Surfing Waves

just back from a long weekend in Sligo, had 2 days of ripples that i didnt bother with but on the last day the cleanest ground swell i've ever seen started pumping. very near head height and spilling.

surfing about 9 months and went from a minimal to a gun shaped pointy nosed 7'2" board about a month ago and have been struggling ever since. met a local legend on the beach who opened my eyes... he said to stay away from anything with a pointy nose. bigger board = more waves = more fun. (something i think i was losing sight of in my bullheaded struggle to master the shortboard).... he loaned me a 10' nose rider and i'm hooked! had the surf of my life!

anyway know nothing about longboards but gonna buy one soon. have been recommended to get one near 10' nose rider with a pin tail. any advice? any other info on longboarding anyone would like to volunteer would also be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like you've found Nirvana at last. Gratz!

I ride a 10' round nose pintail. One of the best boards I've ever had the pleasure of riding. I'm 6'4" and weigh 220 lbs, so I've got the size for it, but I don't truly believe you have to be a big guy to use a big board. It's all in the skill brah, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Welcome aboard. Nothing wrong with that board if it works for you.

Was out in Sligo in Monday too, really good session. Went out on my 7'10 instead of the shortboard, so gald too got loads of waves, some nice long rides. Was thinking of going longer too. Love watching good longboarders cruising!

In and around the 200lb mark 6' myself i think. 13-14stone whatever that works out as. what are the advantages of a pin tail?
myate whereabouts where you out? out in strandhill myself which i normally avoid.

Strandhill too first time for ages, as it's normally a close out during winter. But days like monday are great there. 5 min drive for me too

garbarrage wrote:what are the advantages of a pin tail?

Here you go.
https://surfing-waves.com/board/tail_shape.htm

Otter wrote:Sounds like you've found Nirvana at last. Gratz!

I ride a 10' round nose pintail. One of the best boards I've ever had the pleasure of riding. I'm 6'4" and weigh 220 lbs, so I've got the size for it, but I don't truly believe you have to be a big guy to use a big board. It's all in the skill brah, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I agree Otter. I am 5'8" 162 pounds and ride either my 9'0" or my 9'6" mostly my 9'6"and I would love to try a 10'0" or even longer.

cheers justloafing, oughta look around a bit more before asking.
says for hollow powerful waves... how do they behave in other types of waves? they be ok? not really into humping loads of boards around... especially if i'm going the longer route. tend to have a go of any waves i find unless they're way over head.

I am just going by what you said in your first post. If it worked for you "go for it". Otter or others can tell you more I'm sure. I'm also fairly new to this. I have never ridden a pintail, both of mine are squashtail's. Being on the east coast of the U.S. and because of my level of ability I have as of yet gone into head high waves. I have been in shoulder high waves and have done well in them and the squashtail worked good for me. Actually I think the pintail looks bad ass

kinda what i thought jl, reckon i'm gonna go for it this week. bite the bullet and deal with the financial aftermath later.
myat - learned to surf in strandhill and never saw it that good. usually only make it wesht at the weekend, but wouldn't bat an eyelid at skippin work if it does that again.(have one of those jobs - get away with murder) any chance of a heads up PM if it happens in future? only 2 hours away the way i drive. the bar man in The Strand told us the night before it was on the way. don't know if you are that well informed. definitely caught me by surprise.

Interesting subject. I'm sorta having some success on my minimal (7'6'') as well, so I have started to think about going smaller because it seemed like the regular thing to do. But I honestly don't really need to do all kinds of flashy on waves, I just want to ride them long and well. Does that mean I should consider the longboard as well? What are its advantages, besides catching waves more easily? And what are the advantages of shortboards, besides being able to duckdive?

PS: I am 6'5'' (197 cm) and weigh 82 kilos, which may also matter.

Comparing shortboards to longboards is an interesting debate and i think it might be interesting to needle out all the known differences. Cant put my 2cents in as i hate longboarding but then i completely suck at it so thats not exactly a constructive input.

Its all down to personal preff generally shortboards are much better for tighter snappier turns etc etc Also shortboards seem to fair better in hollow beach break. Not confirming that one just some of breaks i surf are devoid of logs

Thibb I'd say try both and see what you think.

bought a longboard this week. nothing fancy. 9'4" Naish epoxy "custom" (don't really know what qualifies as a custom) but went epoxy cos i know i'm gonna drop it lots. not quite as long as i was thinkin of but when i saw it it looked huge compared to what i'm used to so pretty sure it'll do the job.

i think (from very limited experience albeit) that its easier to develop a good style on a longboard as they are a bit more forgiving than short boards when you make mistakes.

one of our most popular reef breaks seems is being slowly taken over by long boarders. i think its because guys with a little less ability can compete better for waves etc. being able to catch them earlier.

my main reason for going longer is that having tried the shorter boards for a while after surfing a minimal. i just wasn't catching as many waves or having nearly as much fun. when i tried a proper longboard on that really good day i caught everything i went for and while not "ripping" i managed to get some good speed and left the water feeling like i'd improved in that one session. not giving up on shortboards just putting them down for a while. never going to sell a board unless i absolutely have to!

So how do you compare longboards to minimals? I thought the latter were specifically designed to catch more waves. Does getting a longboard just enhance that feature or do other things change as well??

Longboards and minimals are totally different. Minimals have "watered down" turning characteristics of shortboards, with more float and wave catching ability.

Longboards have a different style of surfing altogether. Longboards aren't just about catching more waves, it's the way you ride them as well, although most longboards are more stable and easier to catch waves on.

If you are learning, try a few minimals and longboards out. For most people, a longboard will be easier to learn on, but once you get a bit more competent, then chucking them around, riding solid waves, nose riding etc is not easy.

If you want to ride a shortboard, and can handle learning on a minimal, then that's the best way to go.

You just need to try it all, see what you like, and take it from there. There's nothing wrong with having long, short and mid range boards, and adapting your surfing to suit them.

Hang11 wrote: Minimals have "watered down" turning characteristics of shortboards, with more float and wave catching ability.

As a shortboarder, I'd never consider a mini-mal to be a watered-down shortboard, but I do think of them as watered-down longboard

I guess that just proves that they're neither.

There one of those compromises that seem to accomplish nothing.

You cant ride it like a shorty or a longboard, but you can catch waves & throw them about a bit.

I've always though of mini mals as being like cros dressers, can't really make up their minds what they want to be, so end up being in the middle, and ending as something that doesn't really make much sense.

Hang11 wrote::lol:

I've always though of mini mals as being like cros dressers, can't really make up their minds what they want to be, so end up being in the middle, and ending as something that doesn't really make much sense.

they are defunitely much easier to learn on than a shortboard and much easier to deal with in the water paddlin out etc. than a longboard. prob meant to be a happy medium. or a board for recreational surfers - weekend warriors like myself!

find i can be much freer on the minimal than a shorty. one little mistake or misplacement of weight and splash..... ride over.