A picture - Una foto #3

Waiting for the next session I'll let you dream with this view:

Wategos beach, Byron Bay.

In attesa delle prossime onde si puo' sognare guardando questa foto..

On surboards - Sulle tavole #4

What a coincidence!

I'm reading Surfing - Fundamentals by Nat Young, published in 1985.

Well, there's a chapter titled History through design where he sums up surfboards design, recalling names, places and people contributing to the short board revolution.

At the end of it, page 102, here's what he says:

"Sometime in the near future someone will come up with a substitute for foam and fiberglass. There has been no change since the 1950's and we are due for one. Sophisticated moulding systems and manufacturing techniques must catch up with surfing sometime, making boards lighter, cheaper and more resistent to damage."

That's exactly my point!

Coincidenza!

Sto leggendo Surfing - Fundamentals, scritto dall'ex campione di surf Nat Young e pubblicato nel 1985.

Nel capitolo intitolato History through design, dove ripercorre le tappe dell'evoluzione delle tavole, ecco cosa afferma in conclusione, a pagine 102:

"Nel futuro prossimo qualcuno trovera' il sostituto per il polistirolo e la vetroresina. Dagli anni '50 ad oggi non ci sono stati cambiamenti ed e' giunto il tempo. Nuovi modi di produrre le tavole, nuove tecnologie e materiali si metteranno al passo con i tempi e le tavole saranno piu' leggere, econimiche e resistenti."

Esattamente quello che intendevo io! 

On Surfboard - Sulle tavole #3

I didn't write much lately 'cause I've been busy doing stuff, but also watching and reading about surfing.

Today I just want to point out that I've found an article on surfscience.com which reinforce my words written on On Sufboard #2.

I was saying that surfboard makers are behind. They don't have the technology nor the scientific knowledge to make surfboards that are updated with our time.

For example, not even going into complex things, here's a simple question: why the hell surfboards don't have a deck with grip? It's 2013, almost 2014. Is it that difficult to make a deck that doesn't require polluting wax?

And then you have people around you that hate epoxy boards and they look at you like if you were the most stupid among the stupid beginners.

Epoxy? Disappear please. Let the cool guys with stone age surfboards rule!

So, what I wanted to say is that I dared to say those things and now I found someone that, with solid studies, have my same opinion!

Here's the article.

BTW: I'm not saying that epoxy boards are better, I'm saying that surfboard production is stuck in the 50s and surfers are against innovation without much thinking.

Non ho scritto molto ultimamente a causa degli impegni e anche del fatto che sto guardando e leggendo molte cose sul surf.

Oggi mi limito a segnalare un articolo su surfscience.com che conferma la mia visione sul mondo del surf, di cui ho scritto qua.

In parole povere ritengo che chi oggi produce le tavole, nella maggior parte dei casi non abbia la conoscenza tecnica necessaria per farlo, e neanche la tecnologia. Esperienza si, in acqua, ma non dietro ai libri.

Per esempio, pongo una domanda stupida senza entrare nei dettagli che contano davvero: possibile che oggi non si sia in grado di produrre una tavola che non abbia bisogno di cera -inquinante- per non scivolare? Ma che ci vuole ad usare/inserire un materiale diverso sulla superficie?

E perche' tutta questa avversione contro le tavole fatte in epoxy quando questa soluzione e' utilizzata da anni nel windsurf ed in altri sport acquatici?

Ma poi in acqua se hai una epoxy ti senti un po' stupido mentre invece quelli che si sentono veri surfisti cavalcano tavole prodotte come si faceva negli anni cinquanta.

Le mie parole sono quindi confermate e rinforzate qui, da qualcuno che ha studiato e sa di che parla.

Damn! - maledizione!

Booking a weekend weeks ahead to get two days of great waves, and then..

Prenotare un weekend al mare settimane in anticipo contando su due giorni di bellissime onde e poi..

Meanwhile.. - Nel mentre..

Four surf movies

Recently I've watch four surf movies/documentaries.

I've to say that I'm missing so many of them that I'll need some years to catch up. But anyway.. 

The first of them was "Chasing Maverick".
Well, as it's out on dvd it won't happen to you to have to pay a ticket to watch it, and you should thank for that. With all the respect for the real story that it tells, this movie is embarrassing.

Think about a guy who surfs all his life and at half movie someone tells him that a swell is coming from the other side of the Pacific Ocean and he says:"Really?" I said it all. 

Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-san were a more believable couple than the two in here. The scenes at Maverick are good but there's nothing else. Sharknado is way more enjoyable! (and if you didn't see it yet, be sure that there's a great surf scene!) 

The second one was "Drift".
This is a nice, average Hollywood movie is which people happen to surf. The script follow the usual path, the characters do the usual things, bad guys and good guys, and all the rest. Obviously it's a hundred steps ahead of Chasing Maverick, but it doesn't surprise you a bit. Surfing scenes are good. I guess the authors were too busy in being realistic with the surf and the era that they forgot to go a bit deeper with the content.
Nice. Just nice. One of those nice that you forget in a while.

At this point I have to say that I'm a film enthusiast and I'm very, very picky with them. I can count on my fingers how many movies I loved in the last 10 years. Don't even ask me about super heroes and stuff, please. 

The third one was "Billabong's J Bay", narrated by Shaun Thompson.

It has great old footage of the wave and it tells the story of the Bay from its discovering to today. And many are the pro surfers involved. It's nice, fun, and it peels off like a perfect wave. Thumbs up.

At last but not least, I watched "Bombora, the story of Australian surfing".

It's a tv product and it's made by two episodes of one hour each. I believe if I was Australian I would loved this. Going back to the old days and seeing things that my dad, or some other old guy would have told me.. linking to the past generations and finding the roots of my surfing reality today.
Unfortunately I lack all of this.. and I'm so envious..
But still, it's a beautiful product! Such a great real story, and real old and new surfing.
I didn't get many chances to actually see much if the old famous guys in action, and this was perfect: name, date, and contest.. not just someone surfing some wave somewhere some time ago..
Very good product.

At the end of all this watching I think two things: I can compete in the fifties but in the sixties they were already too good for me. Can you believe that? We tend to think that we are always at the top, and what was before us it's just old. But no. It's not like that. I'm such a beginner!

Second: I like Shaun Thompson.
I also read "Bursting down the door" by him, and I have to say that he's a storyteller. I'm not saying that he's a great storyteller. That's is not possible because he already was a great surfer in his life. But I can sense his love for stories and his pleasure to tell us what happened. And I like it. 

I still don't know much about the past in surfing but I'd say I love the seventies and Shaun Thompson and Mark Richards are my favorite surfers.