The JP SX - Board Review

Four years in the making, the SX has proven to be one of Swansea-based John ‘JP’ Purton’s most popular models. The boards range from 5’0” to 6’6” and are available in a swallow, square or round tail, depending on personal preference and ability. The board was originally designed for surfers who are competent with performance surfing but are looking for a board which will handle mushy summer waves. It is a board design with versatility in mind, supposedly being able to handle waist high beach breaks up to head and a half high reefs.

 JP is a well-known name not just around the South Wales area, but across the UK and abroad, and John has been making boards for a long time, a very long time, in fact since he was 13. His two sons, Tom and Louis, are now part of his shaping business and since 2002 they have owned and operated their own DSD shaping machine from their Penclawdd workshop.  

They’re known for high performance, good quality boards and honed through years of experience and expertise. JP has some impressive sponsored riders, such as Llantwit local Nathan Phillips, Tom Lowe, Fergal Smith, the Gower’s Gwen Spurlock and Porthcawl’s Chris Seage.  

The true shortboard is experiencing a decline in popularity at the moment, especially in Britain, with many surfers favouring the old school, retro vibes of a fish or the combined qualities of a hybrid shortie. People with full time jobs who don’t live near the sea don’t have the option of surfing every day and want a board that they can just jump on and get waves, that still maintains the responsive snappiness of a shortboard but with the added buoyancy and volume of a larger board.  

So, with this in mind I borrowed a test JP SX (a 6’2” x 19 ½ x 2 ½ squaretail to be exact) from the guys in City Surf in Cardiff city centre and gave it a couple of tries. I surfed it twice at Rest Bay in Porthcawl and once at Ogmore in the Vale, and also once at a secret reef somewhere on the Glamorgan coast.  I tested it in a variety of conditions as well, between hip and shoulder high on the beachies and head high on the reef. 

The SX performed well, its super fun to ride, easily manoeuvrable, responsive and rides well. Contrary to the fuller plan shape, it’s easy to get a good lip smack out of it and works well on the rail to rail. The relaxed rocker contrasts well with the single to double concave towards the tail, meaning that the board is easy to catch waves on yet snappy and sharp. 

However, on the smallest day when the waves were around hip high, I found it incredibly hard to maintain any speed and found myself sinking wave after wave. Despite the 6’2” length and elevated volume, I still found it hard to surf in the conditions and would have been better off with a retro fish style board, of course this would mean compromising the manoeuvrability. The SX is said to work in waist high beach breaks and above, but I’d say that this was the absolute limit for this board.

In the reef break it went really well – easy to keep the speed up and was really easy to catch waves on. The board definitely benefited from the added punch of the reef and I had a super fun surf, it feels a lot thinner than it actually is and even I got some good spray off my top turns.

Me surfing a different board, on a different day...

I would buy this board to add to my quiver as a good all-rounder, volume for the smaller days and concave for the bigger days yet maintaining responsiveness throughout. Although I wouldn’t go throwing away my retro fish or high performance shortboard just yet, as where this board seems to work well in the middle of the spectrum, it isn’t prepared for the extremes on either end. Saying that, the SX’s fat older brother the SX5, with its 5 fin set up and wider deck, would be perfect for the smaller, weaker waves. Or even the RX5, which is in the same family and yet again has a wider plan shape, and is more akin to an original 80s thruster.  

In a nutshell, I would buy this board. I want this board. It’s a good addition to any quiver.

Are Kindles killing books?

Does the Kindle Spell the End for Books in Print?

In a nutshell, no. I don't that the Kindle and Kindle-like products will render books obsolete, but I do believe that there is a market for each. While many use both, normally books at home and a Kindle for travelling, I, on the other hand, stand firmly with the rest of the bibliophiles.

"Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators," says Stephen Fry, and I am inclined to agree. What works for one person does not for another. Many favour the compact, lightweight, technologically adept Kindle, but others feels that you can't ever replace the smell and feel of a proper book.

I also feel that Kindles take some of the fun out of reading. Just the other day I was getting to the end of Joseph Heller's amazing book Catch 22 on the train to Bath, when the man next to me turned and asked if I had ever read it before. I replied in the negative. "You should" he said, "it's completely different the second time around, it changed my life." The revelation and the ensuing conversation would not have been possible if I had been reading it on a Kindle.

And for those who loving reading, surely being able to recognise and remark on the book of a fellow commuter is special. Plus, you get to internally judge them on their choice of tome, which is also fun. In cases such as these, the Kindle is denying us the feeling of camaraderie when you see someone a quarter of the way into a book you love, wondering if they'll adore it as much as you do. Who knows what these Kindle folk are reading? No wonder Fifty Shades of Grey became a bestseller when no one can see the cover.

"But it's so light and easy to travel with," they cry, and I of all people should see the benefit in this. I've spent years backpacking, often weighed down with three or more novels and a guidebook. When asked why I don't get a Kindle to make life easier, I can come up with numerous reasons. The first is that I like to pass books on or swap them with other travellers, the knowledge that it's been passed through countless pairs of hands all over the world is a warming one indeed. Plus, when you're on your own, it can be a great way to meet people. See/offer a book, start a conversation and hey presto, you may have just found yourself a new travel buddy. All through a book.


The second reason is that I like the fact that I'm pushed out of my comfort zone when faced with a hostel bookshelf full of completely bizarre titles. Because of this I've read some amazing books which I would never have picked up otherwise, such as Jose Saramango's Blindness, and some others which I wouldn't pick up again, like the book adaptation of Total Recall and some questionable romance novels.

Of course Kindles have their plus points. Many of the classics are free, you can store a load of books for a lazy holiday and have a novel in your hand within seconds, and it sure would make my university reading lists a lot cheaper.

But at the end of the day call me old fashioned, technophobic, stubborn, I can never, ever see myself buying a Kindle. And there are many like me - those whose houses are stacked with row upon row of books but wouldn't have it any other way.

Where do you stand?