Surfing Waves

Yesterday I was surfing this well overhead pointbreak and two old guys on 9ft boards were stealing the show.
They were ripping, not stepping, doing these wide bottom turns and cutback carves, it was a joy to look at.
I was doing ok on my 6/6 48l hybrid but was soon tiring of the long paddle back to the point, but these old guys just kept going and taking the big waves outside.

I've seen the light, I want a good big board!

Maybe u guys can tell me what to look for in a big board for easy paddling and good waves 1.5x OH? Dimensions, outline, volume, foil, rocker, etc.

I'm not looking for noseriding at this time, just doing nice carving turns. All the spots I surf (in Bali) have channels or other ways for easy paddle out, I only have to fight the white water when getting caught inside.

I'm 52yo, 73kg (160-165lbs), 182cm (6ft), lower end intermediate I guess.

It would be nice if it would fit in my car, maximum length about 8'10" (270cm), but if there are strong arguments for going longer it will go on the roof, tidak apa apa

I'll put you on to my shaper Mitchell Rae, Outer Island Surfboards his boards are sold and designed for Indo, Ombak besar baik baik, motorbaik, talk shop on the 9th of September.

I've talked to some guys around here about their outer island flex tails....expensive they say but worth it.....

I had my board out today....7'8" isn't that big but on the bigger side....this board loves a bigger wave....my longboard with the relatively heavy nose and tail rocker is good in the big stuff also....I'm still a newbie, but I've had a traditional all arounder type longboard with moderate rocker and a fairly wide tail and the one that I have now with a pulled in, narrower tail, considerably more rocker in nose and tail and a nose that tapers down a bit rather than the wide nose rider I had before.....works so much better in bigger waves, not as well as the traditional board in shoulder high or less...

I am really liking my new 7'8"...Jeff Alexander handshapes here and will do longboards as well....he's got a 8'4" x 21" x 3" board called the Bonzinator on his Facebook page....bonzer channels and fins and the board looks the business....he'll make any of his models as big or small as you want/need.

There was a guy who was selling two Dick Brewer longboards on the buy and sell....I don't think they sold....here's the ad....best used deal I've seen come up in the last 6 months for longboards....

When I saw this I thought that this would be a good performance longboard alternative.....just looks like it rocks.

If you are riding hollow waves then you want a board with lots of tail rocker and a narrower tail and not too long or wide.

Check this site out....has a good selection of some of the more popular brands...
http://bennettsurfboards.com/product-ca ... ce-boards/

I have a tolhurst....like the looks of this one, similar to what I have but smaller with more pronounced nose rocker and narrower tail:
http://bennettsurfboards.com/product/to ... 78x2-1316/

I have heard raves about this board.....wish I could find one here...
http://bennettsurfboards.com/product/mc ... 2-12x2-34/

There are two types of flex tails Mitchell makes the carbon fibre flex panles in the tail and the V2 with a V stringer, I ride a custom V2 Super mal, the channels Mitchell uses are really good and the bonzers in the 2 of the 2 + 1 works great for me.
A couple of thoughts the same V2 is available right throughout his range but the channels are there in which ever you want I am more convinced about the channels than the V2 so you could do it without the flex
here is a link and hunt down the rockers they are made for Indo, even if you don't buy OI boards the rocker should be burnt into your surfing brain as you look at say, Jim Banks or the Bennett's boards.

http://www.outerislandsurfboards.com/index.html

Jaffa.........my bank account curses the day I saw the OuterIslands site for the first time (today).....wow, wow, wow!!!


Beautiful boards....now I know what I want..........

In as much as we advise people not to go down in size too much, same applies here but in the opposite way. Someone whose just getting off a sponge 8'0" and jumping DOWN to a 6'6" would have a hard time, paddling and turning. In your case, going UP from a 6'6" to 8'10" is also a huge jump. I feel a nice 8'0" hybrid/mini-mal or a desert island fun gun would be plenty enough. The Bonzarnator sounds really fun.

Sound advice I quite like the Bonzinator from the surface would love to see a bottom profile!

Here's the only shot he had of the bottom....so now I need one of these and a Gemini.

I love being bonzered.
BTW Bonzer in old Australia slang means really good.
I might lean towards the Bonzanator if the channels are Bonza specific, the OI channels are not they just work well with the fins.

I love channels here is an awesome set by the late Al Byrne.


This is very extreme speed machine really requiring you having your turns down pat, the bonzas set more for a two dimensional venturii effect and don't tend to track as much.
Channels also went out of fashion for a lot of reasons, challenging to shape and glass ( increases production time and cost) , and bad channels just mess a board up badly!
Newer surfing moves around controlled tail slide and tail release are more difficult due to the bite of the channels. Trying to land after airs and having abrupt sticking as water hits the ridge of the channel.
One thing pros need is entirely predictable performance from their boards, hence the matching sets, in size increments, for each comp venue.
What do we amateurs need?
Predictability too, our boards to be multifunctional with the range we choose to ride.
Once we start to specialise, then we should consider custom.

This is my set up when I use the Bonza fins as the side bites>

Wow guys, thanks so much for all the input, it's overwhelming. I've been drooling over the Outer Islands site, wow! That Supermal!! We got a lotto talk about om Jaffa!

In the footer of the OI-site I see a banner of Rip Curl Bali, does that mean they can deliver their boards thru that shop? Or does it even mean they can do local production in Bali, just like Matt Biolos: "Lost Surfboards are built in Bali, at a world class surfboard mfg plant. The boards are cut on the same AKU Shaper machine we use here in CA, using all my master files. For all custom orders, the order is sent to me via email and I create the custom file and send to Bali."

Om, u mention a link to see rocker shapes, but I can't find the link, did i misunderstood?

Big H, sorry to make u all restless teman What a lot of beautiful toys this world has in store for us. Thanks for the links!

W3kc, Not to jump to far in lenght, that's an important advice, thanks! But please understand before the 6/6 I rode my 7/9 BIC Malibu, that old board served me so well over the years. But now I want something with more performance, and if possible, easier paddling. The old BIC is very easy to catch waves and do easy cruising but it feels heavy in turns and too flexible, I think it's flex absorbs too much energy of the wave.

OMS, "lots of tail rocker and a narrower tail and not too long or wide" Noted! Thanks!

I feel like lifting the tip of the longboard world, I just sense there is so much more to learn. I love reading ur in depth stories!

Rocker

I think I've seen that rocker in action

For what it's worth....Jaffa's rocker pic got me wondering about my longboard. Here's mine; can see why it doesn't paddle as well as you might think it might at 9'6".....but fits in the wave better than my old traditional shaped board.

Big H wrote:can see why it doesn't paddle as well as you might think it might at 9'6"

Looks like more rocker than Jaffa's board, am I right?
I was always attracted by Tuflight boards for their low weight, how does that work for ur 9/6? I've read somewhere longboards benefit from more weight but I think that is more relevant for noseriding, but i'm not sure.
Do they still sell tuflight here? There was this big shop at jl benesari in kuta they also did SUP, but that moved to jl. sunset and is gone now i think.

Yeah....that board has lots of rocker....but works really well in our waves; I improved first time out after switching from the more traditional longboard I had....tuflite in that board is not light....it's lighter but they did add weight so that I'm assuming you get that inertia and glide....I heard the same thing about longboards and not being to light a good thing.....anyway, it's lighter than my last PU board, but heavier than a firewire longboard I picked up in a shop one time (like a feather)....I'm happy with it and it breaks through the chop on the bigger waves and in the afternoons....

Shops with new longboards: Deus (mad expensive), Rip Curl, Board Lab Ungasan (biggest selection). Board Lab is halfway between the Balangan and Dreamland turnoffs on Jl. Ulawatu, Bukit's main street.