CR 5

• What have you discovered about your process, your habits?

I’ve learned that in my process when I slow down and step back a bit the product is far better and even finished faster. When I’m in a rush the process becomes unenjoyable and I tend to make more mistakes. I really need to approach the process with a calm mindset.

• Now, what do you know you don’t know? Circle back to your essential question. 

After riding one my my boards which is my most experimental and strange to date, i got a little closer to understanding my essential question. I feel like there truly is no answer. A limit is a specific point, a boundary separating the possible from the impossible. But to me there is no boundary in surfing. Whatever surfs, this could be a door, a pool floaty, etc. The board I made produced a completely new feeling to me while surfing it. Something unexpected but that truly worked for the wave that I was riding. I felt like the length to width ratio really (it’s long and skinny) allowed it to thrive in a steep and fast closing wave. The asymmetry threw me off at first as I caught the back edge a couple times but as I got used to it the difference on each side actually felt quite natural. Why should a board be symmetrical when front side and backside surfing feel completely different? The wide tail provided the speed despite its overall skinniness. The front side felt a little more responsive and sensitive as this side is about 6 inches shorter than the backside, allowing it easier movement. The backside felt powerful and stiff. This combination worked very well with me, my front side is a lot more developed than my backside so going on my toes I was really able to maneuver the board to where I wanted it to be. Cutting back going on my toes to my heels felt amazing, I found the right positioning and then turning onto my heels I felt the power on the backside pushing against the wave giving me speed out of my turn. Going left on my backside worked pretty well also. This is my weaker side but I found that the longer rail and the fin placement worked to hold me on the wave getting good speed without having to do many maneuvers, as I struggle doing maneuvers on my back side. I did a couple cut backs going back side and found it hard to switch from the stiff rail to the sensitive rail that holds a little worse in the wave. It felt like it was shooting out from under my feet, rather than giving me a push against the wave, but this is something I will get used to.