Product Description

"Surfing" is huge, we surf the web, talk with surfer lingo, and wear surfer styles. How many of us understand the core experience of surfing a wave? And of those of us who have surfed, how many of us understand that enigmatic icon of surfing -- the surfboard? Well, your secret wish to know has finally been answered. Bob Smith, the most obscure and iconoclastic shaper ever, briefly opened the door to his ivory shaping tower, and threw out the truth. Bob had observed that untold millions of surfers, and an undetermined number of shapers, didn't have a clue as to how a surfboard actually worked. Your search for the truth is over, Bob's scribblings have been deciphered and sent to the printer. The resulting book tells all in a concise, easy to read, and fully illustrated text.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114775 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 52 pages

From the Back Cover
A surfboard is a simple device, but the lines that comprise its shape and how they interrelate are very sophisticated. Sophisticated, but not difficult to understand if you know these design basics.

If you're a beginner, advanced, or top pro surfer, understanding these basics will help in your choice of a surfboard. This book will help you isolate problems you may experience while riding a particular surfboard and how to correct them. It will help you talk to your shaper if you decide to go custom.

Shapers; this book is especially for you. You work with these basics on every surfboard you shape and you've learned what works, but you've probably never seen an accurate description of how or why. Do you know how to discover what a surfer really wants (often different than what he says)? The answers are contained in this book.

This volume is designed to enhance understanding and stimulate advances in surfboard design.

About the Author

Bob Smith was an obscure surfer/shaper at the forefront of the short-board revolution in Hawaii during the late 60's. For an example of his surfboards (circa Dec. 1968) see the cover of Masters of Surf Photography: Art Brewer. Bob mysteriously dropped out of sight but rumor has it that he built a crude rocket and blasted off for a distant galaxy in search of perfect un-crowded waves. This manuscript was discovered recently and rushed to the publisher. His surfboards were admired by all that saw them with eloquent praise, such as:

"Ugly surfboard" "His surfboards are works of Zen sculpture" "It can't be turned" "That's the loosest board I've ever seen" "Pipeline PT boats" "His boards are too fast; they make the waves look slow"

But the most common praise that Bob personally received, heaped upon him by many of the surfers he met while surfing was:

"What's that?"

Customer Reviews

Excellent and essential
Bob Smith's _Basics of Surfboard Design_ is an excellent and essential book describing the critical elements for creating the most important kind of surfboard: the kind that YOU want to ride, on the waves that YOU like to ride. The author doesn't tell you what to do -- he explains the critical "lines" of a surfboard, and how they work, and lets you take that knowledge and build it into your surfboard (or discuss them with your shaper and have him build them into your surfboard). He goes into information about the physics of a surfboard that I have never seen anywhere on the web or heard anyone discuss in the way that he explains it. You should get this book if you want to know more about the way your surfboard interacts with the water, whether or not you actually shape your own surfboards. This book opened up my brain to start thinking about what was going on between my board and the wave in a more informed way, so I can understand not only what I'm currently riding but also so I can make more informed experiments and decisions with the boards I will ride in the future. Most of all, this book doesn't tell you what to do -- it arms you with the experience and insights of one very thoughtful surfer and shaper who shares the benefits of his experiments and observations, and that will enable you to test out in an intelligent way what works for you, and to think for yourself about your surfboard. That is a priceless gift.

Good for the basics
This book is great for those unfamiliar with surfing or surfboards. However, being an experienced surfer, I knew most of the information already. Also, the author has his own opinions regarding certain surfboard design issues that vary somewhat from the mainstream (the superiority of vertical fins). Overall, a good starter book on the subject.