spoons

[surfhorn]

Man O' War - Jon is a tried and true mower of foam.........and wood.
I'll get around to building a spoon. Its more a matter of a facility than anything else. I doubt if my family will ever again let me build a backyard board! I just have to make time to pop over to Freeline's factory and sneak in between batches.

But, then again, I am having the time of my life on my 6'0" Freeline foam n' glass KB. I've got a lot of exploring left to do on this board. But ya never know...............

[markgnome]

flexspoon--

i really like your description of what it feels like to ride a spoon. the POP into concave, the ripple of the water surface--the bending and straightening of the hull, the FEEL--wonderful for mind surfing.

i've never seen anyone ride a spoon in person. i've never ridden one either. it should be quite a learning experience. I have been imagining not the wave riding part, but the inbetween time. it seems like i will have to slow down, be more patient and chose better waves. sit deeper and watch the waves more carefully as they approach their breaking point. lack of floatation while relying on my legs almost entirely is what i envision. sumerged. perhaps i will feel like a water bug or tadpole while moving into the lineup.

our project is more along the lines of a velo. the flex will be more dynamic in the sense that it will incorporate the entire deck-- not just the tail. simply put our spoon seems thicker overall. your photos indicate the next generation in Greenough's spoon evolution. your outline looks like velo but it has the triplane as well.
i can say that our spoon already seems as though it has it's own life force (maybe it is alive in some way)--more so than the regular boards nearby.....

man o' war: once again thanks for all your input and support!

[flexspoon]

markgnome:

2 "Velos" 1 "edge"
board in center has been ridden regularly for 25 years.
Malibu, Pt. Mugu, Hollywood by the Sea, Rincon, the Ranch, Mexico and Hawaii(Hanalei) . Build it right and it will last.

.

Flotation! We don't need no stinkin flotation! the edge board does NOT float. I glued some foam on the deck so it wouldn't just sink. You'll never get one to float enough to paddle like a foam board and neutral buoyancy gets you closer to neutral handling. Plus diving under waves is easier.

One of the best things about riding a spoon is that there is no one to watch - you have to make your own path. No one to copy. You can't be a clone like everone else.

The path less traveled...

[Steeno]

love your work mate

[stu]

Just a thought what about moulded spoons I am sure there where some built in the 70's I have a pic in an old surfer mag, wouldn't this prove a quicker root for building and cheeper in time
Stu

[Man O' War]

While somebody's thinking up an answer for Stu, I have a few more thoughts. This is a warning for you guys who have been married for a while and are thinking about doing a spoon but it's not exactly in your budget and you're going to have to be "discreet" about it.

SHE KNOWS YOU'RE MAKING A SPOON WHEN...

...you give her "Innermost Limits" for Valentine's Day.

...you tell her your red eyes are just tears of joy from knowing her.

...she rolls over at night and that's cool.

...there's a white ring around the bathtub and resin on the bar stools.

...at supper your kids say, "So how's the 'project' (wink, wink) coming along, Dad?"

...she's doing the phone bill and finds ten long distance calls to a Dale Solomon.

[MTBarrels]

Just a thought what about moulded spoons I am sure there where some built in the 70's I have a pic in an old surfer mag, wouldn't this prove a quicker root for building and cheeper in time
Stu

Yes, I made and sold fully molded shell-type kneeboards in the late 60's-- and almost all my boards that I've built since 1974 have at least been semi-molded (bottom molded, foam shaped and glassed). If nothing else, semi-molding saves a lot of wasted foam. But unfortunately Clark no longer offers foam sheeting, which makes the project a bit more labor intensive.

mt barrels

[hart]

uriah,

Check out these photos! Troy Atkeson's hybrid Fish/spoons...

unless I'm mistaken, there are clearly moulds visible in these pics from which some of these boards have been made..

and I am sure that Greenough speaks of a moulded Velo in Innermost Limits..

spoon moulds however, as a way of mainstream acceptance

nah..

if you want to try this kind of surfing..it is almost imperitive that you travel the spoon journey itself..you got to do it for you

AND..spoons are a journey..

because they're certainly not..a destination

2 true

hart

MOW

and speaking of the truth..how bloody true are U?



ps

U forgot the fibreglazz rash around the top of the boardshorts..the ones that look like pimples

despite the fact you R in ya 40's

[Jon Manss]

I can't wait to see a shot of Man o war's spoon. Come on Mark show us the goods. Oh, the suspense is killing me.

[Flexman]

.

[Man O' War]

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 9:38 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't wait to see a shot of Man o war's spoon. Come on Mark show us the goods. Oh, the suspense is killing me.

---------------------

Hey Jon,
I got to wait till Ruth's not here

[W.G. Facenda]

[quote="Flexman"]The "mainstream" all too often represents nothing more than the lowest common denominator... which leads to a bigger question: of all surfers, why should kneeboarders care about achieving mainstream acceptance?


The zenith of mainstream surfing acceptance is the modern bodyboard: mass-produced and used by the millions, marketed and sold nearly everywhere, relatively low cost, reasonably safe and nearly indestructable.




------If ACCEPTANCE is important to you?.Choosing to ride a kneeboard is the long,hard road. Riding a kneeeboard in 2005 is about as far from "mainstream" as you can get.LONG LIVE THE MISFITS!! hahaha

Long live the path less traveled...[/quote]

[Man O' War]

PS. For any of you out there in whatever country who don't know Flexman, he lives his philosophy of the Road Less Traveled By like few people you will ever meet. He is completely unique, totally courageous, and, on top of it, an incredibly generous resource. On spoons, if he doesn't know it, he knows who does, all the way to the top. And his mats have quietly caught fire all over the world. He's another example of the reason ksusa has become such a rich forum. Who needs anything else? (Thankyou, Don -- enjoy Hawaii)

[hart]

surfing is a journey for all of us..

after all, so is life

whether or not we arrive at anywhere inparticular is sometimes a matter of extreme individual circumstance, yet at other times, a matter of choice.

personally, I hope I never fully reach my destination

because that could mean that the journey was over..



this post dedicated to Wayne Cowper, Builder and Surfer..who died in Sydney yesterday.

Wayne surfed in the junior final of the 1964 World Titles held at Manly won by Midget. He was a guy who respected kneeboarders, particularly Michael Novakov and Simon Farrer who both grew up at Narrabeen.

He was best mates with Fitz

aloha mate

..

no man is an island

[markgnome]

i rode the spoon for the 1st time today--the waves were bad--no push--so it was really like taking that first small sip of wine. i was very humbled to say the least. 1st off the new fins (utd's) were killing my ankles and feet. i'll try the churchills next time for comfort alone.

the spoon seems to have a mind of its own--not like a regular board. you're actually out there body-surfing while pushing a comic disk. this disk seems to enjoy being underwater mostly. you are really in the water! neutral boyancy becomes palpable. [the upside is getting under waves] the down side is you feel sluggish.

my first wave didn't even break. A "big wind licked lump" that got steep enough for me to get into and to my knees. as the dish started moving my first interpretation was "this thing is really stable" i could tell "it really wanted to go". When i thought about it later, i realized my knees and shins were actually a few inches under the surface of the water! i was surfing the water beneath the sea surface! you are "in" the wave more than "on" the wave. maybe that's because i was going so slow.

then i sat out there for a long time. the tide was bottoming out. the waves stopped coming. i got cold. timing will be the key.

later i rode a right and a left where i attempted to turn the spoon using my standard turning paradigm. the spoon was NOT having it. Paul Gross was right when he said "velo surfed itself" it seems to know where the fall-line is. similar to rain water rolling down a mountain. it finds the V's in the topography of the breaking wave and follows them because it must.

simply put it needed more power and these waves had none. because you are pushing more water, you need more speed to carve a turn. plus you need a continuously peeling wave it seems. All this and i haven't even done my first turn! it's like being a kid surfing for the first time. i caught the wave, stood up, and now i'm just riding the whitewash straight toward shore trying not to fall. i barely got to 1st gear! nowhere near 1st gear's mid or top speed [where you know you need to push in the clutch and shift to 2nd]so you can't even call that first gear can you?

i'm just humbled and can't wait to do my first turn! i feel the potential there.