Innehållsförteckning för #359 Boards från Surfing Life

Are surfboards as unique as fingerprints? If a shaper followed the same template, method, colour, shape, size, volume—whether it was machine or hand shaped—uncontrollable variables would affect the board: humidity, temperature, density of foam, and the long list continues. And if in some weird miraculous way the board is identical to another one, the way a leash is attached, wax is applied, fins are used, and tail pad is slapped on changes its feel. When it comes to the right board, there’s a spray of questions: How do we shoot for the stars and seize a magic sled, or aim a little closer to home—the starryeyed shaper’s shed—and find our perfect match? Should a surfboard fit like a glove or be something we grow into as our skill level progresses?…

Surfing is a weird balance of stats and not caring about stats. Sometimes, we like to catch waves and forget about thinking or feeling or doing or being. Other times, we press our surf watches to record wave lengths, how many kilometres we’ve paddled, the quantity of waves we’ve caught, because digits speak for themselves. They help tell our stories: a hectic sardinepacked point break, or a serene sunrise with an entire beach break to ourselves. We find strength, maybe a little hope, in numbers. To begin our Board Bible, numerals tell our true tale. 7,372 photographs were taken, 1,471 kilometres east of the Gold Coast, as well as 615 video clips. 40 3DFINS (okay, 12 sets of thrusters and 2 sets of twinnies) were screwed into 20 boards (16 performance,…

Soli - 5’11” x 19” x 2 3/8” 30 Sophie - 5’6” x 18 1/8” x 2 1/8” 22.6 L TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: Towards the end of the trip, I surfed this board on the wedgy reef break and it felt good. It felt like a classic epoxy, with heaps of float, easy to paddle, and easy to catch heaps of waves. It was skimming along the surface, and then I was able to crack off the lip. I got a bunch of waves where it really started to click for me; it felt like a very cool board. It flew along the softer sections, and it worked well in the really good waves we were surfing. SOPHIE: I really enjoyed surfing this board. I surfed it on the…

Soli - 6’0” x 18 3/4” x 2 5/16” 27.7 L Sophie - 5’7” x 18” x 2” 22.5 TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: I’m not a huge fan of EPS, because they normally have more pop than drive. But this had that happy medium, where it still had enough pop, but then when I wanted to drive through a turn, it still could. I can tell that it’s Wade’s model, and that he’s worked on it. It’s drivey and it’s got heaps of speed, even though it was an EPS. It’s definitely something that you would ride in good conditions and be pretty confident on it. It’s a good board. SOPHIE: I paddled out the first day we surfed the A-frame reef break. It was good to jump on the…

From Boards to Surfers As an interest-free loangains value over time,a surfer borrows moreenergy from the sea. As the lines on the horizonbuild in height and consistency,the crowds and the hypeincrease to a mind-blowing degree. As an artist paints a canvaswith brushstrokes, short or broad,a surfer paints lines on a wavewith her short or longboard. As stress makes calm-water sapiensbook a therapy session,a surfer books in regularlywith his deep-sea physician. As the ebb and flow of the tiderelies on the moon alone,a surfer’s adventurerelies on leaving one’s comfort zone. SURFERS ISSUE: ON SALE DECEMBER 2…

[1988 ISA WORLD LONGBOARD SURFING CHAMPION] As a young grommet learning to surf at Mermaid Beach in the early ’60s, one of my dreams was to see surfing in the Olympics. This would represent true recognition as a fully-fledged sport. When Phyllis O’Donnell (Banora Point, Tweed Heads) and Bernard "Midget" Farrelly (Palm Beach, Sydney) won the first world titles at Manly Beach, it seemed the next logical step for surfing was to be truly recognized as a world sport. World professional surfing kicked off in 1977 with Coolangatta’s Peter Townend crowned as the first world professional champion. Yet, surfing was still stereotyped as a leisure activity, not a sport worthy of Olympic glory. In 1996, the President of the ISA (International Surfing Association) Fernando Aguerre took it upon himself to…

Soli - 6’0” x 183/4” x 23/8” 28.3 L Sophie - 5’7” x 18.1” x 2.19” 22.6 L TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: It doesn’t surprise me that the shaper originated from West Oz—solid, windy, powerful waves. I surfed this on the solid six-foot left. I unloaded on the first wave with four big turns. And every time, I just pushed harder and harder, until the fifth turn I pushed so hard I fell, because I rotated too much—my fault, not the board’s. It had so much drive and explosion in it. To get on a board and do that on the first wave—and not to fall on the first or second turn when you’re pushing that hard—really does mean it’s got heaps of drive, power, and stability. It definitely is…

Soli - 5’7” x 19 1/2” x 2 3/8” 28.2 L Sophie - 5’4” x 18 3/4” x 2 1/8” 23 L TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: I rode this as a thruster on the first day and then as a twin fin later in the week. On the first day, it had classic shortboard attributes with a little bit of speed and a fun kind of poppy, fishy shape. But I personally liked it as a twin fin, and it went like a rocket. It was super-fast; it could climb sections, had like a crazy little release thing going on, and it is pretty much the ultimate summer rocket for beaches and whatever else. I think it’s just a really fast, fun, playful, easy-to-surf board. SOPHIE: I rode this as…

Soli - 5’11” x 19” x 2 7/16” 28.5 L Sophie - 5’5” x 18 1/4” x 2 1/4” 23 L TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: I think this was my favourite board. There were a few boards that were up there, and being the favourite is a personal thing—we all like different things. It just had all the things that my boards sort of have. It’s a little under volume for me, but I also really liked that if you want to surf really well, sometimes a board with thinner rails and a little bit under volumed works really well when you’re on the face. And that’s kind of what it felt like—really slicey and fast… heaps of drive and I liked the release. SOPHIE: I caught a lot of…

Soli - 5’7” x 20 1/2” x 2 1/2” 31.8 L Sophie - 5’2” x 19 1/4” x 2 1/2” 26.3 L TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: The waves were subpar from the beach. We got out there, and it was kind of actually a little bit more there than we thought. I jumped out there without fins, because when the waves are really bad you can just go fast—spinning and playing around. It’s just complete fun. The flex patterns were still pretty good, because these are epoxy cores. I ended up riding one with fins in it, as well, and it had heaps of pop. When I got going on it, it just is popping out and kind of flying around everywhere. SOPHIE: I really liked this one; I had…

Craig “Ando” Anderson is gliding through his 30s in much the same way he surfs. Laidback, goofy, with a casualness that could be mistaken for lack of focus. But those who know him will tell you it’s quite the opposite: the by-product of a thousand hours of intense perfectionism with myriad board and fin combinations under his feet. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist with my work,” the 33-year-old freesurfer says. “When I watch footage of myself at the end of a project, I can see waves that an editor would see and be like, ‘that wave looks insane’. But I would know exactly how that wave had felt and how it didn’t feel right. I wouldn’t want it in a video section.” While us mere mortals have seen nothing…

When the tour peeps have hung up their jerseys (for good or a short interlude between comps), an unassuming funster has been taken from the stable and given unbridled attention. They gallop along oceanic pastures on their favourite-shod steed: twinnies. Parko confirms this phenomena during a recent interview on Surfing Life TV: “I haven’t ridden a normal 6’0” performance shortboard for so long. I’m now just surfing for enjoyment.” Dingo has been riding twins for the last few years. Kerzy has been going nuts on them, let alone Steph, Mick, and then Bede on his curvedchannel twinnies. But what makes the modern twinnie so rippable when its time-worn namesake seemed to fall by the wayside? Since MR was dominating, have twinnies changed that much? The answer is heaps. If you’ve…

Soli - 5’11” x 187/8” x 2 7/16” 29.1 L Sophie - 5’7” x 181/8” x 2 1/4” 22.91 L TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: This board had a fair bit of drive and a lot of pushback, which is a good thing. I rode this at the slab and at the heavy left. I think maybe my first wave was my best wave on the slab. It knifed in beautifully. Then we surfed the grinding left, and it had heaps of drive. It was really carvey and pushing water off the top of the wave. I feel like the board created that. The harder I was pushing it, it was just pushing back, which is a cool thing about a good surfboard. SOPHIE: I surfed this board at the running…

5’11” x 19 1/8” x 2 1/2” 28.4 L 5’7” x 18 1/2” x 2 1/4” 22.9 L TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: We rode this on a pretty solid left-hander. It was a double-overhead day with bigger, more-powerful waves. It really liked it. It was coming off the bottom really nice, and it was releasing out of the lip. When I first picked it up, I felt as though it was going to be a smaller-wave board that would get across flat sections and be pretty poppy. And being Cooper’s model it makes sense: a really good ’QS board. It had heaps of drive, was really fast, and had pretty good release through the lip, so I was super pumped on it. SOPHIE: This is actually the first board I…

Soli - 5’10” x 19 1/2” x 2 3/8” 28.5 L Sophie - 5’6” x 18 1/2” x 2 1/8” 23 L TEST PILOT’S NOTES SOLI: I surfed this on a kind-of-fun wedgy reef break. In the sort of conditions I would have imagined taking this board out in. Just the short stumpy width of it made it feel like a poppy summer “air” board. Like having that little, whippy, sort-of-playful board, and the conditions allowed for it. That’s the surfer’s job to kind of go, Yeah, these are the conditions that I think it’s going to work best in and they were. The fun, kind-ofpunchy wedgy waves that we had were perfect for it and it went unreal. SOPHIE: I rode this at the chunky left that was pretty…

Soph and Soli were able to perform at their best on those wild Norf ’k waves because of RYD traction pads and leashes. With styles and colours to suit every board shape and size, these accessories kept our pro athletes safe and surfing all day long. And, at the end of each session, we slipped those test boards into RYD stretch board socks—an easy way to cart them up hilly tracks and back to our Castaway home. A massive thanks to 3DFINS. Not only is the Dimple Technology cutting edge, so are their colourful graphics, taking fin art to a new dimension. With 3DFINS, Soli and Soph could apply speed, hold, and drive in every condition, as that patented dimpled fin surface reduces drag and improves lif t. We were…

TRAVEL WRITING Ever dream of getting published and writing for Australia’s most influential surf mag? Got a great surfing travel tale or perhaps a surf-inspired poem? Well, here’s your chance. UP NEXT POETRY CATEGORY Write a poem of no more than 25 lines (it doesn’t have to rhyme). SURF TRAVEL SHORT STORY CATEGORY Write a short true story about surf travel (1500 maximum word count). It could be funny, serious, or Bob Marley (gnarly). Entry is FREE and open to all Australian citizens or permanent residents in Australia. Entries now OPEN - closes 30 November 2021 PHOTO OF THE YEAR Each issue, our team hunts through the best submissions by our “A-grade” surf photographers from around the world. With a glut in the digital market, photos get minimal view time.…