Kai Lenny, maxing out his SUP design qualities. Photo: Quatro
Editor’s Note: Welcome to “By Design” with Sam George that examines the genius, and sometimes the mystery, of surfing’s storied design history. Sam has been writing about surfing for more than three decades and is the former Editor-in-Chief of SURFER magazine. He won an Emmy for his work on the 30 for 30 documentary, Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau. Today, Sam looks at the stand-up surfboard.
In Mary Shelley’s 1821 novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, protagonist Dr. Victor Frankenstein, endeavoring to reanimate lifeless tissue, scaled his infamous monster up to what he called “…its gigantic stature,” believing it would be much easier to construct a human body if the assembled body parts were made bigger. The exact opposite is the case with surfing’s most controversial “monster” surfboard design, when considering the difficulties presented in scaling up the performance qualities of a much smaller board to one that is capable of being paddled while standing up. Accomplishing this takes more than mere skill with a Skil 100 planer — it requires sufficient imagination to envision a surfboard unlike any that have come before it, meant to be ridden in an entirely new manner. With this in mind it’s easy to see that stand-up paddle surfboards, especially the custom-made variety, are one of the most innovative and sophisticated designs in use today.
“There are lots of different types of stand-up paddleboards,” says John Meskauskas, of Flying Fish Board Co. in Stuart Beach, Florida. “Race boards, touring boards, recreational boards. But it all evolved from surfing, which is what the original stand-up boards were designed for. That’s why our custom performance stand-ups are basically just big surfboards.”
Big surfboards, sure, but hardly basic. The need to achieve both surfing and paddling efficiency adds complexity to otherwise standard design features.
“For example, the subtle, single-to-double concave we use on our performance stand-ups is the same you’d find on traditional surf shapes,” explains Meskauskas, who began shaping boards in his garage back in 2009. “But then we might add a bit harder bottom rail to provide stability, along with flatter nose rocker. Paddling stability and efficiency is something you don’t worry too much about with regular surfboards.”
Venerable Santa Cruz shaper and stand-up innovator Bob Pearson has a lot to say about this issue, having adapted elements of his Arrow label’s big wave guns to his stand-up range.
“The whole point of stand-up is getting into the wave sooner and easier,” asserts Pearson. “Same as with my Maverick’s guns. So on the stand-ups, you lower the entry rocker for better wave entry, put a subtle displacement hull up in the nose versus a flat bottom, so it paddles faster, and then kick up the tail to really loosen them up.”
Weight is another factor to consider when working with exaggerated dimensions.
For example, a 9’x 4”x 29” surfboard constructed from conventional polyurethane foam/polyester resin might weight up to 30 pounds, the excessive poundage offsetting virtually all performance qualities.
“We make all our boards with lightweight EPS foam and recycled carbon fiber, covered with S-glass,” says Meskauskas. “ Not only durable, but very, very light. A light board accelerates into the wave so much quicker, an advantage you don’t have with prone boards. Then on a bigger board, weight is a big factor in maneuverability, especially in the beachbreak and shorebreak waves we typically ride here in Florida.”
Pearson, who with meticulous glassing and sanding techniques has regularly whittled the weight of a nine-foot custom stand-up down to 12 lbs., can’t help but agree.
“A lighter board floats better, paddles better, carries better and changes direction better,” he says. “Turning tighter, quicker, easier, faster. Just giving you a better experience out there, more success.”
Laird, and his Pearson-Arrow SUP.
But even with the reduced weight, what about all that increased volume, a startling dimension to the V-obsessed, yet absolutely necessary to support an upright surfer. On this topic, Pearson prefers to use the F-word: foil.
“A volume measurement by itself tells you nothing about how any surfboard will work, but this is especially true for stand-up boards,” says Pearson. “ It’s all about foil. So you take a board that’s nine feet long, 28 inches wide and four inches thick, that thing could be a boat. But you hide that volume in the center of the board, foil down the rails, really thin out the nose and tail, and suddenly you’ve got a big board you can sink during a turn, and it rides great.”
When Pearson says thin, he really means it, with most of his shapes – some 10 feet and over – featuring thinner tail dimensions than a 5’10″ Channel Islands Free Scrubber. The whole point being to effectively take advantage of the stand-up’s increased buoyancy when sinking, and then springing out of a turn, increasing drive and maneuverability; despite widespread perception, it’s not all about the paddling.
A number of stand-up manufacturers offer production models designed specially for surfing, Naish, Starboard, Fanatic and Jimmy Lewis among the most innovative. But while the industry’s characteristic composite/sandwich construction protocols are undoubtedly advanced and advantageous in almost every way, they do require a molding step that precludes getting a board custom-shaped and designed for your own size, weight and level of experience. Which, as any surfer will tell you, is one of the sport’s greatest pleasures and privilege. That’s why we’re lucky to still have shapers like Meskauskas and Pearson, happy to be creating custom “monster” boards and the exceptional surfing experience they provide. As the good Dr. Frankenstein put it:
“A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.”
* This feature was written with a keen awareness of a systemic close-mindedness that has inexplicably plagued modern surfing, vigorously applied throughout the decades to perceived “Others” like women surfers, longboarders, bodyboarders, and, of late, stand-up paddle surfers. No doubt many of those perpetuating this unfortunate attitude deride the idea of surfing with an accessory; no doubt most of these wear surf leashes. SG
