Surfing Waves

I think I just found the board I want. My 8' Wavestorm has been great for learning, but it definitely has some limitations. I ran across the board below on CL and thought it would be an excellent transition board. I think the nice thing about the m-13 is that it seems like it would be great as a transition board to a short board, but would also make a nice board for bigger surf. What do you think?

http://slo.craigslist.org/spo/5565570244.html (Unfortunately, it's been sold.)

(Review)

Here is the Surf Science review of the M13
.
http://www.surfscience.com/surfboards/channel-islands-m13#details


Comments
• The thing needs speed to make turns. It's totally a power surfer's board
• A spectacular board in small to overhead, but looses control at high speed (double overhead).
• Can't catch softer waves.

I think the narrow tail and a few other things contribute to it being a board that needs a bit of power behind it - its probably perfect for a solid point break or similar where you have a little extra take off time; I looked at it myself a few years ago but decided it wasnt the best option for my regular sized beach breaks. So the comments you posted from surf science accord with my interpretation (but - this is just me; everyone surfs differently and a good board for one person isnt always a good board for another)

I'm not entirely sure its the best transition board - coming off a wavestorm you need to learn about the effect of the differences in board construction as well as a shorter board. I would seen the M13 as a second board in the quiver for the right conditions, rather than your only board

It wont be terrible; but something like a regular 7ft2 or thereabouts mini mal is probably preferable; you could possibly even think of trying a hybrid (pointier nose) if you feel comfortable enough on your current board.

But if you got a good deal on an M13 then go for it - even if it turns out to not be the best board right now, it will certainly have a place in your quiver in the future

RinkyDink wrote:I think I just found the board I want.

That would have been a beauty, just looking at the Realwatersports review puts my lingering Board Lust into dangerous waters..

But the loose fin in an epoxy could be an expensive repair, if your not in Bali

Also I'm with dtc, not sure if the best transition board, it will need some serious wavepower to get going.

Did you try different boards yet? Just trying different shapes will tell you so much about what you want, *and don't want*, in a board.

dtc wrote:I think the narrow tail and a few other things contribute to it being a board that needs a bit of power behind it - its probably perfect for a solid point break or similar where you have a little extra take off time; I looked at it myself a few years ago but decided it wasnt the best option for my regular sized beach breaks. So the comments you posted from surf science accord with my interpretation (but - this is just me; everyone surfs differently and a good board for one person isnt always a good board for another)

But if you got a good deal on an M13 then go for it - even if it turns out to not be the best board right now, it will certainly have a place in your quiver in the future

The reason I'm drawn to the m-13 is because the problem I'm having with foamie is that every time I do a bottom turn and attempt to get on my rail for a fast bottom turn I end up fighting against the board trying to stabilize me. The board is designed to keep you off your rail and to plane flat. That means my turn into the wave kind of ends up being like a floater instead of a snap. My thinking was that the M-13 would give me all the benefits of my fun board, but open up more maneuvering possibilities because of the nose and tail shape. The more I think about it, though. I'm beginning to think I might be better off trying a fish. The conditions I'm surfing in definitely call for a fish. I don't know. I think I'm just going to keep searching for dirt cheap quality. If that ends up being a fish or a longboard then I won't need to make a choice

Tudeo wrote:

RinkyDink wrote:I think I just found the board I want.

That would have been a beauty, just looking at the Realwatersports review puts my lingering Board Lust into dangerous waters..

But the loose fin in an epoxy could be an expensive repair, if your not in Bali

Also I'm with dtc, not sure if the best transition board, it will need some serious wavepower to get going.

Did you try different boards yet? Just trying different shapes will tell you so much about what you want, *and don't want*, in a board.

Yeah, I think it would have been a great board even if I had to plunk another $100 into it to get it rideable. The board bag would have been a nice bonus too. The board would have fit in my car as well, but I have soft racks now

As far as trying different boards goes, this is my feeble attempt to try a different board on a meager budget. I think an 8 foot M-13 would have been an excellent board for me to start on with the advantage that it would work in large surf later on. Although, I'm not sure how well it would have worked practicing in whitewater. Anyway, it's given me some good ideas in terms of things to look for in my surfboard hunting.

I have a 7'8" similar shaped; that board won't work in whitewater or much below shoulder height (at our weights)....needs speed to be stable and to show it's colours. Tail is pulled in for control in bigger surf, not wide like you would need and are looking for to get a push in smaller stuff. Not the board you're looking for at the moment so just as well it's not available.

Whatever people say about boards design wise it doesn't necessarily mean the board won't work for you. What might be good is to try one out and see what it does. A board like that is an all around board not meant to be the best at anything in particular but able to handle a lot of different conditions. In addition if you are just learning then you won't ever max the board out anyway.

RinkyDink wrote:The more I think about it, though. I'm beginning to think I might be better off trying a fish.

No no no!

There's a massive misconception that's been about for a while now (and has fooled an awful lot of beginners) that fishes are suitable for learning on. They're not. Full stop.*

It's not helped by an awful lot of mass manufacturers saying their boards are "fishes" when in fact they're mini-mals that happen to have a swallow tail. But a proper fish needs to be worked - it can be surfed on tiny waves, but that's not to say that you can surf it on tiny waves.

If you're on a wavestorm, then - unless you're prodigiously talented - you won't be ready for a fish and it'll be a world of frustration. Even if a cheap fish does come along, stick with the long(ish) board plan for now. A 9ft "fish" will be fine though



* Yes, yes, I know... someone will come along and say that you can learn on a fish... of course you can, but that doesn't make it a suitable board for learning on, and why make life difficult for yourself?

RinkyDink wrote: I think an 8 foot M-13 would have been an excellent board for me to start on with the advantage that it would work in large surf later on. Although, I'm not sure how well it would have worked practicing in whitewater. Anyway, it's given me some good ideas in terms of things to look for in my surfboard hunting.

At 8ft it would probably be ok; but dont get ahead of yourself re the bigger wave thing As I said, if you get one cheap then its worth it, but I wouldnt empty the wallet for one at the moment

RinkyDink wrote:The reason I'm drawn to the m-13 is because the problem I'm having with foamie is that every time I do a bottom turn and attempt to get on my rail for a fast bottom turn I end up fighting against the board trying to stabilize me. The board is designed to keep you off your rail and to plane flat. That means my turn into the wave kind of ends up being like a floater instead of a snap.

The Wavestorm is 3 1/4 thick, no doubt with rails almost as thick, no sophistication in the rails (are they hard edged around the tail?), very floaty (much floatier than an equivalent hard board) and probably a very basic bottom concave - and its designed to be a stable secure platform for learners (and does that very well). However, almost any 'real' board will be easier to turn (less stable, of course, as the trade off) because of different rails, better concave, better fins, easier water release around the tail etc etc. The M-13, as I read it, is designed to keep you stable in larger waves - heading down the face; whereas a fish (not that you want one) is actually almost the complete opposite type of board (note: as DBB has said, a 'fish' is not just a board with a swallow tail - they are usually very flat, wide and short - so dont get confused).

In any case, while I dont want to blame the board, I think here you can blame the board to some extent. Sure you should be able to turn the Wavestorm (maybe you need to be carving rather than trimming), but a proper board will make that part of it a bit easier. However, you dont need to go to an extreme, any old mini mal/funboard/hybrid will give you this

First time poster, long time lurker (over a year - my bio below).

RinkyDink, I have a 7'6" M-13 Tuflite, I wouldn't recommend it as transition board after surfing a 8' Wavestorm.

If you are looking for a board that will offer more performance than your current board, I would recommend a hard board mini-mal. If you still want to catch whitewater and knee-high rolling green waves, a mini-mal will allow you to do that. If you want to catch head high and hollow waves you can learn to do that on a mini-mal. If you want to do top turns, bottom turns, cut-backs on good waves or bad waves the mini-mal can do that. If you are more interested in progressive surfing and maneuvers then you should get a mini-mal with a thruster fin setup.

I started surfing 18 months ago and my first board was a SouthPoint 8'6" epoxy longboard in a thruster fin configuration. It has the NSP fin system, but I bought an adapter that lets me use FCS fins. I have bought 4 other boards (sold 2), but I still surf the SouthPoint more than the rest.

I did a forum search and found this post from you earlier:

"After a long hiatus from surfing, I have gotten back in the water. I have two surfboards (6'4" performance board and 7'2" gun), a boogie board, and a pair of Makapuus that I have lugged around for the past 15 years. It has always annoyed me that my equipment has been collecting dust for so long. Anyway, these days I'm exhausted by the time I paddle outside, but I'm determined to regain my strength. So I'm going out every day here in San Luis Obispo. I bought a new board to make my paddle-outs easier. It's a Greco 2.0 foamie (8') and it's just what I need right now. I'm actually having a lot of fun with it while I get my body back into shape. Surfing, in my opinion, is a sport that requires a fairly high level of fitness before you can indulge in the most mind blowing aspects of the sport. Of course, getting to that fitness level is still one incredible ride. That's where I'm at right now. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading the posts and getting to know you all. Happy Surfing."

RinkyDink, I live near Pismo Beach, PM me if you want to borrow a board to tryout.

Age: 33
Height/Weight: 5'7" / 180lbs
Surf Experience: 18 months - Surfing 6-8 days per month
Quiver: 6'6" MR Flying Fish, 7'6" CI M-13, 8'6" SouthPoint

Hey Namu, good first post - stop being a lurker!

Namu wrote:First time poster, long time lurker (over a year - my bio below).

RinkyDink, I have a 7'6" M-13 Tuflite, I wouldn't recommend it as transition board after surfing a 8' Wavestorm.

Welcome Namu. I think your advice is right on. That post of mine is going pretty far back. My Greco didn't survive the winter. In fact, it didn't last long at all. (Side note: I've actually come to think the Wavestorm is a better, more affordable, foam board. I've abused it in all kinds of ways and it just survives. The Grec always felt fragile in anything other than a whitewater push. No flex to it, in my opinion. Flex is the one aspect of surfboard design the Greco familiarized me with, namely because it had so little of it.) Anyway, I still happily ride my Wavestorm, but I feel like I've gained the skills I wanted from it. I'm ready to take my 7'2" board out when another 5 foot swell comes through. I'm pretty sure I can take off on it now. The reason why a longboard has caught my eye is mainly because I want to get into waves early. I'm eyeing these two boards at the moment.

https://santabarbara.craigslist.org/spo/5622411035.html
http://slo.craigslist.org/spo/5612715100.html

Namu wrote:If you want to do top turns, bottom turns, cut-backs on good waves or bad waves the mini-mal can do that. If you are more interested in progressive surfing and maneuvers then you should get a mini-mal with a thruster fin setup.

Yeah, that's the direction my ability level is moving in right now. I still get kooky when I'm tired, but I feel like I'm surfing properly now. My good days used to be when I got one good wave. Then things changed to getting 3 good waves a session. The other day I went out and pretty much felt good about every wave I took off on. The problem was that the waves didn't have long sections on them (Pismo) so my rides were short. I've been surfing about 3-4 days a week for the past 6 months, but for most of that time I was gaining strength rather than surfing skill.

Namu wrote:RinkyDink, I live near Pismo Beach, PM me if you want to borrow a board to tryout.

Cool. I'll send you a message. I surf down at Pismo all the time. Soon I'm going to step my game up and hit the big leagues out at Shell beach

Might I recommend something? The board I picked up a few years ago to achieve what you're desiring is the Firewire Submoon in the 8'2 but you could get it a little smaller if you wanted. It has a short board outline and a razor thin tail and sharp rails without having that pin tail there that may give you some issues with less powerful surf. It also has a duck bill shaped nose to really help you maintain speed when the waves are really mushy, just step a bit towards the front and she takes off again. Also, I can't say enough about the timbertek construction. It's GORGEOUS in the sun, and she takes a beating on car doors and walls and hasn't given me one single ding. TOUGH!

https://surfing-waves.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24813

Theres my review of it and here's an excellent professional review:

Z mann R2 wrote:Might I recommend something? The board I picked up a few years ago to achieve what you're desiring is the Firewire Submoon in the 8'2 but you could get it a little smaller if you wanted. It has a short board outline and a razor thin tail and sharp rails without having that pin tail there that may give you some issues with less powerful surf. It also has a duck bill shaped nose to really help you maintain speed when the waves are really mushy, just step a bit towards the front and she takes off again. Also, I can't say enough about the timbertek construction. It's GORGEOUS in the sun, and she takes a beating on car doors and walls and hasn't given me one single ding. TOUGH!



Theres my review of it and here's an excellent professional review:

Wow, thanks That's a great board. I'm going to keep an eye out for a used one or a board similar to it.

Shouldn't of read this thread, I'm in love with that M-13 board now, it looks perfect for surfing when there's big swells here around 9-13ft, big deck too so it'll even catch small waves.
I won't be expanding my quiver for a year or more, I'm flat broke from my first purchase already

Inherent advantage for board in photo: it is pointy at both ends. This means you can use it in either direction!