evolution

[KenM]

Kid, the dirty little (unspoken secret) is that many of us LIKE it just the way you described it. We're the last of the Mohicans and proud of it.

[ScottMac]

kid, you're so right it'scary.

I keep in contact and still surf with ocean7847. Anybody remember him?

A guy in his early 20's who went out of his way to give kneeboarding a
try. He made one post that a bunch of the old time hardliner christian guys
on this site took offense to and caught so much grief he said Eff it! He went back to being a standup.

The amount of new kneeboarders taking up this sport is nonexistant. The
contest thing ain't bringing them in. Hell, I don't even like surfing with
kneelos these days anymore.

[Smokin Rock]

i agree Ken!
"how did we lose our way"
i guess we must have strayed from the yellow brick road!
Toto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TOTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kidrock]

kid, you're so right it'scary.

I keep in contact and still surf with ocean7847. Anybody remember him?

A guy in his early 20's who went out of his way to give kneeboarding a
try. He made one post that a bunch of the old time hardliner christian guys
on this site took offense to and caught so much grief he said Eff it! He went back to being a standup.

The amount of new kneeboarders taking up this sport is nonexistant. The
contest thing ain't bringing them in. Hell, I don't even like surfing with
kneelos these days anymore.

yeah, I remember him. Friendly, with insightful posts. I'm unaware of the flaming he took, though.

How sad and pathetic is that, though. Here's a friendly, mainstream footy wanting to give the bastard fringe a go, and he's outed because of a board he rides, or because he chooses to wear (or not to wear) swimfins, or some other lame iteration. That's just flat-out gay.

I don't ever remember a time when kneeboarders splintered into subsets or cliques. Kneeboarders were just that...kneeboarders. We WERE the fringe, and took pride in just that.

And people wonder why so many kooks are clogging the water with their SUP's. Probably because nobody in that sub-set has yet created a website where they bash each other for the paddles they use, or some such nonsense.

BTW, tell Ocean7847 that he's OK in my book, and don't judge too harshly by an ignorant few.

[Bill F]

Kidrock just nailed it.

[Howard Lorney]

A wise man once said to me

You cannot offend me!
Offense cannot be given, it can only be taken.
People who are offended choose to be offended.

Must admit that when I first registered i was taken back by some of the posts and the subsequent replies. I kept reading and absorbing the good information and ditched the garbage and rantings for what they were. Who really cares anyway.

On the subject of new kneelos, we do have to keep putting ourselves out there and encouraging young ones to try the sport. Converted Vince (40 yrs young) last year from boogy to kneeboard and he's loving it. He just sold a board I sold him to a 35yr young lady who is taking up the sport and he's also encouraging a couple of younger lid riders to have a go at kneeboarding.

Keep it up Vinnie

Enthusiasm and fun is what it takes. We often have three of us out at the same time now and people are seeing kneeboarding again in the Bay.

[Scott]

Scotty Mac wrote:

A guy in his early 20's who went out of his way to give kneeboarding a
try. He made one post that a bunch of the old time hardliner christian guys
on this site took offense to and caught so much grief he said Eff it! He went back to being a standup.

Scotty, yeah, I remember that thread (around February of 2007). It started out pretty edgy then calmed down.

Are you sure that's why Ocean dropped out? I just did a little research, and I count him making no less than 37 generally happy posts on KSUSA over the next 11 months on a large variety of threads (regularly through January of 2008) before moving on to other pastures...

[southpeakbrad]

Ocean came down to Blacks a couple of times and we showed him a good time and he picked up a Blast from EQ and was stoked. I think that his injured foot came around and he was able to stand up again... but cant' be sure.

Or, maybe he did get into Law School and isn't surfing that much as a result.

[eqKneelo]

How did we lose our way?

That's what I say every time I attempt to read these forums.

What happen to the vibrant, passionate, cutting edge, dedicated surfers of my youth, who:

ripped the gnarliest breaks in town, rode the coolest equipment, held the break down with an iron fist, and scared the crap out of us as kids.

They've been replaced, in these forums, by a bunch pessimistic, cynical, aging Knostalgia Kneelos who

don't even like surfing with
kneelos these days anymore.

It's so sad.

Thank God, this vocal minority does not represent The KSUSA. (They never even participate in KSUSA events.)
IF the sport has a future, it's going to be realized by guys like Don Harris, Tom Linn, Marc Robertson, Jack Beresford, Jon Mel, and Joe Coyne.
40 and 50 and 60 years young... as stoked as ever on the sport... nothing but positive and supporting... always working tirelessly to somehow provide a bright future to those of us who believe one exists.

[RMcKnee]

"some" of these kids dig the old dudes in the water and are easily talked into riding kneeboards, paipos, alaias and such ...

Hmm ... Cappy that's a worrying trend. When I were a kid I took guidance from Timothy Leary and co. who advised us to beware of smiling men with bad reputations and trust no-one over the age of thirty.

Then John Lennon said

No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son-of-tricky dickie's gonna mother hubbard soft soap me with just a pocket of soap

The other great inspirations of my youth were the fact that Jimi Hendrix was a left-handed three-finger guitarist and that my mate's older brother surfed a well known north coast point break at eight foot plus while out of his gourd on goldtops. Just like Captain Goodvibes, but with more hair.
For better or worse these people and others like them helped me to stop and think, be an individual and thus, surf on my knees.
Thank you and goodnight.

[joe]

Have been pondering the surfcraft and it evolution.

Looked at some old late 70s and early 80s twinfin kneeboards for sale the other day and it got me thinking about the evolutionary deadend streets and the golden paths most followed in designs.

We even go back and try some of these EVOLUTIONARY DEADENDS and they work, they function and they show us something from our past and some of us even steal snipets of some design feature and bring the past into the present or into the future by incorporating some design fluck or some aspect that challenges us today.

Some examples:

George Greenoughs spoon design has seen a Retro resurgence and I am yet to have ridden a proper spoon, has a go of a sort of spoon 30+ years ago.


Friar Tuck early 80s wide nosed squared tailed fourfins which Dave Parkes shredded on and I am yet to ride one.


I see the big boards (long 6ft+ and 3 inch thick) becoming those of an experimental evolutionary deadend.

And I have riden them and they work well, but I see future problems with them. I ride 5ft 8in x 24 in wide x as thin as I can get, to emulate pro style footboards

However there is an extremely strong passion for these boards at the moment and I was wondering what others thoughts are, especially of the shapers who frequent this great forum.

[ezak]

this thread contains a lot of words about speed, Leary, meth, dropping out, pro athletes, etc...
maybe we should start a new thread and call it

"under the influence"