Dusting off a “vintage” log or even a fish is nothing like coming across an old high-performance shortboard. I’m talking about glassed-on fins, way too much rocker, and paper-thin rails on a thruster that looks like something Kelly would have won world titles number four and five with. Nowadays, we’re used to wider noses and far less rocker under our feet to go along with a dozen other evolutions in design that make our modern high-performance boards feel more stable, far more versatile, and quite frankly, make up for a lot of our own individual inadequacies.
Used Surf’s Kolton Sullivan made a good case for riding a board from 20-plus years ago when he packed a modern thruster and a throwback with glassed-on fins to the beach. The same waves were caught on both. Same conditions. Same surfer. Two boards built a generation apart.
“If I could tell you one thing: don’t knock any of the old surfboards,” he says. “A lot of those guys ripped on those things, like Tom Curren would probably be riding a 6’3″ this morning, getting more barreled than you’ve ever gotten in your whole life.”
You can definitely see some noticeable differences between the two boards in highlights of the session. At first glance it’s easy to give the nod to the new, un-yellowed board. It flows through sections and the old …Lost thruster often looks like it’s struggling through every little movement. But once Sullivan starts breaking down the video comparisons you realize everything’s really just a matter of perspective. To be clear, Sullivan doesn’t know for sure how old the board is, assuming it’s a shape from the late ’90s to early 2000s. But that alone sets his perspective – he gives props to his favorite surfers of the era.
“It was something that Tom Curren would have rode or Matt Archibald or Chris Ward even,” he says. “A lot of people think they don’t work. ‘They’re too thin, they’re too this, too that,’ but they’re not that bad. They’re good boards. It’s just a different way of surfing. You learn a lot of things about why people surfed the way they did back in the day and you can also progress yourself and surf better by learning new lines and new ways to do things.”
Fair enough. Time to go fire up the PS2 and dig out a copy of Kelly Slater Pro Surfer.
