eppo said...
Yep that was uncalled for I apologise surfingboye, my bad.

Listen a little history lesson maybe...

Back in 2000 I was taught by Ian young a local scab guy. At that stage he made his win design surf boards. Now while everyone else was riding twin tips, even through the old school days of early to mid 2000s, crew were riding mainly TTs and other terrible mutants. Everyone thought he was a kook, everyone doubted what he was doing. I remember I said once after a sunset session they will wake up one day and see the value of using surfboards. ( now there were some crew using them but I'm talking about the main).

So I rode this surfboards and other cheapies that I kept snapping (go figure) for a good 5 years.

So I know what a surfboard offers, I can ride strapped or unstrapped and I do understand that for surfing surfing with a kite in decent waves the SB is king.

I then gravitated to mutants as I was finding SBs were of little use in summer when the wind really blows and their is no swell. Some days were awesome on the SB but mostly it was flattish Perth slop.

Also I was enjoying the challenge of a some TT style tricks, transitions etc and powered riding in what surf was to offer.

Since then I've ridden lots of manufactures SBs borrowed from fellow riders etc and my own surfboards I use in the surf, taking it easy of course.

So don't assume someone who rides a TT like a shinn monk and a mutant like a Mako has no idea about kiting with a SB! I was kiting with a SB before this hallelujah praise the SB god phenomena.

But I see they are limited unless you reside in decent spots that make the capital expenditure worth while. But even then I have so much fun riding powered on a mutant or TT I still think a lot of my riding will be using these boards.

What sh1ts me is this elitist bullsh1t I read on both forums espousing that kiting on a SB is more evolved more technical, the ultimate in kiting. Tell that to the new freestyles and they will just laugh in your face and so will I.

It seems these SB riders may have a go at crew 'mowing the lawn' as it is something lesser, but if someone pipes up to mention the limitations on a SB especially in Perth conditions, they get met with a barrage of absolute Bullcrap about he pinnacle of the sport residing in using a SB.

Mate to me a SB in Perth is no better than mowing the lawn, with a wave chucked in, which is mowing the lawn mainly as Most of you never leave the water! Some o and it looks and feels cool ( I know cause even on a SB I can't resist). And yet there are some crew down the local here that just rip on a SB and I love going down to watch. Jason, Marty, Daniel (one crazy as powered mofo man) are awesome and I appreciate how they ride.

I know there are a lot of guys who feel and think the same but they are generally afraid to say something on here due to the swarm of born again evangelist SB riders claiming they are at the peak skill and performance of kiting and verbally bashing anyone who says otherwise. A lot of experienced crew just give up and never post anything because they just can't stand the naive crap that pours out of some crews mouth. And that is a loss to those reading and learning about our sport.

I say to anyone new or getting into the sport keep your mind open to all possibilities. Assess your local conditions, assess where you want to go and don't assume that using a SB is the ultimate, cause in my mind it doesn't come close, unless ideal conditions, where wave riding is actually decent. That is you could actually surf them as well.