Tuesday, December 16, 2008   2 Comments

When I choose to compete as a surfer, regardless of my thoughts and opinions of surfing as a so-called sport? I do take aspects of the competitive process fairly seriously. I will for example ride the board or boards I will be competing on exclusively in the weeks prior to an event, I will also try to seek out waves of a similar nature to what I will be forced to ride in the contest arena, and I will do this automatically, without giving much thought to it, I guess I’ve been doing it for quiet a while now, and so habits have formed.



I find myself wondering, are these habits the reason I seem to struggle with hanging up the contest vest for good, I’m the first to admit I have a serious love / hate relationship with the idea of surf contests, and the subjective nature by which a winner is decided.

I seem to struggle with hanging up the contest vest for good, I’m the first to admit I have a serious love / hate relationship with the idea of surf contests

I have experienced first hand numerous controversial calls, it is this very reason that makes me question my own sanity, when once again I find myself contemplating yet another series of competitions? After all, wouldn’t I rather spend time experimenting with boards, having the choice of checking the waves to see what board’s going to suit the days conditions, then getting out there to enjoy the solitude, followed by a fun play in the shore break with the kids, maybe slide into a few tandem, or help them catch a couple for themselves, seeing the look of over whelming joy, coupled with the shear excitement, witnessed on the faces of my children, as we introduce them to a life with the ocean as their playground, is truly priceless. So… what am I thinking?

Well while I try to determine just what my summer might hold, I decided to play around with boards anyway, I even shaped up an Alaia (a traditional Hawaiian surf or belly board) just keeping the inspiration flowing, having watched my close friends master these boards over the past few years has really left me with a sense of longing, and a desire to experience the ride first hand.

While I do have a fairly substantial quiver, of which; none of the boards really suit the ‘Hyundai Longboard Pro Tour judging Criteria’, but all of which; I’d love to spend time on this summer, working out the sweet spots, figuring out which waves best suit each one. After all; since I returned from Portugal in October, I have tried to spend as much time on my short boards as possible, primarily two of them, a 5’9” Honolua keel fin and a 6’2” Honolua single fin egg, Both boards are standard shapes from the Honolua Surf Co’ range, shaped on the gold coast by Daniel Macdonald. Both boards are absolute art pieces, as well as a huge amount of fun.

The other board I have been riding a lot is a 9’6” Peter White shaped noserider (Classic Malibu). I have ridden a lot of boards shaped by Peter over the years, and can’t recall ever riding a dud!

He shapes boards in models, Performer, Noserider etc… and they all work perfectly as they are intended; this boards no exception, Nose rides like a dream. So stable just the right amount of drag, essentially holding you tight in the pocket for extended periods of tip time, you’ve got to love a great noseriding board, if you call yourself a longboarder and haven’t spent time on one, you really don’t know what your missing!

So all this said, the question still remains… might just play it one card at a time, any thoughts?

Checkout –  www.tomwegenersurfboards.com  Tom was recently awarded Surfer Magazines Shaper of the year, for his work with the Alaia.

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