The Mystique of the New Stick…

Looking straight down the stringer to see the bend of the concave. Feeling the sharpness of the tail rail. Checking the lines of the rocker. Running your hands across the smooth surface that will be pocked with heal , knee and pressure dents after the first session.

Ahhh, even after owning dozens of surfboards, there’s still nothing like the stoke I get when that fresh, white brand new surfboard. And this just happened to me for the first time in awhile this week when I picked up an Aloha AF1 Pro (6’4 x 18 ¾ x 2 3/8) from Surf & Adventure. Check it out: http://www.surfindustries.com/surfboards/aloha_pro.php

The summer of 2008 was the last time a fresh stick came into my possession, so I’ve been deprived of that feeling for just more than a year and a half. Before that, the bulk of my quiver was comprised of lightly used pro boards I got from WRV roadman Drew Wynn, my longtime best friend and roommate.

So that makes this latest addition even more special. If I were 12 years old again, I would have slept with it in my bed. Seriously, does that make me weird that I used to do that?

I love all of the rituals of getting a new stick shred-ready: placing the traction just right on the tail, screwing in those fins, getting the perfect wax bumps on the deck. All the while, I’m still checking the concave, the sharpness and the rocker as if it’s changed.

I wonder if any pros feel this connection between themselves and their new additions. One part of me wants to believe that they would, since any professional needs to be intimately familiar with the tools of their trade. Conversely, it happens to them so often that they literally may be viewed as nothing more as utilitarian – the means to an end.

Shoot, does it matter? I’ll always geek out over this stuff because I’m obsessed.
I’m also amped because this is the beginning of me hitting the reset button on building a quiver. This board will serve as the highest-performance board for waves bigger than waist high. I currently have a 6’0 x 20 ½ x 2 ½ quad fish for below waist, but as of now that’s it. A step-up for heavy/big surf is also needed, as well as a shorter board of medium width for steep faces – like a battail quad.
That’s what makes our sport so unique. Unlike skateboarding, wakeboarding or even snowboarding (to some extent); our riding surface changes by the day, the tide, the hour, the minute and/or the wave. The varying conditions, sizes and shapes of these surfaces really do require an arsenal of surfboards – hence the origin of the term “quiver,” which is also used to describe a bundle of arrows.

Having various options also increases the longevity for each board you own, so while throwing down loot on multiple surfboards is definitely a short-term hit; it all evens out in the long run.

And it’ll keep you ready for whatever Mother Nature throws your way. After all, in surfing – as in life – the more options you have, the more chances you’ll have at success.

-John CSB