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Riding a wave is like
suddenly gaining speed
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and gliding at the same time.
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Like walking on water, like flying.
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I think it's really about being one
with a natural phenomenon.
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[Small thing. Big idea.]
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The surfboard requires
a lot of ergonomic thinking.
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How do I stand on it?
How do I not slip off?
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But at the same time,
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it really has to work
in that fluid environment.
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It's really considered
for the rider in some areas
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and for water and physics in others.
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A surfboard is made out of a core element
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which tends to be foam,
which makes the board float,
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and the skin of the board
is some kind of resin,
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epoxy, sometimes fiberglass.
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There often is also a stringer,
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a wood piece down the middle,
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which makes it stronger.
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The rocker is the curvature
of the board in the front.
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That is important because that determines
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what kind of wave
you will be able to take,
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how steep the wave is.
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The tail affects performance.
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Different tails will make
the board react differently,
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so it's a lot about personal preference.
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Our understanding of surfing
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comes from when the Tahitians in 1200 AD
brought it to Hawaii.
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So when James Cook arrived around 1780,
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he was mesmerized
by hundreds of people in the water,
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children, women, men, surfing naked.
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Calvinist missionaries arrive
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and they're scandalized by it.
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It becomes an illegal activity.
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It becomes counterculture.
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The father of modern surfing
is a Hawaiian named Duke Kahanamoku.
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He is an extraordinary swimmer,
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wins gold at the Olympics in 1912.
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Goes around the world
to show his swimming
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but brings surfboards
and demonstrates surfing.
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Imagine, people had never
seen surfing before.
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Suddenly, some person from a faraway place
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is standing on water, riding on water.
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He comes back to Hawaii,
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and they start to make more boards.
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Pre-Second World War,
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you're still looking
at big, heavy wood boards.
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Post-Second World War,
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new materials and new technologies
become available,
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and those make the board
lighter, more accessible, cheaper,
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but it continues to be a custom object,
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something that is made
specifically for a person
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or for a certain spot.
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It's a very symbiotic relationship
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between surfer and shaper.
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There's so many different criteria
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that affect the physics
of how that surfboard
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is moving in water.
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A longboard is typically
used on smaller waves.
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The riding has a lot of style.
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You can walk the board,
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put your toes over it, do a hang ten.
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A shortboard will be faster.
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They're harder to ride,
they sink under the body.
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Board design comes at the intersection
between those physical factors,
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and really, how I want to put
myself in the water.
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It's an expression
as much as it is a physical activity.
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The draw may be
because water is so elusive.
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You can't fight it, you can't change it.
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The best I can do
is recognize what it does.
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The surf may be big and getting bigger
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and surging while you're in the water.
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The elements are changing.
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The wind is coming up.
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You have to be in symbiosis
with the environment.
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You need to look and feel for everything
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that's happening around you.
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And yet, it's so short.
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Five, eight, 15 seconds.
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It's fleeting,
but you have to go back to it.