Style vs Body Type

 

 

 

The hull/trimming approach to surfing opens up "style" to virtually any body type.

Take the case of one James "Chubby" Mitchell. Reportedly somewhere around 5'9'' x 300 lbs, he was poetry in motion on an 11 foot, D-fin longboard. Good luck to anyone with those body-dims on a thruster!

1968

Tom Ornter -- who rode Windansea as well as anyone before or since -- at 3M's in Baja, 1968. This pic was one of the early salvos in the shortboard revolution in the US surf media.

From Orion

Paul,

I noticed you had posted my fave pic of the controversial Milius and had made my own poster a few years back of it after stumbling on the article that featured it in an early 80's surfer magazine.

I had wanted to recreate it for awhile and since The Surfer's Journal had recently approved an article on my artwork to be published in their pages...I thought it would be a good time to try to do it.  My good friend photographer Kanoa Zimmerman came down to do some Cindy Sherman-esque portraits of me for the article.  For some reason they decided to go with much safer standard portrait of me for the article. Who knows why? They aren't using it and I'd like the Hull community to see it.  Here's the take from Kanoa and me.  Hope you dig it. 

Not really a rocket launcher type of guy myself...

-Orion

Old Yeller Followup

Putting on the breaks on Old Yeller.  Just 4 out that day...me, the 2 dolphins and the kneeboarder.

Often imitated, never duplicated! Definitely one of those magic boards.

It was my board during El Niño '97. The thing ripped from 2' on up to the biggest swells of that epoch.

KP took it back before I rode it to death. Good thing he did, because it needed to be preserved-just a radical, screaming ass board! In my top 3 for sure!

Matt Miller

Bike Flex

 

 Frame flex testers comparing notes in the field.

It might seem a little off topic, but this expose' on bike flex relates directly to mats and surfboards. It deals with the myth that's grown over recent years that the stiffer a bike frame is, the faster it will go. That concept follows a logical thought pattern: The stiffer the frame is, the more power is transferred from the rider as he or she peddles. Flex, the notion goes, absorbs energy and robs the rider of forward motion. In professional bike racing, even the slightest disadvantage is a major liability, so high end bikes have gotten stiffer and stiffer to address that belief.  Perhaps in vain, as it turns out.

This article goes into a pretty detailed study of bike flex, and how, if properly applied, it can actually add to the speed of the rider. The conclusion isn't that flexy bikes are faster, but that the right amount of flex relative to the rider will indeed generate more speed. As to why, it's best to read the article.

From the experience of mat surfers and hull riders, it was established decades ago that a properly flexible surfboard will go faster. Greenough's first flex fin was built in 1962, and his first flexible kneeboard in 1965...

 

 

 

 

 
The reason is flexible boards will conform to the wave face...if only slightly in the case of a stringerless board. A flexible board will naturally track into the most powerful part of the wave and absorb more energy.

In the case of surfmats, the reasons for lower inflation levels going faster are more difficult to verbalize. In fact, nothing short of comparing a mat that's fully inflated and a mat that's partially inflated will convince anyone of that fact.

Add to that, mat inflation levels that are too low will cause the mat so slide out and thus lose all of its speed. So, like bike frame flex, hitting the sweet spot is key. Unlike a finished bike frame, however, a mat's flex (via inflation level) can be changed from minute to minute.

Anyway, if you have a few minutes, the article is a good read...

Old Yeller

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a board I shaped and glassed for the late Tom Cimino in the mid '80s. It was dedicated to larger Malibu. To that end, it had fairly flat rocker numbers, a sharply rolled bottom, dome deck, and thin rails.

As I recall, it was 8'10'' x 21 1/2". A tapered foil outline, roundtail.

Kirk Putnam has this board in his garage, so he might be able to provide some more specs.

Along side it, in the top two photos, is an Andreini of similar intent. KP and Roger Kelly are your presenters.

From The Office Of Mr. Milius

2 nuclear holocaust posters? 

Check.

Fully functioning rocket launcher?  

Check.

Surf leash?   

Check.

Liddle hull?

WTF ???