If you want a new idea, read an old book. That same, popular wisdom certainly applies to surfers and their boards. The history of our culture is intertwined with the designs of boards surfers experimented with, perfected, and made popular at any moment in the past. And while the progression of our sport is always rooted in some new shape, new technology, and new understanding of how a surfboard moves over the face of a wave, there’s no denying that learning the same concepts that were considered new age 50, 60, 70, even 80 years ago can be profound.
Nole Cossart reminds people of that every time he walks from his truck to the beach, something new but old under his arm. And watching him surf the boards he experiments with and builds based on designs of the 1930s is a thing of beauty.
“It’s hard to be challenged all the time when the surf’s not pumping,” he says, adding that “I gotta be ready to talk to people when I go to the beach because generally just walking from the car to the water, I’ll end up talking to probably three different people and telling them what it is.”
So if you want to surf in a new way, ride an old board.
