Surfing Waves

So having had 6 longboards up to now, (currently have two, the Jimmy Lewis high performance 9.2 and the Vince woodie 9'2) I had been looking for a nose rider. I finally found a secondhand board that was pretty much what I'd been after....another Jimmy Lewis (counting the 7' mini mal I have makes three in the quiver now)....I got what is called "the ultimate nose rider"....according to the website, the one I got is rated for up to 100kg and is a massive 10'4″x24.25″x3.6″ and 86L of volume. Comparatively, the Jimmy Lewis performance longboard I have is 9'2"x 22"x 2.75" and 67L of volume.
The nose rider came with an 11" hatchet fin. Huge, but I guess the shaper chose it.... It's epoxy so tough enough for handling a drop in and light enough to carry down and up a couple few hundred steps as the case often is. And it came in pasta colours!
I am a Jimmy Lewis fan; the two that I have go really well and I like the feel....more lively than other epoxy boards that I have had so I have high hopes. Big concave under the nose, tail has some rocker, 50/50 rails....in fact the whole board has some rocker which I think will suit local conditions better than a more classic, flatter rockered mal....Jimmy Lewis is from Maui and I suppose he designs for Hawaiian waves....it even has a fake stringer painted on which I like because it gives a frame of reference. I can't wait to get it out in the water. I went as far as to throw it in the pool and lay & sat on it....felt good and not too wide when sitting. This should solve my small wave day conundrum....if I can't catch a wave on this then I probably should have read a book rather than gone surfing. Need a knee leash now and practice cross stepping....time to learn how to cross step and nose ride properly.....no excuses now....won't be the fault of the board anyway.

Here's some pictures of the new toy....

I guess the goal is to make it to the yellow paint. Back at work now but Saturday night is looking good.....a couple beers and a wax scraper....will have that cleaned up with a new coat of wax ready to go by the time I'm done.


I used to look forward to different things on Saturday nights.......

Nice ITY you bought. In the Yellow, like the name of one Donald Takayama's Hawaiian Pro Designs' In the Pink model. However, the outline and the long nose concave look very similar to the Nuuhiwa noserider. The rocker on your board is different. The Nuuhiwa is one board that if you can't nose ride it, you just can't noseride. Nice board you got.

Holy xxxxx that's big for a surf board! I could standup paddle that with my weight

Maybe.....honestly in the hands it doesn't feel much bigger (and it isn't really) than the 9'3" or the 9'6" I had. Sent it in to the shop to have them go over the board and clean up a couple of the repairs that had been done which were watertight but not as smooth as I'd like. I'm out of the water for awhile anyway so no big rush.

So I hung a rack for my wooden longboard and put it up tonight.....that board is 9'2" x 23" x 3" with a pulled in nose and tail. I happened to have my new board leaning behind the door and when I looked up after hanging the board I couldn't help but compare the sizes.....pretty striking really. Still haven't had the chance to ride the new board yet; doctor tells me to stay out of the water for another week or two (been out since the third week of May and it is killing me)..... I'm frothing since I could get on the nose of the smaller board, I can't wait to see how the bigger one rides.

blue star with nose rider. I'm pretty sure Miro was a logger!

I've been out of the water for 6 weeks with an injury....yesterday was my first day back to it and I took this board out. Was rusty from the layoff, paddle fitness was rotten as I have been pretty much sedentary whlie getting healthy again and I was careful of my injury so not too aggressive. Anyway, I like the board but it is going to take some adjusting to get used to it. I have to double pump when pulling myself on the board is so long and I still haven't made up my mind where to lie on the board for different wave shapes. Not surprisingly the board paddles really well. I managed to hang 5 but where I was I had to ride mostly off the tail so that I wouldn't run people over as it was pretty crowded and the waves were walling up, not really nose riding waves. I like the board; look forward to taking it out in more suitable conditions.

Here is another shot of the rocker.

I had a 9`8 Jl nr and lost it just as I was really starting to carve. I had it 5 years and used it slot but it still looked brand new! Great board. Big surf, small surf. I'd go out and just charge and then everyone would paddle down to my break and then I'd paddle up to where everyone just left from and charge again. That board was a wave magnet! Just had to watch the nose dive if I paddled to far forward and sometimes struggled on strong offshore winds cause it would hold the nose up. Enjoy

Yeah...it is big and light enough that strong offshores make a difference.....I have decided Iwill use my balsa longboard on longboard days with solid offshores since it is a heavier board and really cuts thru chop and offshore winds.