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NATURAL CURVES SURFBOARDS |
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| THE EVOLUTION of SURFBOARD DESIGN |
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The surfboard design process begins with identifying the goals and
needs of the end users - surfers - and their surfing venues - the waves and
conditions they surf. The surfers and the waves they ride identify classes
of surfboards and surfboard design classes and the variables within those
classes of designs - dimensions, rockers, profiles and foils, bottom
contours, deck contours, outlines, rails, fins, and all the variables that
create a suitable surfboard for the surfer. Testing the perfromance of
these design arrangements through surfing and observation and bringing new
theories and hypothesis into the process based on these observations and
any new ideas that may develop, surfers, shapers, and surfboard designers
use inductive, deductive, and complimentary design principles.
Surfing and surfboard design began with the imagination and desire of ancient Pacific Islanders. Historically surfing was documented in polynesia as long ago as 300 AD. The islanders understood waves and wanted to ride them. Perhaps the ancient Pacific Islanders experienced the pleasure of their canoes and water craft planning on ocean swells while navigating from one island or one location to another. They observed that a relatively flat and narrow piece of wood glides on swells with a man on its deck in the same manner their canoes did on open ocean swells. Wood working craftsmen were assigned the task of selecting wood and with stone ax, granulated coral, and a rough polishing stone shaped the islanders ancient surfboards. Thus surfing, the surfboard, and the shaping process were created. The Pacific Islander's intuition led them to understand they could ride waves individually on a board similar to their canoes. Their reasoning led them to conclude that a surfboard could be configured similar to their canoes, built from the same trees, with the same tools they used to build their canoes. Surfing remained the undisturbed passion of the islanders for 1500 years before their interaction with Western Civilization. Fortunately, a couple of hundred years of Puritan Ethics could do no more than reduce the passion before it's renaissance in the early 20th century. Ironically, it was three haoles, Jack London, George Freeth, and Alexander Hume Ford who led the campaign to restore surfing to Hawaii's culture. While London was writing about surfing and Freeth was surfing in front of astonished crowds, Alexander Hume Ford was campaigning on behalf of surfing. Ford presented a surfing manifesto to the trustees of Queen Emma's Estate. In 1905 the native Hawaiians began the informal Hui Nalu or surf club, revitalizing native Hawaiian interest in the sport. In 1908 they founded the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Club, the first modern club dedicated to the perpetuation of riding waves. By 1911 when the Hui Nalu was formalized there were as many as one hundred surfboards on the beach at Waikiki. Although World War II curtailed surfing activity, it exposed tens of thousands of men to Hawaii, the Pacific Ocean, and the Sport of Kings. Surfer, shaper, and designers of the post World War II era, 1945 - 1955, pioneered and explored an unspoiled California coastline rich with clean point and reef breaks. Perfect trim was surfing's ultimate maneuver. Bob Simmons, Phil Edwards, Reynolds Yater, Skip Frye, and Mike Hynson's intuition led them to emulate sea birds trimming on the updraft of wind from the face of groomed ocean swells as they morphed into waves breaking along these clean points and reefs. Their reasoning led them to design surfboards that trimmed on the upward flow of water in the face of these waves. The foam sandwich surfboard, polyurethane or EPS foam cores and fiberglass reinforced plastic skins, introduced to surfing in the 1950's, opened the flood gates to incremental and quantum steps in surfing performance and surfboard design. The cores or blanks were extremely easy to tool or shape. Wrapping the blanks with glass and resin and attaching a fin could be done in a matter of days. Planning speed and trimming performance improved dramatically. Across the long walls of Malibu and Rincon, the consistent peaks of San Onofre and Trestles, the juicy bowls of Windansea and Sunset Cliffs, and the numerous California beach breaks surfers found themselves turning and trimming to maintain the best possible positions in waves. These evolving maneuvers opened the door to carving bottom turns, cutbacks, and other progressive maneuvers - the advent of performance surfing. Surfers, shapers, and designers desire to combine trimming and turning performance features to surfing and the simplicity and speed of surfboard construction led to identifying the significance of specific design variables and modifying the arrangement of variables and dimensions, rockers, profiles and foils, outlines, bottoms, decks, rails, and fins in surfboard design to achieve the performance surfers wanted. During this developing era design by reason, seeking an ever more efficient trimming surfboard preceeded design by intuition and the desire to facilitate more functional and more radical turns between positions of trim. Unknown to the surfers, shapers, and designers of that era, the seed of the shortboard had been planted. Germination would take another five or six years. Nat Young's performance on "Sam," his Bob McTavish designed surfboard with a George Greenough high aspect fin at the 1966 World Titles in San Diego was a fantastic display of powerful turns combined with tight trim and graceful nose riding. In Australia, California, and Hawaii Bob McTavish, Wayne Lynch, Michael Peterson, George Greenough, Michael Cundith, Josh Bradbury, Mike Diffenderfer, Dick Brewer, and a whole crew of (r)evolutionary surfers, shapers, and designers were visualizing and implementing new approaches to surfing and surfboard design. By 1967 the idea of surfing beyond the traditional straight lines of trimming and nose riding with high speed direction changes and awesome acceleration in critical sections of waves was the new approach to surfing. Surfing in all conditions, small to XXL, marginal to critical, with acceleration, projection, planning speed, and maneuverability remains the primary goal of surfing performance and surfboard design to this day. The inevitable growth of the surfing population in California and Hawaii and the development of surfing in Australia, South Africa, Japan, Indonesia, and South America and the increase in discretionary income and leisure lifestyle of the affluent industrialized cultures of the world allowed this ever increasing surfing population to make surfing a priority in their lives. Day in and day out, season after season, year in and year out surfers were expanding surfing performance and surfboard design. Greater numbers of surfers, riding an ever expanding variety of waves, on an evolving variety of surfboards are a feast for surfboard design. Intuition and reasoning join forces to fulfill the imagination and desire of surfers to improve their surfing and their surfboards and explore new realms of surfing. Arrangement after arrangement of the fundamental variables are tested, observed, and evaluated. Does the board work? Can it be improved? Should it be modified? What should be modified? To what extent should it be modified? Should it be completely redesigned? Certainly, variables of surfboard design were identified and applied to ancient surfboards. Dimensions, templates, bottom and top contours, and rails were designed to glide on waves. Additional variables were identified and applied in the 1930's as the surfers, shapers, and designers of that era improved the ancient designs. Rocker and fins were applied and surfers turned and trimmed their boards across the open face of breaking waves. The relative ease in shaping balsa and foam boards of the 40's and 50's set the table for shapers to identify and modify the variables that existed in all surfboards - ancient to contemporary. Today, surfers, shapers, and designers depend on their intuition and reasoning to advance surfboard design. They employ both intuitive and deductive design principles as complimentary design tools. They design and shape by configuring the elements of design to best suit surfers, their size, skill, and technique, and conditions, size, power, and shape of the waves they ride. |
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