Archive for February, 2006

Directions for Making a Surf Paddle Board

Material: A lightweight marine plywood; casein-glued 3-ply wood, sold under the trade name of “Weldwood”; or as a good but heavier substitute, one-eighth inch masonite pressed wood may be used for top and bottom.

The sides should be spruce, and the nose, as well as the tail block, white cedar or redwood. Either galvanized or 7-inch marine screws should be used. All joints should be thoroughly daubed with casein glue before nailing or screwing. In putting on the top and bottom, one thickness of three-quarter inch seamstress bias tape should be put between the joints along the sides before final screwing of the top and bottom to the frame. This acts as caulking. All corners, sides, ends and front should be thoroughly rounded.

Three coats of best grade spar varnish should be applied to the board on completion. At any time when, owing to use, this varnish coat becomes cracked, it should be immediately sealed again and thoroughly dried.

The top and bottom should be nailed and screwed to the side on 2 -inch centers. Screws should be countersunk and the screw holes filled with a good grade of wood “dough.”

This board will weigh about 45 pounds when completed.

Paddling

The growth of surf riding and the dearth of good surfing areas in the United States has led to the use of surfboards for a variety of water sports. In the Los Angeles, California, region, the game of “Paddle Polo” was developed in the 1930’s and became a popular pool activity and spectator sport with interclub competition among a number of teams. The game is played on a water-polo area of 60 by 90 feet, with rules similar to regular water polo, using a special double-end paddle board.

Paddling the surfboards around the edges of coves during the time that waves were not large enough for surfing, led to the use of the boards as surface speed craft for swimmers. In time-tests held a number of years ago in Southern California, some spectacular times were recorded. A mile was covered in 10 minutes 16.7 seconds; 880 yards in 5 minutes 32.3 seconds; a quarter of a mile in 2 minutes 46 seconds; and 100 yards in 30.7 seconds.

Some water sports enthusiasts have combined skin diving with the use of a surfboard, diving for abalone down 12 to 20 feet, stacking the abalone on the boards, and then taking them ashore for an abalone fry.

In Australia the surfboard is an important vehicle for rescue work in the water, being the standard equipment for lifeguards at many down-under beaches. In the United States, the American Red Cross has been urging its use in a similar manner. The American Red Cross Life Saving and Water Safety Manual states: “The surfboard as a piece of rescue apparatus has been for hundreds of years a unique development belonging almost wholly to the islanders of the South Pacific, notably in the Hawaiian islands. Since the advent of the new type hollow surfboard and with the use of balsa wood on the mainland of the United States, and because of its unrestricted usefulness in all waters, whether coastal or inland, it has become a rescue device of universal appeal and interest. As such it is taking its place as an extraordinarily effective piece of rescue equipment.”

With the winter season providing better surf riding in some areas, a number of surfers have adopted the “wet” suits of the skin divers and indulge their sport year round. However, the degree of activity required in surfing usually provides enough body heat to make the sport comfortable for most persons in water temperatures down to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

The search for a more comfortable way of life has led surfers to try sails on the board as easier than paddling by hand and foot. Surfboards have been fitted with a short-masted leg-of-mutton sail with a long rudder controlled by the feet or with a tiller or cross member. Keel or center-boards provide stability. The increasingly popular “Sailfish” and “Sunfish” sailing craft are basically surfboards rigged for sailing.

The early surfboards were 12 to 14 feet long and weighed 50 pounds or more. Modern boards are usually made of balsa wood and weigh about 25 pounds. As to length; the rule of thumb is that the board should be about twice the height of the surfer. In addition to shaped balsa boards, others are made of balsa and plywood, filled with foam plastic for more buoyancy, and the better boards are fiber-glassed like pleasure boats. Also, some surfboards are made of marine plywood or masonite hulks containing an air chamber for buoyancy.

Some surfers prefer a square-sterned board, although the ‘”Malibu” board has become popular in recent years. This type of board is pointed at the tip and sharply rounded at the stern, is about 2 feet wide and 3 inches thick, and is somewhat shorter than older boards, averaging about 10 feet in length. Its adherents say it is easier to carry, less tiring to paddle, and that it takes off rapidly on a wave.

New boards generally cost about $75, second-hand boards are available for about $50, and at the more popular surfing beach areas, boards may be rented. A board can be built for about $12 worth of material. (Plans are shown later in this chapter.)

Surfing Competition

The world-wide popularity of surf riding has led to international competition in the sport. Each November the International Surfing Championships competition is held at Makaha Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, and draws entrants from all over the world. The championship events are preceded by a qualifying event. In this the contestants must select and successfully ride 3 waves in a 30-minute period, and are judged on 4 factors: points at which the wave was caught (first, second, or third buoy) ; length of ride in standing position; skill and judgment in maneuvering board; and sportsmanship.

In the finals, held a week later, those who have qualified must select and successfully ride 6 waves within 45 minutes. The time periods are subject to wave conditions and may be lengthened if the surf is not running high.

There are 4 different categories in the meet: men’s, women’s and boys’ surfboard riding, and mixed tandem riding. The tandem contest is usually the most spectacular. Tandem teams are usually made up of a man and a woman, and the competition is “free style,” leaving the maneuvers to the ingenuity and skill of the participants. A team may ride standing, or with one partner standing on the bent knees of the other, or sitting on the shoulders, or standing on the shoulders on one foot, or perhaps even being held aloft.

There are also localized championships at many beach areas. One source of general information on surfing and surfing competition is a magazine, The Surfer, whose address is Box 1028, Dana Point, California.

As in skiing before the days of tows, the hard work is getting out to the take-off point. The surfer must fight his way out through the surf against the winds, waves and currents. A 12-foot board whirling amidst heavy foam, breakers and undertow is no companion for a weak swimmer. The very first step in surfing, getting through the surf with the board, eliminates all but the fittest from this sport, making true surfing a sport for the young and muscular. While some of the experts are in their thirties, the great majority of participants are much younger. One of the risks of surfing is being “wiped out” by the force of the sea at the start, and there is also some danger at the more popular and crowded beaches from the wild boards that other surfers may lose.

The take-off point is out beyond the reef where the combers form. Most surfing is done at high tide. Floating in water, the surfers wait for the break of the second or third

It is truly man against nature in the water sport of riding the combers on a slithering surfboard.

of a set of waves. The proper moment to take off is just ahead of the break, with a turn just before reaching the trough. Then, the idea is to ride away at an angle of about 20 degrees to the face of the wave and about two-thirds of the way down the front “wall” of the wave.

The take-off itself is something like the “push” of a skier on starting a run. The surfer, lying flat or on his knees, slowly paddles inshore, watching the wave over his shoulder. When the wall of water is about 20 or 30 feet away, the board must be driven ahead as fast as possible. The crucial point comes when the wave lifts the board to its crest and hurls it down its face. As soon as the board begins its descent it must be whipped around until it is almost parallel to the face of the wave. The fin at the bottom and rear of the board makes it somewhat easier to maneuver, and the hands and feet can be used as ruddering power.

Once riding the wave, the surfer can rise to his feet for the exciting run that may be for a few hundred yards or even a quarter of a mile. Skilled surfers have some control over their course. It is possible to steer by shifting weight fore and aft or from side to side, or by dropping a foot in the water to serve as a rudder. Because of the shape and conformation of the board, it has a built-in accelerator. To speed up the board, the surfer moves forward. The most ardent speedsters even ride the very front edge of the board. To slow down the speed, he moves to the back of the board.

About the most important single maneuver in surfing is to turn the instant you are in the wave. Unless the turn is made quickly, the surfer will be plunged straight into the trough of the wave a mishap known in the vernacular of the sport as “pearling” or “pearl diving.” The board will have a tendency to head for the bottom, and the breaking wave will throw the surfer head over heels or into a forceful belly flop.

This is one of the danger points in surfing. The board-perhaps with a frayed nose from bottom contact can pop up into the air with dangerous speed. The caution taken by experienced surfers is to stay below the surface until the wave has gone on and the board has settled down in the water. There have been cases of surfers being knocked unconscious by a rising board. Another similar situation exists when a group of surfers meet in a tangle of bodies and boards, known to the surfing fraternity as a “lumber pile” or “log jam.” In any group mishap the safe practice is to stay under water until the boards have gone by. The safe practice when a pile-up seems inevitable is to dive off the board and stay below the surface for a safe interval of time.

On arriving close to the beach, there are different ways in which the ride can be finished. In practice, most surf rides end in a tumble. It is possible to avoid the shore break by moving to the back of the board and slowing down enough to let the wave pass by, or by sitting down on the board. Some prefer to ride in through the “soup,” jumping off the board when it reaches 6 or 8 inches of water, and then running ashore alongside the board and up on the beach, like the similar maneuver in water skiing.

SURF riding-the sport of riding a wave on a pointed board about 12 feet long is perhaps the wildest and fastest of water sports. Speeds of up to 40 miles an hour can be reached as the board follows the crests of 20-foot waves, with the rider using a technique somewhat similar to skiing to keep his balance and control the board.

In the past twenty years surfing has become an international water sport. As a tourist attraction, it was reborn in Hawaii during the 1920’s and became more popular after World War II. Historically, it was a sport unique to the Hawaiian Islands. Hundreds of years ago the sport was restricted to the noble families of the Islands. Using heavy boards of native woods that weighed about 150 pounds, the young men of the ruling families engaged in spirited surfing competition with high stakes involved.

According to island legends, canoes, livestock, and even tracts of land were wagered on a single ride through the surf. When the sport was revived in Hawaii, it spread rapidly to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Peru and the Mediterranean. In the United States the first surfers appeared on the West Coast, where the California beaches provided the necessary rolling surf. Another factor that spurred the growth of surfing in California was the vacation “commuting” between that state and the Hawaiian Islands. In the last few years there has been some surfing in the East, although the possible surfing areas are limited. One of the favored areas in the East is Hatteras Island, North Carolina, where coastal reefs provide combers which have the desired characteristics.

For ideal surfing, the sportsman is dependent upon geography and the winds to provide the setting for his pastime. The California Coast provides larger waves, built up by the steady onshore trade winds that blow day after day and the south-flowing California current. Also, at many points on the California Coast and in some areas in Oregon, there are long, submerged reefs several hundred yards from shore that create the necessary combers for long rides into the beach. Reefs off points of land send in waves at an angle that peel off as they hit the shore, building up speed and power.