Jet-powered surf boards

[hogtied]

What do you think of this? Nords?

Sure to make waves this summer, jet-powered surfboards

 

[TromboneAl]

According to the article, the motors suck.

 

[hogtied]

yes Al, it sucks water in and then jets it out

 

[Nords]

What do you think of this? Nords?

I think anybody buying one of these is missing the whole point of surfing. Kinda like people who paddle out with an iPod or a cell phone.

I sure hope I never get skegged with one of those boards.

I bet lifeguards would be pissed. An informal survey in the 1990s indicated that over a third of Hawaii surfers can't swim well enough to make it back to the beach without their board. I bet there are plenty people on the beach who lack the swimming skills/strength to paddle out to the lineup, let alone catch a wave, and if they can't paddle out then that's exactly where they belong-- on the beach.

I was sitting on a Waikiki beach yesterday watching a beachboy take out a guy who had to weigh at least 275 pounds, appeared flabby & stiff, and looked like any exertion would put him into a coronary. But at least he knew he'd have to work for it, and that realization probably kept three or four other people on the beach who would've been even more dangerous.

But the author says it best:

... or become merely a costly novelty.

I'm still in favor of this innovation, though: