| At nine feet or longer longboards are serious business these days. At a Doheny Longboard Surf Club competition at Doheny Beach friends and family are cheering for the Menehune. The Menehune are said to be a race of tiny beings that inhabit the interior of Hawaii. The Menehune or Hawaiian elf are fond of dancing, swimming, cliff diving into the surf, and playing sports.
Kid surfers are affectionately called Menehune. But their boards are anything but elf-size. These kids are hanging 10 on longboards. The longboard surfboard is back.
The Longboard - nine feet or longer - isn't your kid's surfboard. (If your kid is surfing a longboard, he probably borrowed it from your dad). The longboard is part and parcel of old school surfing, with the emphasis on long, graceful rides, and maneuvers such as Walking the Nose and hanging 10 (as in 10 toes over the edge of the nose).
The modern longboard is a far cry from the 11 to 12-foot redwood planks that Hawaii's Duke Kahanamoku surfed when he entertained crowds at Balboa Beach and Corona del Mar during surfing exhibitions in 1912. After winning gold medals for swimming at the Stockholm Olympic Games in 1912, Duke went on world tours to demonstrate not only his swimming, but his surfing as well. Although modern longboarders may throw in a few more tricks, they surf in essentially the same style as Duke and the early surf pioneers.
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To ride the big boards surfers simply stood and did what was called a pose in the green away from the white-water. No cutbacks, all angle. There was beauty and grace in this traditional surfing style. As boards got shorter, surfing became more aggressive.
Shortboards - no longer than seven feet - are fast, highly maneuverable surfboards designed for attacking waves with numerous cutbacks. Stewart offers up his brief history of surfboard length: "Boards were long. Boards went short. And then boards went all over the place."
The resurgence in longboards really got noticed about 10 years ago. To ride a shortboard well, you have to be very light, very agile and in really good shape. The boards are two inches thick and six feet long and weigh about 5 to 6 pounds. You can't be 40 years old, weigh 185 pounds, haven't surfed for 10 years and then only on weekends and ride a shortboard.
What's exciting about longboards, Stewart claims, is if you get a big enough board on a mushy enough wave, you'll get to your feet. You'll be off and riding and surfing right away! |
