This is Fingersurfing, a kickstarter that's going on for another few days and has been going for a month or so now. Why am I not stoked to see fingerboarding related things in the hands of the masses? Well.. This is basically these Danish guys, who whether knowingly or unknowingly, claim to have invented fingerairboarding (despite, you know, FingerAirBoard), but are calling it something else.
-Surely 'finger surfing' is surfing, in water, with your fingers? Pretty sure that was done years ago as well, if I recall there's a video with one of the old Berlinwood guys doing something like that?
-They got over 15,000 dollars to do something that's already been done, which they're claiming they invented. That's a lot of money in terms of what's been spent in the fingerboard world.
-The boards don't look THAT good craftsmanship. Like, not bad, but compare the finish to a top level fingerboard and it's not as good. I suppose at least there's a lot of room for improvement whilst the products are put into full development, so that's really a minor point.
I think point two is what gets me. These look fun, fingerairboarding/airsurfing is fun and something everyone should probably try to mess around on, especially for long car journeys/etc. And I'm not against kick starter either, if there was no fingerboarding, someone invented it tomorrow, and went on kickstarter, I'd back it faster than you could say 'heywaitkerryyoudonthaveanymoney'. The thing is though, this has already been done, for what, at least two years now? I know you cant really license a concept but still.. Bah. Fingersurfing directors, you just took 15,000 dollars to do something that's already been done, claim it your own invention, AND are trying to redefine a word that in my books, already has a valid definition. Feel good?
Were they not claiming this was their own invention, I'd probably love it a whole lot more. Fingerairboarding/airsurfing/what ever you want to call it is a concept, not someone's property. New companies are good, just not those who clearly have either no respect for others in their field, or haven't done a single bit of research.
You can read more on Kickstarter here. Whether you choose to support it in the 4 days it has left of kickstarter is up to you :)
