Monday 5 November 2012

A Glance At The Development Of Custom Surfboards

By Ernestine T, Guzman


It all was said to have started in ancient Hawaii with the original invention of what in time would turn into California surfboards which were improved and customized to become the wood surfboards or custom surfboards that we know. What began as the first wood surfboards were constructed from local trees and sometimes as long as fifteen feet, which meant they were quite heavy. Improvements and changes were applied to the design that resulted in the custom surfboards developing over the years with various shapes and using improved materials.

The true definition specifies that a surfboard is an elongated platform that is stood on by a rider participating in the sport of surfing. A board basically needed to meet two requirements which included that it was relatively light weight, but at the same time strong enough to support the person riding the waves that were breaking. That permitted much room for improvement as many participants immediately developed ideas of what could be done to the board to help it perform better.

Today we can choose from a large variety of options and types of boards in the category of California surfboards boasting of state-of-the-art high performance features. It is also possible to find some epic fine-wood and all-time classic surfboards that have been re-created from the original designs. Let's expand on a few of the features that allow customization to better suit the surfer's ability, age or size.

The most fitting of any classic design is the very rich and characteristic wood that was the original material used to make some of the first surfboards. Using today's latest technology soft top surfboards usually use either one hundred percent recycled EPS foam cores, which are made from the expanded polystyrene that is a very tough and rigid closed-cell foam, finished with epoxy resins or traditional polyurethane foam cores finished with polyester resin. To sum it all up you can say that many of our modern surfboards are made using composite technology involving foam and fiberglass. The designer using these materials is allowed to express creativity and at the same time have complete control.

The importance of quality handmade boards that are versatile and can be customized for a specific location and shaped to match the rider's particular ability is well understood by the individuals who work in the business of creating wood surfboards. Today surfers can benefit from great looking boards with improved directional stability thanks to the help from major advances over the years that have contributed to improvements in material along with the addition of one or more fins on the bottom rear of the board as part of the custom design and handmade construction.




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