Why longboarders have more fun:

[San Diego Longboarder]

Is there alot of rocker on that board is or is it an illusion???

[San Diego Longboarder]

Hmmm, hard to say. You have to be good to surf a log in big waves.

I tried surfing in head high hollowish waves with a 9'2" single fin..It didn't work out so good!! Kept going over the falls because the board wouldn't hold at that pop-up area, kept sliding down or slowing and riding up and over.

Now if that made any sense, feel free to reply!

Dec,
It all depends on the conditions. If the wave is steep and hollow at the peak, it's generally not a good idea to use a Longboard. You should always use the proper board for the wave you are trying to ride. On the other hand, if the wave is tall and mushy, a Longboard will pick it up much earlier than a Shortboard, which means longer and better rides.

The trick is the take off. On "Longboard" waves, catching them on the very far outside is pure bliss! The drop ins are long and sometimes do require a sharp bottom turn, especially at beach breaks where the sand bars can shift overnight. At "reef" breaks, the tide is what's important. The rocks don't generally get around much, sedentary bunch, and the wave is more consistent. It's the depth of water that makes the difference at reef breaks. The shallower the water, the steeper the wave is a good rule of thumb.

I've ridden overhead many times on a Longboard. There have been times when I should not have gone out because I was riding a Longboard. But we do anyway. If you've got lots of horizontal cracks on the bottom glass of your board, you understand. These cracks come about because you are trying to use the board for a job it was not designed for, late take offs and steep drop ins on large faces. Your surfboard takes more punishment and stress than many of us understand, rudimentally of course, I'm no engineer, but I know the limitations of my tools.

If your favorite break is constantly steep and hollow, I'd learn to surf a Shortboard mucho pronto. Don't get me wrong, my heart is with Longboarding, but there's something to be said about fast, hollow and steep.

[Roy Stewart]

[quote="
Dec,
It all depends on the conditions. If the wave is steep and hollow at the peak, it's generally not a good idea to use a Longboard. .

If the wave is steep and hollow it's generally not a good idea to ride a standard wide tailed longboard. . . . but a narrow tailed longboard loves hollow waves and steep takeoffs:

[Roy Stewart]

Is there alot of rocker on that board is or is it an illusion???

There is an there isn't. . . . visually, the perspective accentuates the rocker in the part of the board furthest from the camera . . . .no there isn't because the board has a moderate to low rate of rocker curve, but yes yhere is because that moderate curve extrapolated to 17 feet adds up to quite a few inches (9 to be exact). . . . . the rocker is a circular arc from nose to tail, it looks like there is more in the tail than in the nose but there isn't. . . . and yes there is because it has more rocker than the ancient OLO boards. . . . and no there isn't because I am often glad when I'm taking off that it isn't flatter !

[San Diego Longboarder]

Roy,
I gotta agree with you. If you're Riding Giants at Mavericks or the Islands, you would want to use a board like those pictured. Since I didn't feel the person I was responding to was that skilled, I didn't feel it was necessary to include that kind of ride.
I've been surfing for a little while, and frankly about a 25' face at Abs, Sunset Cliffs, San Diego last December is about the biggest I've charged.
For an un/semi skilled surfer to attempt those waves would be surfing suicide, regardless of the board they were riding.
Obviously from your quiver and posts you are a longtime and skilled surfer. The board on the wagon was designed for riding very large waves, and no, I've never ridden anything large enough to require a board of those dimensions. My hat is off to you if you have.
I look forward to reading and responding to more of your posts in future. It's nice to have a resource who looks at things from a surfing persepective.

[Roy Stewart]

Hi SD,

About 25 feet in the wave face is the biggest I have ever surfed too, and that's only when conditions are ideal. I'm not a really big wave rider, but I like to go as far as I can.