HAND WEBS....

[Big H]

Anyone use these? I saw them in a shop so I bought a couple of pairs....I'd tried them when I first started but lost one promptly and I wasn't much of a surfer at the time so I shelved the idea until I was able to catch waves well without them.....so I'm there now and I put a pair in my back pocket because usually in the late afternoon the sea flattens out as the wind drops and while bigger sets still roll through the average wave is fatter and harder to get into (I guess because the off shores aren't standing the wave up so well?) You can still catch relatively easily if you sit inside, but at the same time the lineup becomes crowded with the learner crowd as the size is dropping.....anyway, put a pair in my pocket and when the drop happened I put them on....felt really kooky while doing so and thought to myself "these better work otherwise you're going to look like an idiot"....other regulars were bemused watching me put them on.....so once on I tooled around and chose a wave and.........BANG!!! So easy to get into the wave from outside where I would have normally set up. I set up outside of everyone down the line on the soft part of the shoulder that is hard to catch on but if you do can be stretched out into a long ride as that section has a good run....sometimes you can connect from the peak but not usually.....anyway, I took about 5-6 waves out there and got really nice rides.....the lineup migrated down somewhat and since they didn't have either 9'6" boards or hand webs, no one caught a wave over there.....I went over to the main peak and started catching there well outside everyone....I let plenty go through before anyone starts squaking, but when I did go for a wave I was on it and able to set up well before it got critical....got some cross steps in as well as some linked hard bottom to carved out top turn cutbacks....took a couple close out barrels to end rides as well on the bigger waves....as discussed they don't count unless you come out the other end and I came out with the ocean floor pressed into my face so I still haven't been properly shacked yet.....

Anyway, I was able to set up out of position and catch waves that I shouldn't have been able to get into....also able to race outside and avoid getting stuck on a couple of occasions as well as one time racing out and taking a monster that everyone else was ducking for cover for.....I was able to reach it with the webs.....one of the lineup regulars asked me in bahasa what they were.....I held it up and laughing said "turbo boost". He laughed too and said that yeah, you go really fast. They really are turbo boosts.....hard on the shoulders though....but ripping fast when you dig in.....

Verdict: Still felt kooky with them on, but caught ALOT of waves and had more than one person trying to see what the secret weapon was that made it seem like there was a motor on the board. Will continue to put them in the pocket for crowded competitive lineups on fatter swells.

[oldenglish]

Sigh...

[Big H]

Not cool enough for you huh buddy?

[jaffa1949]

Interesting , Uncle Jaffa wears paddle gloves, less risk of melanoma on the hands ( Aussie hazard for red heads)
It's my deference to DOB, and who give a rat's. What anyone else tuts about! I started surf before surfing was a fashion statement and consumer item !
They help me paddle too. Not sure about those clear finger based ones in terms of injury risk as they hang high on the fingers other than that all else is a such a whatever
All dedicated followers of fashion should read this
http://www.theinertia.com/surf/an-open- ... ed-at-you/

[oldmansurfer]

I guess that the pros don't use them says something about how useful they are for skilled surfers , however they might be good for those less skilled. I haven't ever tried them but in my old age I don't want to add more stress on my arms/shoulders.

[jaffa1949]

Darkfin gloves are the spookiest of all the paddle gloves don't know what they are like but I think they would need to be tight.

the next pair well i guess no-one will hassle you!

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There were also some blades that went beside your lower arms.
All by themselves do not even come close to having good paddle technique and OMS is right if you have weak shoulders ( not recommended).
They do give you great water pull in a hand stall on the face of the wave, do it on a big one you could dislocate your shoulder.
Oh and paddle assist gloves were banned quite a few years ago in Pro comps.

[Big H]

Well I like them and makes it so I can get in on spots that generally aren't considered take off points....also helped when the waves got fat and I could still set up outside the pack (was around 40-50 people yesterday.....I will take the competitive edge)....and you're right Jaffa....I am curious as to how others feel about them but when it comes to me and what I'm going to do, I'm keeping the secret weapon in my pocket and don't really care what others think (Indo guys were impressed....they also don't seem to care about the fashion of the whole thing and still seem to get all the waves...... )

[Big H]

Still curious about the "sigh" from OE.....is it a shot at the perceived kookery of paddle assistance, or something to do with shortboards vs longboards and what kind of surfing is your personal preference.....calling you out because I want to hear the other side....the whole reason for starting a discussion.....I can listen to myself talk all day so long it's not during my reading of Catcher in the Rye..... My presumption is that he means that no self respecting real surfer would show up in a line up with those on..........my question is why not? What would make you say that?


I guess I would get it if someone said that a person should learn to surf before using them because otherwise they could be a crutch.....so what about a person who has? Last couple of weeks I was out every day and had 20+ waves per 1.5 - 2h sesh each time out......so what then if it isn't being used as a crutch but an enhancement?

I tricked about 10 people yesterday and created space in the intolerable lineup by setting up way outside, outside of even where I could catch with the webs.....a pod of lemmings followed me out and jockeyed for position, stealthily back paddling and trying to get deeper than each other.....usual lineup hi jinx.....only that they had no idea they were too far out.....I checked my watch and a minute before the next set was due I raced in 50m to the outside web catching spot then took a wave.....that entire pod missed the whole set as they keyed on my position rather than the waves which IMO serves them right and took the overall lineup down 20% for that set.....

[waikikikichan]

Paddling gloves, you name em, I've tried em. Those Darkfin gloves are a re-boot of the Missing Link gloves I had back in the 80's. I even had this device that attached to your forearm that deployed on the paddle stroke and folded in on the recovery stroke. Like a Fin junky, I bought every paddling device to help me catch waves better. Verdict..... All I can say is to not use them. Especially for beginners "trying" to paddle faster. It's like putting big wide tires from your V8 Camaro SS onto a little Honda Civic. If you got the motor to push them, with power to spare, go for it. But your body output has its limits. Legs, different story. You can put on fins for more propulsion. But you can stand on your legs for hours. Try standing on your hands.

If you have a slower turn over rate, torque, and a seasoned surfer give um a try. But for newbies, go with RPM's.

[waikikikichan]

Correction .......... I haven't tried these yet. http://www.supermarinovation.com/

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But those would be cheating anyways.

[dtc]

I want to know how you can throw a Shaka with gloves on....

[BaNZ]

I got them, it is a bloody nightmare. The webbed thing makes it hard to grip the board. It also disrupts my paddling heavily. I used it for about 1 month and I just can't paddle well with it. I also dropped the board on land because I was using that stupid glove.

[waikikikichan]

I want to know how you can throw a Shaka with gloves on....

or to display the international hand gesture sign for "Intense Dis-like".

[jaffa1949]

My fingertips protrude from the glove both for grip and flip ( the bird) . For emphasis the arm insert gesture is more evident however.
Since my hands were my tools of trade the melanoma protection was important , Jaffa is a full Celtic coloured person. Also known as a pelt a ranga a ginger etc. Aussie sun could fry my tools to oblivion !can still grip well enough to have no problems duck diving or turtle rolling.
The hat is another thing altogether!

[Big H]

I didn't have any problems with dexterity.....like i mentioned, the silicone was a little sticky so no butterfingers due to the webs....

...being bigger, I'm built more for torque than RPMs to use Wchan's example....I have good paddle technique (I guess....can out paddle most shortboard to shortboard) and go out nearly every day so the endurance / paddle fitness is there.....didn't really get tired the hour I had them on yesterday....when paddling around I would keep a cadence that was slower than normal and I moved quickly and didn't overstress things....digging deep to get into waves or from an inside position after a ride rocking back to get outside before a big set rolled through I just paddled hard and quickly, paying extra attention to keeping good form as the webs does complicate that a little but if the stroke is kept in shape, everything seemed good.

I never considered the sun protection aspect....celtic coloured I'm not...

[jaffa1949]

Caused some havoc one Indo trip to Nusa Lembongan zinced half my face green and half pink with fluoro lip balm and white nose zinc. A little more sedate these days.

[waikikikichan]

By the way, forgot to mention this story. A shop I worked in was one of the only places that sold webbed gloves in Waikiki. Most of the time I would tell the customers who had problems catching waves and wanted to buy webbed gloves, to not buy them. But on one occasion, this man from Kauai brought in a young girl. We had two types of gloves, one with closed finger tips and one with open finger tips. We all agreed to go with the open tip style. Ended up selling it for half the price because she only needed one side.

That young girl was Bethany Hamilton.

[jaffa1949]

Bethany is an amazing surf woman. Bad pun that holds true, single handedly, she can out surf all of us! Courage and determination. A mum now. More power to her!

[oldmansurfer]

Even Bethany Hamilton doesn't use finger webs although I guess she tried them out once.

[Big H]

Not sure what point you're trying to make OMS....
Somehow you're trying to say that good surfers don't use them so they must not be something worth using or kook hardware.....


....also, Bethany Hamilton doesn't surf Kuta....40+ in the water again yesterday and I got kooked off half the waves I took by tunnel vision paddlers and newbies jumping on their boards just before the break zone....all of them seemingly unaware that surfers go down the line and not straight to shore as none of them have a glance to anyone bearing down them....put on the webs (smallish waves again) set up outside and down from the main pack and was able to take my share of waves without bloodthirsty competition and inside ending in carnage.

Pros don't have to deal with this stuff....I catch waves easily without webs, but with them I can catch out of position, duck and feint and shoot into position from false decoy set up positions designed to throw off the lemmings either too lazy or unable to figure out where they need to set up so they just follow whoever is getting waves....with webs they can follow all they want but won't get a wave if they shadow me.

Bob and weave.