Handplane (bodysurfing)
Bodysurfing technique
A handplane or handboard is used by bodysurfers to enhance their speed, lift and control whilst riding a wave.
A handplane is generally worn on a bodysurfer's leading hand.
01Materials
Wood
Handplanes have traditionally been made out of wood. To preserve the handplanes' lifetime, a number of manufacturers tend to prefer Paulownia or White Cedar.
Fiberglass
A number of handplane makers upcycle old broken surfboards to create handplanes out of foam with a fiberglass coating. Foam handplanes tend to have more buoyancy than ones made of wood or plastic.
Plastic
Plastic offers durability in the event of a dropped handplane or hitting rocks on entry/exit of a reef break. Some companies are now making handplanes from recycled ocean plastics.
02History
Bodysurfers would use any item with a flat surface, such as fast food trays, clipboards, or flip flops, to aid their ride. The first modern handboard, The Hand Surfa hardboard, was produced by an Australian company in the 1960s. In the 1990s, many new handboard manufacturers entered the market including Slyde Handboards, who created handboards from foam. and WAW Handplanes, who create handplanes from recycled plastics.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Handplane (bodysurfing)”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Patagonia Surf Tokyo store entrance before relocation 2 (as of December 2015).jpg by Yamabato, CC BY-SA 4.0
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