Introduction
A review of the current state of surfing by Colin Spencer, the editor of Surf International, following the 1970 World Contest held in Victoria, Australia.
Spencer replaced founding editor John Witzig, who launched his ground breaking Tracks in October 1970 in newspaper format.
This is possibly one of the last editions of Surf International magazine, it folded before the end of the year.

I have no record of the Surfing magazine article by Mike Doyle and hence no details of his porpoise board or his two-piece board.
The first sounds near fantasy (the board gained speed by alternately loading with water then bursting free of the wave entirely) while the two-piece board (with a releasable back section) was potentially fraught with technical problems not to mention how the rider reassembled the board to paddle back out.
Spencer was correct in attributing ideas of riding in the body of the wave like porpoises to Bob McTavish (see below).
It was one of several eclectic designs in A Casual Stroll Through the Equipment Spectrum in Tracks, April 1979, page 18.

Much was made of the use of sub-6 ft boards (Super-Stubbys) by many Australian surfers whereas competitors from the US and Hawaii favoured longer boards (+7 ft), allowing Spencer to claim
some competitors were riding boards a couple of feet longer than ours.
While for some the longer design was a crucial element in Rolf Arness's victory, it was widely acknowledged that his superior performance warranted first place.
Strangely, upon their return to California, Arness and long time US champion Corky Carroll were instrumental in the production of shorter boards with the introduction of the first generation of Twin-fins.

Colin Spencer lists a range of surf craft, unfortunately lacking somewhat in technical rigour, with some illustrated on the facing page.
These include the belly board (pictured as a kneeboard), the surfo(plane), a mattress (an inflatable mat?), a kayak, a baby cat (Hobie Cat), a surf capsule, and a surfboat.
I have no idea what a surf capsule is.
He could have also included the surf-ski and the outrigger canoe.

Noting the general lack of big waves in Australia, Spencer encourages local surfers to make the most of any large swells to improve their equipment: like it might work better in bloody big waves if it was longer, or shorter, or narrower, or yellow ... you might even think it needs hydrofoils.
His suggestion that boards should be coloured yellow was most excellent, it is well known that the fastest surfboards are yellow.
However, it would be over thirty years, at the dawn of the 21st century, before surfers successfully rode waves like porpoises by using a hydrofoil attached to their board.

The article concludes humorously with Colin Spencer electing to ride a little yellow Zippy board, a popular moulded plastic prone board favoured by Australian juveniles in this period.

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Page 3
Editorial
The shortboard belongs in Australia.
This  is not to say it doesn't belong anywhere else: simply that it has found a welcome home in our small surf.
In fact we became such good friends that we forgot there could be anything else.
The World Contest, even if it did not change things drastically, at least gave us something to think about.
Some competitors were riding boards a couple of feet longer than ours, and at first it was all abit funny, and we patted ourselves on the back because we were so far ahead in board design.
But then Rolf Aurness (sic, Arness) won the title, and not only did he win, but he did it on a longboard, and everyone thought he deserved it.
Even the Australians thought he deserved to win.
So it appeared that there might be something in these long boards after all.

At Johanna on the day of the finals an interesting thing happened.
Rolf Aurness spent some time on the western end of the beach surfing rights.
At the same time, on the other end of the beach, while the contest went on in the middle, Wayne Lynch spent some time surfing lefts.
On his short board.
Both were dynamic and exciting to watch, enough to take everyone's attention from the contest in the middle.
Which goes to show that it's not only the long or short of it which determines how you surf, but your style and method, and what you believe can be done and ought to be done.

Two years ago Surfing magazine ran an article in which Mike Doyle discussed some future and not so future boards.
Its relevance here is that Doyle was attempting to extend the concept of surfing as it stood at the time.
His porpoise board, which gained speed by alternately loading with water then bursting free of the wave entirely, and his two-piece board, with a releasable back section to combine advantages of long and ultra-short, were attempts to find something else that could be done on a wave.

I recall reading somewhere of McTavish's (I think) ideas of riding in the body of the wave like porpoises!

My point is that surfing is anything that can be done on waves.
It really doesn't matter what form your surfing devices takes, except that its form aids its desired function, whatever that may be, apart from actually catching the wave.
A lot of people seem to have forgotten that is possible to surf with no other device than your own body.
Or you can surf on a belly board that nearly won't float, or on a surfo(plane), a mattress, a kayak, a baby cat, a surf capsule, or a surfboat.
And a lot of other things that haven't been tried yet.
No one way is any more "real surfing" than any other, they're all valid ways to get your kicks, or whatever it is you get.

But performing difficult, dangerous things on very big waves, and making it it look beautiful and easy, is the ultimate thing in surfing.
You don't have to be a surfer to appreciate the beautiful power of a very big wave.
To be a surfer, and go out there and touch that power is really living.

Unfortunately in Australia, very big waves are very much the exception rather than the rule and this is where we lose out.
We don't have a lot of very big waves, and so we don't have enough ultimate surfing that can act as a stimulus, and put our small wave surfing back into perspective as part of a whole.

So next time you find bloody big waves, don't just look at them from safety and saw how beautiful and powerful they are, go and feel the power and beauty first hand, in the interests of Australian surfing.
While your there you may find out some interesting things about the performance of your board.
Like it might work better in bloody big waves if it was longer, or shorter, or narrower, or yellow.
You might even think it needs hydrofoils.
There's even a slight chance that you'll find that your kicks, or whatever it is you get, increase proportionately with wave size.

See you out the back next time the heavies roll in.
I'll be the guy on the little yellow Zippy board.
And just think twice before you laugh.
Zippy boards just might be the thing in Hawaii next year, or even tomorrow.
Just you wait and see.

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Page 1 - Inside cover

1. The Giant, the Midget, the Ordinary.	2. The Hobie Cat.	3. Bellyboard (sic) Nearly sinking.
4. The Little Yellow Zippy Board.	5. Those Flaming Porpoises.	6. Trying to do it Like the Porpoises.