We have a real stylist in our area, I tried to name him "Jazz Hands" but I was outvoted with the term "surprise" although, I will admit that some of my less than politically correct friends tend to pronounce it "supplies".

His routine is choreographed and rehearsed to the max and usually involves a quick trim after the turn, an scurry up close to the snotty end, then what only can be described as "an embellished cheat'n five". The crouch is there, the thrusting forward of the front foot is there, but then we depart for the norm and enter into a bend to the right from the waste upwards (he's natural).

the head then tilts even further to the right, and the hands then go up to frame either side of his face and the palms are fully open and facing forward.


This is a great move and the personification of style, but, not on every wave and not at every opportunity, regardless of need. His soul arches also get a run on every wave, regardless of need. I swear, it's machine like, a veritable production line of manufactured moves from a well maintained production line that can't be reconfigured to make anything else.

It's now comical, we sit on the beach and wait for the turn, the trim, the crouch, then the Jazz hands and all in chorus we shout " Surprise"

Are we too cruel? Are we simply envious? Or is there some merit in our ridicule?

Geez sounds like Asea

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obct said..


It's now comical, we sit on the beach and wait for the turn, the trim, the crouch, then the Jazz hands and all in chorus we shout " Surprise"

Are we too cruel? Are we simply envious? Or is there some merit in our ridicule?

I hope the coffee is warm in hand mate,great story but I call it carpark surfing and yes we are all guilty

Yeah ya's are to cruel Obs,you need to get a life,haha

And I hope his soul archs aren't as good as yours

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thePup said..
Geez sounds like Asea

uncanny, I was thinking asea too

probably because he is the only guy I know who has any resemblance of style.
me included

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obct said..
We have a real stylist in our area, I tried to name him "Jazz Hands" but I was outvoted with the term "surprise" although, I will admit that some of my less than politically correct friends tend to pronounce it "supplies".

His routine is choreographed and rehearsed to the max and usually involves a quick trim after the turn, an scurry up close to the snotty end, then what only can be described as "an embellished cheat'n five". The crouch is there, the thrusting forward of the front foot is there, but then we depart for the norm and enter into a bend to the right from the waste upwards (he's natural).

the head then tilts even further to the right, and the hands then go up to frame either side of his face and the palms are fully open and facing forward.


This is a great move and the personification of style, but, not on every wave and not at every opportunity, regardless of need. His soul arches also get a run on every wave, regardless of need. I swear, it's machine like, a veritable production line of manufactured moves from a well maintained production line that can't be reconfigured to make anything else.

It's now comical, we sit on the beach and wait for the turn, the trim, the crouch, then the Jazz hands and all in chorus we shout " Surprise"

Are we too cruel? Are we simply envious? Or is there some merit in our ridicule?

If the bloke is having fun who cares

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Souwester said..

obct said..
We have a real stylist in our area, I tried to name him "Jazz Hands" but I was outvoted with the term "surprise" although, I will admit that some of my less than politically correct friends tend to pronounce it "supplies".

His routine is choreographed and rehearsed to the max and usually involves a quick trim after the turn, an scurry up close to the snotty end, then what only can be described as "an embellished cheat'n five". The crouch is there, the thrusting forward of the front foot is there, but then we depart for the norm and enter into a bend to the right from the waste upwards (he's natural).

the head then tilts even further to the right, and the hands then go up to frame either side of his face and the palms are fully open and facing forward.


This is a great move and the personification of style, but, not on every wave and not at every opportunity, regardless of need. His soul arches also get a run on every wave, regardless of need. I swear, it's machine like, a veritable production line of manufactured moves from a well maintained production line that can't be reconfigured to make anything else.

It's now comical, we sit on the beach and wait for the turn, the trim, the crouch, then the Jazz hands and all in chorus we shout " Surprise"

Are we too cruel? Are we simply envious? Or is there some merit in our ridicule?

If the bloke is having fun who cares

True,

i know we are when we're watching it , but not for the same reasons , and not in the same way

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laceys lane said..

thePup said..
Geez sounds like Asea

uncanny, I was thinking asea too

probably because he is the only guy I know who has any resemblance of style.
me included

Wait until you witness the stylish old cock at work in the Banora Pieshop .... the cross-step , fade left & that sweet trim to the Steak Kidney tray is something to behold Lacey

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obct said..

Souwester said..

obct said..
We have a real stylist in our area, I tried to name him "Jazz Hands" but I was outvoted with the term "surprise" although, I will admit that some of my less than politically correct friends tend to pronounce it "supplies".

His routine is choreographed and rehearsed to the max and usually involves a quick trim after the turn, an scurry up close to the snotty end, then what only can be described as "an embellished cheat'n five". The crouch is there, the thrusting forward of the front foot is there, but then we depart for the norm and enter into a bend to the right from the waste upwards (he's natural).

the head then tilts even further to the right, and the hands then go up to frame either side of his face and the palms are fully open and facing forward.


This is a great move and the personification of style, but, not on every wave and not at every opportunity, regardless of need. His soul arches also get a run on every wave, regardless of need. I swear, it's machine like, a veritable production line of manufactured moves from a well maintained production line that can't be reconfigured to make anything else.

It's now comical, we sit on the beach and wait for the turn, the trim, the crouch, then the Jazz hands and all in chorus we shout " Surprise"

Are we too cruel? Are we simply envious? Or is there some merit in our ridicule?

If the bloke is having fun who cares

True,

i know we are when we're watching it , but not for the same reasons , and not in the same way

I think I know who you're referring to. He's a classic case of someone who has learned a move, perfected it as much as he can and then can't think of anything else to do. It appears to me, and as such, it's my own considered opinion that he's doing it specifically to attract attention of the bench surfers, and anyone else who doesn't surf. He's doing it because he watched a video on how to be a hipster surfer and just committed the moves to memory. He's perhaps forgotten the reason most of us surf. The feel of the glide and the hope that we'll actually make a turn, carve or even a cut-back/re-entry..... every wave is different and calls for a different approach. With him, every wave is the same attempt at the exact same moves, regardless of the wave being a fat sluggish roller or a fast hollow close out. Same routine, same drill and same inevitable result in the end, he bins 80% of them. Maybe one day when he gets it perfectly, he'll try something else.... But those Jazz Hands! Oh my.....

Maybe he does the boardriders thing or comp thing, has anyone ever asked?
i remember this bloke that surfed for another boadriders club years ago
he worked on his upper half rotation into turns but it looked like a helicopter taking off.

MR tried to strike up a conversation with him out the back, but did not get too far.

He does not enter the local comps, but that's not saying too much.

I've had second thoughts about this.

I had a good surf yesterday arvo and after I got out, a few riders, a lot better than me, got into the water, so after I got changed, I sat on the wall and watched them for a while, only this time, I tried to concentrate on what they did the same, time after time, regardless of the wave.

There were 3 out there, and I was able to broadly place them into 3 categories:

1/ the croucher
2/ the staller
3/ the hot dogger

1/ On every wave, the croucher would crouch at every opportunity, the take off, the bottom turn, the cutback, the trim, always a crouch. He would even cross step, but only so he could find a new place to crouch.

2/ The staller always seemed to stall at the bottom of the turn, not just by throwing the right foot to the back, he would also do a kind of a soul arch and lean into the bottom turn. I can see the necessity of this, when you're too far out front and you want to get into the pocket to surf the critical part of the wave, but I even saw him doing it on a take off where he was dropping into the foam, several metres from clean water.

3/ The hot dogger, his sole ambition on every wave was to make the lip as often as possible, then drop and make the lip again. He lived for the trim and the ultimate wide stance that allowed him to stay planted while be roller coasted. A cut back to reconnect with the wave was done with a lack of soul and only as prelude to more lip service.


I then thought of my own surfing and what people on the beach would say, I'm guessing they would probably say "he rides every wave the same", and I think they would be right.

If "Surprise" is guilty of anything, it's just being, inherently more stylish that most of us.

But the style does stick out like dogs balls

Great story you two, hope Cobra dosent come down on you for it

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Macaha said..
Great story you two, hope Cobra dosent come down on you for it

All good my end i didn't see one crybaby comment about his knee.

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obct said..
MR tried to strike up a conversation with him out the back, but did not get too far.

He does not enter the local comps, but that's not saying too much.

I've had second thoughts about this.

I had a good surf yesterday arvo and after I got out, a few riders, a lot better than me, got into the water, so after I got changed, I sat on the wall and watched them for a while, only this time, I tried to concentrate on what they did the same, time after time, regardless of the wave.

There were 3 out there, and I was able to broadly place them into 3 categories:

1/ the croucher
2/ the staller
3/ the hot dogger

1/ On every wave, the croucher would crouch at every opportunity, the take off, the bottom turn, the cutback, the trim, always a crouch. He would even cross step, but only so he could find a new place to crouch.

2/ The staller always seemed to stall at the bottom of the turn, not just by throwing the right foot to the back, he would also do a kind of a soul arch and lean into the bottom turn. I can see the necessity of this, when you're too far out front and you want to get into the pocket to surf the critical part of the wave, but I even saw him doing it on a take off where he was dropping into the foam, several metres from clean water.

3/ The hot dogger, his sole ambition on every wave was to make the lip as often as possible, then drop and make the lip again. He lived for the trim and the ultimate wide stance that allowed him to stay planted while be roller coasted. A cut back to reconnect with the wave was done with a lack of soul and only as prelude to more lip service.


I then thought of my own surfing and what people on the beach would say, I'm guessing they would probably say "he rides every wave the same", and I think they would be right.

If "Surprise" is guilty of anything, it's just being, inherently more stylish that most of us.

But the style does stick out like dogs balls

Interesting post.

Don't know if you can have too much style but you can definitely try to hard to be stylish.

Guess style in Surfing is really just what looks good and probably a bit of personal preference comes into it.
Take Alex Knost. Some people think he is ultra stylish other people hate how he surfs.

Wondering?
Did you see what boards they were on? Does their surf style reflect the boards they choose. Eg Was the hotdogger on a HP, staller = old mal or log etc.

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Cobra said..

Macaha said..
Great story you two, hope Cobra dosent come down on you for it

All good my end i didn't see one crybaby comment about his knee.

The last comment lacks style ....

Someone put a clip up here a while back raving about some guy with the best style ever and it was a shocker . Too much arm flapping and hand gestures and exaggerated body twisting . I reckon less is better especially longboard surfing .

Jazz Hands was out again this morning, and after this last post I had to watch him a bit more closely.

The waves were a little fatter today, so there is a new move. It's one hand above the head, same as the two hands, but the right hand is down the side, with the body arched to the right, away from the upright arm. A bit like Romper Room's "Bend and Stretch" Song. I tried to strike up a conversation, but again, he smiled and just grunted. Perhaps his English is a little poor. He's not a hipster either, he has long black hair and sideburns..... doesn't wear a ducktail or a front zipped vest, just a short john. His board looks like an old log, but is thin and light and has a single narrow fin, no leggie though.

He was having fun though, until all the regulars paddled out and started sharing waves, as they do. After that, he didn't get much of a look in. I tried some of his moves, but all that happened was that I fell off.... One day, I'll get him to say something, or even perhaps just smile. I'm sure he's just shy and because he's only about 30, he's not sure about us old buggers.

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smh said..
Someone put a clip up here a while back raving about some guy with the best style ever and it was a shocker . Too much arm flapping and hand gestures and exaggerated body twisting . I reckon less is better especially longboard surfing .

Think that was Robin Kegal really accentuated body movements I reckon joel Tudor is all style

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SP said..

obct said..
MR tried to strike up a conversation with him out the back, but did not get too far.

He does not enter the local comps, but that's not saying too much.

I've had second thoughts about this.

I had a good surf yesterday arvo and after I got out, a few riders, a lot better than me, got into the water, so after I got changed, I sat on the wall and watched them for a while, only this time, I tried to concentrate on what they did the same, time after time, regardless of the wave.

There were 3 out there, and I was able to broadly place them into 3 categories:

1/ the croucher
2/ the staller
3/ the hot dogger

1/ On every wave, the croucher would crouch at every opportunity, the take off, the bottom turn, the cutback, the trim, always a crouch. He would even cross step, but only so he could find a new place to crouch.

2/ The staller always seemed to stall at the bottom of the turn, not just by throwing the right foot to the back, he would also do a kind of a soul arch and lean into the bottom turn. I can see the necessity of this, when you're too far out front and you want to get into the pocket to surf the critical part of the wave, but I even saw him doing it on a take off where he was dropping into the foam, several metres from clean water.

3/ The hot dogger, his sole ambition on every wave was to make the lip as often as possible, then drop and make the lip again. He lived for the trim and the ultimate wide stance that allowed him to stay planted while be roller coasted. A cut back to reconnect with the wave was done with a lack of soul and only as prelude to more lip service.


I then thought of my own surfing and what people on the beach would say, I'm guessing they would probably say "he rides every wave the same", and I think they would be right.

If "Surprise" is guilty of anything, it's just being, inherently more stylish that most of us.

But the style does stick out like dogs balls

Interesting post.

Don't know if you can have too much style but you can definitely try to hard to be stylish.

Guess style in Surfing is really just what looks good and probably a bit of personal preference comes into it.
Take Alex Knost. Some people think he is ultra stylish other people hate how he surfs.

Wondering?
Did you see what boards they were on? Does their surf style reflect the boards they choose. Eg Was the hotdogger on a HP, staller = old mal or log etc.

Sorry for late response.

Yes, you're generally correct, each was on a type of board that reflected their style, in a broad sense.

But then that would probably bring up the age old question, what came first the board or the style.

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Ricardo1709 said..

smh said..
Someone put a clip up here a while back raving about some guy with the best style ever and it was a shocker . Too much arm flapping and hand gestures and exaggerated body twisting . I reckon less is better especially longboard surfing .

Think that was Robin Kegal really accentuated body movements I reckon joel Tudor is all style

Yeah definitely.

Midget (may he RIP & I mean rip) was style.
Wayne Lynch was style
Tom Curren was style
MR oh yeah style
Steph Gilmore is style
The style list can go on....
Some surfers are style, of their period, some have a certain style of surfing.
But its when you see guys & girls that are inherentely stylish..it just looks so f..kin good ! And you just know there is never enough style
Unfortunately style doesn't seem to be in wsl judging criteria ATM .