I have been obsessively surfing for the past decade, but you’d never know it by looking at my quiver.
The culprit of the renaissance movement. Photo: Henlein.
My quiver consists of a handful of beat-up boards, which, at best, would qualify as “striving to be a quiver.” This is mostly for two reasons.
The first reason is that I live in the city of San Francisco, and I am not rich or well connected. That is shorthand for saying that I live in a tiny apartment with no rambling garage and very limited storage space. The second reason, which is shameful, is that in the past – when I needed a new wetsuit or was craving a new board and needed it immediately – I would sell one of my “This-board-isn’t-really-turning-out-to-be-what-I-thought-it-would-be,” boards on Craigslist. Friends have scolded me for this rash behavior. I never listened.
Enter the bubble board renaissance. I bought the bubble board, a 6’ 1” T. Patterson, back in 2008 in preparation for my only trip to Indo. In anticipation of the aqua clear water, I had a friend paint the bottom of the board. I had him paint it to resemble bubbles about to break the surface of water. It was groovy, it was trippy, and it looked great in Indo in that beautiful water. Upon my return from the trip, I opened my board bag only to find that the whole nose had been nicked off. I guess these things happen. I relegated the board to a corner of my apartment where dinged boards go to collect cat hair.
Now, a recent member of the unemployed, I’ve had time to do more surfing. With this came the worm. The worm that says, “Wouldn’t it be nice to try another board out on these waves?” Quite plainly, I cannot afford a new board, so, in current DIY fashion, I pulled out the bubble board and created a new nose out of sun cure, cloth and YouTube clips. It wasn’t pretty, but it works.
I took the bubble board out recently for its first session, and although it sputtered upon starting, by the end of the session I remembered how much I loved this board. Even better, as I was surfing spring slop and making something out of nothing, I swear I could remember the waves I was lucky enough to surf back in Indo in 2008.
And just like that, I think I got the whole quiver thing. It not only spices up your surf life, it also enables the idea of a renaissance.
