Soft-Surfboard

SOFT-SURFBOARD ADVENTURE

I was nine years old when I borrowed my brother’s 9ft, Malibu Surfboard. I might add he didn’t know at the time. This event started me off on an extraordinary adventure that has kept me young, and as I write, I’m fifty-nine years,… young.
Leading up to this day of “borrowing,” I was a little Life Saver at Newport Beach where Tom Carroll cut his teeth. At that time the Surf Club had the pump up Surfo-planes lying around for us to use. These were constructed of four rubber ribbed panels that were inflated, and about 5ft. long with two fins glued on to what was the bottom side at the narrow end, and a couple of grip handles were stuck on at the front. I’m sure you all know what I’m describing. They might as well have been a rectangular floating block on water. These Surfo’s in their day were the first “Soft” thing we could use in the water, and not get hurt if we got hit, and I’ve got to say they were the best fun we had all day, every day, and yes, we could all stand up on these floating blocks. We were kids after all, and that’s what kids did. .

I did some damage to my brothers Surfboard on that day of “borrowing”. A shore dump took care of me. Now “it,” being constructed of polyurethane with fibreglass and resin that’s fairly strong, but it can be brittle too, especially when it gets smashed into sand nose first, at speed. The result was a “ding” that shattered the nose, and costa-plenty to fix.
I can tell you now when I got it home, that Surfboard was mine!
It took me two years of pocket money to pay it off, into a “don’t do that again account.”
The end result was that I was still nine years old, but I owned my first Surfboard, and I think it was a Dale or a Keyo, well anyway, lots of getting hit, dings and repairs, waterlogging, all the good stuff, saw its way through to my fifteenth birthday and I traded her for another.

Where does a Soft-Surfboard come in?, you might ask. Well I can tell you this whole story would not have happened at all, if they had these, because a Soft-Surfboard would, by the nature of the materials used in their construction, have saved my bacon and not have “dinged”. They are the perfect beginner/novice surfing tool. Experts ride them as well for fun, so they do cross all boundaries and I can say they are easy to ride, very responsive, perform very well, and “soft”. Could save your body from lots of injuries.
Now… you are armed with your perfect combination of the desired Soft-Surfboard, and yes, with that leg rope attached, (read another article on pro’s & con’s, link provided) with no age limit, you are off to do some serious adventuring, out there having fun under the Sun, and in the Surf.
Would I change a thing? A lot of family agro would have been spared back then I’ve got to tell you,………. if my brother had a Soft-Surfboard!