Two Books on Boards and Surfing
Andy Michael USGS Guest
weekend I decided to walk over to the Half Moon Bay Library and
check out the surfing collection. With a now world famous break
in town you would hope that the library would have a few books.
The first few I hit were pretty old (not as old as me, but old
enough to be way out of date on technique and boards). Then
I came across find #1:
Essential Surfing by George Orbelian, surboard design editor of Surfer
Magazine. Actually he got the job after they read the first edition of
this book in draft form and the one I have is edition 3 from 1987.
Probably a bit out of date, but looked good to me. This book is sort
of like 250 pages of postings by Lud on surfboard design including
sections on about everything people have been asking about here:
rocker, fins, width, rails, ...... Also includes info on repairs, a
section by Gordon Clark of Clark Foam and a reprinted from pamphlets
from Gerisch Products, Inc. that cover a lot of info on board making
and fiberglass products. I've skimmed most of it already and it looks
very informative but non-technical enough for most people. One neat
section gives detailed specs on 32 boards that their designers picked
as being popular and for a person 5'8" and 140 lbs (basically me at
the end of college, I'm a bit heavier now). The book is self
published, in 1987 by Orbelian Arts, 417 Dewey Blvd. San Francisco,
94116 ISBN 0-9610548-2-4. It even includes a little info on learning
to surf and surf conditions but also suggests looking at the following
book which was just a bit further down the shelf.
Surfing Fundamentals by Nat Young, World Champion in 1966, copyright
1985. I think I saw this book in a bookstore once and liked it then
too. Of course, this way its free (till June 13th). Covers it all
from what you should do before ever first hitting the ocean to
competition strategy and riding the big waves. Most of the info is
pretty short, but after all you want to read quickly and then get
going. Also some info on repairs and board design but not as much as
in the above book. The thing I like about this book is that it pushes
you to progress slowly, not just go out and try to shred. It also
covers some of the info kp was looking for on weather (a deep low
pressure system out to sea and traveling parallel to shore seems to be
a surfer's dream situation in most areas). I will definitely spend
some time with this book as I heal and hopefully hit the water Monday
eve or Tuesday morn (I can hope can't I). While the first book has
convinced me that my board wasn't an ideal choice its technique I need
(and besides I haven't seen a better one for anywhere near what I
paid). Its ISBN 0-89586-688-9 published by The Body Press.
It even says the following about Bells, "It's an old-fashioned wave,
in that it doesn't really suit modern in-the-tube surfing." Well,
it does say some nice stuff about it too.
Anyway if someone has negative opinions about these books let me
know before I memorize them.
Andy (whose itchin to get wet again)
Ludwig Omachen
> I decided to walk over to the Half Moon Bay Library and
>check out the surfing collection. With a now world famous break
>in town you would hope that the library would have a few books.
>The first few I hit were pretty old (not as old as me, but old
>enough to be way out of date on technique and boards). Then
>I came across find #1:
>
>Essential Surfing by George Orbelian, surboard design editor of Surfer
>Magazine. Actually he got the job after they read the first edition of
>Surfing Fundamentals by Nat Young, World Champion in 1966, copyright
>1985. I think I saw this book in a bookstore once and liked it then
>It even says the following about Bells, "It's an old-fashioned wave,
>in that it doesn't really suit modern in-the-tube surfing." Well,
>it does say some nice stuff about it too.
>Anyway if someone has negative opinions about these books let me
>know before I memorize them.
>Andy (whose itchin to get wet again)
Yeh! any book that hang's shit on my home break (No localism
intended, referring to geographic proximity only) is good for only one
thing, and it's not memorizing :-).
The first one sound's pretty good though, I'll try and get hold of a
copy.
Cheer's,
Lud.
John Airey
|> Well given a bruised rib that's keeping me out of the water this
|> weekend I decided to walk over to the Half Moon Bay Library and
|> check out the surfing collection.
It's a good weekend to have bruised ribs.
There ain't no waves, and besides, Memorial Day Weekend
would be a nightmare if the waves were good.
I went on an exploratory trip this weekend to look
carefully at Santa Cruz Westside breaks and breaks north
of town. I started at Steamer Lane. They were having this
contest for grommets. The waves were micro. Even the groms
were disgusted.
|> Essential Surfing by George Orbelian, surboard design editor of Surfer
|> Magazine. One neat
|> section gives detailed specs on 32 boards that their designers picked
|> as being popular and for a person 5'8" and 140 lbs (basically me at
|> the end of college, I'm a bit heavier now).
Andy, perhaps you could post a few select specs from
that book? I'm interested, and more than likely, I won't
be able to find a copy of that book if I go looking.
john m. airey ai...@asd.sgi.com (415) 390-5248
M/S 7U-550 Silicon Graphics, Advanced Systems Division
2011 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mtn. View, CA 94039
Andy Michael USGS Guest
>In article <1992May24.0...@morrow.stanford.edu> an...@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Andy Michael USGS Guest) writes in part:
>>1985. I think I saw this book in a bookstore once and liked it then
>>It even says the following about Bells, "It's an old-fashioned wave,
>>in that it doesn't really suit modern in-the-tube surfing." Well,
>>it does say some nice stuff about it too.
>intended, referring to geographic proximity only) is good for only one
>thing, and it's not memorizing :-).
about Bells (next to a picture of absolutely incredible waves and
some surfer just holding his head in amazement with the caption,
"Surf Stoked. When Little Rincon at Victoria's Bells Beach is
pumping its enough to blow your mind!")
"On the other side of Port Phillip Bay, near Torquay, is Bells Beach,
home of the annual Easter surfing contest. It is not a particularly
hollow wave but it is extremely powerful during the autumn and winter
months. I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I saw Bells.
I was fifteen and had travelled to Victoria with some other surfers
to compete in the second Bells contest. We awoke to an amazing sight -
lines of swell all the way to the horizon. I've seen Bells like that
many times since. (Insert above quote here) The best way to surf it
is to pick off sections, wind down the line with no worries about the
wave closing out because it rarely breaks all the way to the bottom
and you can surf around the curl."
Look at it this way Lud. The only he says about Northern California
is that while he's never seen Santa Cruz going off really good he has
seen pictures of it.
Keep getting wet,
Andy (of the almost healed ribs)
Andy Michael USGS Guest
>an...@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Andy Michael USGS Guest) writes:
>|> Essential Surfing by George Orbelian, surboard design editor of Surfer
>|> Magazine. One neat
>|> section gives detailed specs on 32 boards that their designers picked
>|> as being popular and for a person 5'8" and 140 lbs (basically me at
>|> the end of college, I'm a bit heavier now).
>
> Andy, perhaps you could post a few select specs from
>that book? I'm interested, and more than likely, I won't
>be able to find a copy of that book if I go looking.
on two boards to give you an idea of what they were bothering to
measure. Of course, the shapers may have more measurements than
this, this is just the books format. As usual, I haven't gotten
permission from the author whose copyright is pretty specific against
storing the book in a machine retrievable format. Oops. Maybe he'll
get a sale out of this.
Notes: Rocker is measured from a line that is tangent to the bottom
of the board at the center of the board. All measurements are made
on the bottom of the board. I'm not quite sure how the bottom
contours are measured. Both are trifins which is obvious in the
book because there are pictures.
The first board I picked because the book mentions it as a good choice
for a beginner because it falls in the modern mini-longboard class.
And gee, I thought you just got the first board that you could afford
at a garage sale.
Eaton U.E.O. Bonzer, Shaper A.C. Elliot
Tail design: round
Length: 7'6"
Type and layers of glass
deck: 6 oz - 2 layers
bottom: 6 oz - 1 layer with 6 oz patch in fin area
note: available with 1.5" unidirectional carbon fiber
reinforcing over top and bottom of stringer.
Fin Placement
Measurement from stringer to leading edge of:
Front fins: 5.25" Rear fin: on stringer
Measurement from stringer to trailing edge of:
Front fins: 6.0" Rear fin: on stringer
Measurement from tip of tail to rear edge of:
Front fins: 13" Rear fin: 9.25"
Front fin dimensions: Base length 9.25" Height 2.75"
Rear fin dimensions: Base length 2.5" Height 5.25"
Shape of board, all dimensions in inches
Template Rocker Thickness Bottom Contours
Tip of nose 6.5
6" from nose 4.25 3/16 V at rail
1' from nose 15.5 2.75 2.25 5/16 V at rail
2' from nose 20 1 3.0625 1/4 V at rail
Center Touching 3.375
Wide Point 21.75 at 3.5 ahead of Center
2' from tail 18.75 0.5 2.5626 1/16 V at rail, 5/16 concave
1' from tail 14.25 1 1.75 1/16 V at rail, 1/2 concave
6" from tail 1.5 1/4 V at rail, 7/16 concave
Tip of Tail 2.5
Design Comments:
Deck Countors: Domed deck
Rail design: Soft/subtle tucked under edge
The second board comes closest to fitting John Airey's email request
for a shortboard (around 6'3") with either a rounded pin tail or a
squash tail. There was a 6'6" rounded pin but I went for the shorter
board and the section on tails says that the squash and the rounded
square tails are similar in performance characteristics.
Channel Islands Tri Fin, Shaper: Al Merrick
Tail design: Single Bump Rounded square
Length: 6'3"
Type and layers of glass
deck: 1 layer 4 oz. "S" with 2 staggered deck patches (2/3 and 1/3 length)
bottom: 4 oz. "S" - 1 layer
Fin Placement
Measurement from stringer to leading edge of:
Front fin: 5.375" Rear fin: on stringer
Measurement from stringer to trailing edge of:
Front fin: 5.375" Rear fin: on stringer
Measurement from tip of tail to rear edge of:
Front fin: 10.5" Rear fin: 3.5"
Front fin dimensions: Base length 4.75" Height 4.75"
Rear fin dimensions: Base length 4.5" Height 4.5"
Shape of board, all dimensions in inches
Template Rocker Thickness Bottom Contours
Tip of nose 4.625
6" from nose 2.625 1/32
1' from nose 12.125 1.5 1.625 1/32
2' from nose 17.8125 0.3125 2.25 1/16
Center Touching 2.5 3/32
Wide Point 19.5 at Center
2' from tail 18.625 0.25 2.25 1/8
1' from tail 14.275 0.8125 1.6875 3/16
6" from tail 1.1875 3/16
Tip of Tail 1.75
Design Comments:
Deck Countors: Flat deck
Rail design: Tucked under edge
Hope someone made it this far,
Andy
Ludwig Omachen
In article <1992May26.0...@morrow.stanford.edu> an...@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Andy Michael USGS Guest) writes:
>In article <32...@sol.deakin.OZ.AU> lud...@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Ludwig Omachen) writes:
>>In article <1992May24.0...@morrow.stanford.edu> an...@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Andy Michael USGS Guest) writes in part:
>>>It even says the following about Bells, "It's an old-fashioned wave,
>>>in that it doesn't really suit modern in-the-tube surfing." Well,
>>>it does say some nice stuff about it too.
>>Yeh! any book that hang's shit on my home break (No localism
>>intended, referring to geographic proximity only) is good for only one
>>thing, and it's not memorizing :-).
>Gee, I thought that might get a rise. :-) Here's the whole quote
>about Bells (next to a picture of absolutely incredible waves and
>some surfer just holding his head in amazement with the caption,
>"Surf Stoked. When Little Rincon at Victoria's Bells Beach is
>pumping its enough to blow your mind!")
Other stuff about Bells deleted.....
>Keep getting wet,
>Andy (of the almost healed ribs)
Thank's Andy, for presenting the complete, balanced picture now,
instead of the provacative, selective original quote :-).
It seem's that you have goaded Bells into action though,
swell came up during tuesday, yesterday (Wed.) was from head to double
overhead, offshore in the morning, onshore during the afternoon.
Didn't get a wave though :-(.
This morning it was still the same size, offshore, but a little uneven,
got up for an early surf, but went to outside impossso's to avoid the
crowd's at Bells and Winki.
Imposso's was between head and 1.5 head high, only one other guy out,
caught about 10 nice long waves in an hour, then 3 more guy's paddled
out, time for work :-(.
Cheer's, keep surfing,
Lud.
Cheer's, keep surfing,
Lud.
Unknown
>Essential Surfing by George Orbelian, surboard design editor of Surfer
>Magazine.
>
>Anyway if someone has negative opinions about these books let me
>know before I memorize them.
>
>Andy (whose itchin to get wet again)
>
surfer/readers,
George's book is still (he has a few copies only) in print and can be purchased
direct from him, or from Orbellian Arts, in San Franscico.
Another book/surfing text, which this year won the Australian Surfriders Hall
of Fame media award is
Competitive SURFING: A Dedicated Approach
Lowdon, Brian and Margaret (Editors)
with chapters written by world champions, leading surfologists and surf
administrators.(and Lud has a copy!!)
There are only a few copies left in the US and in OZ, and can be purchase from
Banks Books, Redondo Beach, Cal (see advert in Surfer Mag)
or from me (E-mail me for a brochure/flyer).
Incidently, I collect pre 1970 surf books and have some trades. If you are a
surf book collecter please communicate.
Lots'o waves
Brian