NORMAL REDEFINING
“Normal.” For years now, that word has been front and center in advertisements for alternative surfcraft, mostly fish or fish-influenced hybrid shortboards. “Ride this shape a couple inches shorter and an inch wider than your normal board,” the ads typically implore. Sometimes “normal” is replaced with “standard,” but, of course, the idea remains the same: That there is a Platonic ideal of a board that all of us can easily point to, nod in unison and agree, “Yep, that’s a normal surfboard right there.”
But lean back, close your eyes, and picture a “normal” surfboard in your mind. What do you see? A wafer-thin, high-performance thruster? A twin-keel fish with a psychedelic airbrush? Maybe a single-fin log with a thick redwood stringer running down the center? Or how about a garish pink soft top? What you picture depends entirely on who you are, where you surf and the particular joys you’re chasing when you paddle out. You may even ride all of those boards on the same day if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with a wide variety of waves. Each one of those shapes could be considered perfectly normal for the modern surfer depending upon ability level, waves on offer and surf style preferences.
Of course, roughly a decade ago, “normal” for the vast majority of the board-buying public meant a 6-foot-or-so high-performance thruster. And while it still does for many, take a look around at pretty much any lineup in the U.S. not featuring waves that require specialized equipment, like heavy barrels or huge surf, and it’s clear that the “Ride Anything” ethos—the belief that a surfer should ride whatever they feel
