James Parry’s Footwork & The British Longboard Union

James Parry’s Footwork & The British Longboard Union

Sam Bleakley

The first event of the 2015 British Longboard Union tour kicked off at Saunton Sands, and it was Sennen styler James Parry to who took the Open title. As single fin longboarding reaches a new level of finesse, so the World Surfing League and International Surfing Association have revised its judging criteria: ‘The longboard surfer must perform controlled traditional manoeuvres with the highest degree of difficulty in the most critical sections of the wave to gain the highest score….Judges will reward the performance with reference to style and flow, visual appeal, commitment, variety of manoeuvres and use of the entire board, speed and power. Nose riding, trimming and footwork will be important elements in the judges decision-making.’ To get a great score the surfer must ride all of the board and all of the wave, linking manoeuvres with style. What I like about this is the emphasis on movement up and down the board – quality footwork.

Footwork has always been a defining feature in longboarding, turning sport into art and performance. It goes back to the 1940’s and finless Hot Curl boards ridden at Waikiki. Hot Curls offered a huge step forward from the heavier, slower planks from previous decades, opening a door to riding more demanding waves and tighter in the pocket. Crucially, they allowed improvisation, as surfers could play with weight distribution. In a search for speed, innovative riders like Rabbit Kekai moved to the front of the board, producing downward force to trim faster. At Queens Beach Rabbit would fade right, stall, swing left, move up to the nose and shoot the curl on a high line in a soul arch, making the board sing.

As skegs took over in the 1950’s, Malibu regulars Tom Zahn, Joe Quigg and Matt Kivlin figured that graceful and fluid movement up and down the board was essential to slow down, speed up, or change direction, fusing form and function. When fibreglass revolutionised board weight, Miki Dora, Phil Edwards, Lance Carson and David Nuuhiwa perfected cross-stepping as the ultimate way to navigate the deck, allowing smooth weight transitions along the stringer. A shuffle to the front is a clumsy way to transfer weight and will likely result in a nosedive. Worse, it looks bad. Cross-stepping is graceful and functional, all about timing, coordination and weight transition - reading the wave, staying in the curl, anticipating and responding. And cross-stepping back elegantly is as important as getting to the nose.

Sennen surfer James Parry has become an internationally respected master of footwork and noseriding. Having spent the last few years back-and-forth to California at the cutting edge of Joel Tudor’s Vans Duct Tape scene, he now has a personal Bing model and a signature fin to match https://www.bingsurf.com/team/james-parry/ But what separates James from many other is his ability on the nose, hanging ten or hanging heels. And to get to a from the nose takes excellent footwork, the foundations of longboarding as dance.

Born and raised in Nottingham, James started coming to the Cornish coast for summer holidays, riding bodyboards and hiring out swell boards. The whole family, all passionate footballers, took readily to surfing. James was an exceptionally talented midfielder and long distance runner. His brother, Andrew, was a sponsored skateboarder. James’ dad, Nigel, had been a professional footballer for Mansfield Town and had trials for Nottingham Forest in the Brian Clough era. When the folks finally found a catering niche to work in Sennen running restaurants (and now a coffee and tea shop in Penzance called Dishotay) James rocketed up the local surfing ranks.

“At first I was just into shortboarding,” says James. “I’d say that John Buchorski was the person who really influenced me when I was starting out at Sennen. He’s just got such natural ability, with an amazing cutback, and he’s always finding the pocket and is really modest about his ability. Then I started longboarding in 2005 thanks to Rich Emerson. He had just returned from a year in Australia, hanging out lots at Noosa with Tom Wegener. Although I was a full shortboarder, I just seemed to pick up cross-stepping straight away. It just felt like the thing you should do on a longboard.” Footwork developed in controlling the football certainly must have helped.

Rich Emerson introduced James to John Isaacs and James got his first longboard from the Revolver shop in Newquay. It was a burnt orange 9’ 1” Joel Tudor ‘Desert Model’ shaped by Donald Takayama - a replica of the design on which Tudor won the 1998 World Champs at El Hierro in Fuerteventura. No other longboarder has won a World Title with such an obviously masterful and beautiful show – other than when Tudor repeated the act in 2004 at Biarritz. Both performances were impeccable. Tudor worked the angles to perfection: clean lines, hang tens, tuberides and a telepathic wave sense. His style emerged as an original aesthetic in which the complete ride forms an elegant whole weaved together through functional footwork, not a clunky set of disconnected, isolated moves.

Tudor had just retired from competition when James started longboarding, but the enigmatic Californian had inspired a new generation of footwork and noseriding connoisseurs. James took off on five consecutive trips to Noosa to get first hand insight from the experts: “Americans Alex Knost, CJ Nelson and Dane Peterson were just so good at noseriding at that time. I suppose because I really started longboarding full-time watching these guys in Noosa, which is a really perfect set of right points, that place influenced me the most with my style and approach.”

Back home between winter trips James was playing Sunday League football and fusing urban influences in music and clothing from his brother who lived in Birmingham and London (and now lives in Germany). James adopted a resurgent fashion, getting a new pair of jeans, turning them inside-out and sewing up the seams, before surf punks claimed this late ’70s style. With an identifiable look and a love of bespoke longboards, James started to worked closely with Ben Skinner at Skingdog Surfboards, followed by Rob Wright at Slide 65, and ultimately Bing. “I started to work really hard on my surfing, mixing the hard work ethic I admire in my parents, with riding as many different styles of boards as possible. I haven’t focused on just one type of surfing. I really think it’s important to mix styles and approaches. So I ride everything from alaias to shortboard quads to single fins.”

At the first event of the 2015 season at Saunton Sands James spent time between heats enjoying impromptu football kick-abouts on the beach. This tends to leave fellow competitors with legs like cement for the remainder of the contest, while football-fit James was in his element. Out in the water, James happily settled ten toes on the nose on small peeling rights, bolt upright, arms by his side, in total harmony, footwork brought to fruition. He stayed and stayed, walked back and carved a trademark drop-knee cutback before hitting the sand. James’ smooth footwork and balanced noserides matched the new judging criteria perfectly. Result: first place.

St Agnes local and the charismatic chairman of the British Longboard Union Minnow Green was buzzing on the performances at the opening event. In the last 25 years the majority of Britain’s international competitive successes have come from longboarders (with the lions share going to Ben Skinner). These surfers have been launched into the international arena by the British Longboard Union, single-handedly built by Minnow from 1996. Without movers and shakers like Minnow, both knowledgeable and passionate about the sport, but also prepared for the grind of running contests on cold, windy and wet days with howling seas, the longboard cauldron, out of which future talent emerges, would sputter and die. Famed for his outgoing, gregarious personality, mixed with heartfelt passion, and a desire to foster new British longboard talent, Minnow is a crucial player in British surfing.

“The BLU is designed to be a ground for improvement for all longboarders,” says Minnow. “For me, it’s about two things - seeing people like Ben Skinner, Adam Griffiths, James Parry, Ben Haworth, Ben Howey, Elliot Dudley, Conner Griffiths and Jack Unsworth coming through the ranks, and then achieving big things internationally, but also about continuing to support the growth of the sport and culture at home. The top guys and girls have proven their worth in the big leagues. And there is always a pile of new talent out there, especially in the juniors. 16-year-old Jack Unsworth, from North Devon, is phenomenal.”

Having surfed since age 9, Minnow is also a superb longboarder, able to cross-step crisply to the nose, hang five with flair, and turn with razor-sharp precision. Minnow has a great record of competing throughout the early 1990s, particularly at the Biarritz Surf Festival, where he befriended surf stars Nat and Beau Young, Rusty Keaulana, Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama. “I conceived the vision for the BLU having seen firsthand what was happening in Europe, travelling with great surfers like Keith Beddoe and Chris Griffiths.”

“It’s always great to see new people turning up at the contests,” says Minnow. “Winning isn’t important. It’s about taking part, improving your surfing, becoming more confident and socialising. It means so much to me to help UK longboarders. And when they get good, that’s even better. In the first event of the season, the top ten were surfing at the very highest international level. They could have beaten the best in the world hands down. I love watching the heats when everyone is firing on all cylinders and pushing their limits. The BLU will carry on growing and producing great Champions at home and abroad,” concludes Minnow.