Enjoy Your Quivers Collection

Many of you thought that I have gone mad by acquiring 3 new surfboards into my quivers this summer. To some extent I do agree. I did not have to get all three, but then I promise that this would be it for a while. My version of the excuse is the Highway 1 closure which resulted in the delay of shipment of all of the surfboard I ordered previously. It is a bit more complicated than that, but let's leave that story there. The end result is that all of the boards that I was going to get in the past year all basically came at the same time.

A lot of surfers also ski or snowboard a lot and a great many of them also travel to other tropical locations to surf. For me though I don't do any of those, instead my mode of operation is to surf almost exclusively in California, with occasional Hawaii trips thrown in. So those who have told me that you were jealous about the rate of my board acquisition, please know that I don't blow $300 to ride some snow at Squaw or North Star and I don't do $2,500 all-inclusive trip to Bali either. So I think I deserve to buy a couple of new boards and one set of wetsuits a year. And besides, I go out at least 3 times a week with the stuff I buy. I at least do 150 sessions a year (I did do more than 260 a year one year), say given a surfboard at $800 and wetsuits at $400, a total of $1200, that comes out to be $8.00 a session! So I think that's still a bargain, and I now buy Epoxy boards so I hardly need to repair them. In fact all of my epoxy board have NEVER been to a shop even if I had them for more than 2 years. So there. $8 to $10 a session is not so bad, and I take care of surfing en route to work most of the time so I am not factoring in the driving cost!

Of course, then, there is the second question. Why do I need to collect so many boards?

I'd be totally frank with you on this. It is because it is fun.

I actually cannot surf any of them. I really suck on any of these boards. I don't even get the most out of each board. But it is exciting to get a new board, ride them, and try to interpret in my own way how they ride differently, and they do ride differently, and teach me a few things or two about the characteristics of each board. Of course, not to the extent whether the rail or rocker differences are significant.

And that brings to this point. There are a lot of people who would want to get a new board advise or two.

I basically came to the conclusion that it is probably pointless to argue these points. These types of arguments belong to professional surfers.

For us we should just get whatever surf boards that attract us, get them, try them, and enjoy and experience them. There really is not a magic perfect board that would transform you into an ace surfer the moment you paddle out with one, and I have not run into one yet. Instead, it is more like try to learn the characteristics of the boards you try. Besides, even if I give you an advise, I know fully well that you are going to go for that board you really wanted. It looks cool and you already fell in love with the way it looks.

We all go through so many different boards we all love them and hate them and sometimes feel totally ripped off, and sometimes totally surprised.

And I think that's also part of the fun of surfing.