Graduating from foam.

[avalon]

I've been surfing for a few now on my foam longboard and i am looking to get something a little shorter(can fit in my dads pickup). I am on a budget of around 350-400 dollars and the torq 7'6 has caught my eye. The thing is I've never heard of torq and cant seem to find any reviews by them. Is this board a good choice, or should i keep shopping

http://www.torq-surfboards.com/fun-76.html

[billie_morini]

Based on their worldwide distribution and lack of personal identity (i.e., no shaper or rider names on website), I'd say it's a mass produced pop out. It'll probably be OK, possibly a little bit corky. You could do what I usually do. I buy used boards from private parties. When I do this, I spend less money and get a board shaped by a "real" shaper. Last Friday, I picked up a Laird Hamilton / Ron House 12 foot-long SUP for about 1/3 the price of new. In contrast, I bought one used pop out board from a private party. The price was very low and my non-regularly surfing wife needed a longboard.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy whatever you end up with.

[avalon]

That's what i was thinking, I'll wait a week until i'm back home and keep an eye out for a used board.

[BaNZ]

I was concerned at first then I rented 1. Love'd it and bought 3 from them. I spoke to a few local shops and they all love it. They are made in Taiwan. Very durable but then you will need to file down the fins as the fin that comes with the board doesn't fit properly. Apparently it is dual layer epoxy, not like I know what it means. I got thrown onto the rock from a shore break and it only cracked the first layer!

So I'd say rent one and try it out. Only cost me $15 to rent it for the day.

[avalon]

Also do you think it would be difficult to surf on a board from 7' to 7'6", if i am just getting off the longboard? The guy at the shop said i should be fine with anything 7' up, but then again he tried to sell me a used board for $450.

[BaNZ]

I surfed the torq 9" for around 6 months. Then last weekend I tried a 7"6 for the first time. I popped up on my first wave. Didn't even feel wobbly, took about 30 mins for me to get used to it. After that it felt I'm already used to 7"6! Love'd it. Got praised for surfing it so well on my first day.

Then I try the 6"0 short, because the 7"6 gave me a huge ego boost. I tried for 20 mins and I don't see any chances of me catching any waves so I gave up and went back to my awesome 7"6.

Saying that you do need to catch the waves when it is much steeper. But I have less trouble of it nose diving compared to a longboard.

[avalon]

Fair enough. Thanks for the information man

[billie_morini]

avalon,
You can find many more comments about Torq boards on this forum page: search.php?keywords=torq&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

About stepping down from a longboard to a shorter board: For my very athletic buddy and myself, the step from 9 feet down to 7ft 10 inch board was an adequate challenge. You may be much younger than we are and, therefore, it may be easier for you.