Surfing Waves

Just a quick run down on my board . It's a 10 ft strive . No water damage and I bought it 2 years ago when I returned to surfing.
I knew it was a heavy board single fin and I have had a crap load of fun on it but lately I began to wonder if I picked up a lighter board would I catch more waves or not? Since I don't know everything I thought one of you dudes would be able to expand on this subject.
Sorry if it's been a topic before .

lb50ish, if you are having a crap load of fun, why change?
But if the wonders are upon you, why not borrow a performance longboard and see what you think.
I can't advise you what size to consider as I don't know your weight and size..
Certainly try something around 9ft in an epoxy range, that will have flotation and try a number of fin configurations. Bear in mind, the single option will be what you are most familiar with.

As too the amount of waves you catch, an epoxy will float well enough to not be lacking in wave catching!

A heavier board will often be more stable, so you will be giving up on that. Harder to turn however.

With a lighter board it is much quicker to go from sitting in the line up to swinging the board around to catch the wave. So in that sense you may well catch more waves simply because you are in position more often. Shorter boards are also easier to turn - you could (depending on your skill level) even think about moving to something like 7ft6 mini mal board

Quick tip for reducing board weight:
Drill twenty 2 inch (5cm) diameter holes in it. Make sure they are evenly distributed.

billie_morini wrote:Quick tip for reducing board weight:
Drill twenty 2 inch (5cm) diameter holes in it. Make sure they are evenly distributed.

Hey billie,
I did like you said and took much care and made sure it was exactly 20 holes and based on the geometric shape x thickness and exactly (5cm) and after a painstakingly day of customizing the afore mentioned board, ( which by the way you should spend a second or two on reading the topic before regurgitating your 10th grade attitude assuming you made it that far) I happened to run in to some of your friends who were astonished by the way I surfed. The comments they made were and I quote -You surf almost as bad as 20 hole billie_morini.
I have no idea what they meant by 20 hole !
Anyway it was just a question looking for some educated comments, I guess 10th grade counts so thanks for the advice!

Forget all this GO SURFING!!!!!
Everything land based is washed away>

This is great, ib50. Thanks to you I've been promoted from 9th to 10th grade!
20-hole Billie

I am in the same boat as you are, lb50ish. I have been surfing this big 10ft fiberglass monster that weighs a ton, which has been great- I've caught a lot of waves and I am finally confident in the water. However, this past weekend I noticed a ding in the nose, so I dropped it off at a local shop and took out my wife's 9'2" epoxy board. It is more narrow, not by much, and slightly thinner- and much much lighter. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to catch as many waves, but what I found was that I could get into the wave at a more critical point without diving the nose, and I could turn much more quickly to avoid going straight down the face, and it felt much faster. I was stoked. So... now I'm going to pick up my 10ft monster, and probably spend too much time looking at new boards.... hopefully I don't break the bank.

Well great discovery, now you and your wife will have to get a quiver each, I can't even imagine a day when you both want the same board for the same surf.
Logs for log days , longboards for other days. Do you need to go shorter ? No! emphatically no, long boards can do it all. If the rider can!!

mjames wrote:I am in the same boat as you are, lb50ish. I have been surfing this big 10ft fiberglass monster that weighs a ton, which has been great- I've caught a lot of waves and I am finally confident in the water. However, this past weekend I noticed a ding in the nose, so I dropped it off at a local shop and took out my wife's 9'2" epoxy board. It is more narrow, not by much, and slightly thinner- and much much lighter. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to catch as many waves, but what I found was that I could get into the wave at a more critical point without diving the nose, and I could turn much more quickly to avoid going straight down the face, and it felt much faster. I was stoked. So... now I'm going to pick up my 10ft monster, and probably spend too much time looking at new boards.... hopefully I don't break the bank.

Fantastic, I recently have been renting/borrowing several boards and much like you I have been happiest with the mactavish fireball 9'2
and the firewire 9.0 I've even gone the route of the local shaper but prefer the tried and true tested boards I mentioned before .
I'm glad I'm not alone in this coolest of all struggles. Not sayin I'm never riding my Strive 10' but it sure is nice to be able to carry the board under your arm as opposed to the top of my head!
Thanks for sharing.