SURF PRESCRIPTIONS: GET A GRIP

There's a lot more to surf wax than just a good grip, space age technologies have drastically affected how we surf and performance is a major factor. Digitally drafted surfboards, lightweight neoprene, and removable fins are just a few of the recent "changes for the better" in a surf industry that seems to just "change out of control". Surprisingly enough, one thing has not changed all that much through the years.

Despite all of the advances in surfing technology through the years, our beloved surf wax not only remains the widely held product of choice for traction, surf wax has also become one of surfing's cultural icons. There's just something "Zen-like" about how a surfer waxes the board…it is a ritual that we all have gone through and actually a part of the bonding process a surfer experiences with a surfboard. There's that little moment that all surfers must have alone with the surfboard before a surf session…..admit it, we all need it and as sick and twisted as it sounds……deny a surfer that ritual and you will have hell to pay.

For many of us, the tiniest whiff of surf wax can take us back to the innocence of our wonder years, the days when we were first smitten by this surfing bug and, like that first kiss you ever had, you never really forget your first wax job. Even with the emotional attachments we have to surfboard wax, there was a time when the future of surf wax was in serious doubt. Traction pads came along in the late 1980's and these little new fangled wonders made the surfboard feel a lot more like a skateboard while the formula for wax had not changed since the early 1960's. The advent of the traction pad made wax developers react in kind in order for the product to survive. Some companies began experimenting with different ingredients to add tackiness and preserve longer wax life. Through these growing years, wax rapidly improved. Today there is a wide variety of wax to choose from…..different colors of wax, wax made specifically for certain ranges in water temperature, names such as the original "Mr Zogs Sex Wax, Sticky Bumps, Rosy Palmers Original Grip Surf Wax…..the names just keep coming.

For most of us, life without surf wax would be a pretty lonely one. Many people in the wax development field have argued that it would lead to our ultimate demise because of the breakdown of the vital relationship we have with our equipment. Perhaps a quote from pro surfer Mark Occhilupo, after riding a borrowed board in a surf contest in 2000, summed it up best by explaining his decision to tear off the deck pad and muttering this now famous quote: "I MISS MY BOARD". So, before you charge out into the lineup, remember that little ritual. Wax your board, talk to it a little too and maybe the board will just do something you never expected. If not, what do you have to lose???? Bottom line, you're still surfing.

By Mike Fulcher
President, HMSO