Transmission Dispatch #5

In: Transmission by doclach 0 Comments Tue 6th Sep '11

Tags: Danarchist Dispatch #5 , Style

Our mystery writer has been hard at work again. This time The Danarchist puts pen to paper about "Style". Sit back, relax and get ready to hear your own opinions fly around your head and totally bug you next time you surf. even more when you watch someone else....

Dispatch No 5.

On the semantics of "Style"

If you want to start a guaranteed forum cyber-brawl these days, nothing is as sure fire as venturing into the pickled world of the pros ‘n cons of style. Style should be as unique as the individual. A quick backward glance at some of the legends of bodyboarding quickly illustrates this point. Bullet Mckenzie rarely, if ever, crossed his legs to spin, hell he didn't even pull rolls very often, yet he remains one of the Bodyboardings most stylish riders. Eppo was all gymnastic flair, Kyle Maligro was pure spontaneity and bounce, Kainoa was all about power. All unique, and all with their own style.

Many young riders today are desperate to mimic what has come to be seen as a good "style". But if style is unique, how then can it be reproduced? I'd argue that increasingly the focus /contention over "style" in the bodyboarding world has come to be confused with what is essentially evolving techniques of riding.

The dog-whistle topic amongst generation next boogers is the "Cregs", legs crossed so flat across the backside that Baryshnikov weeps. I've heard kids actually say "Cregs or it doesn't count". It's the badge of honour for our future legends. Cregs is a technique, an act that can be taught. Knees wide across the tail, legs low and crossed at the ankles, feet in the fins pointed like a ballerina. The wide distribution of weight across the tail keeps the body and board flat and stable, particularly effective on gutless waves. As a technique, it makes perfect sense that this it is favoured amongst our Northern brethren on the sunny and golden coasts, given the small slop that is regularly on offer.

Stewart developed the cross legged spin in the shallow reefs he surfed on Kona. It was a technique that was functional for the types of waves he was riding. It wasn't an aesthetic choice, it was performance choice. If he was going to spin, it had to be fast, and Mike found the cross legged technique most effective for this because it reduced contact with the water face and provided centrifugal momentum through the hips as he spun. Success breeds imitation, and the crossed leg spin was here to stay.

Now jump forward to 1994, when a skinny upstart from Brazil by the name of Guilherme Tamega was all but invincible on the G.O.B tour, with his extended arm inverts and rolls, and wide legged frog like spins. Tamega grew up surfing beach breaks around Rio. Visualise a Tamega spin. Knees are right out wide on the tail of the board. Same weight distribution technique as the modern creg spin, just without the stewart inspired aesthetics. The modern day creg spin is essentially a synthesis of the two techniques to create a spin that allows for a fast, yet more stable flat spin.

Like every other grommet the world over, when I was learning the trade, I mimic my hero's techniques. My Invert inspiration came from Stewart and Tully Beevor (Now there was a guy that had style). If you can track down some mid 90's footage off youtube you'll notice that a lot of guys would have the nose arm bent at the elbow as they inverted. This cocking of the elbow would force the tail of the board higher into the air, making the air seem more tweeked. Fast forward to the now, and most riders have their nose arm flat along the board, which flattens the board out, and means that the outside rail arm becomes more important in helping to tweek the board through the invert, and changes the look of the move.

Why the change? Well it could be a purely aesthetic thing, but my hunch is that the customizing of shapes and extra speed now made possible by the modern board has played a part. The one size fits all 43 inch boats of the 90's required extra man handling through the air, and tweeking a board that big ( especially if you were a 60kg grom like myself back in the day) was nigh on impossible without employing some leverage with the elbow. With the slimmed down custom designs of today the elbow leverage technique is no longer needed, hence the evolution of the invert technique.

The final area of changing technique that we can look at is the way in which hand placement on the rail affects the riders weight distribution of riders and how this impacts on current riding technique. Today's rider wants to take of deeper and launch higher. Speed is the key element to both.

Mitch Rawlins caused a minor controversy in his film, by claiming that he was more influenced by surfers than by any other Bodyboarders. Mitch utilizes a long drawn out bottom turn to generate arguably more speed than any other rider. He covers long distances across the wave face, surfing hard from rail to rail, just like a surfer. (What I like to call surfing long. Surfing short involves more subtle body and weight changes in and around the pocket). Mitch achieves this by having his outside rail hand placed further back than a lot of riders. This in turn shifts his hip placement back further towards his back tail peg, giving him a lot of drive through his bottom turns and rail transitions. (Joe Clarke employs a similar technique ).

The old maxim was always moving forward on your board would generate more speed, sliding back for would give you more control. The straight, skinny, built for speed boards that are popular in Australia today free the rider up from having to generate more speed with their body weight, allowing the them to exercise more control and drive from the rails by spending more time further back on the board. This technique opens windows of greater performance for the modern rider.

Each generation of riders will develop new techniques to maximize performance based around the equipment they have to work with, and the vision that they have for their riding. The riders who deserve our attention and admiration should be those riders pushing and developing more effective practises and techniques rather than those who adhere to rigidly to a culturally prescribed aesthetic of whatever is the current "style".

Not learning by rote,

The Danarchist.