Designed to Shred

Written by Administrator

It is my view that the more a surfer understands about his (her) surfboard, the better he will be as a surfer. I know many of you might have the attitude, “Shapers make surfboards but I shred on them, I don’t need to know.” Fair enough, but I’m saying you will have much greater potential if you understand the surfboard. Let’s see if I can illustrate this for you.  

The first few years that I was surfing, I was riding and soon started shaping, the same design surfboards as everyone else. Often, while surfing, I’d try some move, fail at it and wipe-out. My thought was always, “I gotta work harder at it and learn how to surf better.”  One day, I made a turn, stuffed my board into the wave and wiped out. This time however, I didn’t think “I need to learn to surf better.” I thought “I wonder if there is something wrong with the surfboard?” 

This was a huge breakthrough for me, not only in my shaping but also in my surfing. I discovered that I had been trying to do things with the surfboard that it was not shaped to do. I crudely reshaped the offending part of the surfboard; it was ugly, but it worked great. I had discovered a new freedom in riding that was not possible with existing surfboards, and my surfing ability increased dramatically just because the surfboard was now capable of doing what I had been trying to do all along.
 
Does this mean that you have to become a shaper if you’re going to be a good surfer? No it does not, what it does mean is that if you understand how a surfboard works, you will be able to make good choices in surfboard selection, you will also be able to talk to a shaper and get a better surfboard, and when someone tries to sell you the latest beaver tailed surfboard, you’ll know it’s BS.

With a good understanding of surfboard design basics, you will begin to see where improvements to your surfboard will improve your surfing. There’s a good chance that the right surfboard for you already exists, but you haven’t recognized it, there’s also a chance you could be part of improving the surfboard by questioning, “I wonder if I could get a surfboard that would do…?” You can be riding a better surfboard than what you now have, but only if you do something to make that happen.

I wrote the book: “The Basics of Surfboard Design” because I’ve seen very little good information about how a surfboard actually works; I’ve talked to shapers that are excellent craftsmen who don’t know, and most of the magazine articles are little more than wishful thinking. The truth is quite simple and easy to understand and the basics are the same for any surfboard; the only difference is in how the basics are manipulated and combined. You can learn more about The Basics of Surfboard Design at: http://www.farbeyondsurfing.com/Surfing.html  

Bob Smith