The Most Expensive Surfboards in the World
Stuart Nettle July 29, 2010
Roy Stewart is a surfer and shaper from the regional town of Putaruru, New Zealand. Don't apologise if you haven't heard of it, Putaruru is no surfing hub, the nearest beach of any repute being Mt Maunganui. And Mt Maunganui, despite being home to an infamous artificial reef, could hardly be considered a surf mecca itself.
The point being Putaruru is so far off the surfing radar as to barely register. Yet from his distant workshop Roy crafts amazing surfboards that are capturing the attention of surfers worldwide. And due to the price tag that he places on them his boards are keeping rarefied company.
At last glance Gucci was hocking an Asian produced popout for US $2200, pretentious NY fashion label Proenza Schouler $2995, and Chanel a similarly made shiny shooter for $3900. Yet Roy tops all of these folk with his 'Baron' model retailing for $528 000. Yep, over half a million dollars - the most expensive surfboard in the world! And unlike those boards listed above, his are the functional result of a love affair with surfing and surfboard design.
I dialled his workshop in Putaruru to have a chat...
Swellnet: You've got a surfboard design called the Baron, which sells for $528 000, does that include a free cake of wax and tailpad? Roy Stewart: No tailpad, but I'll give you a whole box of wax.
Are they the best boards that you've made? Yes and no. Well, I make a lot of best boards. There's no one 'best board' as there's always a new one tempting me in the eternal quest for perfection. The feeling of having the best possible board is almost always there while I move from board to board. For me, it's a moving target, an excuse to create and collect, and a form of divine dissatisfaction.
Do you spend a lot of time making these boards? Yes. The building of a Baron 12 footer takes me approximately 200 hours. The design processes take far longer.
Have you had much interest in them? Yes. A huge amount of interest.
Are you confident that they will sell? Yes I am. I love the experiences I've had on the Baron and there are people who are going to want to experience it themselves. When I sell one at $528 000 I'm going to be happy, and so will the buyer.
However, if I don't sell one at that price I get to continue to collect them, and I really love collecting them. I don't like seeing them go out the door cheaply because then my collection diminishes and I only make a few every year. I love having them and riding them so that's one reason the price is so high.
And the other reason? Having the price so high is like an act of faith in the beauty of surfing as well. If somebody asked you, assuming that you loved your wife, 'whats your wife worth?' You might say, 'she's priceless' or 'she's worth a hundred million dollars' or beyond. That's what it's like with people that we're fond of. Well, its a bit like that with the boards - I really love these boards and I've had an amazing time on them. The experience is priceless so they get a very high price tag.
In the marketplace of surfing everything is portioned up, and its all dollars per hour and materials cost and market forces and everything's sort of carved up, if you know what I mean. It can be a bit soul destroying. Well this is just taking it way over the top, it's just saying 'surfing is fantastic' and if you've got piles of money then you might enjoy one of these amazing boards too. And they are amazing boards.
They certainly look like it. They look like masterpieces in fact. Thanks.
You say you're taking the price way over the top, how did a value of $528 000 come about? 528 is a Solfeggio Frequency. 528 Hertz. I could've chosen many numbers but to eliminate a lot of possibilities I chose a number that is beneficial to people. (Solfeggio Frequencies are six sound frequencies used to heal. Read more here)
An interesting thing is that all other boards that approach yours in price are made by fashion houses - Gucci, Chanel, Ralph Lauren - and the like. Flashy looking boards but not terribly functional. Just showpieces in fact... There's a paradox. When I initially designed these boards in 1994 I drew the first parallel profile [Roy's boards are the same thickness from nose to tail] on the floor of the workshop and I thought 'My God that's ugly. No-one's going to accept this. I don't accept this!' It looked ridiculous...but it made sense from a functional point of view so I just went ahead and did it, obstinately, and they rode really well.
I kept doing them and now people think they're beautiful art pieces. Sometimes people say to me 'Oh, your boards are very expensive, does that mean that they are just wall hangers?' The answer is that everything about them has been ruthlessly designed for pure surfing function. Ultimately, only that which works well becomes art.
I'm going back to a simpler era in the art. I'm a minimalist, I don't like doing unnecessary things. I just like to be there and feel what is happening, so I like a board that does the job without a lot of spurious athletic input. I mean, you still have to use strength and have wave knowledge, but if we see how Tom Blake surfs, it's more pure. He's just being there.
It's like a meditation. It's still surfing of course, but not jamming. It's more dreamlike or trancelike. I call it pure surfing - a valid alternative to modern surfing. In art terms modern surfing is expressionistic, whereas pure surfing is impressionistic. In martial art terms modern surfing is an external art like Shaolin, pure surfing is an internal art like Wudang.
As a board designer and surfer I've discovered that when one gives up the burden of the unnecessary - the competition manoeuvres, the board walking and other stuff - there's a sense of ease and a deeper feeling to the ride.
They're undoubtedly works of art but it sounds like you'd prefer to see them ridden rather than hung on a wall. That's true. A lot of people assume that if someone is going to spend an enormous amount of money on a surfboard that looks beautiful then they are going to hang it on a wall and not ride it. But if someone has an income of, say, fifty million dollars a year and they buy a board for half a million then that's like someone on the average wage spending fifty dollars on a board. So I don't think that they are too expensive to ride for people who can afford to buy them in the first place.
If, on the other hand, a Baron surfboard is hung with the collection on a castle wall and admired for two hundred years that's also fine, as it can then be ridden by a future generation. All the while it has been appreciating in value.
Comments
Good luck to him. I hope he does sell one. I think he's completely bonkers. But considering my boards, will out perform all of those timber titanic's, my boards will be worth about 4 million each ! And all of us Surfers sell 1 of our boards, can then retire, take over the world, end pollution, kill all the terrorist, bring world peace back and live happily ever after, surfing our brains out !
wats his broken board policy?
Jim Banks did a similar thing, reducing the volume of boards and upping the price. Not upping it QUITE as much as that however. So I'm with kingofgc - good on him, I hope he sells one. He obviously loves them so he's not just out for a quick buck like a lot of surfing shysters.
Good for you Roy, fuckin A1 boards mate....
Gotta admire the wood skills in that ,but 1/2 mill$ !, why not just say that you don,t really want to sell them.
Which of the above monstrosities is The Baron? Is it the one with the ikea metal bedframe bent around the tail? Wow, that thing looks like it would fly!
528 HZ huh? Hmmm, always thought was the brown note...that makes you shit in your pants uncontrollably when you hear it.
Wow, I mean how do people like Roy Stewart come up these amazing ideas is incredible. People who surf that are on 50 million a year. I think Roy may end up with a big collection. He must grow some good things in the hills around Putaruru ;-P
Imagine the insurance claim you would have to put in when a kook runs over you with their SUP.
Will it fit in the porsche or will I have to borrow the wifes H3 Hummer to get it to the beachhouse in Malibu?
He has a Duke model on his site that is US$22,798 thats a bit cheaper than The Baron. Also I found the Cheiftain for US$417,000 also cheaper than the Baron. You can also buy his wax recipes on his site as well as bucket loads of his home made zink cream.
The guy is as bent as you get. Lucky he is a New Zealander, cause if he was from anywhere else on the planet he would seem weird.
roy the money you charge is way too much mate...with that money i could build a house near the beach .no surfboard is worth that much..hey and i have surfed for many years..mate get real
I encountered this bloke a few months back posting on a longboard forum. He's got the whole Zen-and-the-art-of-surfing schtick down pat. He claims to have moved several of his cheaper, i.e. 20-30k boards, and I tend to believe him. Northern California is full of techie squillionaires who surf or at least pretend to who would eat this kind of hand-crafted shit right up.
I encountered this bloke a few months back posting on a longboard forum. He's got the whole Zen-and-the-art-of-surfing schtick down pat. He claims to have moved several of his cheaper, i.e. 20-30k boards, and I tend to believe him. Northern California is full of techie squillionaires who surf or at least pretend to who would eat this kind of hand-crafted shit right up.
This guys a legend in the mecca that is Mount Maunganui (no good secret surf spots to talk of around here). Turns up with a house bus full of kids; decks them all out in flouro pink wetsuits (custom made by Bodyline Wetsuits); and unleashes them on the masses at the mainbeach. Full marks for water safety as a head count of the brood would be a simple exercise. His surfing prowess consists of straightlining on a 12 footer so likely boards are art over function. Possibly still stuck in an acid trip from the 70's. Hope he is declaring his board profits to offset the welfare benefits NZers likely pay for his upkeep.
That's one expensive coffee table, it doesn't even have legs on it! Can you put a hot cup on it without leaving a white mark?
hahaha doesnt want to sell them cheap he reckons..... define cheap.... 450 000 too cheap roy. wat a joke
Hey Mount-Mecca watch your mouth, I've never touched acid in my life and neither drink alcohol nor smoke. I've been running a gst registered surfing business for 16 years, own two houses and a shop and receive no 'welfare' payments. . . I pay my taxes !
Regarding art over function and straightlining you are out of your tree, my boards roast the others out there and turn wonderfully well, I'm 100% dedicated to wave riding function so if the boards are art it's solely because they ride so well.
You are also incorrect when you say that I drive a housebus. . . it's a schoolbus.
Bloody anonymous trolls hiding behind their keyboards are pathetic, front up with your name and picture if you have any balls.
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Hey Mount-Mecca watch your mouth, I've never touched acid in my life and neither drink alcohol nor smoke. I've been running a gst registered surfing business for 16 years, own two houses and a shop and receive no 'welfare' payments. . . I pay my taxes !
Regarding art over function and straightlining you are out of your tree, my boards roast the others out there and turn wonderfully well, I'm 100% dedicated to wave riding function so if the boards are art it's solely because they ride so well.
You are also incorrect when you say that I drive a housebus. . . it's a schoolbus.
Bloody anonymous trolls hiding behind their keyboards are pathetic, front up with your name and picture if you have any balls.
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Thanks to kingofgc,top-to-bottom-bells and davey for the good comments. :)
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you must have some photo's of you ripping on them roystewrt. post them up here so we can all se the function you are talking about? Nothing too fancy, just a simple snap in the lip will do.
Until I see some shots of actual turns I am calling total bullshit on the whole design as a functional design. So in your own words "front up with your picture if you have any balls"
Antifroth the whole point of pure surfing is to avoid ripping, and to turn efficiently without visible fuss.
You don't have to understand this or like it, but until you understand it your comments will continue to be completely irrelevant.
I have many pictures publicly available on Picasa, and videos on Vimeo.com under Roy Stewart. . . . where are yours ?
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Umm. maybe acid might help in this case.
Roy, legendary boards! My collection is only small but it is growing, Twinnies, Single Fins, Guns.. I'll dream about a beautiful wooden 10 ft Baron, and if I win the 15M Powerball this week, I promise to buy one :)
Peace!
Roy go to vimeo.com under Anti Froth
I watched your videos and I am lost for words.
Cheers possumpete, and good energy fot your lotto ticket :)
Antifroth Your video is a great example of the ungainly monoculture malibu surfing and malibu control problems which we thankfully avoid with our pure surfing designs. . . swinging aimlessly up and down with miles of nose flapping around, lots of jerky and uncoordinated moments. . . . I'll leave that sort of thing to you.
Regarding my vimeo videos, no words are fine with me.
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Roy I think you will find your type of surfing was done back in the 1940's and its function is something that leaves a lot to be desired. I appreciate that you are off on what you consider to be a pure surfing tangent, I just have issues with the prices you have come up with for your surfboards. I think you have done a magnificant job with the craftsmanship but the function aspect is just not there.
Antifroth the pure wave riding function is vastly superior to the kind of longboard you are riding in your video. What I mean by that is that the boards are quite simply more capable of making waves. In order to appreciate this fully you'd probably have to experience surfing with the boards in hard to make waves. Flapping slowly top to bottom as your board does just isn't functional. . . it's awkward, counter intuitive, and requires a dysfunctional surfboard.
You are correct to a degree regarding he fact that surfing in the 40's has philosophical similarities to what we are doing, but it is light years behind in all other respects.
As far as the price goes, well you are not forced to buy one so it shouldn't bother you.
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Roy you seem to have it all worked out. I do disagree with your idea of making waves and functional surfing.
Functional surfing evolves in and around the pocket of a wave, not way out on the shoulder. I do not see how your boards are more capable of making waves, they look to be creating way too much drag with those massive fins as well as being extremely slow to respond in turns. Standing there and going straight is just not (in my opionion anyway)functional. How do your overpriced peices of ART go in the tube? And not just with little head dips on crumbling fat 2 foot point waves? Have you ever surfed these things in heavy waves?
Now if you were to just admit that yur boards are more ART THAT CAN BE SURFED than FUNCTION AND FUTURE everyone would be able to accept the price tags a little easier, but the way you are marketing them is just not going to get the orders flowing in. If you sold them as ART I reckon even Rip Curl would buy a couple to put in their shopa as display peices.
Now to call what you are doing as vastly superior is just a joke, as well as a bit weird coming from you. Why would you put down what others are doing when you are preaching about purity, a total purist has total acceptance of others and their individual choices and doesn't put their beleifs in front of others as the only way.
Comparing both those styles of surfing is pointless because in the functionality stakes they both loose. Neither one looks exiting and neither one makes use of the best parts of the wave.
As for the boards, well if that floats someones boat then great, i think overpriced but then what is your time worth these days, i know my spare time is priceless.
No disrespect 'Antifroth'. But you are most certainly not getting tubed or riding those giants in heavy waves either.
I reckon each to their own. If you like bodysurfing, shortboards, longboards, goatboats, bodyboarding, surf mats, SUP's etc the list goes on, it doesn't matter as it is all surfing waves. Their is no particular craft that has to be ridden to be called a 'surfer', its just that most people ride shortboards so it is deemed as the 'best' as it is the most popular and widely broadcast form of surfing a wave.
Surfing is surfing a wave in whatever form you choose and/or prefer. There is no right or wrong way to do it.
There is no right or wrong way to ride a wave. But, function is function. I've surfed windsurfers and clubbie boards that ride as well as they boards look like they are riding. And to be honest, I don't think there is anything un-coordinated about compressing up and down the face, or doing a cut-back, or a simple drawn out bottom turn. To me, that is function. The boards are very different, granted, but those videos don't prove they are anything new or exciting, or can do anything that can't be done by a conventional board.
Roy has been doing the rounds of surfing forums for years and has been kicked off quite a few from what I've read for talking strung out nonsense and criticising the proven designs of other shapers. I am a bit confused as to why Swellnet gave him the ad space. If he was charging $700 instead half a million for these boards would this have made a story? Either way, beautiful woodworking skills, impressive looking, I'm sure they trim fine also, but I wouldn't go as far as saying they are in any way more functional than a giant turd with a fin stuck in it.
Danadanda you are talking nonsense.
Dandandan you have hit the nail on the head.
What about what I just said is nonsense? I'm not making outlandish claims here.
'Regarding art over function and straightlining you are out of your tree, my boards roast the others out there and turn wonderfully well,'
Now that is an outlandish claim. To me, as someone who has been around all sorts of watercraft for years, your designs just don't make sense. It's not a personal jibe at you, just the boards.
P.S Did somebody end surfing Pipe on that board of yours?
Roy
I’ve got a question about the fins. Firstly though, I think your craftsmanship is incredible but your style of surfing certainly doesn’t do much for me. But the fins, I’m an aeronautical engineer and I’m very interested in the design philosophy that underpins those fin shapes. Simplistically, contemporary fins are aerofoil shapes that generate lift when put in a fluid flow, as I understand it anyway. This lift force is generated perpendicular to the fin and depending on toe and cant aids turns/helps generate speed. Given that your fins are not aerofoils, I’m really interested in what they do and how they do it. Would you be able to outline the aerodynamic/hydrodynamic basis for some of your fin shapes?
I have tried to avoid having to put my true opinion here so as not to upset Roy.
Dandandan and Surfingbymyself have covered the views that I have on this stupid craft and the outlandish claims made by Roy Stewart.
Roy your boards are very well crafted but in essence are so far from being functional that you are a joke and your total defense of your design proves that even you don't beleive your own bullshit.
I love the fact that surfing has these eccentric people involved in it. But mate you are no George Greenough!
Antifroth you really have no idea. My boards are way ahead of Malibus i all respects except dysfunctional board walking and ungainly tail pivot turns.
My boards are much faster, better at making sections, better at handling late drops, better in the tube and better at gliding on gently sloping waves as well, their handling qualities are also more coherent and intuitive, and they turn much better.
Roy
You didn't answer my question about fins?
Surfingbymyself I'm happy to answer any reasonable questions. Before answering yours however I'd like to clear up the following point: My fins create lift using the same general physical principles as any other fins. You seem to be saying that this isn't the case but I assure you that it is.
Surfingbymyself if you are interested in tunnel fins or annular wings there's a very good site on an aerobatic aircraft called the humminbird designed in NZ the properties of the annular wing are remarkable.
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Roy,
Maybe it's the photos, but the fin on the Baron, in particular, doesn't seem to have much of a profile. In that case, why the shape you have chosen, what does it achieve?
I'm not actually saying that your fins don't generate lift, any flat plate moving through a fluid with an angle of attack will generate lift so that's not the issue in question, rather, I'm interested in the shapes you have chosen and what they contribute to the boards properties. I've got a rough handle on how a contemporary fin works, I just want to understand what your fins do?
Roy I do have a very good idea and I know what I am talking about. I know a lot more than you do about surfing and the intricies of design differences. I know what performance surfing is all about and I do have a handle on function and control. I think you seem to disregard the whole evolution of surfboard design.
I not only ride longboards. I ride all sorts of boards and the bit of vid I put up was to show you that your boats don't turn anywhere near as well as a modern longboard, and you cannot deny that fact. As for shortboards, well that is where my passion is, and be fucked if your boats would even come close to the performance of a good 6'0" so don't even bother with ranting on about that.
What are you basing these claims of speed and tube performance Roy? It seems impossible to me that you could get legitimately tubed on one of those things. As for speed, those videos you put up don't really seem to be that fast to me.
Hi Surfingbymyself
All the fins I make are foiled or profiled correctly. In the case of the Baron flex fin ( the boomerang shaped one ) The fin is so thin that this foiling is hard to see especially in the long flex tip area. The subject of how and why my various fin setups work is a big one, so I'll just refer to the Baron flex fin at present. The extreme thinness of the baron flex fin is unusual, it has a very low chord ratio of around 5%. The way it works is that it has a very soft flex and conforms quite easily to the water flow. The principle is of a low drag low pressure low lift fin tip, which has a fish tail action giving a gentle thrust when the board moves rail to rail as well as very low rail to rail resistance. The Baron also works very well with a hefty and powerful spitfire cutaway in front of the tunnel.
That answer probably doesn't give much of an insight into the tunnel plus one setup as a whole, and I'm happy to explain how it works if you'd like me to.
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Hi Dan,
I've been up against mals and shortboards etc ridden by top riders countless times, and have had tube time on the boards, as well as having done gps speed readings which confirm what everyone who has seen firsthand what's going on already knows. Making it easy is a deceptive thing to do and often fools those who are used to judging performance by competition standards.
My boards have sacrificed all the competition trick based requirements in order to be more efficient wave makers over a wide range of conditions. They have achieved this design goal very well, as have competition based board designs achieved performance relative to their design goal.
Antifroth it seems that you are starting to foam at the mouth. We don't talk the same language so all I'll say is that I'll take you on in difficult shifting beachbreak conditions at my local any time, on whatever you choose to ride. In doing so you'd get short rides and claim that you had won, while I'd get longer rides and feel good about that too. . . that's the way it goes in all except very 'good' lined up conditions.
Antifroth, you are just showing yourself up here. If you don't get it, let it go. Don't be so anal about it. Roy can live in his world and you can live in yours.
And the price? Well unless you are going to buy one, it really is irrelevant.
Modern longboards are just silly these days anyway, looking for shortboard type performance on a clumsy long thing. Longboards would have more credibility if they played to their strengths.
If you haven't ridden one of Roy's boards, then your prognostications about how it would go are nothing more than bitching really.
I don't see that Roy was insisting that you buy one. Why does this bother you so?
massive dooshbag roy.
...massive
Batfink & karate I agree 100% with this:
"Modern longboards are just silly these days anyway, looking for shortboard type performance on a clumsy long thing. Longboards would have more credibility if they played to their strengths."
Our mate Possum said that if he wins the lottery he would definitely buy a barron.That means that Roy would win lotto too.Thats a very time consuming lotto ticket your building there Roy.But jezz,how good would it be if you pulled it off.Id be stocked for you.
But somehow i think the price tag is just a marketing tool.If so, its working.I love seeing blokes have a go and cut their own path,but by using this strategy you will be challenged to justify your product. Foil is a very important element of a surf board and has a marked effect on how board pulls forward through the water. (Projection).So im interested in your thoughts on this. Because foil is difficult to build into a chambered wooden surfboard (they are chambered aren't they?) my first instinct would be that foil was eliminated for construction ease. I have surfed a scaffold plank as a kid and know it can be done but its not that efficient. id like to see maybe a professional or talented team rider put the Barron through its paces, the asking price would certainly justify the expense. Im very open to seeing you prove your design theory, some of the biggest leaps have come from going against usual logic.Wooden boards have an extra special glide feel to them,i hope its not just this that your getting stoked on.By the way possum, theres another kiwi bloke thats made a huge impression over here in oz with his wooden boards. I think his name is Roger Hall. Easily the best designed and built wooden boards ive seen and if you do win lotto you would still have half a mill to feed starving Africans. Check him out, im sure hed have a web site.
'My boards have sacrificed all the competition trick based requirements in order to be more efficient wave makers over a wide range of conditions. They have achieved this design goal very well, as have competition based board designs achieved performance relative to their design goal.'
That's more like it Roy! Your boards achieve their design goal of going straight and not being able to turn very well (which I still find hard to believe, but hey, I've been wrong countless times before). What they don't do quite so well is turn, cut back, or 'roast the others' as you claimed above. For me, if a board is really fast, you are going to outrun the pocket and have to cut back to stay in the pocket. My fish is like this. If I just sit there and glide it will go way out onto the shoulder and my ride is done.
I don't believe there are any more 'radical' functional designs left to come out. Knowledge of foils, and the amount of people experimenting with them..not just in surfing, has increased dramatically and if there was a more efficient way for water to run across a surface it feels like it would have come up before. I am extremely open to the idea, but I don't think a banana rocker is it.
By the way Batfink, this is the internet, the land of procrastinating and anonymous online arguing. It's a hip world son.. Keep up or get out of the way!
Just as a side note, trying to call to put a negative spin on progressive surfing by calling it 'competition tricks' doesn't work. You don't have to be a competitive person to want to do a top turn.
Hello Eatyourveggies.
In response to your question regarding 'foil':
I designed the parallel profile system and the constant rail section in 1995in order to get board flex. The parallel profile has several advantages, one being much better flex, another being a lower centre of gravity and thinner boards for any given volume, giving superior control. It has nothing to do with ease of construction. Our first boards were 7 footers 18 inches wide and only 1.5" thick. They rode like a dream compared with the tapered foam singlefins i'd been riding previously
What you call 'foil' is actually profile taper. Foil is a misnomer when applied to surfboard profiles, it applies to fins and also to rails to some extent, but not to the profile. The supposed importance of profile taper is a myth. After riding parallel profile boards tapered boards feel ghasty. . . stiff, thick, and stringer sensitive in comparison.
Less profile taper ( very close to parallel profile ) has been used successfully in alaias and of course in body boards and paipos.
On the subject of Roger Hall's boards: They are not in the same league as mine, and although he does competently produce ordinary mainstream shapes his construction method is has unfortunate anomalies.
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Just to give you an example of the effect of a parallel profile, the 12 foot 9 Makaha is only 2 inches thick and has around three inches of flex on a land test using hand pressure. . . . it's a thin flexible blade, and has a wonderful resonance and sensitivity as a result.
The Baron is made in thicknesses from an inch and three quarters to 2.5 inches. That's thin and keeps the rider close to the water vastly improving control and reducing stringer sensitivity.
Looking at typical malibu type 12 footers, they are typically nearly twice as thick and their riding qualities suffer woefully as a result.
On the subject of the constant rail sections: To know them is to love them, soft rails are very capable in all situations if intelligently used.
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Dandandan you ae completely deluded.
My boards turn MUCH better in all functional respects than the malibu 'camel' board type which has become the industry longboard monoculture.
I design boards which turn froma sweet spot at speed without fuss. This works so well compared with the ungainly tail pivot/runforward to trim style mal riders are forced to use that my boards are able to casually make waves which the legions of mals are completely unable to cope with.
To put it bluntly mals are outdated junk based on an arbitrary requirement to do bodily gyrations and make surfing more difficult. Mals have given longboards a bad name for much to long and it's time they were shelved in favour of pure surfing longboards.
My attitude to surfing is very competitive: I like to dominate by catching lots of waves and riding waves which the others can't make. I don't rate tricks at all, I rate wave making and not falling off. Many people have thought like you and assumed that they could do better until they paddle out. That's when reality sets in.
Speed wise mals are much slower. This is apparent in fast and slow sections, and has been confirmed by many people as well as GPS readings.
People like you who babble about speed being a waste of time and outrunning the wave usually surf in tidy little name breaks which line up like old man's elevator rides at a fun park. That stuff is for beginners. I prefer the infinite challenges of shifting beachbreaks with their greater variety and harder to make waves.
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Well said Roy.
any chance of a discount if i trade my 6'1"?
No trades, unless it's bullion.
I gotta admitt i think those boards would do better under the art category as well, definately dont look all that functional in those vids, but thats just my opinion and basically everyone elses that surfs... Ur a one in a million Roy but not really in a good way, more a weird kinda way. Cool orange wetty tho
In terms of function you don't understand what you are seeing, probably due to media brainwashing.
Be aware also that you don't speak for everyone as claimed. There are people who get it, it's ok that you don't.
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maybe ur right, maybe it is the most functional board in the world. But untill someone that can actually surf good gets some footage on it im afraid it just looks like a someone straight facing a nice piece of wood
I didn't say that 'it' ( actually a make a lot of different designs not just one ) is the most functional board in the world. Best not to misquote me as I usually mean specifically what I say not something else made up on my behalf.
As explained previously you won't find the kind of ostentatious spray throwing moves which you've been programmed to describe as 'good'. The reason for that is that functional surfing is more so without all thoset drag inducing stage antics.
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Having said that, if we were able to apply even 1% of the annual surf industry budget to the hiring pro surfers to ride my boards at exotic locations, you'd see some great footage. . .
talk about George I ride a kneeboard and I reckon that is as close to pure surfing you can get every wave is a big wave from a kneeboarders perspective with loads of speed and fluid movement.
True Mayo, especially with Spoons ! The forward facing position which kneeboarders use is very natural.
Dear Roy, I suspect you have poked the ant's nest with your comments here mate,and balance is achieved by objectively weighing both sides of an argument.Have looked at Vimeo of "The Baron" - and feel you have the odd "flapping" problem there too. Just my opinion. I sincerely respect the time and effort put-in, & beautiful outcome from your labours.
I think that you are pissing in the wind Roy.
Comments like: "Media brainwashing", "superior turning abilities" and "superior speed" are not worth anything unless proven and so you have urine all over yourself.
Its like me saying I can ride my old style penny farthing bicycle faster than the latest trek bikes that Lance Armstrong rides, everyone would rightfully call me as a bullshit artist and say win the tour de france on your bike if it is so much better.
Likewise, because of these comments everyone will call you on it and say ride Teahupoo with the pros and show us how great a tube riding machine your board is.
Im totally with a large portion of these comments which is calling you to prove your claims or don't make them. I don't think that is unreasonable when you want to charge such a large amount for a board and are trying to not call it greed.
If it isn't Greed then give them away for the love of surfing, to just allow someone else to have the joy of using one of these so called amazing boards.
Either way I think singkenken has understated this, you haven't poked an ants nest, you have placed your genitals in it and are expecting to not get bitten. That is just ludicrous.
epic blog goin on here. but yes, from mrkdevelopement all the way back to antifroth there has been alot of flaws listed in this back to the future surfboard Roy. I think you've taken the marketing strategy price skimming and thought "how can i possibly live as the most comfortable surfing bum? I know, by scamming just one millionaire out there! I'll make some wicked looking boards", and yes Roy they really do look wicked, "and flog them at the absolute extreme top end of the price range." but really Roy, thats all you're doing. i'm no aeronautical engineer but it's not hard to see in ur vimeo that even with Puff the Magic Dragon riding that board while blowing his magical choof choof to make us see strange and phenominal things, that board is not ripping.
To be honest with you Roy, i really hope some cashed up chum comes along and throws 1/2 a million at u, because u've done something different and ur obviously not gonna be put off by poeple telling u the truth. and i think thats cool. i hope u get all the enjoyment out of those boards as all people get out of riding there own.
but don't actually try to justify this board being worth 1/2 a million on surfing capabilities, because its not. no board is and ever will be... unless it finds a pot of gold at the end of every offshore spray rainbow.
More poorboy whingeing.
You two don't have the mental capacity to understand what's going on with these boards.
Nice try suggesting that I give the boards away 'for the love of surfing' but sorry no cigar it's for the love of surfing that I'm keeping them except when paid the listed price.
Keep on wickwacking your little foam chips boys !
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hi roy, just checked back to see if you took my advise to get a good surfer to put your board through its paces in good waves. since you havent, and all we have to go on is you doing the poo-man squat on 1 foot dribble, i feel i need to tell you that the boards seems to push water alot of the time. could be your surfing but it looks like its the board. get it up to whangamata or somewhere and film so we can see how it goes on waves. as for your comments on foil,well, profile is just that.the profile.the boards side-on shadow shape. often just the centre line section taken nose to tail asyou say. you may not be aware of foil in a surf board. if you take a board and put it on its rail in the water( you can do this in a bath or in the shallows onthe way out for a surf) the water line forms a shape around the rail. this shape is somewhat like an aeroplane wing in section . this wing shape gives lift and drive in excess of a flat planeing object. you will find mostgood shapers use profile to put volume where they want it for bouyancy, balance and to compliment the out line curve to give the required length of arc. but they FOIL the rail line and rail-line-crown to acheive an aerofoil(hydrofoil??). although on most modern boards volume is placed forward under the chest for paddling efficiency that volume roled down to the rail isnt usually the most eficient foil. most shapers will adjust there foils frwrd or back , longer or fuller for differnt boards and customers etc. but dont worry,after watching your vids i see that your boards arnt ment to go on rail so this is all a mute point. id still be stoked for you if you sold one roy so all the best mate.
Sorry but that's all nonsense. I rode so called 'foiled' ( actually tapered profile ) boards for over 20 years so of course I'm aware of them, they just don't compare with parallel profile constant rail section boards,
Your notion that tapered rails provide lift like an aeroplane wing is absolute bollocks, it's just one of many myths which ignorant surfboard buyers subscribe to.
Tapered profile boards don't flex correctly and are always thicker than they need to be for any given volume.
Regarding the performance of my boards you have no idea, and they use the rails all the time, you are just parroting shortboard wick wack apologetics, and should do a course in basic physics.
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By the way plenty of 'good' surfers have lined up thinking that they can show me how its done, they find themselves disappointed.
In most of the sessions shown in my pictures and videos they can't even make a wave on their tapered foam garbage boards.. . those 'crap' waves are too hard for them to ride.
About that Baron session on Vimeo: You armchair experts need to know that the Baron ridden by myself was the only board in the water able to make those waves, the conditions were very difficult and I got 500 metre rides on every wave, we only show half the wave because I surfed so far down the beach that i could no longer be seen.
All the crew on the standard taperd profile mass market foam rubbish couldn't even make 50 yards or get through the first section. That's the usual state of affairs: I make the waves without fuss while they fail. . . and yes we have plenty of highly rated surfers in the water.
Your foam boards are mostly crap. . . get back to me when you have highly flexible 2 inch thick 12 footers with the most advanced hydrofoil fin systems, and are doing over 37mph in head high short period swells. . until then you are all bullshit !
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You naysayers are extremely unobservant people. You mock the parallel profile/constant rail section on the basis of fake physics, but fail to notice that it has been a feature of alaia boards since ancient times, and is used on another very fast surfboard type namely the boogie board. Tom Wegener's tuna also has a constant or nearly constant rail section, but you idiots don't notice because you only repeat what you hear and only look with blinkers on.
All your Tomo/bernoulli/aircraftwingrail/lift talk is arrant nonsense, you should be ashamed of yourselves !
fellas fellas, each too their own, roy good on ya mate. youve obviously found your passion in life and good luck to you. who gives a shit what you drive what you do as long as youre happy mate, dont let the naysayers detract you from your chosen path.remember simon anderson??peace out
yes i do remember Simon Anderson,very well in fact. he proved his design by getting one of the best surfers of the day ( himself actually) to ride them in all kinds of conditions, big bells,pipe,shitty beach breaks what ever. these were just "wick-wacking little foam chips" though lol. my point is ,he proved the design, you havent. youve made unsubstatiated claims and asked an extremely extortionist price. Simon didnt. your welcome to surf whatever you like. your welcome to charge whatever you like. but if you go onto an open forum like this so you can promote your product then you will be asked to explain your "ideas".and with a ridiculus price like that, you better back it up too. im still waiting to see it ridden in decent waves by a decent surfer. as to your claim that other surfers( in your videos) wernt making the waves that you were. umm, i seem to remember that you dropped in on quite a few guys that were moving alot faster than you. you crashed into them so that explains why they werent making the waves. lol. how many of those guys were riding 12 ft boards?there is a huge difference between a 9 ft and a 12ft board in gutless 1 ft surf. and i still say your board looks like it pushes water. please dont tell me that trim and glide are "drag inducing stage antics". ive been working on flex in surf boards for many years now, hence my initial interest and questions.i also love wood boards for their glide and beauty. iwont argue with you that foil is irrelevant because that is your veiw. when i asked ,origially, why you eliminated foil, you said to facilitate flex(good answer) but then said foil isnt a design consideration in boards,only fins. (?) and that what i was talking about was profile. i explained that profile is different to foil because it sounded likr you didnt understand the principal of foil. you obviously dont see it as a factor.(it may not be ,i am open minded)i simply dont see any proof of your claims in the vids you posted. i wont get into the workings of alaia or boogers as this blurt is long enough. please re-read my initial post. So ihope you are right roy, and the whole world catches on to how great it is to surf on those things in the waves theyre designed for ,cos then i can buy a ticket to bali and surf empty padang padang like i havent done for 20years while every one else crowds out 1 ft mt manga slop. yeh hah.
Cheers Wato !
I don't get it. Whatched the vids, but doesn't do anything for me. Not sure why you would bother with the waves. I'd be going for a drive find a wave worth surfing - on a long board or short board. Good luck I say.
If you guys like Wooden Surfboards that perform and at a descent price take a look at Bert Burger company: Sunova Surfboards.
Bert is the man that created the Parabolic rails construction and worked for Firewire until he was annoyed by the corporate politic.
www.sunovasurfboards.com
www.sunovausa.com
STOP PRESS: Roy Stewart has superseded the Baron, which was the most expensive surfboard in the world at $528 000, with the Olo of the Sun, which retails at $852 000.
The price isn't chosen at random, 852 Hertz is the solfeggio frequency for 'Returning to Spiritual Order' (528 Hertz is Transformation and Miracles).
Roy has recently had interest from two luxury goods magazines and his handcrafted boards will soon grace their pages. He will also appear in a couple of forthcoming videos.
I'll post photos of the Olo of the Sun shortly.
Roy mate you're off your rocker.
They're beautifully designed boards but selling them for a nominal fee of $528 grand is a joke. Who would pay that? They really are works of art but i watched your vids and they look clumsy in the water. As you're the king of straightlining, you would benefit more from a $1000 mal.
And what happens if things inevitably go pear shaped and one of these boards gets washed over the rocks or hit by a kook? suicide would be the owner's best option. Just quietly, i'd rather spend that sort of cash on a beach house and a Porsche
Wall of text
Post a video of the performance of this board(s) instead of writing an essay response to everyone
brb shoulders already aching carrying a 50kg log from my house to the beach
I am from the Mount and have been in the water while Roy has been surfing.
I can confirm he can turn these boards but with the speed of a container ship. They are truly beautiful pieces of woodwork but as far as modern surfing functionality goes they fail.
If your idea of a fun surf is catching a wave and riding it in a straight line for as long as possible then these are the boards for you(though I have not seen him catch any waves not makeable on some modern longboards) and this may be your idea of a good time and I don't hold that against anyone.
The surfers at the mount know when Roy catches a wave you move out of the way as he will not turn around you but as he goes in a straight line it's not too hard to get out of the way most of the time.
I'd say Roy is pulling a Damien Hirst(famous artist) by pricing his boards so highly and I wouldn't be surprised if someone bought the 'Baron' just so they can say "I own the most expensive surfboard in the world" which would be a very pompous thing to do in my view but I think that's the only type of person who could afford to lay out that kind of money on this plank(IMHO).
I enjoy surfing my little 'foam chip..' Roy just as much if not more than you enjoy riding your wooden barge so please stop trying to imply others are close minded when a lot of the statements you have made are most definitely close minded.
Looks like ol' Roy is stepping up his game. Price tag on his latest board is $1.3 million dollars.
http://www.surfersvillage.com/content/kiwi-artist-produces-13-million-su...
Has Roy actually managed to sell a board yet?
What about his 'Olo of the Sun'. Didn't that have a price tag of 800k or thereabouts?
you could wrap the board in gold 30 times for that coin...kilo o gold 42K and change!....better hold in a barrel!
When I interviewed him his top price board was $528,000. That went up to $800,000, and now he's whacking a $1.3 M price tag on it.
What the hell is the CPI over in NZ?
I bet if you offered him an even mil and chucked in a 6-pack, he'd take it.
Zen, for an even mil, I'll fly to the darkest deepest jungles in south america, cut down the rarest tree I can find, carve you a board, by hand, with stoneage materials, seal the timber with the happy secretions of 12 virgin tribeswomen, handshape the fin from the penis bone(yes they have bones) of a blue whale, fly the board to your doorstep, and give you lessons for 12 mths on how to ride it....(and still make 50% profit)
Tempting.
Would you be prepared to chuck in a tail patch and a leggie?
Wax even!
Roy,you da man,is ya sell a bd at anything over 20K.......love the arty feel and the hors spent making the bds..
have a few questions regarding the performance,and speed.......you mention the speed of 37mph..but one of the guys you surf with mentions you go straight at slow speeds..bit confusing....how did you measure your speed...??
I am always interested when people speak about flex in s/bds but leave out the tortion/Torque aspect.......interested on your thoughts on this??
In the words of the mrs
'He's just a guy that's made a wooden surfboard and put a huge price on it so he's a complete cunt in my eyes'.
I reckon if he sells one board and can retire on it good on him. Who gives a flying fuck about the functionality debate, how many squillions did the board industry make off chumps trying to surf slater wafers.
OK guys..I have a s/bd for sale for $2Million..been hanging a bit with Tom Curren a bit here in France......we did an interview the other day for a French mag....and we talked about the cut back he did at backdoor on the no sticker yellow railed board........everybody thought including me,it was the 7 2......but NO...it was the 7 8 .....which I still have,as it was my Mundaka bd for quite a few years...
starting price $2m........so do I win the most expensive bd prize????
Perhaps, too much value in your offer to be a serious contender in this competition ;)
OK $3 million is my last offer....
Does it come with Tom Curren?
hmmm and what pray would you do with Tom???
I don't know. He could just be awesome.
Though I would want a discount if he brought his guitar. ;)
(I'm just being silly. No disrespect intended. )
hey wally I get it...but he is an awesome guitar player...so that might add a $million...and another if you want him to sing.....??
OK, that might be a little out of my price range then. Damn music!
Well, Roy only needed one buyer. Seems like he found it too!
"A master surfboard maker has sold a handcrafted board to a New Zealand buyer for a staggering $1.5 million."
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11295826
Wow.
Hang on ... reading the article it says:
"His boards and designs are often copied by some of the world's largest board shapers."
WTF?
Geez, I'd sure like to know which 'boards', which 'designs' ...
Perhaps it's time another Swellnet interview?
Congrats to Roy, 1.5 mill equates to about $10,000 per hour
Time to gift swellnet a large box of your 3d printed fins to demo
What chunk of your loot will the taxman take Roy.
You should look into getting one yourself Ben. I was lucky enough to pick up one of Roy Stewarts earlier " Emperors New Clothes " models from Gumtree. It was an unheralded purchase because I only paid $179,543 for it.... A little piece of bargaining that I'm not afraid to say I'm quite proud about just quietly.
But how does it perform I hear you ask ?
First let me say that I believe Mr Stewarts claims of a top speed of 56 km/ hr to be substantially conservative. I took it for a spin out The Pass a few days ago and I swear I was reaching at least 60. Even after slicing cleanly through a German backpacker my face was being stretched into a deaths head grimace by the pure speed I was attaining...I felt like an astronaut must on re entry to the Earths gravity.
Of course the turning circle of the ENC model isn't it greatest strength, I'd say that is to be found more in the direction of post surf clean ability - the way the backpacker blood hoses straight off the 3D printed fins has to be seen to be believed .
I'm a very satisfied customer. Trying to work up the nerve to let the Missus know that I've sold one of her kidneys to a Saudi Prince with a taste for Humanoid sweetmeats to get together a down payment on another board that I will take to the Mentawais.....whoops there is a knock at the door, I've got to go , it'll be the Princes surgeon come to collect the main course.
Better run and put the kettle on and fill the bath with ice Blowin;)
Wow Roy hit the jackpot.
I bet the long lost cousins will be coming out of the woodwork now.
If Parko was on one of these he would have smoked Mick in the finals.
The mega rich phenomena - making purchases that are insulting to the middle-class, and at the same time inadvertently lifting the expectations that the middle class dreamers set for themselves.
I'm glad I don't subscribe to such sensationalism like the buyer has.
But why not look at it from the seller's perspective? Roy has been steadfast in his philosophy and also in his craft. He believes in it and to an extent his existence mirrors that of the suffering artist - little money, much passion.
I interviewed Roy a few years ago and he signed off with the quip: "I only need one person to buy one." And now he has and I applaud him for it.
Definitely no criticism on the seller's perspective. Probably the ultimate sale. And I would applaud him for that also.
I guess we are on the wire between art and design. As a self-proclaimed designer, he has sensationalised his design, arguing that it has state-of-the-art waveriding capabilities, whilst not being able to clarify or prove exactly what it does better than other boards. But sold it for 1.5m. 1.5 million dollars.
As art,
where definitions of form & function are blurred and sensationalism has its place, he seems to have made it into the marketplace for 'rich art collectors'.
So maybe i'm saying I'm glad I don't appeal to expensive art as much as the buyer has (that's a lot of spare cash for a wall hanger). And i'm glad that instead I put value on things with clear functional benefits.
Roy , the partys over.....or is it....answer time on your warp drive fins ,claims of 32% less drag and 8% more lift .........so a 1/3rd less drag that's a lot Roy ,how did you get those figures ?
not knocking you fins in any way Roy....I know how much R+D you have done and know you would not be foolish enough to make those claims without proof -or waste your time getting 3D printing done and fin material choice etc etc.
After a look at roys website and furthermore at his fins i reckon hes a lagend who knows a damn lot about design . A whole lot more than the critics too.
I contacted Roy earlier in the week for a chat but he's taking a few days rest from publicity (which has apparently been pretty hectic over his way). Hopefully we'll have some further insights directly from Roy next week.
Awesome.
Man, if anyone deserves a holiday from the internet it's Roy.
Fuck yes.
off topic again , on Roys facebook page is a pic I haven't seen before of M.P. with a quiver of 9 single fins.
Huh ? What's Roy been doing on the internet ?
Freeride, theres a doco there.......South Pacific films presents "the Roy Stewart story"
serious, I would love to know Roys life story ,such a cool humble dude.
fuck he must be peeved .... they got his name wrong ?
Its Roy Stuart isn't it ?
Peeved......spelt it wrong on the 1.5 mill cheque
best free surf board i ever bought !!! ;-)
Great great great great grandson of Ernest Rutherford,
Son of Bill Hamilton and cousin too AJ Hackett....
Geez its a family line here.!
Inventors....?
well look who won the lottery. any one know who bought it?
they may also be interested in this scaffold plank ive got that I can round the nose off
and make into an alaia that I recon will surf better than any surf board out there today. honest.
and all this for only 500k.