Week 9 and Final Presentations

Last week we read articles about artificial surfing by means of the wave pools and what their popularity may or may not do to the traditional form of surfing. I think that it might be a cool idea because we would be including whole countries and states as opposed to just the ones that have a coastline. However, I do agree that artificial wave pools sorta creates artificial surfing. The surfers who are acclimated to artificial waves wont be able to fend for themselves in a real ocean. The paddle out alone would most likely exhaust them, not to mention the currents, localism and sea animals underneath the water's surface. I also think that if the surf industry decides to go ahead with the wave pools, they need to take more responsibility of cleaning up the oceans. Something along the lines of three hundred million dollars has been donated in efforts to clean up water pollution and trash on the beaches, but thats not enough, especially when you get to thinking about the billions of dollars they generate a year. A little more effort to clean up the traditional way of surfing and I think the wave pools would be a good idea (just to be inclusive).

For my final project I decided to make miniature boards out of balsa wood. The boards belong to the line of evolution of the surfboard. There are only seven of them, but I think they portray seven distinct boards that impacted surfing and the way people surfed. I started with the ancient Hawaiian boards, the Alaia and the Olo. Then created Tom Blake's Hollow board, followed by the Hot Curl board, next the sparrow tail board and fiberglasss shortboard, and last, but not least, the epoxy longboard. I went to the craft store in Santa Barbara and grabbed my supplies, brought them back here and carved them last night. It takes a great deal of focus and precision, even on balsa wood. Once the boards were cut out I shaped them (to the best of my ability) with an exacto knife, and continued to smooth out the surfaces with a nile file. All the dust in the air of my room made me realize that the people who shape their boards really NEED to wear a mask (even I wanted one :) ). I had a lot of fun researching and learning about the different aspects of the boards, what made them different and special and how it impacted surfing as a whole, and I definitely have a newfound appreciation for board designs and the men and women who shape them (it takes a lot more patience than I would have thought).