Given to ride
I love boards, riding them, looking at them, or simply talking about them gives me a real kick. Sometimes it's the graphics, or the lines that I like, but more often than not it is the fact that they are built for one thing, to be ridden. Whether that is on water, asphalt, concrete, wood or snow, these things have a kinetic energy, it is this that gives them their allure.
When I look at a surfboard for example, preferably one that has seen a lot of action, been used and abused, travelled, I can imagine the waves it has slid on, the moves it has pulled, the spray the rails and fins have generated, not to mention the adventures it's owner has put it through. This is particularly true of some of the used boards that I have picked up over the years. They might be beaten, and have seen better days, but these are the qualities that make them special. It is the history that they have that makes them more than the sum total of the materials that they are constructed from. I look at them and cannot help wondering who owned them, where they have been and how they have been used? Each ding, fracture and dent tells a story. Of course some would have happened in transit, or occurred as a result of a mishap on dry land, but I like to think that the majority have come about while they have been in use. One of my favourite examples is a 6'4" thruster that I picked up for $100 in Huntington Beach a few years back. From what I understand, it derived from Australia, saw a lot of use by the looks of it, before ending up in HB. I bought it with every intention of using it and then either swapping it for a t-shirt or two, or even giving it away. But I ended up becoming attached to this beat up beauty and gave it a new home in Cornwall. I would love to know the stories it has.
Boards that you just know have history are just really appealing to me, quite often I will walk in to a surf shop and make a bee line to the used rack first, for the brand new boards just don't always have the same level of interest. Don't get me wrong, I genuinely love all surfboards, apart from pop-outs that is. I think it's that when a board has been in use for a while, it develops a history, the narrative of which gets more interesting the older it gets. The new boards just haven't got this, they will given time, they just need some real use to achieve it.
When I look at a surfboard for example, preferably one that has seen a lot of action, been used and abused, travelled, I can imagine the waves it has slid on, the moves it has pulled, the spray the rails and fins have generated, not to mention the adventures it's owner has put it through. This is particularly true of some of the used boards that I have picked up over the years. They might be beaten, and have seen better days, but these are the qualities that make them special. It is the history that they have that makes them more than the sum total of the materials that they are constructed from. I look at them and cannot help wondering who owned them, where they have been and how they have been used? Each ding, fracture and dent tells a story. Of course some would have happened in transit, or occurred as a result of a mishap on dry land, but I like to think that the majority have come about while they have been in use. One of my favourite examples is a 6'4" thruster that I picked up for $100 in Huntington Beach a few years back. From what I understand, it derived from Australia, saw a lot of use by the looks of it, before ending up in HB. I bought it with every intention of using it and then either swapping it for a t-shirt or two, or even giving it away. But I ended up becoming attached to this beat up beauty and gave it a new home in Cornwall. I would love to know the stories it has.
Boards that you just know have history are just really appealing to me, quite often I will walk in to a surf shop and make a bee line to the used rack first, for the brand new boards just don't always have the same level of interest. Don't get me wrong, I genuinely love all surfboards, apart from pop-outs that is. I think it's that when a board has been in use for a while, it develops a history, the narrative of which gets more interesting the older it gets. The new boards just haven't got this, they will given time, they just need some real use to achieve it.
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These are a few of my boards.
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