Would this make a wavejet surfboard qualify as a vessel?

From the perspective of the everyday surfer, which I’m not, I get the “not much clout” because it doesn’t have the history, doesn’t require the skill but gives you the speed, and doesn’t qualify as traditional, but I’m also impressed by the positives to make waves and oceans accessible to anyone. The lifeguard potential is awesome if you’re swimming against a riptide and don’t have a clue.  One can only hope good sense prevails for inexperienced surfers to know where to be and where not to be to stay safe and keep others the same.  People who shouldn’t be out there are already out there wreaking havoc. Nothing new there.  That said, the positives are pretty impressive for making our waters inclusive.  There’s a lot of water out there. What a ride and rush for those who cannot be everyday surfers.  At $4,000, you probably won’t find you need the pepper spray to line up to get one – but to some who really want that wave and feel the euphoria you describe – it might just be worth it.  I loved the part in the film where the SUP slowly glides by the WaveJet.  Point taken!  Thanks for putting the balance out there.      

Looks like it doubles as a time travelling machine-barrels are the worm holes.

Why is it that all the surfing in the promo video is hideously ugly in style and execution? hmmm, more slo-mo on that awkward cross step please!

Great. More unskilled people with more money than sense being enticed into lineups on craft that could get people who actually know what they are doing killed. This thing is a piece of shit and should be relegated to lakes and bays, not lineups.

 The future of surfing: every lineup filled with fat idiots on motorized craft, SUPs, boards ridden exclusively for their wave hogging capacities, boogers (where riding one is just silly), inflatable mats, and any and everything that requires the least amount of skill and fitness to handle.

 Slater needs to work on a wave park that would absorb these kooks, ASAP!

Great, 

“Pro” surfers now pimping themselves out to promote  egg beaters in the line-up…..

Drive thru.

How is it going to be $4000!!!!! 

Figures they use it at ponto and kook reef first. SD ruined surfing.

As amazing as McNamara and Laird are in terrifying waves I’m bummed they have encouraged thousands of people with no real ocean/wave riding abilities to ride things like this at average breaks on average days pissing off everyone who has committed to a life of surfing. I see guys at lineups everywhere now who I never saw before on every manner of bullshit craft hogging waves and creating completely unnecessary hazards because they don’t have the wherewithal or tenacity to develop any real skill.

 Stay at home on the couch where you belong – or pony up and paddle yourself into waves on your own power on boards that are suitable to the break and the conditions on hand.

 ”When everyone’s super…”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8I9pYCl9AQ

As amazing as McNamara and Laird are in terrifying waves I’m bummed they have encouraged thousands of people with no real ocean/wave riding abilities to ride things like this at average breaks on average days pissing off everyone who has committed to a life of surfing. I see guys at lineups everywhere now who I never saw before on every manner of bullshit craft hogging waves and creating completely unnecessary hazards because they don’t have the wherewithal or tenacity to develop any real skill.

 Stay at home on the couch where you belong – or pony up and paddle yourself into waves on your own power on boards that are suitable to the break and the conditions on hand.

 ”When everyone’s super…”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8I9pYCl9AQ

come on,  dude.  a motor changes everything.  its going to turn into an arms race of faster motors until everyone ends up buzzing around each other road warrior style.  the last thing surfing needed was another way for lazy kooks to “surf” without having to learn how to paddle.  you think things like this only get used for the “right reasons?”  history doesn’t support such a charitable view of human nature

Amen.

wow. i read the wrong article i guess. reading the comments and seeing words like “ocean/surf lovers” (ocean lovers go beyond surfing, right?),” lazy kooks who can’t paddle”, “unskilled people with more money…” and  ”history not supporting a charitable view of human nature”, “pissing people committed to a life of surfing off”.    time will tell what hell the wavejet will unleash.  is this surf culture?  c’mon.  it’s the holiday season.    

I find it ironic that they have a “surf etiquette” section on their web site. I lived on the cliff above where they did most of their testing, a second-tier break in North County. While the founder (guy in the videos) was courteous, the main “test pilot” was anything but. He would sit outside and do exactly what there web site preaches against. I don’t remember him letting one set wave pass through all last winter.

I’m not claiming any “local’s rights”.  As a transplant who was lucky enough to live above the break, I deserved no more or less courtesy than everyone else who surfed there.

The novelty was interesting at first, but then we moved down the beach whenever Test Pilot #1 showed up.

Linda,

If you ask the majority of the committed surf public (meaning those who live their lives structured around the surf lifestyle) just how bad the influence of tow assisted surfing, SUPs, and motorized surf craft (as well as kite boarding and even windsurfing at spots that are very predominantly for hand paddle powered craft) has been on the overall enjoyment of surfing you’d get quite an earful. I started out on a boogie board and was raised riding all kinds of water craft. There is an appropriate place for various types of equipment. But the fact remains that many of those who are too lame to ride what is appropriate for the conditions and crowd will definitely show up and screw up the game – they just can’t help themselves. You give people the option to take the easy way out and the line gets long quick.

 Take off the rose colored glasses, they’ll make you blind to reality.

RichardA, you’re right.  A motor does change the entire dynamic and it’s a scary thought.  Like it states in the article: “As in life, there are no shortcuts in surfing.” I don’t think it’s so idealistic to think WaveJet can be used to help disabled surfers (one that I know inparticular) or for water saftey.  Bassicaly its incorporation into every day surfing depends on surfers like you and I.  There will be no arms race for faster motors if there is no demand from their potential buyers (us).  You won’t find me on this thing, nor will you find my friends on it, and I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t be caught dead on it either! So, friend, fad, or foe?  I’m going with fad. 

Beat it..kook

Hey, Richard, maybe you could read what I wrote again?  I don’t think I said “put ‘em in the line-up”.  I actually think I was agreeing with you. There are always positives to anything in the right place at the right time.  Think our author said the same in his article - pros and cons and time will tell.  My second message was just a tongue in cheek take on the vernacular given the ho,ho,ho of the holiday season.  I probably should have left out the “which I’m not” about being an everyday surfer (what in your opinion does that make me?) but glad you defined the committed surf public to me.  As for a wavejet, I’m not buying one.  Rose colored glasses don’t blind you to reality, they just make other people think you’re blind to reality. 
              

Ummm… Linda, you’re attacking the wrong guy. I’m the one who made the comments you’re redressing here. 

 Perhaps there is some positive in this tech but form what I’ve seen with SUPs and other alternative craft making their ways into lineups the law of averages appears to be against this notion – so far more negative than positive. Even the great Gerry Lopez managed to really bum a lot of locals out at a few different breaks when he took his SUP out and proceeded to hog all the sets. Legendary status or no being greedy is just plain lame. 

Ummm… Linda, you’re attacking the wrong guy. I’m the one who made the comments you’re redressing here. 

 Perhaps there is some positive in this tech but form what I’ve seen with SUPs and other alternative craft making their ways into lineups the law of averages appears to be against this notion – so far more negative than positive. Even the great Gerry Lopez managed to really bum a lot of locals out at a few different breaks when he took his SUP out and proceeded to hog all the sets. Legendary status or no being greedy is just plain lame. 

Major oops on the name mix-up and no attack on anyone was intended. There are no positives in anyone or anything  (hopefully they’d be together) to get into a lineup with an alternative craft. There are no positives to inexperienced surfers who may actually think they’re better than they really are being in lineups where they are unsafe not only to themselves but others.  Is it possible that there’s a place in the water for alternative crafts away from lineups?  I think that was the point of the article. I bought a SUP after watching a legend. I sold it.   Technology is moving faster than our protections against it.  There will be more than WaveJets  soon and one can only hope the simplicity of surfing will trump whatever they come up with next.               

“WaveJet will enable anyone, at any skill level, to get in the lineup and catch any wave without using any energy.”

If you haven’t the energy or skill to paddle out or paddle in to a place, you have NO hope of being safe, or any business being there. Common sense.

Amen, Take II

 Any technology that diminishes the incentive of its consumer to develop useful skills should be tossed in the scrap heap. 

I would argue that just about every new technology diminishes the incentive of its consumer to develop what was once considered a useful skill.  New technologies transform what we consider a useful skill.   
One could imagine a world in which everyone is zooming around the line up with a wavejet sort of thing.  Paddling a surfboard would just seem like a waste of time….. kind of like washing dishes, cleaning laundry, forging metal, salting meat, riding a horse to get around, using a quill to write this comment. 
This is a surfing world I do not wish to imagine because it would again (as in our discussion of wavepools) take away from  the natural aspects of surfing that remain somewhat alluring and familiar.   

“I would argue that just about every new technology diminishes the incentive of its consumer to develop what was once considered a useful skill.”

 That is a patently absurd and totally false statement. You can argue it all you want but you’d be wrong in most instances. Every time a new tool is invented, developed, and/or refined it requires learning a new skill. You want to be a master at Photoshop? You want to build kick-ass websites? That takes some serious time commitment and real skill. A hammer is technology. A Dead On hammer is improvement on this technology. A nail gun is the modern manifestation of this old tech but knowing how to use any of these masterfully takes some real skill.

 Architects, doctors, artists, musicians, designers, cooks, builders, cleaners and on and on and on. All these professionals use all manner of new technologies to do what they do better, faster, and with more skill. But I guess we could follow your “logic” and go back to witch doctors and mud huts and pulling bugs out of the ground with a stick because those all require more skill since they use far less technological know-how and gadgetry. Attempting short cuts to thinking is usually demonstrative of the avoidance of implementing a skillful and thought-out argument. 

 Sitting around watching TV definitely doesn’t take any skill but really knowing how to use something like the internet in a manner that genuinely benefits you definitely does. No doubt that this WaveJet could be skillfully ridden; it certainly doesn’t look like a very wieldy vessel but it seems pretty apparent that it wasn’t designed with the notion of improving one’s performance and abilities on a wave – certainly not with regards to catching one. However, you could easily say the same thing about those who choose to ride longboards despite the fact it takes serious skill to ride them well – shame so few choose to ride them with anything other than hogging waves in mind. 

I do see your point, and – like you – I personally do not want to see rec surfing advance any further than it is BUT I could not consciously stand in the way of innovation as it drives us (the human race) forwards.

My main point was the consequence of WaveJet allowing you get to places that are dangerous if you don’t have the background skill or strength. 

Overly Dramatic Example Alert!: 
It may get your ass out the back at Mavericks, but it’s not going to help you hold your breath for 3 minutes as you take a set on the head, or get your take off angle just right, or steer you away from the barely concealed under water rock shelf.

Normal example: Just ‘cos you have an X Box lap record on Gran Turismo 5, you can’t jump in a car & race the Indy 500.

fat skis and wide tracked snowmachines  have filled the mountains with people who took a shortcut, it has been skiings loss. Surfing will head the same way. Anytime you can buy what until then required practice, quality is lost.