Design DNA: From Greenough to Slater
Swellnet recently ran a series of shots of Gold Coast surfer Chris Bennetts riding a Chris Brock-shaped board. Following publication of the spread I received a number of enquiries from people wanting to know about the board - it looked so different yet worked so well.
Also, the similarities with the boards that Kelly Slater is now riding couldn't be denied. However, rather than being new the design is something Chris has been working on since the early 70's.
I spoke to Chris about the design. Here are his answers:
George
It was 1965. I saw an article in Surfing World about an American surfer who changed the direction of surfing with a fin design that made old mals manoueverable. On this fin, Nat won the world title.
George Greenough's surfing equipment was so far out, like nothing anyone on the planet had seen, and it took a few years for people to get their head around trying to ride boards that small standing up. His ability to turn and trim from the one point was my inspiration to try and head in that direction. Along with Ted Spencer and Gary and Terry Keyes we started making boards like that at 'Wilderness', Angourie.
The seed
I made my first flex board - which I am riding in Morning of the Earth - and the back third of the board was flexible. It was a big job to construct. I then thought I need to be able to make a hard board that fits the waves contours like the flex tail.
In 1977 I returned to Australia and started making boards at Sky Surfboards with Michael Cundith, working on double-concave triplanes carrying on the Greenough-inspired designs we were both shaping under the 'Wilderness' label in the late 1960's - Cundith in Santa Barbara USA and us at Angourie.
Al
Al Merrick acquired one of the early Sky triplanes and built a similar board for years. His ad in 'Surfer' magazine reads 'totally amazing'. Check Andrew Crockett's book 'Switchfoot II' for the ad.
Refinement
Around the mid-eighties I came up with the bottom shape I use now. As far as plan shapes go I always had some smaller round-nose, wide-tail boards. Over the years some shapers have tried to build smaller wide-tail boards but they often get the bottom shape wrong and eventually give the design a bad name.
Kelly
It will be interesting to see what happens with Slater. His knowledge of fin design is okay, but lets see what happens with the all important bottom shape in the back end of his smaller boards. And with the wider nose on smaller boards it is critical to get thickness distribution right. It is essential that his boards work to bring them into popularity.
Kids
It's great to see the kids riding these small safe boards that perform so well for them, it really brings the adventure and fun back into surfing. Plus, I hope the blunter nose comes into fashion for everybody's safety.
The Bean
How Chris and Adam Bennetts got my boards? A few years ago their Dad, Mark, a champion Iron Man came to me to make him some knee-paddle boards he could ride waves on. One day we got talking about his sons, good surfers, but looking like most good guys - same moves, restricted in their tracks by board design.
I told Mark about the time Dave 'Baddie' Treloar asked me if a very young Dan Ross could ride one of my boards. I asked 'why?' and Baddie said 'I want him to know there are different tracks'. Baddie bought a board. A few years later Dan got another of my boards, an orange 5' 2" that had heaps of roll in the bottom. Watching Dan ride that little board in solid six foot Lennox Point was head turning. Taking the little orange board back to Angourie it got labelled the 'Baked Bean'.
The Jumpin' Beans
A few years ago Mick Waters featured these boards in the movie 'Believe'. They were bright coloured boards and people were calling them 'jelly beans' but seeing them in action today I'm calling them 'Jumpin' Beans'. The small compact shape of the board allows for some tight deep turns with no nose in the way. The bottom shape allows you to go vertical, there's no resistance and heaps of forward momentum to leave the curl line, which is one of the main hangups of current fashion boards.
George
Yes, the length and plan shape has evolved similar to George Greenough's 4' 11" 'Velo' which he had almost fifty years ago. Boy was that guy on the money!
Comments
im riding a 5 6' shaped by Mike Psillakis, its a 6 0 with 6 inches of the nose cut off. slightly thicker and wider than what i would ride.foam distribution is critical.i would have to say i catch more waves on this than my standard short board because of the chest area is wider than norm and more foam.being shorter your turning axis can get tighter.one of the best boards i have had.
im riding a 5 6' shaped by Mike Psillakis, its a 6 0 with 6 inches of the nose cut off. slightly thicker and wider than what i would ride.foam distribution is critical.i would have to say i catch more waves on this than my standard short board because of the chest area is wider than norm and more foam.being shorter your turning axis can get tighter.one of the best boards i have had.
Nice video interview with Greg Noll here about some of the influence he feels Bob McTavish had on the shortboard revolution by riding the first smaller and wider shapes at Sunset
It's the new shortboard revolution. The 'shorter board revolution'! Don't think it will have quite the same ramifications as it's namesake but an interesting time nonetheless. The days of shortboarders being pegged as standard 6'2" thruster surfers are long gone.
Full-nosed 5'8" quaddy is my main weapon these days. Handles well and I'm yet to find top gear in the bastard.
I've been lucky (or smart) enough to try a few different boards and shapes over the last 4 years. Im not your average surfer being 6'4 and 93 kilo's, so I was worried that riding a standard board to suit my height and weight would leave me on a board that I would have to sacrifice maneuverability. In my quiver I have a Keyo 6'0 Egg that is unstoppable and a Burton 6'2 Batfish that is amazing in small fun waves. Just a you need a gun for indo, a good snub nose glider is essential to keep the fun and performance in your surfing.
dont worry too much stu, surfers our size are more the norm now i reckon...well thats what i tell myself when i look at my beer gut haha
I started riding Chris Brocks boards about 4 years ago through an intro from Dave Fallon in Sydney.
Having known Chris as a grommet, it was a revelation as to where he had evolved to in shaping. Getting older, I was struggling to keep up with the new super thin, narrow boards that are popular now and looking for something more practical. I'm now 64 (years old) not 6'4", and with some hard work, attention to technique and an open mind my favourite board is a 5'10"x20" round nose, round tail board hand shaped by Chris. What's amazing about these boards is not only their looseness on the wave face but the amount of paddle power they have. I can now paddle in to a good sized wave on a solid day on a really short manouverable surfboard that also has the planing power of a much larger board and planes over dead sections of the wave, making them suitable for the fickle East coast. They work in anything.
THE SECRET: Addendum
Although there are many variations on the shorter, wider board, what Chris Brocks boards have all to their own is a shaper with a mind who really understands water flow dynamics. The bottoms of Chris' boards have complex shaping contours from the blunt nose right to the tip of the tail. He designs and shapes these contours into any board of any size, from 5'4" beans to full size malibus. Where this counts is particularly in situations outside the performance potential of the board in a perfect barreling wave. Almost any board can go well in perfect conditions. But your average surfer rarely surfs in perfect conditions most of time. I noticed the difference the first time my feet hit the deck on a little 6 footer Dave Fallon lent me. The sensation was immediate, the little thing wanted to go forward, that's how Chris designs them. They plane and start planing on any forward momentum at all. You have to work for results on any board but on Chris' boards the work is that much easier and the results that much more pronounced. Swap fashion for fun and its fun surfing again all over. I had the best day surfing I've had in my life recently surfing a my 6'4 x 19 & 1/2" Hybrid in 6-8 foot barrels at G-Land, nailing every take off. I'm a believer.
I was getting a lot of different boards. They all had their moments but missing something . I was talking with Phil Brock ( Chris's younger brother) about my dilemna of finding the 'magic board'. He suggested I get one of his brother's boards. That was over 10 years ago.I found Chris's boards take the struggle out of surfing. Easy to paddle .Easy to turn. They make surfing fun . I am finding that I want to go surfing more and more.He has shaped a variety of custom boards for myself from 6' to 10'. They have allowed me to have incredible rides. A real buzz .Speed + manouverability. Freedom on the waves. It is has been life changing experience to ride them.
Chris Brock is the Real Deal.
All the Best
Dave
These remind me of Dave Parmenter's "Stubb Vectors" of the 1990s, full template, 20 to 21" wide, 3 fins. Or the "Surf Biscuit" done in a 1996 American Surfer Mag design special. Len Dibben has done something resembling a SWB longboard for some years now.
It's funny, for my entire surfing life I have gravitated to a wider, fuller nose board, more for FUN than as a reaction to the undervolumed 'standard' shortboard. When I have the choice and the waves are not critical, it's a no-brainer. Terry Fitz said 90% of us were on the wrong board some time ago... That said, the 'standard' thruster certainly has its day, usually when things are powerful and hollow and having less volume to pitch you is a huge plus. Eg growing up in West Oz.
What Chris seems to have done here is refined it beautifully with the thruster setup, the photos of the Bennetts are fantastic.
They might be a similar plan shape to a parmenter 'stubb vector', but brock has a highly sophisticated bottom shape that are uniquely his own creations.
Some of these similar outlines with rounder noses might have awkward bottom curves and give the general outline a bad name.
I'm loving the new shapes that are coming out. I'm 6'4 as well & a few years ago I jumped onto a 5'10" POD & couldn't believe the moves you could pull off in such small waves. I also have a 5'10" Rocket but they need a bigger wave with some more shape to it to really get them going.
I think now about the 15 years of not surfing when it was under 1 ft because my boards would just sink & it was no fun, when really it was the equippment I was using.
I'm loving the new shapes that are coming out. I'm 6'4 as well & a few years ago I jumped onto a 5'10" POD & couldn't believe the moves you could pull off in such small waves. I also have a 5'10" Rocket but they need a bigger wave with some more shape to it to really get them going.
I think now about the 15 years of not surfing when it was under 1 ft because my boards would just sink & it was no fun, when really it was the equippment I was using.
ive been riding a 5'6 BROCK jumping bean for 2 years now and its time to replace... where can i buy one from?? does anyone know?
^
Recently got a board from chris, it goes sick. contact him for a custom. he's a legend.
[email protected]
If the waves are on, be patient with the email.
post a pic when ya get it too
MC stubbie, fantastic surfboard, tri plane hull , 23.25 " wide x 6'8" x 3", try 1.
6'8" or 5'8"?
Cos 6'8" by 23 x 3 is a lot of surfboard.
looks like a boat, goes like a surfbd
Chris Brock = LEGEND.
Soemtime ago, someone here on SN said GG was no genius, and was an overrated trust fund kid.
I called bullshit on that claim, what GG did with flex and foil was completely revolutionary. Chris Brock was the closest to GGs designs but was in commercial production. His single box fin foils and templates were amazing, long, deep & rakey.