It is a
weird concept to apply to the
rootsiness of riding an
alaia or other
finless style board, but with the popularity of this style of surfing, competition is a reality. I believe the first modern heats of stand up
finless surfing was at the 2009
Buffalo Big Board Classic at
Makaha. Since then their has been
exhibitions at the
Noosa contest in Australia, continuing divisions at The
Buffalo BBC, and I am sure, other events. This year Australia has included a
finless division at the
Noosa Contest. Most
amazing though, is the addition of a
finless division at the Aussie Titles, which is like the Super Bowl to Australians. Australians take competition very seriously. The surfers and the judges will be aggressive and critical. Tom, my brother, is concerned that the judges in these contests look at wave riding on
finless boards differently then finned boards, since one rides waves differently on the two types boards. He put together a video describing some of the
maneuvers that can be judged. Think what you may about
competition, the video has great surfing in great waves on great
Wegener Surfboards. The
outcome of all this shows the impact the
alaia and its effect on modern surfing. It is more than a passing trend. It will continue to influence how waves are ridden and the designs of the modern surfboard. It also means their will be more finless surfing competitions, and the popularity of this king of surfingwill become more mainstream.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxlPtbKlEBc,
This is a 7'0'' recycled foam blank glassed with Entopy Bio-resin. This is the color of the resin with no pigment. It can be a 5, 4, 3, 2, fin. It is for the Morro Bay area.
This is a marine ply fin glassed with epoxy. Recycled foam bio resin 6,6 oz deck, 6 oz bottom. This board is pigmented blue, as you can see. The board was really light. I forgot to take a picture of the whole board.
