The (Un)Official Forecast

Five left-field predictions about the future of wave riding

- Ashtyn Douglas

If you were to use a yardstick to compare the biggest airs of 1990 with the biggest airs of 2018, you’d see that above-the-lip maneuvers have grown vastly higher over the past three decades. But if you took that same yardstick and compared airs done by surfers with those done by snow-boarders or skateboarders, you’ll quickly see that the latter two easily out-launch and out-rotate surfers any day. Find Danny Way’s 25.5-foot air on You- Tube and contrast it with the 6-ish-foot alley oop Jack Robinson landed in West Oz back in March. It’s not even in the same league, let alone ballpark.

Paralleling wave-borne punts with those done in snowy half pipes or in concrete pools begs an obvious question: why the enormous difference? Will surfers ever be able to slingshot themselves skywards at heights that rival Snowboarders and skateboarders? Or does surfing have unique limitations and we’ve already reached the uppermost level of aerial maneuvers?

According to James Riordon, the head of public relations at the American Physical Society, the answer is both yes and no. Based on a couple “simple calculations,” Riordon’s figured out how to roughly estimate the max height surfers can launch themselves above the lip. Unlike Snowboarders and skateboarders, surfers are reliant upon the speed of the wave they’re punting off. And since waves slow down as they reach the shore, the speed a surfer can obtain becomes limited, and therefore so does their launch.