An interview with Tyler Callaway who heads up FCS Fins really illuminates the complexities of surfboard design and the associated hydrodynamics that make up the way a board rides and how it responds to your commands. It might seem obvious that your fins are the keys to fine tuning your surfboard's performance, but most surfers look to the board's shape and foil. The fact is that it's a delicate dance between the two. But you can't tweak a board's shape once it's in your hands. So if you want to dial in that perfect surfboard mojo, your fins are the only way.

The problem is that surfboard fins all look alike and most surf shop "experts" are pretty clueless beyond size when it comes to fins. So the first thing you want to do is learn how a fin works. Next, think about aspects of your board's performance you like and some you would like to improve. The key is to really pay attention to your board's ride. How quickly does it accelerate down the line? When you lay into a turn, does it hold its line all the way through or does it spin out or lose speed? Pay attention to its response to different conditions. All these aspects make up your board's personality and potential. How does it behave in mushy surf or is more wedgy situations?

Now, try different fin configurations. By this, I mean that you should try different sized fins in varied combinations. I find that a smaller trailer fin allows me greater speed and maneuverability, but it won't be the same for you. Also, there are other fin variations to choose from that might tweak your board even farther. Take your mission another step and give your board a full makeover. With new fins and a fresh approach to your stick, I think you will add more spice and vigor so you can throw down some some reverses and carving 360's in your surfing and ain't nothing wrong with that.

Garrett McNamara has been steadily etching out a cool nook in the surfing world. First broken open by Laird Hamilton, a career as a big wave surfer is a relatively new concept. Ross Clarke-Jones and Cheynne Horan traveled for years during the 90's and challenged giant surf to the delight of surf fans but with very little financial sustainability.

Hamilton knew to go outside the surfing industry to find some real cash. He courted automobile and credit card companies and pushed both equipment and performance to the edge of reason. Hardened purists were skeptical on his intentions, but if surfing for life is the goal, Hamilton's conviction and dedication to that ideal are admirable. McNamara has seized on the Laird model by moving beyond traditional surf branding by marketing himself as some kind of daredevil with helicopters tow-ins and iceberg wake rides.

Instead of chasing around contest points in Brazil or slugging it out in mid-sized waves with a slew of teenagers, the 44 year-old regular foot has turned to only the biggest and most spectacular situations that will not just stoke hard core surf fanatics but will enrapture the world beyond the coast.

He knows it: surfers don't have the numbers or the cash flow to make the risks and efforts pay off in the long run. But if you've ever hung with Garrett, you'd know that he is at first a Haleiwa homeboy with a gnarly brother and a couple kids. He loves to surf and he wants to do it for the rest of his life. It's that simple. Now he has broken the glass ceiling of surf stardom into the desktops of executives and iPads of soccer moms. Catching a full-on, fully documented 78 foot behemoth of a wave took Garrett McNamara from a preferred table at Haleiwa Joe's all the way to a state of internet omnipresence. He has worked hard and deserves it, but can he capitalize on it? We all know that one wave can make it happen. Remember Greg Noll? Remember Cory Lopez? I do too.

A very unlikely final in San Clemente at the Nike Pro. Ireland's Glenn Hall faced off against Brazilian Gabriel Medina. The match up is strange in a few ways. For one, Glenn Hall was a veritable unknown heading into  the event, but his surfing was powerful and consistent, reminiscent of a young Tommy Carroll with big carves off the lip  and deep gouging cutties. Although he came unglued in the final, there was no stopping the goofy footer from putting down all comers en route to a finals appearance. On the other end, there was Gabriel Medina who had rocketed into the spotlight last year and was being touted as the next Kelly Slater. Even the MC's at the Nike event were surmising if he was a good as Slater. I don't quite get the comparison because there is none...totally different surfers with styles that have no real comparable common denominator. But critics were writing Gabby off as a flash in the pan as we headed into  the third event of the year, and there he stands as the victor in good, clean surf against the best in the world.

The question: Has South America arrived?  South American surfers seemed to hang on to the tour by sheer determination and guts, but the most dominant innately talented surfers generally hailed from surfing strongholds of Australia and America. But just take a gander at this year's rankings. Gabriel Medina finished in 4th ahead of Jordy and Julian and Mick. And he didn't do this by slogging it out with 9th and 17th place finishes,. He won events convincingly. And what needs t be stated is that he only hopped on tour at the mid year cut off. Bam! Big airs and big turns (sure, in smaller waves), but he also made the quarters of the Pipe event, Dare I say this is nothing to be sneezing at? Which brings me to the next great South American hope: Adriano de Souza. De Souza is more seasoned and emits less flash and spark, but with 4 straight top-10 finishes, he ain't just lucky. This guy has repeatedly beat the best and for fleeting moments lead the tour at 1st place. Now Heitor Alves does come off as the traditional work horse rather than an innate surfing talent, but his moments have been brilliant all over the world, and he comes in a respectable 16th in the rankings, just above a young and aggressive newbie Miguel Pupo. Pupo is cut from the same cloth as Medina but may lack that competitive animal inside. That remains to be seen as Pupo's radical aerial attack doesn't look to be looks to be looming over the more traditional players as evidenced by the emphasis on power surfing in  the past few events..

As a young surfer, I spent all my time in the water focused on the here and now. Surfing's history meant nothing. It was all about the next wave and my next move. After all, surfing is a very transitory experience. The feeling is intense and unexpected and then it's gone, and we are left scrambling to replicate it. My mission was to dash the past and forge on to something new, neglecting the rich history of surfing and the insanely talented characters and athletes who made up the skeleton of a narrative in  which I am merely an insignificant ghost. Today, I have gained the patience to sit still for a few moments and reflect on the path that ends at my back and being penciled in as I step forward.

Just take a gander at the final heat of the 1978 Coke Surfabout held in solid tubes in Sydney, Australia. The wind blew off-shore under a blazing sun. Shaun Tompson was on the play-by-play and Nat Young was doing interviews from the water. Earlier heats saw Simon Anderson laying into deep, dramatic cutbacks (not hacks) and Peter Townend leaning on fully committed bottom turns (not punts), but it wasn't until we see the final that it's obvious surfing hasn't really changed. This is 1978 mind you. Barton Lynch had skipped class to sit on the sand and watch Pipe master Larry Blair faced off against a fully charged Wayne Lynch. Now, here's the coolest thing for me. These guys are riding single fins. They are flying through sections and redirecting on a dime. Lynch backdoors a sick one and Blair looks aggressive and loose. Analyzing the surfing in terms of today's equipment and modern sensibilities, I see the seedlings of today's top turns and artistic tube riding approach.

But for real, these single fins are flying with minimal herky-jerky drama. The best surfers know that surfing is all about timing, position, and control (i.e. Cory Lopez at Teahupo in 1999). It's no different than today. What's cool is that this is a moment where two goofy footers in perfect lefts are operating at full mojo in front a full house. Things change, but good surfing is good surfing. I'm sure Blair and Lynch are stoked with the way things are moving in the sport, but let me just say that is one sweet moment. A moment Surfer Magazine called one the top 5 surf contests in history. We should all be so lucky to have just one like that.