Wow, BIG Tease…
Jerry, what does this all mean? I googled “revolutionary” surf board and just about everyone claims to have designed a revolutionary board! SurfTech claims “Tufflite” as the material for the new millenium but doesn’t really say what it is…
Oh well… Time will tell, eh? 
sing
another surf kayak that cought my eye…
I just recently got the Wave Sport DVD in the mail and it was awesome seeing the Flyer in action. I know it’s not a true surf kayak in a traditional sense but seeing helix’s and donkey flips being thrown in it on a wave was amazing. Here’s a link to it. I’d love to try one one sometime.
http://www.wavesport.com/kayaks/flyer/flyer.php
The WS Flyer Is A Surf Kayak
– Last Updated: Mar-28-05 12:46 PM EST –
my understanding is that Dick Wold was in in the early design of this boat but then it was changed in a way Dick Wold didn't like.
Anyway, Wold unveiled what he had in mind at SC with a 7' plus (some inches) "white water rodeo meets surf" boat. It doesn't even have a name yet since it was just finished before SC. It will have a name soon enough. That young whipper snapper, Rusty Sage, won High Performance category with that boat. He was doing blunts, back stabs, air screws with the boat, all the while staying in the pocket. There were collective awe among the spectators of the HP finals. Rusty and that boat gave a hint of, if not already ushered in, the future of HP surf kayaking. :)
As for me, I got to start working on those skills to begin the cartwheels (wavewheels) and blunts. These are next steps before air screws (pan ams) helixes and such. if I can ever even reach that point. Always something to focus sessions on. :)
sing
same here
Cartwheels are high on the list of things I need to learn next and from there, the list is endless. In regards to HP surf kayaking, I definitely see this as the way to expand the sport. If playboaters see their favorite moves being done on an ocean wave, the chance for a crossover into surf kayaking isn’t that big of a jump.
More Rumor Then Tease
From what little I could glean from talk at the beach, this new release will not necessarily be a break through in design, but rather the incorporation of more durable, lighter weight material. At present, the Infinity Mosquito and Stinger wave skis are hand-built and constructed with the same materials and processes as conventional surfboards. I think what we might see initially are a couple of models created in a production-like manner similar to surf boards presently produced by SurfTech. So I guess the “revolutionary” element will be more about process and material…not next-generation design. Still…kind of an interesting prospect.
And Thus…?
“So I guess the “revolutionary” element will be more about process and material…not next-generation design.”
A less expensive, high performance ski? I hope so.
sing
Really?..Not That Big A Jump?
“If playboaters see their favorite moves being done on an ocean wave, the chance for a crossover into surf kayaking isn’t that big of a jump”.
I have strictly been a paddle surfer and have not had an opportunity to white water kayak, so I can’t respond to this statement from personal experience. But I would be very interested in hearing from those who have become skilled at both, their reaction to the above claim.
Well…
the white water boater has to learn to able to read the waves and understand what’s happening on a particular break to maximize the wave. Can’t get that from just “surfing” a standing river wave. Different dynamics.
But, yeah, I think good playboaters can probably make the conversion to surf better than good long boaters. Body awareness and throwing the boat around is something that playboaters know more than long boaters by the very nature of their sport.
Look at some of the upcoming surf kayak guys, Rusty Sage, Jim/John Grossman, Jono Stevens, etc… These guys are also serious playboaters too.
sing
Different Styles Though
I think about it in terms of different styles though. I grew up deep powder skiing at Alta, and when the snow was packed loving to ski fast down wide open bowls. When I was 15 I wanted to be a downhill or GS racer. I never cared much for moguls or “hotdogging” and what has become freestyle skiing. Guys like Rusty Sage are obviously bringing “hotdogging” to surfing and making it more exciting, but people like Vince Shay and Byron Olsen, who have been surfing boards a long, long time, who really know how to read Ocean waves and tap and play with the energy of the waves remind me more of great skiers who are at one with the mountain. How’s that for two crossed up metaphors. As for me I just like to have fun and improve at my own geologic time rate.
to clarify a little
I may have mistated my point slightly. While sing is correct that the body awareness and the ability to do certain moves is applicable to both surf and playboating, I was mainly referring to the potential attractivness to crossover between the disciplines. Basically a playboater, as sing would say it, is already familiar with and addicted to the STOKE. Therefore when they realize that this feeling can be had on an ocean wave, the draw would be there to bring playboaters into the surfing arena. Of course that’s just my thoughts on the two sports. I’m a non-surfer, a wannabee playboater, and an ok whitewater paddler.
"The Stoke"
I’m not sure paddling rivers is going to give you the same feeling that Ocean Surfers call “the Stoke”. I paddled whitewater in canoes and rafts and thought it was fun and exciting and paddled on the ocean and surfed small waves etc. I did not become a surf-aholic until I went to Baja and caught and rode a huge wave and paddled out and did it again about three times in a row. The addicting part is catching the magical wave as it rises up and gets ready to throw and then getting accellerated so fast and then speeding down the wave,and time seems to slow down so that you are experiencing the event in slow motion and high speed at the same time, when you are on the edge of total anilation if you screw up. On the ocean every day and every wave is different, not the same as playing in a hole, not saying it’s not valid, just not the same thing.
i’m sure it’s not the same but…
– Last Updated: Mar-28-05 11:20 PM EST –
I do have a mighty big adrenaline rush after running some good whitewater. Whether it is playing in a hole, surfing on a river wave, or cleanly running a difficult drop, I still usually am pumped up for a couple days afterwards. It's the combination of fear, excitement, and an almost primal joy that I experience when I crash through a powerful wave train into the heart of a meaty, churning hole. :)
My “Stoke” Vs Your "Rush"
Both surfing and white water has the adrenaline component because you working at the edge of disaster.
But, the analogy would be like aikido to kickboxing. In aikido, you take the movement and energy of an attack and work with it, in harmony. You don’t fight it but you go with it. In boxing, you see the attack and you work to neutralize and simultaneously counter it. You’re more likely to “fight” the attack. The latter is much more aggressive than the former.
Either way, if you do well, you feel that you’re in the “zone.” There is this great perceptual acuity and the sense that you’re one step ahead of what’s happening. This is where time feels as it has slowed down and you have all time in the world to make the moves that you need to avoid disaster.
sing