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 2:48 pm

perhaps subsituting the word "effortless" for elegant would put a more enlightening tone on things?

There are definitely some people who make surfing look easy and others who make it look like hard work. Both of these can be found on the WCT or Longboard tour if you want to look hard - in my view.

BTW - Stuey I don't get your semantic comment. Did you mean simply that we are looking for interpretations of the same words/actions/issues? Don't get it mate.

Post by **buzzy** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 2:57 pm

I have to agree that Weisbecker is way off base. It seems to me he's trying to rationalise to himself the fact he's just getting a bit too old to shortboard well.

And as others have mentioned I don't think there's anything more elegant than watching Slater surf anything, or Parko too, or indeed just about any of the top pros. Those guys look so cool and poised it's amazing. The only thing I can guess at is he is criticising people performing maneovres inapproriate to the wave. But, at least where I sit, I rarely see a truly good surfer do that. Sure, you occasionally see a tail slide in the wrong part of the wave, or the big reo resullting in a missed section when milking it down the line is the go, but that's pretty rare.

Maybe at a truly recreational level you'll see shorboarders ruining a wave whereas if that same guy with the same experience was on a longboard he'd make the wave and not waste it. And, particularly having in mind the typical wide legged Japandese or Brazilian surfer with a manoevre obsession I can see his point. But on the whole I disagree with it.

I reckon both longboarding and shortboarding are elegant when well done.

Post by **the kalakau kid** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 3:05 pm

riding a board that is completely unsuited to the conditions can have a big effect on the amount of flow & style that is possible on a wave. Too short on big waves & you will be skating all over the place ( unless its set up to tow).
Too long & you won't be able to turn & the board won't fit into the curve of the wave.....still Weisbecker is basically a long way off the pace in my view because he is simply making a broad generalisation across all subtleties of surfing. Maybe we should return the favour.....

Grumpy, middle-aged reactionaries attempting to relive their youth through quixotic tilting at literary windmills are inelegant. As a rule.

Hows that?

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