I don’t know about surfing – and it makes sense, I guess, to put the wax on the top of the surfboard.
But I do know about cross-country skiing. I grew up in Minnesota, where there’s lots of snow, but no mountains and hardly any hills. In that sport, you put the wax on the bottom of each ski. There are five or six different kinds of wax, from ooey-gooey sticky to really hard (like a candle). If the snow is warm (25-35 Fahrenheit), you use the sticky wax. If the snow is cold (30 below), you use the really stiff wax.
Here’s how XC skiing works: you push with your right foot and glide on your left, then you push on the left and glide on the right. If you use the wrong wax, it’s either too sticky (which means you can’t glide) or it’s too slippery (which means you can’t push). With the right wax, everything works exactly as it should.
Sometimes, you might put a stickier wax on the bottom of the ski directly under your foot (this is called the “kicker”).
There’s an art to applying wax. First, you scrape off the old wax. Then, you put on the new stuff. Then you use a butane torch (or cigarette lighter) to melt it. Then you sort of smooth it on, with a piece of cork. Except you don’t want it to be smooth. You want some lumps (so they’ll grab when you push off).
Yes, but with XC skiing, you are still talking about gription to some extent. Another thing that happens if you use the wrong wax with XC skis is that you can end up with snow sticking and clumping on the bottom of the skis. A real drag. I entered and won a 10K cross country ski race once, simply because I had no-wax skis and the conditions changed and everyone else waxed wrong.
Well, I didn’t win JUST because of that, but anyway.
Five or six different kinds of wax? Heh. No wonder the US team can’t ski worth a darn
Seriously, there’s wax for relatively fresh snow, klister (sticky smelly stuff in a tube) for older, coarse-grained snow, and all manner of stuff for any weather condition you can think of. At the upper levels of competition, waxing techniques are closely-guarded secrets. Waxers have been offered serious moolah to switch allegiances and start working for another team. And certain skiers are infamous for blaming poor wax for any substandard performance.
Are competitive surfers this weird about wax?
Weird True Fact: In some areas, before waxes, skis were made with sealskin on the bottom of one or both skis. The hair grows in one direction, so the sealskin would prevent backsliding when going uphill but allow for smooth running downhill.
[[Weird True Fact: In some areas, before waxes, skis were made with sealskin on the bottom of one or both skis. The hair grows in one direction, so the sealskin would prevent backsliding when going uphill but allow for smooth running downhill.]]
You can still get artificial “skins” for climbing on skis. Then you take them off to ski down. We used to go up to the ski areas and do this before they opened for the season.
Former surfer dropping in here (“dropping in” = surfing vernacular for catching a wave & riding down the face of it).
The fin on a surfboard is called a “skeg.” “Skag” is a variant, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, but if so it’s one I never heard on the beach.
Surfboard wax does indeed go on top of the surfboard, as has been pointed out, primarily on the upper center of the board, where your feet will be once you stand up. Accomplished surfers can ride standing close to, or even on, the edge of the board. The rest of us are content simply to achieve verticality.
Surfboard wax also causes the lovely phenomenon known as “wax rash,” wherein the part of the body most in contact with the wax (the upper chest, since you spend much time paddling) breaks out in angry red swellings. Wax rash + salt water + paddling hard on your board = true masochism, but if it leads to the next perfect wave, it’s all worth it.
Mr. Zog’s Sex Wax is (used to be?) sold as a cake the approximate size & shape of a hockey puck. You just rub it right on the board. The pros may get a nice smooth finish, but us lesser surf jocks all had nice accumulations of lumpy, bumpy, and very adhesive, wax. And if you leave your board in the sun for a minute or two, the wax will soon soften to the consistency where it’ll rip the hairs right out of your chest…ah, I miss surfing.
wax goes on top of a surfboard to create traction, but the bottom is smooth. Snowboards, as well as alpine skis, use wax on the BOTTOM to achieve the opposite. The wax goes on to reduce friction, and allow you to glide better. As far as cross country skis go, the wax is weird and used for both gliding and traction. For us telemark skiiers, using skiis that look like wide alpine boards, but with free heel binding similar to cross country, the wax is used to reduce friction. When we want to fight gravity, we put “skins” on the bottom. The top of the skin, which goes on the ski bottom, is very sticky, using an adhesive similar to, but much stronger, than a post it pads. The bottom, which goes on the snow, has a fabric which lays down in one direction. When you slide the ski forward, the ski moves no problem, but as you pull yourself forward, and the ski back, it goes against the fabrice grain, and gives you traction. You wouldn’t believe the grades you can climb with these things.
Change the wax every day? My boards are lucky to see new wax every season! Most surfers just add some to the bare spots every now and then. You do have to scrape it down and use a solvent to really clean it off for ding repair. As for the rash, spandex ‘rash guards’ are sold to prevent that in warm waters, wet suits do it up here in Maine. That sand/salt/wax really can do a job on your nips! And BTW, ‘Dropping in’ is the action of rudely paddling into and surfing a wave that already has a rider coming along behind you in the wave. Sort of like cutting someone off on the road. Serious infraction. Aesop, you were refering to the Drop, (usually followed by a turn to bring you back up onto the wall of the wave.) There is an alternative to wax, however. Some surfers buy foam traction pads that are glued to the baord in the front and back where they would usually put their feet. This provides the gription in place of the wax. These are mostly on short boards as longboarders tend to move their feet around the board more. And lastly, Mr. Zog’s Sex Wax is still around and is the most common brand found.
Okay, JillGat, nice dose of condescension to keep the clueless in line. But one thing, you didn’t explain what “hanging ten” actually means. I mean, if they’re lost enough not to know the fins go down, how are they going to know that?
[[As far as cross country skis go, the wax is weird and used for both gliding and traction. For us telemark skiiers, using skiis that look like wide alpine boards, but with free heel binding similar to cross country, the wax is used to reduce friction.]]
The wax for glide on XC skis and tele skis (and I assume on alpine, though I’ve never worked on those) is applied as a hot wax which is melted onto the bottom of the boards, ironed in, then scraped and polished. It’s a very therapeutic ritual signaling the start of ski season. For XC skis, you add the stickier waxes - rub em on - just under the foot (where there is “camber” in the skis) to improve gription when you flex the ski down against the snow.
To reply to another post, I saw it spelled “skeg” and “skag” on surfer websites, but I defer to the beach boy on this one. I’m more of a boater than a surfer, so thanks for the input. Oh, and it’s “Nissin” not “Nissan” in my ramen article, so sue me.
Jill
sorry to disappoint you but I, at the age of 11, invented the word Gription(a combination of grip and traction) thinking that it much better evoked the spirit of both words!
This doesn’t really mean anything as you did not give your current age. For all I know you could be 14. And I invented “gription” (and still receive much ridicule for it) long before 3 years ago.
However, there is really no point in arguing about it as it is possible for different people in different places and times to invent the same thing.
How about we limit the club membership to us three?
By the way, a “griptionator” is a device used for producing gription.
ps - Cecil has received mail from two others, one who claimed to also have invented this word and one who claims his ex-wife did. Bah, I say. Show me in print.
