Great piece, but four minutes is just not enough. Would love to hear Purcho talking shaping for an hour or more.

TBH honest I don't think NPJ's surfing in this video does his designs much service. It appears the boards he chose to surf dont really suit the waves, a bit too long and stiff for small curvy beachbreaks. No doubt they feel good but performance wise they fall a bit short.

There was a video on here a few months back with someone else riding a NPJ Quartet that gave a better indication of his design ability.

I'm with you abc, to me the boards look like they are actually restricting what he wants to do on the wave. Just my opinion...

TBH, alot of this surfboard design is hipster/retro/fashion driven. NPJ, despite his awesome high performance credentials is ploughing that field.

Those restrictive lines would make great stills and that is more important than the videos. No disrespect to NPJ, his surfing and boards are fantastic.

Yowza on vimeo has better surfing of NPJ
same tho, board even though its a quad seems to look a bit catchy on some waves.
watching NPJ drawing lines at the bluff or gnarloo would be awesome.

I wonder whether those above might not appreciate that people like to surf differently to the pros and might like different lines and a different form of expression on a wave? Of course he knows he isn;t surfing like he could on a contemporary board, but the point is: he doesn't want to. He's using different criteria to you, and he's enjoying it. You might benefit from spending a bit of time on a board like that and think about the different ways there are to ride a wave - it tends to take your focus off your own surfing and get you more in tune with the wave itself. Just a thought.

Good call Tango.

Tango I have to disagree with you there, on some waves it looks like he IS trying to surf how you would on a contemporary board. I surf a single fin at least once every month so I realise the difference in the way you have to surf them. And I don't use a "criteria" when I surf, I surf how I want. I don't know anyone who free surfs to a criteria.

Criteria is only a word, let people surf different boards in any way they want to what ever standard :)

Each to their own whether it be criteria, IMO.

I think I know what you mean Goofyfoot, but my impression is that while it looks like he's trying to do similar turns to the pros, he would know very well that his boards won't work that way and hence he is simply surfing them as he wishes. He might like the feel under his feet of how the board goes doing such and such kind of turn on the different board. Whatever his motivation, my view is that this sort of surfing has more subtlety and is more interesting that most of the pro surfing I see, which seems to be increasingly formulaic (I am so so so sick of seeing airs, I can't begin to tell you), and I feel like so much of the surfing promoted on Vimeo a YouTube is so similar. So I reckon people should surf what they like, surf how they like and just enjoy it. Those are the sort of criteria I was referring to. I have to disagree with you about criteria - I see crew surfing the same too much these days, but maybe criteria was the wrong word to use.

Tango, if your sick of seeing airs and tired of watching surfers with refined techniques we should catch up - it will be like a breath of fresh air for you as I crank down the line looking like Donkey Kong jumping barrels and flailing my arms like I'm being attacked by killer bees.

Me too Blowin, would love to catch up...?
But am fucked at the mo with a broken left scapular, healing time :)
No killer bees around here tho.....

Hows ya groin...?

Fair call tango, I think people should surf what and how they want too. Cheers :)

Jeez Welly, wanting to catch up then asking how my groin is..... Mate , I'm flattered , honestly but that's not my cup of tea....

Cheers mate, legs all better and I'm about to re - engage with my surfing life. Excited about it too. Hope your on the mend and back in the game soon cobber. Injuries can be testing , I know all too well, you seem like the sort of guy that will be reaping the advantages though ie minimised responsibilities and maximised pampering from the better half.

Plenty of time to post up on that verandah for extended surveillance sessions .