Something to Ponder

Day eight at the Rip Curl Pro was a macker!!!! The men surfed round 3 and some of round 4 in chest to head high Winkipop. The surf was glassy and looked really fun, probably the best conditions the boys have seen since the waiting period began. Heat three standouts include Taj, Adriano, Jordy, Mick, Parko, Bede, and Kelly. A few heats of round four were completed with Taj, Mick, Jordy, and Adriano moving on to the quarter. The rest of round 4 should happen this evening and probably some of the quarter heats also. It is crazy watching the boys who are competing at this level. They can truly make something out of nothing. Air reverses, reverses, floaters, vertical hacks, fins out everywhere..... they all have these tricks in their pockets. I can't even fathom where competitive surfing will be in 5 years. Kick flips? Barrel rolls? 720? 900? who knows???

I forgot to mention the results from the Clash of the Icons!!! It went down late on Saturday evening, Easter Sunday in Oz. My boy Occy, the goofy footer, was defeated by the great Tom Curren. There is no debating this result, Occy surfed well but Curren surfed better. The wave conditions suited Curren style and that's that. Curren WINS! Check the heat recap below!

So the ocean has been pretty flat the past few days. Unless you're suppin' you're probably not surfin'. The extended forecast doesn't look any better either. I just found this little video called blue tarp surfing. The begging is dumb but the concept is rad. I think if the waves stay as is for a while I might mess around with this except I'll get a big old brown tarp because I love that dirty water! Don't push mongo...

Something to ponder...

I was poking around on Epoxy Pro .com the other day and it got my gears turning. These are the guys that have designed the XTR boards that Pioneers has been backing for years. They just released the newest version of XTR this time called XTR7. It features a new lighter more durable blank and reformulated epoxy resin. The bottom line is the new XTRs now have the feel of an older XTR with more durability and a year warranty against yellowing and de-lamination. (XTR Lost boards coming soon!!!!)

So Epoxy Pro claims that the new blanks absorb zero water and are so good that you can actually surf a shaped blank before it has been glassed. This got Steve and I thinking, and this is where you can ponder along with us, could this be the future of surfboard shaping??? Can surfers design a blank with the glass and resin mixed in with closed cell foam that allows your average surfer to reshape and tweak their boards at home??? Picture it, you came by the shop picked yourself up a Lost Rocket and have been surfing it and loving it. However, you wish the tail had a touch more vee and your rails were a tiny bit softer. All you gotta do is grab some sand paper and a hand planer and go to town. BOOM you got what you want, go surf it, and if it's still not right tweak it a little more. Could this work? I think so. Will it ever happen? Your guess is as good as mine...

I blogged this a little while ago, but it's worth blogging again. My good friend Alexis is running the Paris Marathon on Sunday to honor Little Miss Molly and help fight Lymphoma and Leukemia. She set a goal of raising $6000 for research and still has a little left to go. Check her page HERE and if you could send a few bucks her way that would be AMAZING! We'll see you at the finish line Alexis.