Straight Back To The Cuckoo’S Nest

The author, on his equipment selection for 8-10’ tropical reef passes: “The surfboard, if you could call it that, was incapable of going anywhere but straight. Its shaper had that part right at least. It was 8’6”x 23”x 4” and essentially rocker-less, with rails boxy to the point of being square. It looked as if the builder had planed the skin off of a blank from the days before close-tolerance molds and then sent it straight to the glasser, no further shaping required. Complementing a bottom that was conspicuously lacking in contour, the board had a half-baked fin setup with a middle appendage that looked like it could keep the   on course. It was either way ahead of its time, or way not.”