Surfing Waves

I'm thinking about getting a soft top performance shortboard for next summer and I keep reading that Soft Tops can be ridden much shorter than traditional boards. The review below even said the 4'8" Kyuss Fish is equivalent to a 5'8" traditional groveler like the Lost Puddle Jumper etc.. Is that true? Seems like a big difference in dims..

I currently ride a 6'2 Rocket Wide (41L) and looking to transition into something like the Softech Mason Twin 5'6" (35L) or possibly the Kyuss Fish 5'8" (46L). Do you think I would notice a big difference dropping into waves or maybe even the skatieness of such a short and buoyant board. The bigger sizes seem to take away lots of the advantages that soft tops have.

Anyone else make the switch to a soft top board? Any gotcha's to watch out for?

Careful, my friend bought one of these shorty soft tops, and after the first use, we both decided we didn't really like it. It's hard to describe why exactly. Every wave, I just felt I'd rather be on a 'normal' board. It felt a bit benign and unresponsive.

Thanks for the feedback. Any chance you remember which brand or model you had?

I think it's a Softtech mystery box. One of those weird square boards. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't horrific, but my friend actually bought a new board straight after that one to replace it.

You can ride them shorter because they are higher volume than equivalent hard boards. Whether you can handle the shortness is a different issue

Thanks Lebowski I remember looking at that one similarly so it's really good to know that it disappointed. Yeah i think what youre describing is exactly that I was worried about.. the rails on the board might not have a hard enough edge to use for carving the way I like for a shortboard.

I hear ya dtc. I think the 4,8" Kyuss is definitely out of the question, even though the volume is close to a 5'8" groveler. Thats just too much of a change in my foot placement etc. I dont think I would like Mini Simmons boards for the same reason. I think I would go with the 5'8" Kyuss if anything, but thats almost too much volume and might feel kinda boatie.

I've been thinking of getting a 6' Odysea but haven't pulled the trigger, I could probably buy it smaller but don't really need to work that hard LOL

Yea I was thinking about the Odysea or Bomber for weaker waves or even messing around with it as a finless just to change things up in the summer. I think those 2 are a little more like a mini mal soft top and might get more use in the summer.

Sometimes it seems like the surf requires a different type of board for every season and swell type.. it hasn't been helping my board hoarding tendencies.

dtc wrote:

Naeco78 wrote:Sometimes it seems like the surf allows us to justify the need for requires a different type of board for every season and swell type...

Lol so true. I guess I have board hoarding issues

Ha, reminds me of my finless surfboard experiment from 5 years back...