The Longboard / Shortboard Quandary...

It's quite a quandary - this quandary. The more surfing infiltrates every part of my physical and metaphysical life the more I mentally return to the divide in the path that leads to either shortboards or longboards. It holds more and more significance. (For some reason I have a feeling that I stand at this divide holding a Skip Frye longfish - but that's just a fancy.)

My natural urge when moving from my Mini Mal was to go shorter. This I have enjoyed tremendously so far, though I do miss being able to catch the waves quite as early as used to be possible on the 'mothership'. I watch Alex Knost, Joel Tudor, Tom Wegener. I long for The Glide... The charm, the play, as these tuned-in longboarders navigate themselves - not just along the waves - but about their craft as well. The appeal is absolute. I will be longboarding, one day soon.

But, before long...

... I'm watching Dane Reynolds, Dave Rastovich, Rob Machado swooping around on all sorts of waves like Abstract Expressionists. There's the taste in the mouth you get, like in a sweet-shop, when you see a lipsmackingly beautifully saturated, resin-tinted, Fish. The twin fins, quads, five, six, seven even!?! Bamboo fins, glass-ons. Wooden boards, carbon fibre, epoxy. And then there are 'performance fish'...

And so, a few little thoughts and I'm back at this tortuous bifurcation. As an intermediate (and a man of limited means) I cannot follow both paths at once. So, I'll stick with my natural urge: to try to improve down the shorter board route first (I'm not going to get any younger) and have a crack at that before seeking out The Glide.

So, even though I'll be constantly looking across at the longboarders and mentally returning to the decision, I guess I've chosen my path for now. Gone fishing...