True innovation often comes from the simplest ideas.
What board would you take if you could only take one?
Shaper Simon Jones had met a fellow surfer who had been riding a bike across Australia with a surfboard in tow. With room for only one board, the choice had to be made — what would suffice for small north coast point breaks, a variety of beach breaks, reefs, and large surf?
Working with this simple idea, Simon, together with surfer Torren Martyn, ventured into a space not previously seen in surfboard innovation. The mid-length channel bottom keel twin was born — the simple idea of a one-board quiver coming together with the latest innovations the pair had been developing in high-performance twins.
Recently, on a brief visit to a friend’s house, Torren unearthed the original 7’9” channel bottom twin, tucked beneath a house for several years. Rediscovering this old friend, she was soon cleaned up, slipped into a board bag, and headed south to meet a Southern Ocean swell making its way toward the Victorian coast.
The last time this board had been given a real run was in perfect Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, many years ago — an experience that inspired numerous iterations and evolutions of its original form. Not retrospective in any manner, but instead existing within a new space in surfboard history that had not previously been witnessed.
True to its original intention, the 7’9” came alive quickly in the Victorian swell and again proved to be one of the most enjoyable experiences — allowing early entry, long drawn-out lines, and hyper speed and flow, the kind where you just lay back and enjoy the canvas reeling off in front of you.
In the upper echelon of competitive surfing, innovation often comes in micro-adjustments over time. However, for the majority of us, innovation can happen at any point. Simply taking the idea of your own needs and working with a shaper to produce something designed for your journey can result in new elements, new experiences, and new spaces. That’s what’s exciting about design — a simple idea can lead you on a whole new ride.
