Uncommon board riding
Like many surfers I'm partial to the odd spot of bodysurfing. When the conditions call for it, tucking up tight in a shallow water barrel can seem the most perfect form of wave riding. But despite its suitability I don't subscribe to the purist's point of view that bodysurfing is the natural form of wave riding.
For one, these flippers don't feel so natural when I wear them down the main street. And don't attempt to shake my hand while I'm strapped into this here hand plane. So while some may get pious about the back-to-nature virtues of bodysurfing, I'm trying different equipment and looking for advantages: bigger flippers; different shaped planes.
The sentiment is shared by Michael Grau, a surfer from Bawley Point on the NSW South Coast but who now calls Perth home. Michael abides by the 'ride em all' ethos, preferring to choose surfcraft based upon prevailing conditions and not by force of habit, though this has changed somewhat in the last year.
About 12 months back Michael found his thoughts shifting towards bodysurfing. “After years of riding waves on a surfboard and bodyboard, bodysurfing appeared more of a challenge,” says Michael. “I was enjoying pushing myself into more extreme waves while bodysurfing.”
At around the same time, while watching video footage of surfers getting barrelled he was struck by how little rail was actually in the wave face while surfers were in trim. If all inventions have their lightbulb moments then this was Michael's.
Anyone who bodysurfs in hollow waves knows the percentage of unmade waves is high; the struggle to hang high and keep speed often mean the view is fleeting and the rinsing thorough. But if there was a way to hold an edge in the wave face...?
So Michael designed the Uncommon Board to fulfil that need. The Uncommon Board is a 66cm x 25cm x 5cm slab of epoxy that can float a surfer. It had its 'soft launch' at six foot Guillotines on the NSW South Coast. Those ironic quotation marks are intentional as Gilloes is one of the hardest breaking waves in Oz. It breaks so close to the rocks a punter standing on terra firma can spit a watermelon seed and hit a surfer as he passes by. An ideal spot, you might say, for a baptism by fire.
And a fiery baptism it was. Michael kicked the Uncommon Board into a few barrels and also into existence. He hasn't ridden a bodyboard since that session.
Willing the idea into existence was easy compared to naming the damn thing. Just what do you call a piece of epoxy that fills a missing link position somewhere between traditional stand up surfing, bodyboarding, and bodysurfing? An armboard and hipboard were just two suggestions proffered for this conundrum. In the end he kept calling it a surfboard as that was how he viewed it. “I feel it's taking the word surfboard back” is Michael's noble reasoning, and I suspect there is a touch of the purist about him.
For marketing reasons, Michael is using the name Uncommon Board, which he says is a nod to the differences from your average surfcraft in the lineup. He's just lauched a Kickstarter camapign with a modest dream of a small run of Uncommon Boards (at least to begin with).
You can find out more about it here.
Comments
Would love to see some video of the board in action.
Edit - just noticed the link and watched the clip.
Looks like the moniker of "Esky Lid " just got reappropriated from boogie boards.
Fun enough I guess. If you've got an unquenchable consumer desire , then you'll love this thing.
Not writing it off. If you're getting barrelled next to an exposed rock shelf, you're doing something right.
NA got nothing to do with bodysurfing and if I want one will just get a saw out and cut down an old boogie board.
And hahh gee, more crowd funding. You would think with his private school accent he could ask dad for 2000 bucks, funny how it would seem that mainly yuppies are jumping on the funding band wagon. Over to you Shaun.;-)))
To me the vid doesn't show that board going any better than a hand plane, and potentially worse as the user can't get his chest weight square over the board and out of the water like a strapped in hand plane on a hollow wave.
Looks like what i learnt to swim with as a kid…i think we called them kick boards?
He's doing a fair impersonation of a sea-snake too.
Be a tough sell I reckon.
handplanes are useless shit too.
Wash your mouth out yocal!
I agree, handplanes are epic fun. More barrel time than a 1979 Grange.
Cool analogy:)
nah they're shit
Thought you'd like that one Zen!
I don't understand why you would bother carrying out a piece of timber with only marginally more planing area than your hand. awkward to paddle with, reduces your freedom because you have to carry it with you.
Essentially goes against why I would swim out without other surf craft or equipment in the first place.
Agreed
I'll stick to my handplane
Much more different to a hand Yocal, with a plane you have way more maneuverability, speed and control over what you want to do. Give it a try, you'll be amazed firstly at how unfit you generally are as you have to swim the whole time, and also how fun they are and more functional compared to a hand.
I used to use mine on the smaller days in the shorey. I'd only wear one fin. But once up and moving you can bring the handplane up under your chest and get seriously tubed.
On their day, handplanes are seriously good fun.
Once the handplane gets working on a hollow wave it gives enough surface area to get over the top of it and reduce your chest drag, then you are sitting high in the barrel going fast :)
can get up on the plane with your bare hands in the hollow stuff too mk1... just saying
Bingo mk1- see my post above.
Definitely have given bodysurfing a nudge for 4 months while recovering from a knee injury back in the day... agree you quickly learn how hard doing the old eggbeater for 30 mins can be after a few paddles back out! Much easier to navigate a set by duckdiving and grabbing the bottom though.
I must admit i've only used a handplane for one session but it gave me the shits. Like i said, too much work dragging it around when you could be swimming freely, and if you are in the right waves the marginal difference in performance isn't going to break any records.
I'll agree to give it another go when I catch up with my mate who's an enthusiast and maybe i might see a stroke of genius in it. Then might I be tempted to nick off with a maccas tray from the Cooly mcdonalds and join in the fun.
Yeah Zen, we definitely talking the same language there!
Give it another go yocal. I have 2, the first is pretty big and I don't use it much anymore, the second is about 3 hands in surface area and It actually helps me swimming out. And its just that bit more of a hard, larger surface area than a hand to get some real lift off it.
:)
Seen a bloke down the gong surfing on one these back in 94"
Nice work Michael Grau. Those carparks look familiar... After an eternity of being pitched on boards, I took a pod hand plane and flippers out into the south Trigg closeouts and was absolutely astounded to be tubed twice on my first wave, making it out both times. "Whatthe...?" They work. If Channels is reading, I think he's done this too...
I like the anti-shark camo as well ;)
can get long in-outs with your bare hands too... just saying
Very true yocal. For me that was the introduction to it all. I'd assume it would take higher fitness/skill without aid of pod/flippers?
I'm not going to go down that path in case uppy is lurking with his thunder thigh theories, but the key reason to go for a bodysurf for me is surfing without any equipment and using your positioning as the sole foil for planing.
Used to live 2 minutes from a wave that broke like a mini chopes. to get barreled on a stick you would need to take off behind the peak and turn outward into the trough (like they do at chopes) as you get to the bowl, if you make it, then it horseshoes and sends you hurtling another 5 or 10 metres in the barrel to a shoulder.
Get the right wave using only a pair of boardies to cover your bits and you would get an equally as long in-out barrel using your bare hands as the planing foil. Was great cause if it was pumping and you snapped your stick, you'd be straight back out there getting shacked. yewww!
Don't get me wrong, I bodysurf way more without any 'add-ons' and love the freedom and feeling of it. But, with a handplane, the right wave and the wave knowledge that most of us possess due to experience, it can be a pretty mad experience.
For years I've tried to perfect the push off the bottom being pulled along by the wave face (I call it the Dolphin perspective). I love looking towards the shore through tube from behind the wave. I think it's magical. Kind of like the WOTD pic from a couple of days ago.
One day I'll try it naked:)
do you do that using a dolphin kick? no shit it really seems to work in sync with the wave somehow.
long empty stretch of beach or full moon and too much beer...
do you do that using a dolphin kick? no shit it really seems to work in sync with the wave somehow.
long empty stretch of beach or full moon and too much beer...
Yep, down to the bottom, compress and push up and dolphin kick until your momentum and the wave is in sync.
Haven't done it at night but would imagine it would be beautiful. But in crystal clear water, blue skies, white sand bottom, come pretty close.
I think if he modified with butt plug attachment it may be better or at least more interesting to watch footage of, can you imagine an arse attached aquaplane (c) (tm)
why.so.negative/looks.like.a.decent.barrel.vehicle.
thats.a.wa.accent.too.
need.new.keyboard.my.appologies
Dude needs to get a job and save his own 2 grand,
Not too sure about the hybrid zebra clown suit.
So long as hes stoked though I guess.
Good luck to him and his pygmy lid.
That is the NAME! and if it doesn't fly with Mr. Grau for his brand, then it can be used as the derrogatory nickname other surfriders use to marginalise the pygmie lidders.
nothing like marginalising minorities to boost ones own level or red on ones neck.
Im actually thinking of cutting down a goat boat and marketing it as the most versatile aquatic wheelchair in the world. Fits in a suitcase and you dont need a paddle just webbed gloves.
Are you in ? Crowdfund account has been made under the name ''Aquachair But Slider Extreme".
bwhahahaha, short wheelbase goat boats, genius!
Yeah I've seen this bloke & his mate surfing with that equipment in up to head high waves. Can't say I saw anything more high performance than I've seen people do on handplaners or bodysurfing. Not saying he doesn't at all, just didn't witness it. Good luck to him, it appears he's having fun. The name of the game.....
Hi All
Went out for a surf this morning and got some positive comments on the video from a guy out the back. I was a blow-in here so had a few waves but left a lot to the locals, I feel a bit the same here with posting. A couple of themes come up in the comments so I'll cover those:
WTF: When something new comes along we want to categorise it based on what we know. Every non surfer pretty much asks me if you can stand on it because it's a surfboard and it is made of the same material as a surfboard. That's what they know about wave riding, it's not wrong, just about understanding. Others see it as a handplane, or a mini-bodyboard. In truth it is none of these things. It's something else. It's not to say it's better than long boards, handplanes or bodyboards. It's just different. I still surf in many different ways. I like skateboarding barefeet for the challenge. I'm not a fantastic skateboarder but riding barefeet gives me a new challenge. Kickflips barefeet are totally different than with shoes on. In the same way, I go barefoot when i bodysurf if the conditions are right. I stand up when the conditions are right. I might go back to bodyboarding if the conditions were right (I wonder how this new board would perform at luna park, the kind of wave that is big and sucks back into the bowl rather than down the line). Most of the time I am using this board for the challenge and the feeling.
So here are some of the differences from handplaning (again, not to say this is better, i think it is so i choose to ride it):
handplanes are usually out in front but your centre of gravity is behind it on the wave, your body slips down the face even if your handplan has a set edge. This board is different. You move the edge back under your centre of gravity. I've also noticed handplanes seem to plane the water back into your face and entering the wave is bit slow. I've never really liked them for these reasons but that's just me. I prefer to bodysurf. I appreciate others who use handplanes.
Bodyboards feel like riding a picnic table compared with this. Stu wrote about my last barrel on a bodyboard. It was a super late drop straight into the pit. With this board you can't do that (not enough surface area for a fall from the roof to the barrel floor). So here's the trade off: If you want to enter the wave earlier (not a late drop) this board feels better to me than a bodyboard. I feel it allows me to enter waves really early. I appreciate bodyboarding but as Stu said I haven't bodyboarded for 12 months.
I rarely bodysurf but I still do it. I like the feeling. I mostly use fins when i bodysurf. So it's rarely completely "natural".
Standup. I think of standup as being pushed by the wave. I'm not that great at stand up so like many i need to get the speed up to be pushed by the wave. I mostly like stand up for the challenge, but the feeling of this board is better to me and I get to challenge myself in conditions I wouldn't on a stand up. I appreciate standup, I was influenced seeing footage of Derek Hynd this a while ago (not saying this is the same thing, just that it's uncommon):
I heard Mark Cunningham and Shane Gould speak this morning and Mark said something he's said before about how to tell if you are doing it right: If you are leaving the surf with a smile on your face. Shane Gould spoke about the need for more voices of women in surfing and that's something I would like to support.
Super long post, sorry for such a long ride as a blow-in, hope it helps.
I've brought this board out early because I want to challenge the way the image of surfing is portrayed. To me the image of surfing is not surfing, it's the feeling. For this reason I've brought it out early, most long board surfers bodysurf, for me it's about marrying these approaches.
Sorry, probably won't drop back on here for a while but any other questions can be put to me at the kickstarter page. Thanks for running a story that poses a lot of unanswered questions Stu (I suspect most industry-run media outlets wouldn't dare). Many of those questions will be answered by those who use boards from this kickstarter campaign.
Michael.
Cheers for your words Michael. Good luck & keep having fun :-)
Good on you Michael, each to their own IMO, what ever rocks ya float to walk away from the beach happy, smiling and content. I hope it goes well for you;)
Remember there are already 2 Blowins on here, Blowin and Blowin-999..?
Kickstarter over to you Shaunio.
Wow.. Michael's already gone 25% over his funding request in just a few days (still 21 days to go!): Currently at $2,508 (was after $2,000).
Well Ben as we know kickstarter funding can be manipulated as one person admitted to on these forums. , I wont reveal her identity by stating her gender.
Sorry , just don't get it. I can understand the guy with the book, he's just preselling , you put the money up and you get a signed book on release.
But! Asking for $6 and promising a big thank you for your money is begging and should only be done on a street corner when every other avenue has failed not on the internet, not linked to a surfing forum, the fact that a lot of you blokes find this acceptable make me concerned sometimes where you young blokes are steering this world.
Sorry only meant to be a one liner to annoy young Benny, but fuck come on, Kickstarter? Alright? Don't think so!
Shaun, I really don't see what the big deal is.
Sure, I don't agree with many Kickstarter/Pozible projects, and I'm (personally) not comfortable with the notion of asking people to chip in money "in good faith" (or whatever) for an idea.
However, if the general public want to put their hand in their pocket to support these projects, that's totally fine by me. No-one's forcing anyone to do anything - all of the risks are identified up front, so doners know what they'll get for their donation.
And at least the process is somewhat transparent and accountable (by running articles on Swellnet and allowing people to comment, we're hopefully contributing to that layer of transparency).
I mean, it's not like they're sourcing taxpayer dollars, eh?
Well sourcing taxpayer dollars is probably more self respecting as in say the old arts grant, is that means tested? If you have a good business idea you can go on the NEIS scheme, but most of these crew on kickstarter would be earning too much or own too many assets to be eligible to get government funds, yet the ask others to cough up what they are not prepared to risk.
What's with the wetsuit design? Is it one of those Shark repellent one's that plays tricks on the sharks eye's so they can't make out what it is or can't see it at all? Yes he looks like a see snake as said by previous comment. Looks very gay as well. Oh and as for the money forget it dude you should have worked out your budget and pushed for more money backing. All new concepts blow out and MOST fade away like this one will. Put it in the dungeon with all the other failed make a quick buck concepts.
Just watched the video on the kickstarter site. It looks to me just like a small bodyboard. Just less manouverable and less chance to make it out of tubes. Not for me
Took a squiz at Michael's Kickstarter page this morning:
28 backers, $4,691 pledged (out of a $2,000 goal), 3 days to go. Not bad.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1501202678/the-worlds-most-portable-surfboard
I bought a basic hand plane from Rebel sport for $50 a few years ago. I have arthritic trouble with my spine and hips from an autoimmune disease that I have and can't always surf on a board due to flare ups etc. Anyways, I have great fun out in the water with it. I've taken it out down at Chiton and Boomers (gotta watch the rocks though) and had a ball catching some big shoreys. Have also taken it out down Goolwa when it was about 4-5ft and caught some good sets. Works really well with a set of fins on. Have never seen anyone else out with one though.