Carving Nostalgia

Surfboards make me happy.  Of course I love riding them and watching good surfing is something that I never tire of, and probably never will. But just looking at surfboards gives me so much stoke, this has been true to say for thirty years now, although in recent years I find that the boards I prefer are those that are based on the classic shapes of the 60's and 70's.  While I love longboards, traditional designs and styles at least, I especially admire the boards that derive from the shapes that emerged when it all went short.  The boards of this era just lend themselves so well towards style and grace, they have enough volume to be able to glide effortlessly, carving out long and drawn out turns, all connected with a fluidity that is so lacking in modern surfing. These are the boards that I like, and this is the style of surfing that gives me the most stoke. For while I enjoy riding all types of surfboard, as described in the previous post, I like everything that there is t

A short time ago I took ownership of what I can only describe as being a magic board. And it cost me a mere hundred and fifty pounds too. Realising that my Donald Takayama was getting a bit too much use as my daily board, I made the decision to find something new. These days I tend to shy away from cutting edge modern design, preferring fish and long boards. But I figured what the heck, let's find out how these modern craft go.   Being on a bit of a tight budget I set myself the challenge of finding a decent used example. After trawling the various sources of second hand boards, it didn't take too long to realise that anything that was any good was getting snapped up immediately, or else it was dramatically over priced. I began to loose my enthusiasm and looked at some of the fleet of old boards that I have with different eyes. One of those was going to have to do. Then, just as I was going to give up the chase I found a board that was pretty much what I was lookin