Surfing, The Australian History Of

11 Pages 2637 Words

nvenient pieces of equipment to work with. The boards remained the awkward length of approximately 16 feet but were now considerably hollow. Surfboards of the 30's made out of composite wood allowed slight curves and a much lighter board (practical for manoeuvrability). When supplies became available after the WW2 composite wood was substituted for lightweight balsa wood. During this time a rudder was added to help stabilise the board, as well as the introduction of a thin layer of resin and fibreglass coating the wood, this decreased friction between the water and board and also added strength hence lighter boards.

The surfing craze in Western civilisations was began and apparent in the 50’s, just about anything marketed to the baby boomer generation had a ‘surfy’ sense to it. Though a good portion of board material and design during the 50's was situated on the use of balsa wood, the 50's were also extremely influential to surfboard technology. These boards of the 50’s were still about 10 feet in length but were now being mass produced in factories, therefor cheaper surfboards then previous years. The most substantial evolutionary development occurred in the late 50's and early 60's was the preclusion of polyurethane foam and fibreglass. This removed excessive weight, with less weight to push the board into the water boards were easier to turn, though small problems developed concerning buoyancy. It also aided the industry by making surfboards easier to shape (with the use of shaping templates), hence faster to produce and market, these boards are comparable to the boards of the modern day.

The 60’s were also revolutionary to the surfboard, due to the great experimentation occurring. In the late 60’s almost every surfer had ditched the long board and was now surfing the shortboard (went from an average length of 10 to 6 feet), and was now about 3 kilograms lighter. George Greenough, Bob McTavish and David Nuuhiwa w...