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When nuggety, Dee Why natural-footer Shane Herring blasted into the spotlight by winning the Coke Classic final against Kelly Slater in 1992 he had an accomplice. Greg Webber had engineered Herring a quiver of narrow, low-volume, low-railed, extreme-rockered boards. They weren’t exactly easy to ride and all that curve meant they needed to be constantly turned and placed in the pocket, lest they start pushing water. However, under the feet of a gifted and precise surfer like Herring they were lethal weapons.
Re-watch some of the footage of Herring on his Insights and you will be blown away. (Check Out his Mini Bio ‘Journey On’ via the clip below). Inspired by Herring’s and Slater’s (Merrick’s version) efforts on the ‘Banana Boards’ legions of surfers followed them down the ultra-bendy rabbit hole. Many of us mere mortals struggled with all that curve in sloppy beach breaks and more extreme versions of the design struggled to maintain a slot on surf shop racks.
Curiously, the banana board movement was followed soon after by the renaissance of The Fish – a much more forgiving and user-friendly design. In recent years The Banana has undergone something of a renaissance of its own, most notably when Kelly was inspired by old footage of Herring he’d been watching and got back in touch with Greg Webber to order a few boards.
