It's misty, it's early morning, and you're floating in the gently undulating water. Everything is utterly peaceful.
Suddenly this changes to tense anticipation as the big waves start rolling in. You paddle hard for perfect positioning. Then you're up, weaving down the line or hitting the lip looking for multiple re-entries to milk the wave for all its worth. Seconds later it's all over and you're left feeling stoked.
For surfers, this natural high is what it's all about. But to achieve it, stability, balance and control are essential.
Springbok surfer and three-time SA surf champion Dean Geraghty has spent 24 years waiting for that perfect wave. As a professional surfboard "shaper", he knows a thing or two about how to finesse a surfboard for maximum speed and manoeuvrability.
Geraghty has developed a tool that enables surfers to fine-tune the performance of their surfboards. Known as the 4-Way Fin System (4WFS), it enables the fins underneath a surfboard to be adjusted in four separate ways: up or down; inward or outward; toe in or toe out; and fin replacement.
For beginners, the ability to adjust their fins as their skill improves means they can make a stable board more responsive and able to turn more easily. For the expert surfer, adjustability may provide the extra speed they are sometimes looking for from their boards.
The precise adjustment of the fins can make the difference between a mediocre ride and a "radical" ride.
"It's like Viagra for your surfboard - it turns it on when you need it," says Geraghty.
The 4WFS is the only fin system in the world - and there are many - with the ability to adjust the fins (rather than simply replacing one set with another) and has been recognised by publications such as US magazines Surfer and Surfing, and French magazine Surf Trip, as among the five best fin systems in the world.
In SA, the editor of surfing magazine ZigZag, Will Bendix, believes the product is highly innovative, but says it's not for everyone. "Surfing equipment like this can require quite a good understanding of design and hydrodynamics. I'd guess that your more experienced surfers or those with more design knowledge would maximise the benefits these fins have to offer."
It's about finesse, you see.
"Every surfboard shaped by a shaper will go differently," says Geraghty, who is MD of the holding company for the 4WFS, Air Core Technology. "Aside from material and manufacturing deviations, every surfer has a different style, weight distribution and foot position - all of which are critical to the performance of a surfboard."
Because this performance is also influenced by weather conditions and other, less tangible factors, like mood, Geraghty's fin system allows individual surfers to adjust their boards or "customise their toolbox of shred" for changing circumstances.
Five years ago, Geraghty had completed the development of the 4WFS, but had no funder or fellow surfer willing to back him. "South Africans do not endorse their own technology. We believe that international is better. If we endorsed local technology we would have more innovation."
So he put his money where his mouth was and replaced the fin systems on the Nev, Town & Country and Geraghty surfboards that he sold.
"I proved that the product was reliable enough to be used extensively - without losing a customer," he says.
Today his fin systems are used in 10% of SA surfboards and are exported globally.
Two years ago Geraghty formed Air Core Technology with two partners (one was a financial backer) and set about patenting the fin system and working to gain traction in the intensely competitive world of international surfing.
Competing against branded products backed by million-dollar marketing budgets is not easy for any market entrant. In this case, the market is dominated by FCS, an Australian company which revolutionised fin systems with the introduction of removable fins.
Though Geraghty believes his product delivers added advantages, he is a sardine in the face of a killer whale from a market visibility perspective.
With no budget to advertise in international surf magazines, he has relied on trade shows and leg work to spread the word. It is starting to pay off. Apart from the editorial coverage in international surf magazines, the company's fin system has been used by surfing celebrities such as seven-time world champion Kelly Slater.
And Geraghty has another ace up his sleeve. In response to Chinese manufacturers who make low-cost surfboards, Geraghty says his product offers surfboard manufacturers differentiation - a way to customise surfboards for individual surfers' styles.
"The only way small shapers and large surfboard manufacturers alike can compete with the Chinese is through customer service and differentiation, making price no longer a factor," he says. "I approached 50 shapers on a recent marketing trip to Australia. Just two turned me down; the rest were enthusiastic."
He acknowledges there have been marketing mistakes. Last year Air Core gave away R80 000 worth of product at surf events. "Less than 10% of the freebies were used," says Geraghty.
Now he insists that shapers pay for their 4WFS, but deducts the cost from their first order.
Larger manufacturers, like Nev, Salomon and Cobra, are aware of his products but have been slow to change from the fin system that is the industry standard. "They are innovating with the materials used in the manufacture of the board. For now, that is enough for them - this is an industry that changes slowly," he says.
Meanwhile, surf's up and Geraghty is heading for the waves - he gets precious little time to surf these days.
