Longboards are wonderful things. They’re rideable pieces of art, generally, created with both fashion and function in mind. Of course, since there is more foam involved, they need to be looked at differently than a shortboard—rail lines, rocker, concave; it’s all different. Hydrodynamics don’t change, but the vehicle reacts differently.
If there are a few people on this earth who know a lot about longboards and surfboard making, they are Dan Mann of Firewire and two-time world longboard champion Harley Ingleby. When one gets to the level of surfing a longboard where Ingleby resides, a board’s flex and resistance to breakage are extraordinarily important.
Dan Mann recently headed over to Hawaii to talk shop with Harley about a method of building surfboards called Thunderbolt. It’s almost ridiculously complex: each board goes through 11 separate build steps, but, if you were to ask the world’s best longboard surfers, most of them would agree that it’s worth it.
