Surfing Waves

Not sure what's up, but I haven't bought a new surfboard in a year. I used to buy one or two a year, sell one, buy one, try one, try another, try a quad, a thruster, a hybrid, channels, finless, fish, mini simmons, minimal... have I finally finished trying new boards?I mean, if I break one I will replace it, but I don't have the desire to buy one.

For now, I'm surfing my 6'1 x 2 3//8 x 19 1/2 epoxy carbon board as my go-to board with my 6'5 x 2 1/2 x 19 1/2 as my step up, with my fish, bigger step up, gun, minimal and longboard available for them "other" days (not including the 3 boards I have at my pad in baja)

What's wrong with me??? Why can't I buy more boards?

I bought a few boards recently but here is my theory about new boards. Every time you get new board you have to learn how to use that board. There is some overlap but the fine tuning which in my case is all the critical stuff I have learn all over with a new board even if it is only slightly different. So while I enjoy these new boards I want to progress my skills so I stick with just one board because each time I change I have to relearn. Perhaps when I get more time or a higher skill set.... Ask Big H how he does it

All aboard
IB's bored
With all the boards
He has stored.
It's been a whiles
Since he stalked shop aisles
Nor has he posted for a while.

Is something wrong in IB land?
Do not fear ,helps at hand!

Returning here you can be sure
Normality is not the cure.
An Aussie term "We'll have a Crack"
Meaning we'll get your mojo back!

And of course with that restored
You'll go out and buy a board.

Welcome back from where you've been IB

LOL...I am going through the same thing.....before I was constantly trying new boards, switching around, selling one, buying another on the used buy and sell site....haven't bought or sold any in 8 months......I like the boards I have (I have a few LOL).....point is I've got something for pretty much every condition, and I like the boards I have. Like OMS said, it takes time to learn a board.....my boards are like friends now, learning more about them each time out and building trust.....went out in big conditions today and took an old friend....helps when things get hectic.

I don't really know how you guys do it. I have three funboards and on steep drops, the 8 footer I angle from the top and when I drop I slide my front foot to the inside rail, the 7'6" board (no rocker) I angle from the top and it is so quick getting down I don't need to put my front foot to the inside rail but I do need to ride out a bit before I do a bottom turn on bigger waves because it gets squirrely when going fast, the 7' board I angle but it turns higher up the face maybe not needing a bottom turn. All of these boards require different muscle memory in critical situations and I find when I switch boards for a while I am trying to do what I should for the prior board for a while. I only go out for 30 to 45 minutes usually and it takes me three or so sessions to get fairly well switched. So it slows down my learning process. I really like the shorter boards but they aren't quite as versatile as the 8 foot board so I choose to use that board for now and now after not progressing much for a while I am back to progressing my skills. I think if I hit a point where I am no longer progressing with the 8 footer then I am going to pick one of the other boards to ride but for now it's my favorite. It took me years to get over trying to do things like I was surfing a single fin even though it had been 12 years since I surfed a single fin. I enjoy multiple fins and have no intention of trying to learn to surf a single fin again. But maybe when I reach a point that I am no longer progressing on multiple fin boards I will. Maybe it's just me but I can't switch boards and perform well at a high level. But then again maybe it is just that I am always trying to progress that is the problem.

I switch between different boards a lot, but mainly with 4 different boards only:

- 6'2, 33.8L, with a lot of rocker, for hollow waves but hard paddler.
- 6'10, 41L, medium rocker, narrow tail for bigger, hollow, and still good paddling.
- 6'6, 48L low rocker (Addvance), for very good paddling up to 1.5oh and not hollow.
- 8'2, 60L, lots of rocker (Submoon), best paddler in all crowded conditions, but some swing weight up front.

And yes, it always takes a couple of waves to get tuned in again. But the tune in process is getting quicker, so that's progress. Also skills learned on one board are available later on other boards, I did some steep drops with the Addvance and even the Submoon lately. So I think switching boards around helps me progress.

But most of all it is fun!

I might have to change my mind. I was using a 6'11 fat wide quad on small days since I can't fit a longboard in my pad, but it barely fits in the elevator on the way down to the beach and too bulky for my storage closet.

I was thinking of a fat wide egg or simmons, not sure, what do you guys suggest? I want it to paddle like a longboard but max height is about 6'6. Suggestions?

I had an egg like that which in the end was too wide and thick; was like paddling a raft and didn’t feel like I was engaging the wave right, oke I was too much on top of everything. I have a longboard with more total volume than that fatty but it sits in the water lower and it is a lot easier to get the feeling and get more from the wave both paddling and surfing. I had a dominator that was 6,8” with about 50L that did well in small waves, but the tail was a little too wide and if the waves had any guts, even if small, the board was hard to control. I traded in for a 6’6” pu board from a San Diego shaper ironically; got it second hand and has a more pulled in tail than the dominator but is really thick and fairly wide, but hen has these deep channels cut from the middle out thru the tail that are unusual....anyway, it is the best small wave shortboard I’ve had so far and no plans on looking for something else, board works great and has decent rocker so that it stands out from so many of the flat fat grovellors that are out there.

I’ll take some pics later and post. Brand is Delray.

The model is called a speed egg, but it’s not like the eggy board I had because of the rocker, channels and tail. Look them up on Facebook, delray surfboards, they have a few models. Mine is like the one pictured on the right.
Maybe the other egg I had was a dud....this board works though, have had it out all the way up to nearly double overhead (albeit fatter high tide waves) and it just goes.
https://www.facebook.com/delraysurfdesi ... 29/?type=3

Dyslexic....on the left I mean.

Here’s the beauty....

That looks a lot like a board I was going to suggest - something like this, a nice wide fat hybrid type, pretty wide but not too wide tail, flat rocker





But you might also be interested in this, sort of a big mini simmons crossed with a short longboard. If that doesnt sound too contradictory!




Both shaped by Grant Miller, who is Australian. One of the above is actually my board... of course, you wont be able to get the exact board but something along those lines

This one is kinda funky....

Big H wrote:Here’s the beauty....

That is a beauty. Make that board a 7'10" epoxy diamond tail with channels and you basically have my board. It's so much fun to ride.

IB_Surfer wrote:... on small days ... what do you guys suggest? I want it to paddle like a longboard but max height is about 6'6. Suggestions?

I had the best paddle/small wave experience with a Firewire Dominator 6'6. Compared to my Firewire Addvance 6'6 it paddled better, but it sat a bit too high on the water in bigger waves from about shoulderhigh+. I sold it because here (Bali) the waves are often that size and I was offered a good price.

But on small days I could compete with the younger/fitter guys at a crowded shortboard wave like Brawa.

Okay, I'm going to try and post a picture of my board. Let's see how this goes.







Uh . . . well, that's the best I can do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9sKsF_4oHY

a flying board!

got a very deep single concave on the bottom there. Interesting.

Looks like we are all ending up with a similar style of board - must be an age thing.

dtc wrote:a flying board!

got a very deep single concave on the bottom there. Interesting.

Looks like we are all ending up with a similar style of board - must be an age thing.

I haven't really been able to figure out what nuances to the board's performance the concave brings. The board works magic for me so the concave is kind of irrelevant. However, the other day out in bigger waves it did feel a bit like an ironing board. I'm definitely beginning to see the downside of a flat rocker on bigger waves. One of these days I'm going to try out some different fin setups so I can get an idea of how various fin setups change the way the board rides.

Nice board Rinky, what are the dimms? And what are your dimms again?
Didn't you use an winged Aipa before?

Tudeo wrote:Nice board Rinky, what are the dimms? And what are your dimms again?
Didn't you use an winged Aipa before?

Thanks. The dims are 7'10" X 22 3/4 X 3. My dims are 5'11" 185lbs. I still have my Aipa board, but I'm letting Namu use it for a while. The weird thing about the Aipa board is that I bought it and took it out a couple of times, but felt I needed to improve my skills and fitness to ride it better. So, I went back to surfing my 9'6" longboard. I really love my longboard so when I saw another board on Craigslist by the same shaper (the board I posted the picture of) I bought it as well. I started riding it and loving it so my Aipa board kind of fell by the wayside. I plan to spend more time on the Aipa at some point, but now I'm kind of clogged up with surfboards. I have a 7'2" fish (set up as a twin fin swallow tail) that I took out the other day and had a blast on. Anyway, I'm just kind of bouncing around my different boards, but my 7'10" board is pretty much my go-to board at the moment. I really like digging my rail into my bottom turns and angled takeoffs. My Aipa board has really wide rails and that has kind of kept me from showing it as much love as my thinner railed boards. I do want to get to know the Aipa board better though at some point.