Surfing studies

G-Land

2006-07-19T11:17:00.000+10:00

G-Land is an internationally renowned surfbreak situated on the Bay of Grajagan, East Java, about half a day by road from the popular tourist destinations of Bali.

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Tidal info

2006-07-19T10:25:00.000+10:00

This graphical user interface presents a succession of tide graphs, activated by dragging the cursor sideways across the face of the graph. The sideways movement of the cursor creates an interactive animation showing how the tidal pattern changes from day to day.

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Wave intensity

2006-07-16T23:13:00.000+10:00

Surf breaks can be grouped according to their intensity. There are two variables to consider in determining the intensity of a surf break: the shape of the tube and the angle of the peel line.

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The surfer stereotype

2006-07-16T16:15:00.000+10:00

Depictions of surfers and surfing in cinema and on TV, including:

Denny Miller as the handsome surfer, Duke Williams, guest starring on Gilligan's Island.
Sean Penn as stoned surfer, Jeff Spicoli, in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Fred being blasted by monsterous waves, as he tries desperately to impress the teenage crowd, in "Surfin' Fred" (1965) , The Flintstones.

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Broceanography

2006-07-16T11:06:00.000+10:00

Broceanography is surf jargon for the ability to predict when and where to surf on a given stretch of coast. The playful application of the "bro" affix to a word originated in Southern California, where a cliquish group of surfers decided to affirm their membership of the surfing sub-culture by retro-fitting existing language with "bro-fixes".

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Ecophenomenology

2006-07-16T10:40:00.000+10:00

Surfing is founded on the aesthetic appeal of naturally occurring patterns and processes. Through direct involvement with nature, surfers appreciate the intrinsic value of the biosphere.

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Outer Island

2004-12-19T13:05:00.000+11:00

This is a short story about a year spent on Norfolk Island. An excerpt can be read online and the whole story can be downloaded as a word.doc. There is also a subtextual analysis, revealing the narrator's psychological development, which can be downloaded as a word.doc.

Liquid Time

2004-12-18T11:56:00.000+11:00

This essay presents a non-dualistic view of reality that is based on an ontology of dimensionality, which regards motion as the 4th dimension, rather than 'time'.

Excerpt: "The variable of speed is beyond the ordinary conception of motion, so we tend to regard it as inconsequential. But motion in the sense of speed is precisely how it ties in to reality. This can be observed in the shape of a wave. It is not simply that the form would not exist without motion, but that the variable of speed determines the variety of curves in a wave. A wave behind a rock in a stream is a good example of this principle: the water flows through the wave while the form expresses the various speeds at which the water is moving."

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Surfboard design theory

2004-12-17T01:33:00.000+11:00

This essay describes surfboard design as building a bridge between shape and context, based on function. According to this approach, the designer is concerned with two sides of a relationship. On one side, there is the shape of the surfboard itself. On the other side is the surfboard's context, which is every external condition that influences its function.

New CAD tool for surfboard design

2004-12-16T01:36:00.000+11:00

To bridge the gap between form and function, this 3D modeling tool utilizes a cylindrical lattice to alter the surface contours of a surfboard.