To tow or not to tow? That seems to be the question here at the turn of the century, as surfers continue to test the outer limits of their sport, seeking larger surf and using technology to tackle it.


Even the casual surfer today is using implementations that did not exist fifty years ago. Helping surfers catch more waves and ride them longer are devices such as: leashes, multi-fin positioning, hydrodynamic shaping combined with lightweight epoxy resins and Tract-top grip bars. That was a lot of verbiage right there. Sounds like doctor speak. You should hear surfers talk about bathymetry, combined fetch, and swell decay as a swell begins to approach from the ocean.

Today was my first experience witnessing tow teams live in action. It was a pretty remarkable sight. Even from a long, long way away, standing on the beach with my pathetic 2X telephoto. Whipping the hearty rider into one of those giant 22 foot set waves is the key aspect of the whole thing: the jet ski. Without the horsepower, the gas, the emissions, the mobility, the speed, all of those things that allow a jet ski to perform this task, there would be no one riding these waves.


But, Eddie would go. And Greg Noll and all of the old Waimea chargers might have gone. We'll never know in the years to come. Jet Ski teams are popping up everywhere, and they dominate a lineup if there are both paddle surfers and tow-in surfers. Just like the helpless feeling that went through me as the US National Kayak Surf Team guys caught waves way outside of me at Sand Dollar last month. No chance, I could never paddle from that far out, that fast, that in tune with the wave energy on a surfboard.


Similarly, the tow-surfer gets shot into the bulge of the wave way outside of the breaking point, way outside of where a paddle surfer, who has been duck diving and working hard to get into position to catch one of these waves, can possibly catch it.

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ER Harris