What is a parallel profile surfboard ?

It's a postmodern surfboard type which does not taper in profile i.e it is the same thickness from nose to tail.

Postmodernism implies a timeline but it is really more about ideology, paradoxically its elements have  always existed.

In my opinion modernism and late modernism still predominate. In surfing the term postmodern is most often used to mean 'most modern'. For example Matt Warshaw called surftech 'postmodern' in his book on the history of surfing when clearly it is an example of rampant modernism.

By its nature postmodern is more personal and diverse than modernism so defining it is always going to involve contradictions and subjectivity. From my perspective postmodernism in surfing started in 1994.

Modernism is characterised by industrial production, corporate control of ideas and a monocultural belief in technology. The terms 'High performance' and 'High tech' are definitely modern, as is the notion of a surfing hierarchy.

Roy Stuart created  the parallel profile concept for flexibility and a low centre of gravity in a flash of inspiration in 1994, and simultaneously invented the parallel profile wooden surfboard construction method.

The reaction from the surfing world to the concept back then could be described as hysterical outrage ( as well as  supercilious disdain  :wink: ) , primarily due to the fact that it denies the tapering of profiles ( erroneously called 'foiling' ) which is one of the main shaping icons of the 20th century modernist approach to surfboard design. That attitude is still the majority view, and the parallel profile is still almost exclusively used by Roy Stuart surfboards.

Olo of the Sun to feature in the Museum of Arts and Design 'Against the Grain' exhibition

Museum of Arts and Design 'Against the Grain' exhibition:

I've been invited to participate in this 2012 exhibition which will be running in Charlotte North Carolina for 4 months and then in New York City for a further 4 months. I'm sending the 19 foot 'Olo of the Sun'.

The invitation described the inclusion of a Roy Stewart surfboard as "greatly contributing to the message of the exhibition and an essential addition to the project"

Here's a description of the event from the assistant curator:

"Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design, curated by Lowery Stokes Sims. This project focuses on some of the most interesting conceptual and technical trends in wood working over the last decades. It will include approximately 80 objects by artists, craftsmen and sculptors presented together in a provocative ways that beg the questions of genre divisions in art.

The exhibition proceeds from the premise that Wood is the most modernist of materials and has functioned as a medium of virtuosity and functional elegance, while providing a direct experience of the material and its particular qualities. Over the last three decades, however, creators have used modernist expectations as platforms from which to launch creative approaches that strained the protocols of woodworking. Vessel forms have been deconstructed; furniture has played with the relationship between function and form; and sculpture has co-opted the techniques and forms of woodturning and furniture. Against the Grain focuses on work created since 2000 that demonstrate how these developments in woodworking exemplify postmodernism with the intention of providing fresh thinking about the medium of wood. "

Needless to say we are super stoked, take that all you naysayers!!

http://www.madmuseum.org/

Surfboard flex patterns.

So, what is a flex pattern and how does flex occur in surfboards when they are being ridden ?

Firstly with regard to the term 'flex pattern'. It is used by hundreds of surfboard shapers throughout the industry without any reference to what it might mean, and with no examples of what a flex pattern might look like, presumably in the hope ( as is usually the case) that someone 'higher up' in the hierarchy knows what it means and in the certain knowledge that obfuscation creates an impression of deep knowledge where there is none.

So in other words it is BS !
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What really goes on with surfboard flex?  In order to get a surfboard to flex one needs  downwards force and  upward force opposing it. The standard way of describing this effect is to show a surfboard supported in two places with a rider applying downwards force in between the two supports.

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Is this typical of what really occurs in the water ? 

The answer is ( in most cases ) 'No'.

Annular tri fins for the Rogue 9'5"

 Paulownia core/epoxy resin/graphite fins for the Rogue 9'5":

Here are the three fins for the new Rogue 9'5" which I'm building currently. It's a round tail and will have a moderately deep single concave, with around 5.5" of rocker ( nose and tail ) with a wide point 30% aft. I'll post pictures of the 5 panels soon, five panels are being used as it will make life easier bending in the nose rocker.

The fin setup is a development of one I've done previously on a 10'9" pintail which was very fast ( 37+mph on a head high low period swell ). At the time I felt that it would be better on a roundtail, hence the Rogue.

Using a more highly rockered board with a tunnel fin is tricky to get right but can be very rewarding. The Rogue rocker is based on a more highly rockered tunnel fin equipped concave bottomed 10'4" pintail which was a favourite back in the year 2000.