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core : surfboards today, 1970?
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Steve
Core : Surfboards Today
Steve Core: Surfboards Today
Surfing World
Volume 14 Number 4, 1970, pages 69 - 70.
Introduction
An informative
article
focusing on current surfboard construction techniques with some
comparison
with previous methods.
Surfboards Today
Today, as the
surfers demands for much lighter more sensitive and responsive
boards grow,
so does the problem for the surfboard manufacturer - he has to
stand by
his product - yet at the same time
try to
create
boards that are light, but durable enough to stand-up to the
heavy treatment
given to them by surfers.(1)
YESTERDAY-TODAY
In the not
so old days surfboards were glassed with two layers of 10 oz
glass both
top and bottom,
they were
usually strung with numerous redwood and balsa stringers for
strength and
beauty, also in vogue were wooden and fibreglass nose and tail
blocks once
again for added looks and durability, and a solid pigment
colour top and
bottom could be found on every second or third board. (2)
All these
extras combined with a board's length certainly made a strong
but extremely
heavy product. Have you ever walked up to one of these
antiques lately
and tried tp pick it up or tried to indentate (sic.) it with
your
thumbs, or for that matter ever tried to picture yourself
trying to ride
one? (3)
The
materials
they were using then are basically the same ones we are using
now only
they have been reduced considerately in practicable
application.
In place
of
the 10 oz duo you will more than likely find a single 6 oz
allover with
probably a 6 oz toe and heel patch, the full deck patch is
hardly used
anymore because most boards being around the six foot mark and
under, and
in order to gain maximum floatation and speed while paddling,
the prone
(laying) position is preferred- thus knee dents are no longer
a problem.
Instead of
triple 1 1/2" red- wood stringers or the popular redwood-balsa
T -band
nowadays you will find a simple resin glue-up (4) or a 1/10"
wood
strip.
A resin
glue-up
is the rough blank cut in half, resin applied to both sides of
the cut,
then clamped back together, this method considered to have a
slight advantage
over the completely stringerless because it will hold the
turn-up shaped
into it for a useable life-time.
Rocks eat
6 oz boards, but the performance that surfers are getting from
their short,
light equipment compared to the old logs of the past, must be
worth it
to sacrifice a certain amount of strength.
If you
want
a board that's going to be light and super strong the progress
has to come
from the people who make the glass, resin and Ifoam.
But in
Australia
because of the little industrial interest in surfing no-one is
willing
to put up the money for experiments and advancements on
materials for the
surfboard industry.
Our only
progression
has to work its way from the United States, and if it doesn't
cost too
much, will be incorporated here. (5)
REDUCING
THE
WEIGHT
To effect
a light board correctly, a radical "super- fragile drained out
one cup
of resin glass job wax it up and surf it," is not the right
way to go about
it.
A board
has
to be cut down a couple of ounces in each stage of
manufacture.
This
method
not only produces a light board but a strong one as well.
GLASSING;
MAIN
WEIGHT FACTOR.
To the
experienced
glasser there are several ways to lighten a glass job without
losing too
much strength.
The
glasser
who is fully aware of what he is doing can effect what is
termed a dry
glass job (the name sounding a little more harsh than the
actual operation)
in this method the resin, and this comes with experience, is
sparingly
worked out with a squeegee leaving only enough resin for
proper saturation
of the cloth and securing a good bond to the foam, here the
glasser has
to be very careful of drain-outs (little air bubbles in the
weave) which
becomes weak spots when the resin has cured, sometimes the
cause of stress
cracks, drain-outs are more noticeable in tinted glass jobs.
Another
way
to save a couple of ounces is, a small rail lap, you may have
noticed over
the past three years the decrease in the size of rail laps,
once anything
up to three inches was quite standard now three-quarter inch
is normal
with some manufacturers using the diminishing lap on the
bottoms of their
boards.(6)
Textured
decks
have also become popular recently, after a light glass job has
set-up,
resin is worked sparingly into the holes in !he weave with a
squeegee and
when this is dry, is then lightly wet sanded. Wax goes on very
easy, and
always has a good base for texture.(6)
HOT
COATING
It is
quite
easy to lay on a hot coat without realising just how thick it
really is,
there should be only enough resin to cover the glass evenly
and allow for
it to be sanded smooth and flush.
SANDING.
Also a
very
important step in lightness and strength, the sander's job is
to sand the
hot coat down to the glass but not into the cloth.
If he only
roughs it up enough to smooth it out he is leaving useless hot
coat resin
which could weigh several ounces maybe even a pound.
GLOSS
COATING.
It is
pretty
obvious that the best way to reduce here is to not have any
gloss coat
at all, but most surfers prefer to have one on the bottom at
least so that
it can be buffed out.
The gloss
coat resin can be lightened by mixing in styrene, which has
the same effect
as thinners does in paint.
If you're
paying one hundred dollars for your boards a gloss is a must
for re-sale
and trade-in value.(7)
There have
been a couple of significant attempts for a change in raw
materials; honeycomb
blanks for one.(8)
The
Japanese
have taken a renewed interest in surfboards perhaps we might
see something
new from them, although materials are going to get better
eventually. (9)
All we
have
to do is keep digging it and let the evolution continue.
Notes
1. "durable
enough to stand-up to the heavy treatment given to them by
surfers."
The weight versus
strength dilemma would be significantly reduced with the
adoption
of the legrope, circa 1976, that largely avoided rock damage.
2. "a solid
pigment colour top and bottom could be found on every second
or third board."
Australian
surfers
often placed more value on the board's potential performance,
than on the
decor.
A majority of
boards
up to early 1970s were clear with minimal decor, unlike the
situation in
the US and New Zealand.
3. "ever
tried
to picture yourself trying to ride one?"
This illustrates
the rapid advances in wave riding performance between 1967 and
1970.
Essentially this
was a change from straight-line surfing (occassionally adjusted
by turns)
to a riding the boardin a series of linked turns, with
occasional straight
lines limited to the take-off and tube riding.
In the 1990s, the
older techniques of trimming, stalling and noseriding would be
resurrected
with the development of the modern longboard.
Some riders even
returned to riding antique models.
4. a
simple
resin glue-up
See #133.
5. in
Australia
because of the little industrial interest in surfing no-one
is willing
to put up the money for experiments and advancements on
materials for the
surfboard industry.
Our only
progression
has to work its way from the United States, and if it
doesn't cost too
much, will be incorporated here.
Largely correct-
most subsequent advances in construction came from the US.
These were
primarily
the replacement of resin decor with spray paint, the Bahne fin
box, S-glass
that could be free-lapped and super-gel resins.
Terry Fitzgerald
(Hot Buttered Surfboards) and Phil Byrne (Byrne Surfboards)
helped popularise
the replacement of the gloss coat with an acrylic spray, circa
1986, and
in the early 1990s Australian designers introduced the FCS fin
plug system.
6. the
diminishing
lap on the bottoms of their boards.
See #209
7. a gloss
is a must for re-sale and trade-in value.
Circa 1986, for
short boards, the gloss coat was often replaced with an acrylic
spray,
see 5. above.
8.
honeycomb
blanks for one.
Core possibly
refers
to honeycomb skin constuction, as used by WAVE hollow boards in
the USA,
and not a honey comb blank.
Peter
Drouyn : Drouyn (on design).
Surfing World
Volume 14 Number 4, pages 8, 11 and 12.
Introduction
An article of dubious
accuracy and an unclear focus.
The article may
have been poorly transcribed by a second party from handwritten
notes.
I have attempted
to limit my comments to the most contentious statements.
The most informative
comments relate to the introduction of the down rail.
Drouyn
(on design).
There are
a lot of guys around trying to figure out the perfect board
design.
These days
there are so many ideas about shapes that we have a whole line
up of different
boards to choose from, but really when it all boils down there
is only
one out of the whole lot which is the right one. (1)
Going to extremes,
maybe none of them is right.
I suppose
there have been a few innovators who have paved some sort of
path, but
as a few, including myself have seen, these innovators have
been mostly
commercial designers, sometimes not really knowing what they
have been
talking about - excuse me for brandishing the iron a little
there - but
it is unmistakably true. (2)
Through the
years I have grown up with a number of shapes and have tried
not to fall
into the contaminating, conforming, commercialised innovating
media but,
to look for slowly creating fresh simplicity as I saw fit, fit
for a true
designing path.
Australians
are really radical thinkers, in the way of design, whilst
Continental and
American ideas follow a more smooth line of thinking. (3)
Of course
their waves differ quite a bit but, then again the only
difference really
is that their waves are usually much slower, from the top,
while our waves
tend to pick up quickly, consequently being faster from the
top. (4)
And so we
have therefore longer boards in America, which pick up speed
through length,
gaining a much more moving action, whilst the short board
through its short
length, could not gain enough speed to move on a slow top into
the hollow
section, (long board 7'-7'3", short board 6'-6'3").
When we speak
of Hawaii we speak about bigger waves, but waves similar to
smaller Australian
waves.
So Hawaiians,
because of this consistent size in waves, use a speed type
board a little
less in length than the Continental or Americans, and a little
longer than
the Australian length.
Why do Hawaiians
use an in-between length?
Because their
waves break faster, more like Australian waves than
Californian waves,
and not forgetting the bigger size which requires longer
length, especially
when their waves are harder to paddle into. (5)
Picking up
speed from the top of these waves is essential and once they
drop into
the section that extra length helps them to tear apart the
wave in a somewhat
Australian type attitude, but still embedded with that ancient
style, which
has kept Americans on longer boards since time began. (3)
Hawaii is
their only "let loose", as it were, to riding more radical
paths.
Australia is
established with its shorter board, smaller wave size so that
the average
American surfer can't cope with Australian waves unless he is
above average
and has the natural ability to adapt himself well. (6)
We find that
Americans
who do well in Australia have done quite a bit of surfing in
Hawaii and
have used Hawaii as their testing grounds to tackle Australia.
Considering
the world titles this year the yanks had one up their sleeve
when the waves
came up to Hawaiian size.
Strangely
enough the Aussies, because of the big wave ruling in World
Contests, found
themselves thrust into a contest which probably gave some
Americans a bigger
advantage with their equipment. (7)
I can only
name two Aussies who really had themselves fully equipped for
the contest.
(8)
The Americans
even had better wetsuits than us.
So make up
yoiur mind about that.
Getting back
to board design, and remembering what I have just said, we can
come to
a conclusion on what design I like or think goes the best for,
shall we
say, all wave sizes.
Considering
Australian surf let's say length to be 'shorter' than what's
considered
long.
In the past
year or so everyone has forgotten including me, the fact that
surfboards
demand at least about average floatation, so remember to keep
your thickness
as thick as possible, where you need it and take it out slowly
where you
don't. (9)
I'd make sure
you use tapering lines from the widest part of the board,
making sure the
widest point is more towards the nose than the tail. (10)
Too much width
all over means a 'go slow', so find the widest point and work
away, tapering
instead of holding width all the way to the back and the
front.
Low rails are
a new thing and they are working really well. (11)
Eliminate
rolls as much as possible in a low rail board.
Use a slight
roll if any, as too much roll on the bottom or top shape and
it will make
you fly away and spin out.
Flats, curves
and straighter lines are essential.
The low rail
board eliminates paddling problems and this to me is a
breakthrough in
design.
We can paddle
as long as we like once again.
Faster re-entries
from top to bottom without bouncing.
Everything
is combined into one; you're tighter, your inside further and
your moving
faster, when you feel like it.
You're skimming
instead of slapping.
It's a freer
feeling than before.
Average length
for this board, depending on your age, build etc. is from
5'8'' (mainly
young children), 6'3'' (older than young), (Aust. design).
I hope I have spread a bit more light on the scene, as far as
what the story really is in todays surfing mysteries which so
many of us
can't understand. (12)
Whether I am right or wrong time will tell, but while I have
facts, and have eyes and ears, then maybe we are heading in the
right direction.
Notes
1. there
is
only one out of the whole lot which is the right one.
A questionable
premise
- it is unlikely there is "the right one".
2. I
suppose
... a few innovators who have paved some sort of path, ...
mostly commercial
designers, ... not really knowing what they have been
talking about - ...
it is unmistakably true.
It is unclear who this criticism is aimed at.
3. Continental
and
American
"European and
American"
or "Continental (Mainland) USA"?
4. Of
course
their waves differ quite a bit but, then again the only
difference really
is that their waves are usually much slower, from the top,
while our waves
tend to pick up quickly, consequently being faster from
the top.
There are some
differences
between continental USA and Australian waves, largely a
function of the
larger American contintental shelf.
Drouyn's
analysis
is vague, and is not improved with the following comments on
Hawaiian waves.
5.
When
we speak of Hawaii we speak about bigger waves, but waves
similar to smaller
Australian waves.
So
Hawaiians,
because of this consistent size in waves, use a speed type
board a little
less in length than the Continental or Americans, and a
little longer than
the Australian length.
Why do
Hawaiians
use an in-between length?
Because
their
waves break faster, more like Australian waves than
Californian waves,
and not forgetting the bigger size which requires longer
length, especially
when their waves are harder to paddle into.
The earlier
confusion"European
and American" or "Continental (Mainland) USA"? is repeated.
6. Australia
is
established with its shorter board, smaller wave size so
that the average
American surfer can't cope with Australian waves unless he
is above average
and has the natural ability to adapt himself well.
7. some
Americans
The only
continental
American finalist was the winner, Rolf Arness.
8. I
can only
name two Aussies who really had themselves fully equipped
for the contest.
Drouyn fails to
name the two Australian competitors, and his own status is
unclear.
9. In
the
past year or so everyone has forgotten including me, the
fact that
surfboards demand at least about average floatation, so
remember to keep
your thickness as thick as possible, where you need it and
take it out
slowly where you don't.
Although the
(rarely
recognised) importance of paddling performance is commendable,
Drouyn's
analysis is technically crude.
10. I'd
make
sure you use tapering lines from the widest part of the
board, making sure
the widest point is more towards the nose than the tail.
From 1968,
templates
tended to a foiled, or postive wide point, profile (an
Hawaiian gun influence)
rather than the negative wide point common in most Vee bottom
designs,
circa 1967.
The Pig
(negative
wide point) template would return in Geoff McCoy's No-Nose
design, circa
1978.
11. Low
rails
are a new thing and they are working really well.
The most
informative
comment - dates the introduction of the down rail circa 1970.
12. I hope I have spread a bit more light on the scene
Very little - a candle rather than a florescent tude.
Kevin
Platt : Basics of Form and Design Part 2.
Surfing
World
Volume 14 Number 4, 1970, pages76-77.
In 'Basics of
Form & Design', I outlined, very generally, the main
points to look
for when ordering or selecting a board for yourself.
This Part
II will take us a little further into the whys and wherefores
of shaping.
The Focus
around which all theories of board design revolve around
'compromise'.
The reason
is that in surfing we have two forces acting against each
other.
The first
is the force of of energy contained in the wave propelling it
shoreward.
The second,
which is at the same time working with and against the first,
is the force
of man's will.
This brings
us to a point of contention which has been a talking point
amoungst surfers
for a long time e.g., "Nat can surf any sort of board".
Naturally
he can surf any sort of board, but I am quite sure Nat himself
would be
the first to point out that there are differences.
The freedom
we speak of in connection with surfing is not only the
aesthetic value
of being alone in the ocean etc., the real freedom is that of
being able
to make your board respond to your will.
In other words
let your mind run free, being confident that your equipment
will follow.
This is really
what's behind the whole thing.
That word
"animal" doesn't mean brute force or being angry and snarling
at everybody.
To use it
as an adjective, it means simply "instinctive".
Instinctive
movement, devoid of pre-meditated thought or planning.
This is
animal.
In order to
gain this instinct we need balance and a sense of timing.
To put it
more simply you've got to get rhythm, and its got to be the
right rhythm.
The rhythm
is the timing, is the flow, is the progression from one
movement to the
other.
It's just like
music, just like a band.
The waves
are the drummer, putting down a basic rhythm for us to follow
and improvise
on.
So we become
the melody according to our personal moods and ideas.
Where does
a surfboard fit into this?
It is the
instrument on which we play and so it has to be correctly
turned if we
are to get the best from it.
Now we will
progress from these abstractions into the reality of shaping
and what's
behind it.
The motivating
factor behind all surfboards is lift - the force upwards of
the wave on
the underside and the fin of the board.
The tail must
be lifted higher than the nose by the wave to propel
the board.
Simple?
Here's how
it works.
When the wave
lifts the tail the surfer must stand forward for maximum
speed.
Standing right
on the tail slows the board into a stall by lifting the
forward section
out of the water to get lift in front of your feet, and less
wetted area
underneath.
So there it
is.
The more board
you have behind your feet with the wave's force lifting it,
the faster
you go and vice versa.
Having
discovered
this fact we must now decide which is the best hull shape, the
one that
gives maximum lift and control.
Is it a curved
underside, or flat, or is it a compromise?
A curve is
softer and less responsive to water pressure on it, but a
compromise flat
can be too extreme so the obvious answer is compromise.
Since the
advent
of the shortboard some two or three years back (circa 1967), the greatest
single change in design has come from the Hawaiian influence
on design.
By now every
body is well aquainted with the design so inappropriately
called "side-slipper".
Disregarding
this much maligned description we find the Hawiians have come
upon the
perfect compromise of flats and curves.
Instead of
dividing the bottom into various sections of each we have a
flat planing
area from one rail to the other, and a curve from nose to
tail.
Beautifully
simple.
The flat
bottom
gives us the maximum power from the wave so we can have speed
and flow
(rhythm) and the curve is our control for manourveability.
The rails
are turned down from tip to tail, however there are some
variations on
this theme.
Another
variation
is to keep the rails low right through until about 18'' from
the new (sic. ?)
nose then lift them up to the centre.
These are
popularly called 50-50 rails.
Some surfers
who ride beach breaks a lot prefer this type of rail where the
waves are
slightly bumpy or choppy.
Because the
flat bottom extracts maximum power from the wave for the
surfers use, they
are less affected by slow sections and the stop-start effect
of a curved
bottom is greatly reduced.
Acceleration
is nearly always instantaneous, and the momentum is greatly
increased.
Other
advantages
are, increased stability and easy gliding beneath white water.
All in all,
this shape underneath will energize your surfboard.
The increase
in accleration and momentum means you know have increased
turning power.
More turns
and faster are within your grasp.
Turning up
into the pocket from behind the curl is easier and bouncing
off the top
roller-coaster style becomes a breeze.
A surfboard
is a planing surface, like an aquaplane or water-ski or any
other object
propelled across water.
Flat stones
skip across water better than round stones because their
planing surface
is more suitable. Water-skis are flat, aquaplanes are flat.
All this has
been arrived at through constant experiment and changing
design.
Experiment
and change has brought us the flat botom and low rails, and at
present
I feel it would be hard to better this.
Any changes
in this area will now be small and very refined.
Some have
gone ahead and used a slight concave bottom and low rails or a
Vee behind
the fin.
But for major
changes in design we must look toward other variables in
shape.
They are
plane-shape
(sic.) width, thickness,
fin and weight.
The curve
from nose to tail, or "rocker" could also be considered
variable according
to local surfing conditions.
The most
important
variable at this stage of our progress is length overall.
At the time
of writing the general surfing public has reached a point of
uncertainty
regarding
how short
to go.
We used to
be able to give a reasonably accurate pointer to length by
considering
the customer's weight and height, but we've now reached a
stage where two
people of the same weight, height and experience can differ in
preferred
lengths from 4'6" to 7'.
Between
5'6"-6'
seems to be the most popular " range, arrived at through a
precarious analysis
of what's in vogue at the moment.
This
"fashionable"
trend does have its problems as far as beginners or surfers
with limited
experience or ability, finding shortboards too hard to handle
after being
caught up by mass advertising campaigns.
If I could
give a prediction it would be, that overall boards will tend
toward an
increase in length, where an average surfer of 10-11 stone
will be using
equipment closer to the 6 foot mark and even just over 6 foot.
Plane-shapes
(sic., plan shapes) are easier to
categorise.
Most
manufacturers
are producing two major shapes, a small board with a rounded
pin-tail and
full nose, and a slightly longer board with a more pointed
nose and narrower
tail.
The rounded
tail is ideal for beach breaks such as those found around
Sydney and Newcastle
and Wollongong, while the more streamlined design has obvious
advantages
in bigger surf or point
and reef
breaks.
Here at Noosa
Heads we have good quality point surf at the right time of
year and an
abundance of
beach breaks
along Sunshine Beacli to Caloundra and Alexandra Headlands all
year round.
So we've been
trying for a compromise once again, which will give freedom in
both
types of surf.
At the moment
this means a board for the average 10-11 stone surfer of
around 6' x 20"
with a
flat bottom
and low rails.
Slightly
pointed
in the nose with a width of 14" one foot up from the tail and
a fin around
9" deep.
Thickness
is around 3 1/4"-3 1/2" thickest point to give enough
flotation for the
board to sit up on the flat planing surface while riding on a
wave.
Kevin
Platt
: Basics of Form and Design Part 2.
Surfing
World
Magazine Volume 14 Number 4. Pages 76-77.Circa
1970.
Surfing
World Magazine
Volume 14
Number
4 Pages 69 - 70.
1971?
Notes
surfresearch.com.au
Geoff Cater
(2011-2013) : Steve Core : Surfboards Today, 1970.
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1971_Core_Surfboards_Today_SW_v14n4.html