Surfing Waves

Hey all, I’m looking to move up from my 8 foot softlite board.

I’ve been looking at an epoxy sideways bullet for the transition through ‘intermediate’ phase. Does anyone have any feedback on those? I can see they aren’t a super well known brand so I’m not sure how it would go. (My partner snapped up a sexy second hand Mctavish - I’m jealous).

I found the heavy weight of the softlite board really annoying. I also found it was kind of clunky to manoeuvre sometimes (my xxxxx skills, or the board not being great for non-perfect conditions?)

I tried my friends 7’6 epoxy rip curl board for a bit and found it much easier to manoeuvre and swifter to paddle out on a beach break.

Any advice?

Go,ahead bite the bullet, everything I’ve found on it say they are a reasonable board!

Depends on what you want to do, how you want to progress? Do you really want to be a longboarder? Remember, riding a longboard badly is easy, riding a longboard well is hard.

If all you want to do is get a bunch of waves and surfing well isn’t that important to you, then almost any longboard will do. Buy one that floats you adequately, that you can carry easily and that fits in your car or garage, or wherever. It’s as simple as that.

If you want to be a good longboarder, you’d learn more and progress faster if you got a small board for a while. A 6’8”, say. You’ll have to work harder to paddle out and into waves, so your conditioning will advance a lot faster (80% of surfing well is paddling well—don’t get me started). Popping up is harder, so you’ll develop that skill faster (or give up, always a possibility). The best thing about learning on a short board, is that they’re much easier to initiate and complete recovery moves. And lets face it, a large portion of the moves beginning and beginning-intermediate surfers make are recovery moves, moves required to recover from some other ill executed move. Example, a turn gone wrong because it was inadvertently overpowered. It’s a lot easier to get a short board to respond to a correction move than to get a longboard to do the same thing. It’s simple; short board, less mass to move around, longboard, more mass and more force required. So you’ll learn board handling basics more quickly. You might not make more waves, (though you probably will) buy you’ll progress to the point of looking less like a spazz more quickly.

You won’t take that advice. Who would? So why not just buy any decent used hand made longboard in the 8’6” range. It’s best to buy a board by a shaper local to your break. That will help you fit in. Everybody wants to fit in. Because nobody likes the new guy.

Roger, I learned on a shortboard when I was younger and I have the same thoughts about it as you do. It wasn't easy transitioning to a longboard because there's so much more volume to get moving in a different direction. I think it's an adjustment either way.. so ya may as well get more acclimated to what youre planning to ride long term. Obviously you still need enough volume and length to paddle into waves, but there are still higher voume shorter boards that can accomplish that.. as long as you're really in the intermediate phase.. and you have to be honest with yourself about that.

RogerThatAOK wrote:Depends on what you want to do, how you want to progress? Do you really want to be a longboarder? Remember, riding a longboard badly is easy, riding a longboard well is hard.

That's an interesting thought which is likely true. Just expanding on that thought, riding a shortboard poorly is difficult and riding a short board well is even more difficult.

riding a shortboard poorly is difficult and riding a short board well is even more difficult.

Well said. Still, on balance, I think getting started on a short board used to make more sense than getting started on a longboard. With $100 softies and all the crowding that has come as a result of Covid, that equation may have changed, but here’s my reasoning for getting started in times recently past.

Every innovation in surfboard design has been targeted at making it easier for elite surfers to perform better in the surf. Consider that it has always been “the pros’ who have test piloted new board designs. We saw this especially in the seismic shift from longboards to short boards, then again going from single fins to tri fin setups. The serendipitous result is that modern boards, short and long, are much easier to handle than their early iterations.

Now ask yourself, why are there so many more short boarders in the water than longboarders? Two reasons.

I took a boat trip to the Mentawis years ago. I went solo and got on a boat with a bunch of much younger Aussies. I remember we were anchored overnight at Lance’s Rights and in the morning it was really big. Triple overhead. Perfect blue green tubes. I had bought two boards, a 6’ 2” and a 7’6” speed plan board with fin boxes for thruster and quad setup. I paddled out on the 7’6” and got a bunch of great waves. The Aussie guys stayed on the boat and when I got out of the water, they informed me that they wanted to sail off to somewhere else where their boards would work better. I asked them why they each only brought one or two 6’2” boards. Their reply was, and I’m not kidding here, “that’s what Kelly rides.” That’s one of the reasons. New surfers are influenced by other surfers. And since Kelly rides whatever-it-is he rides today, that’s how many make their decision.

The second reason is that it’s just easier to learn to recover from an overpowered turn or cutback on a low volume, low swing weight board than it is on something bigger. The result is fewer fall-downs, more riding, more fun.ok

More random thoughts: I think in the past folks who got started in surfing really wanted to learn to surf better. There was a lot of peer pressure to get at least good enough to not be a hazard in the water. In our new era of entitlement, the $100 softie, and Covid crowds, it may be that just getting waves is the new goal. I’ve heard this phrase, “the waves belong to everyone,” way too many times lately when a drop-in gets called on it. I’m pretty sure the guy who’s been surfing for 20 years is going to get more waves than the guy who’s been surfing for a season or two, whether they “belong” to him or not.

I imagine that the reason there are so many more shortboarders than longboarders is that people who don't surf look at Kelly Slater and want to surf like him. However it rapidly becomes obvious that they will never surf like Kelly Slater and quit in frustration before they attempt to shortboard. The rest continue and surf shortboards even though they know they will never be Kelly Slater and even if a longer board would help them to surf better. Not sure but that is what I think. I actually learned to surf on a shortboard or at least what was called a shortboard back then which was a 6'10" glassed in single fin no leash. At the time if you hadn't already surfed a longboard you just went straight for a shortboard. I never gave it any thought but I was a paipo boarder and prior to that a body surfer so I had an intimate connection to the ocean and waves before I surfed. It seems that most people who want to surf will end up quitting if they start on a shortboard which isn't a bad thing unless you want to learn to surf but for the rest of us who surf it's all good if they quit

RogerThatAOK wrote:The second reason is that it’s just easier to learn to recover from an overpowered turn or cutback on a low volume, low swing weight board than it is on something bigger. The result is fewer fall-downs, more riding, more fun.ok

Sorry to agree to disagree with that statement. A shorter board needs quicker reaction times and more fine body placement / technique to stay upright. If your foot is on the wrong place on a Long(er) board, the width and thickness of the rail may still hold the rider up. The more tapered rails on a Short(er) are less forgiving if you do make a mistake ( foot placement, speed control, place on the wave ).

Looking at it from a different sport, a road racer bike ( tour de france ) has 700 x 25c ( narrow ) tires. A beach cruiser has big 26 x 2.125" ("balloon") tires. Which is more forgiving ? Which is easier for a beginner to control ( ridden at beginner speeds ). Yes the road racing tire is lighter and has way less swing rate, but the heavier cruiser can "recover" from a missed turn and run out of the pavement into the dirt road/grass field. There's a reason why more beginners ride mountain/city bikes, comfort bikes and beach cruiser than road racers like "Lance" rides.