Remember a few years ago when Kelly Slater made everyone ride surfboards that didn’t work for anyone other than Kelly Slater? People flailed on tiny slivers of surfboard, pumping madly to avoid sinking like stones, mistakenly believing that Kelly’s boards were what made him surf like Kelly.
They missed wave after wave, paddling desperately on wafer-thin pieces of foam shaped like an elf’s shoe. Now, though, things have thoroughly come around. Weirdness is no longer weird, and “alternative boards” are no longer alternative. Bonzers, single fins, etc, are a regular sight in lineups around the world, and that’s a good thing.
Sure, not everyone can surf them like Ellis Ericson and Alex Knost, but they sure are a lot easier–which, of course, generally equals a lot more fun… which is the name of the game.
