Writer/Surfer

The Inertia

“Hey, you don’t have a fin key do you?” It was an earnest question from the last person I’d expect to see out at Malibu on a knee-slapping day – Tom Curren.

I had just gotten out of the water, timidly walked across PCH, and threw my log on top of the car. A guy parked a few cars in front of mine, got out, and started to walk toward me. His shoes were half on, hair was messy, and he was looking down as he dragged his feet over. When he was a few yards away, I recognized him.

“I don’t,” I said, instinctually.

“Yeah, I saw your board and knew it takes a screwdriver not a fin key, but I figured I’d ask anyway,” he said. “Thanks.” He nodded with a grin and sauntered back to his car.

“That was TC!” I thought as I scrambled to see if I had a fin key. I came across a multi-tool with an Allen wrench in it and walked to Tom’s car.

“Hey! I found one,” I said, and handed it over.

He said something to the effect of needing to get the hardware out of his fin boxes and pulled out the strangest looking surfboard (if you can even call it that) I’d ever seen. It was essentially a skimboard with hard edges from nose to tail but made of foam and fiberglass with a little more volume.

“How’s this thing go?” I said. “I think I’ve seen videos of you riding this in France.” His attitude changed.

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Tom said unenthusiastically. He passed me back the tool. “I think it’s stripped or something. Thanks.”

I took the tool and walked back to my car. “Well, that was weird,” I thought.

For years now, Tom Curren has been quietly pursuing a new avenue of board design. Maybe the eccentricity of his Instagram account has something to do with it, but few seem earnestly interested in heading down the design path Tom’s gone down of late.

Beyond the boards themselves, a key component of his setup are S-Wings biomimetic fins, some of the most alien-looking things you’ve ever seen. But for the open-minded surfer, from Tom to Mason Ho and beyond, the fins work. I even got an opportunity to try them, and they’re pretty wild.

The whole thing comes down to biomimicry. What is biomimicry, exactly? Let Xabi Lafitte of S-Wings explain:

“In the study of Biomimicry, you observe animals to solve problems and inspire new designs. When analyzing fish species, one realizes that every type of fish has a different set of fins to adapt to varying conditions. A reef fish needs to make tight turns in all directions within a very small space; its small flexible fins make this possible. A predator fish needs to accelerate quickly so its fins are much larger, with a medium flex, providing solid drive through the water. A migratory fish’s long-stiff plane fins allow it to manipulate turbulent water in shallow fast moving conditions.

“The S-wings concept hones in on these key points, further adapting George Greenough’s thesis, with a focused design that provides drive and propulsion in various conditions. After 3-years of experimenting and re-engineering, we have developed a product range to work with all board designs. Every model has a different flex and length that can be matched to the surfer’s weight and the power of the wave.”

Point is, scrolling through one of the greatest surfer’s of all time’s Instagram account – really the only public-facing representation of himself – is a head scratcher. Case in point:

A post shared by Tom Curren (@curfuffle) on

But, don’t confound @Curfuffle’s taste for the esoteric with his innate knowledge of how a board should feel and perform. Maybe this quiet revolution in board design isn’t just Tom being Tom. Maybe he’s onto something.

 
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