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| Big Boards, Big Sport and it's getting bigger. |
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| A master of the Longboard, Coff's Harbour's Harley Ingelby, a damn good short boarder as well! |
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I'll start this topic by declaring that I have a quiver of five surfboards and one of them is a beautiful 9'6" longboard shaped by Greg Brown. In the past three weeks on Victoria's Surfcoast I've ridden my longboard probably 90% of the time as well. Now where am I coming from here?
I've watched with passion and intrigue as longboarding has developed as a legitimate code of surfing over the past decade and it's at the stage now where it is a massive component of surfing and it will get bigger in the coming decade.
I've seen when it was a code of surfing that was heavily criticized by many of the shortboard fraternity. I'm going back ten years but there was a period where the initial spurt of longboard growth was seen as uncool and only for those that couldn't cut it on a shortboard or the elderly etc. I'm sure there was merit to criticize on occassions too, with this new craft and sometimes greedy riders taking unfair advantage in the line up.
Those perceptions sort of held down the growth to a small degree, but the thick skinned longboarders of that time, many of them talented surfers and very capable on any surf craft, were having too much fun and catching too many waves to be put off by the detractors and with the superb new performance boards being produced, there was no stopping them. And today it's massive. I don't know the numbers but it could be anything up to half of the surfing population riding longboards these days. I was on the Sunshine Coast for the annual Australian Longboarding Titles a few weeks ago and I reckon sections around Noosa and Coolum have more longboarders than shortboard riders. That area is awesome for longboards with fun clean warm beachbreaks combined with some of the best peeling point set ups imaginable.
The past stigmas regarding the longboards have just about disappeared as well and I reckon that has a lot to do with many of the surfers who ride these boards these days -- Try telling Wayne Deane or Victoria's Greg Brown to "piss off you hopeless longboarder!" Both have done just about all that needs to be done on a shortboard and these days are incredibly talented longboard surfers massively influencing the surfing population as a whole.
The other awesome role models are the talented young longboarders who are appearing everywhere. Watch these guys and girls surf, and anyone who appreciates riding waves will appreciate the art of the longboard. Many of these surfers like Harley Ingelby, Grant Thomas and Julian Wilson to name just a few, rip on both longboards and shortboards.This is not just happening in Australia - It's worldwide and may in fact be even more pronounced overseas.
Two years ago when I was in Hawaii, surfing Haleiwa on an excellent 4- 5 foot day, the Hawaiian Longboarders absolutely controlled the line up - there was no point me even surfing that day such were the numbers and dominance in the line up. Lanieaka is the same and over there, I think, they sort of identify longboard breaks and shortboard breaks and avoid one another. Identified longboard and shortboard breaks at different swell sizes seems to be one way the codes are naturally working together.
There's tolerance and water edict issues that are certain to evolve because there's unquestionable paddling advantage to the longboarders but I'm sure they'll work things out as both disciplines grow and surf together.
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