Taking the Surfing Metaphore a Little to Far | June 20, 2004

andrew said on June 20, 2004 9:56 PM

“…The board itself is 9ft 4 inch long board, ideally suited to the particular waves found along the UK’s “Surfers’ Paradise” in North Devon…”

In other words, for small, mushy, blown-out beach break ;-) I’ve never actually been to North Devon, but this description makes it sound that either the waves there suck or the writer knows nothing of the sport.

Additionally, it seems a bit impractical with that huge slippery gap in wax on the middle of your deck. Not to mention the fact that at any spot with decently respectable surf, you’d probably get your ass laughed right out of the lineup.

Either way, seeing that photo really brightened my day!

Justin said on June 21, 2004 6:49 AM

Oh no, watch out for that rock.. mega ouch. Sorry Intel, I just snapped my board and your motherboard go soaked. They will probably find the Wi-Fi will create a shark magnet.

Heath said on June 21, 2004 8:56 AM

Andy,

You’ve never surfed have you? This could be really great, actually in a crowded area you can wait 20-30 minutes for your turn to catch a ride, now you can sit back and blog while waiting. : )

Heath

Allen said on June 21, 2004 9:26 AM

I wonder where the battery is. On the underside of the board like most toys? ;p

Veerle Pieters said on June 21, 2004 9:27 AM

Now the surfer can blame the tablet pc when he didn’t catch the perfect wave due to a security breach :o)

Justin said on June 21, 2004 9:37 AM

“This could be really great, actually in a crowded area you can wait 20-30 minutes”

In the few times I’ve been surfing, the absolute last thing on my mind was browsing my blog roll. Yes you do sit from time to time and wait, it seemed part meditation and part searching for a wave. I don’t see how spoiling that by staring into the center of your board at a little foggy LCD would aid in passing the time in a better way. Never mind the fact that you cannot see a wave (or much else besides your screen) when you’re staring blankly downward.

Obviously there is people who would disagree, but I think there are certain areas that computers help and enhance our life in some way and other areas in which the computer (or any of it’s derivatives) is mostly an invasion. This is what inventions are constantly testing, a public release of said invention decides whether it’s intrusive or beneficial.

However, for reasons beyond surfing alone, having WAPs on the beach is a fine idea by me. But to add another bonus to the subject, being able to check out other local surf spots while sitting on the beach of one would be invaluable. Just gotta make sure every WAP has a webcam attached.

heath said on June 21, 2004 3:11 PM

Justin,

“Obviously there are people who would disagree, but I think there are certain areas that computers help and enhance our life in some way and other areas in which the computer (or any of it’s derivatives) is mostly an invasion.”

Being more of snowboarder than a surfer it is probably true what you say, but I think it is always nice, when you have to wait (up the lift or waiting for a hit), to be able to spend your time in whatever way you want. I certainly wouldn’t be in favor of attaching a JBL sound system to a board, but sometimes dangling your legs in the water after paddling out and messing around on the internet can be relaxing too. Some of us are truly addicted. God help us.

andrew said on June 21, 2004 4:22 PM

“…You’ve never surfed have you? This could be really great, actually in a crowded area you can wait 20-30 minutes…”

On the contrary, I’ve surfed for around ten years and not once have I had the desire to use a computer in the water. I go surfing to detach myself from the concrete world, not to extend my wireless internet connection.

coda said on June 26, 2004 8:09 PM

They should rather spend their efforts developing a safe way to take your real notebook onto the beach, like digicam aqua packs. There probably already are such products.