i have met, or corresponded with, many a pig enthusiast over the past decade.
when I originally built this website a decade ago, its purpose was to consolidate info on pig boards. before building this website, I had owned and surfed a few pigs.
one was this Yater. it was a terrible board. I called it the "floating, drifting sea cucumber". when you carried it, it felt like you were carrying a 35 pound fosters beer can, the rail was so huge. the board just didn't function. flat deck, D - fin way on the back, belly, gorgeous out line. heavy as. yet... literally ... the board surfed as well as you would expect a floating , drifting, sea cucumber to surf.
through my experiences surfing pigs , I have experienced flat deck, D - fin way on the back, belly, gorgeous out line, heavy as boards that DO function. it is interesting to experience better functionality with similar design. maybe I shouldn't blame that board. maybe it was my approach. I wander what I'd think of that board now.
around the same time as that Yater, I was also in possession of this pop out pig thing with no name, or marks of any kind. it was EXTREMELY crude in its shape. I was mainly surfing it in Huntington Beach. This is about 20 years ago. I LOVED that board. It surfed super well. for whatever reason, I really enjoyed the feeling I received when I rode that board.
these aforementioned experiences with pigs were intermingled with my association with Gene Cooper and COOPERFISH surfboards. I was surfing all kinds of surfboards he was making. I built his website back in 1998 or something. Back then, I asked him to make a pig model as exchange for my web building services. He declined , saying pigs didn't function.
my buddy that let me borrow that pop out pig thing (the BLUE PANEL) wanted it back, and I sold the floating drifting sea cucumber to help fund INVASION! from planet C.
I was pigless for a good stretch of time.
then I saw a buddy's vintage BING pig. i tried to buy it from him, but he didn't want to give it up.
his refusal to sell was the spark that ignited this fire (Surf a Pig).
I was determined to find an authentic pig, and surf it. I started searching , and searching. if I could find anything authentic, the kooks selling it were acting like it was made of gold. it was discouraging.
I posted up on various chat rooms , reached out to fellow pig enthusiasts , inquiring about pigs. through those efforts, I decided to consolidate what I was learning in one place. I started thinking about building a website dedicated to pig surfboards.
10 years ago, the lack of reasonably priced, authentic, vintage pigs led me to contact Matt Calvani and ask him to shape a pig. the board I received from him, is the
first entry on this website. I recall sitting in front of my computer looking at the data cell where I had to populate the blog name. I was just sitting there for a moment thinking..."what should I call this effort?"
so, that kind of gives a snapshot regarding the back story of this blog. shortly after launching this blog, I liquidated all my other surfboards, and straight went maniacal on grabbing and surfing as many different pigs as I could get my hands on.
it has been amazing to correspond with other pig enthusiasts around the globe. each culture brings something to the idea of a pig surfboard. eventually, it occurred to me to have get togethers where fellow pig enthusiasts could enjoy tacos, and experience other pig surfboards. our next get together will be our 10th luau!
what originally started as a website to consolidate pig surfboard information, has become something more.
it seems like there is a collection of like minded brothers and sisters all around this beautiful planet of ours that not only love the pig surfboard, but enjoy a lifestyle that can be associated with the pig surfboard.
something about a D fin just makes one think of lazy , glassy days. perhaps that is the attractive thing about pig surfboards. they just dictate a certain approach to surfing. a pig enthusiasts isn't trying to blast air reverses. this type of surfing dictated by the design elements of a pig surfboard seems to be transferred into the pig enthusiasts lifestyle. hammocks and such, enjoy life.
a mutual appreciation for pig surfboards, and the lifestyle surrounding them has provided an opportunity to enrich my life with powerful , meaningful relationships with amazing humans.
it is incredible to see what social media has actually done. from one perspective scrolling through social media is a disease. yet, it is directly responsible for extremely meaningful, personal relationships and experiences. social media is so much more than selfies.
there is a world wide Surf A Pig community.
the idea:
a film or some kind of media project that shows the community that Surf A Pig is. have the details of surfboard design that make a pig surfboard a pig be interlaced through the project. have people surfing pigs in all different locations around the globe. show the community through the various luaus that happen all around the globe. interview pig enthusiasts to see what feelings they get from their experiences on a pig surfboard, see the lifestyles we all live. maybe one person tries to create this project. this person travels, captures, edits... all of it. or maybe each community sends in their own edits to one person via online drives or whatever. then all the edits are put together to make the final project. I’m not trying to commission anything. It just feels like a project that aught to be made. If anyone out here has any interest, ideas or thoughts about this project email me surfapig@gmail.com
