Ponderings

Planing. Hybrids. Natural progression. Evolution. Long ago, in our own surfing history we rode logs with their own refined attributes to surf the wave a certain way. Surfing was in a somewhat pure state as that was the way anyone would conceive to surf a wave. There were no purists to really speak of who battled the industry and mainstream we now face and feed off of (in some capacity). No purists until change came in the form of shorter boards, plane shapes, fins and contours. It seems to me that one of the last purist bastions lies in the hull community. It seems to me that people are recognizing this in the surf community. Some poke lightly at huller's OCD qualities but this does speak volumes of what I'm talking about. Has the time come to take another step? Is it already here? Has it been happening this whole time? A period of time must pass before new things arise. A reason for this is the required understanding of the current environment. While this time period passes, it seems things are dormant but actually things are gaining momentum. I can see this 'purist effect'; one that holds on to the old and provides a base from which to launch from. For instance, other 'communities' have made considerable advances in application. Much in the way competitive auto racing serves the consumer sector to use market automobiles in a more efficient and pleasing way, surfing has done the same with big wave surfing; it's generally accepted now that smaller fins work better on larger waves. Before, large fins for large waves was the call. The 'purist effect'. When I began researching hulls, I found that the present design had a length around 7', a pronounced belly forward, bladed 50/50 rails and a large and flexible fin. They require a different approach to surfing than any other board design in existence. However, the world has become very small, or big depending on how you look at it. Surfers are taking hull designs to waves they weren't likened to and surfers are changing the designs to accommodate this. Enter the Sub 7 hull. Perhaps the smaller hull designs didn't take off in the past simply because most surfers were still in a longboard world, no one had ever surfed the wave or conceived surfing the wave as we see it today. When surfers witnessed the footage of George Greenough, the building momentum of understanding was released. Can you see where I'm taking this? I see things coming together. Shorter Tri-plane hulls with modern mixtures of contours enabling the hull design to be taken other places on the wave, again rooted from Greenough's designs. This all an effect of our higher understanding of what actually is going on with the water and the board's interaction with it. Classic hulls will never be robbed of their prestige. That prestige is quite infectious and it's what I believe is responsible for the new steps that are being taken with sub 7 hull designs. Research for yourself, try a paddle fin in your tiny hull, experiment with the possibilities to take you away from the mainstream and find yourself on a frontier; experiencing the true bliss of what all surfer's hearts beat for.