Wednesday 18 July 2012

New things are rarely new


High speed race track on the east coast in early 2000's


I shaped this board over a decade ago under the label Autonomy (set up with Mark Dickinson in Scarborough.)
these were early steps on our search for speed and control.
a blunt Nose and a concave to channelled vee bottom. 
the rocker was based on that of a longer high performance board with the nose and tail cut off giving a lower straighter rocker. 
it's a fully committed, high performance fish, fast, responsive and drivey. 
i rode it to death (the tail eventually cracked) in everything from waist high to well over head. 
risking snapping one side of the tail off completely i took it out for a couple of waves a few months ago and it's still an absolute blast to ride.

we certainly weren't the only people building wider, lower rockered boards back then but we were certainly in the minority. it's good to see that these sorts of boards are becoming mainstream but the recent popularity of the next new thing has seen some eyebrows raised. 
there are shapers and surfers out there that have been shouting this message for a long time, it's been over fifthteen years for me and for many others it's been far longer. it's a shame that it takes some big names to change the way that most people think about what a good surfboard should look like.

1 comment:

  1. true, and the worst thing about it is the originals get lost in the shuffle and become seen as followers themselves...

    for the love...

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