Surfing Waves

I surfed my buddys bic 7’10 yesterday and it had 58 liters but wasnt easy to paddle and had barely and glide...

Ive been eyeballing this board, but am afraid that 60 liter is not enough volume to glide like a longboard does because of the small length

I surf mushy sloppy 6-7 seconds windswell so volume is needed to keep gliding

Board in question: THE MINILOG 7´4"x 22.25" x 3.125 - 60,2 L

https://www.light-surfboards.com/upload ... ront_2.jpg

I cant go any larger because it wont fit in the subway for transport

Im 175lb btw

You don’t get longboard glide from anything other than a longboard. It’s not the volume that gives the glide, it’s the surface area. Shorter boards don’t have the surface area no matter how voluminous they are.

If you want a shorter board with more push, find one with a fatter tail. A square tail or a fat rounded squash tail. The one you have linked has a narrower thumb tail, designed for hold on larger waves and probably nose riding, not for small wave mush. It will work on small waves but it doesn’t sound like what you are after. Don’t get distracted by volume, it’s one of 5 or 7 things you need to consider

Have a look at groveller boards (eg baked potato), which are specifically designed for small waves, and see what the tail looks like

The kind of board you might want is something like this (note: completely random first google search results, I know nothing about these boards and it’s only linked as an example not as a recommendation)

https://www.formsurfboards.co.uk/flow-stik

https://www.thesurfboardwarehouse.com.a ... -mini-mal/

https://www.thesurfboardwarehouse.com.a ... arbon-jet/

I think it would be better if they put the fins on the opposite side of the board ( like a McCoy Nugget ), like DTC recommended to get a push/float off a wider tail.

Raysn29 wrote:I surf mushy sloppy 6-7 seconds windswell so volume is needed to keep gliding

You can't get the comfy ride of a Cadillac if you take it off road in the woods. You or I, the Bic or any board, can not get glide in mushy sloppy chunky monkey surf.

I actually used to have a McCoy nugget. It never quite gelled with me (I’m too front foot and/or incompetent) but it was very easy to catch waves. A 7ft something nugget would be a great choice

dtc wrote:You don’t get longboard glide from anything other than a longboard. It’s not the volume that gives the glide, it’s the surface area. Shorter boards don’t have the surface area no matter how voluminous they are.

If you want a shorter board with more push, find one with a fatter tail. A square tail or a fat rounded squash tail. The one you have linked has a narrower thumb tail, designed for hold on larger waves and probably nose riding, not for small wave mush. It will work on small waves but it doesn’t sound like what you are after. Don’t get distracted by volume, it’s one of 5 or 7 things you need to consider

Have a look at groveller boards (eg baked potato), which are specifically designed for small waves, and see what the tail looks like

The kind of board you might want is something like this (note: completely random first google search results, I know nothing about these boards and it’s only linked as an example not as a recommendation)

https://www.formsurfboards.co.uk/flow-stik

https://www.thesurfboardwarehouse.com.a ... -mini-mal/

https://www.thesurfboardwarehouse.com.a ... arbon-jet/

Thanks for responding.

How about this one then? Its 7'4 with 67 liters, 22 wide and 3 1/3 thick. Seems like this one would do the trick looking at the tail?
https://www.surfindustries.com/images/c ... ild-xb.jpg

waikikikichan wrote:

Raysn29 wrote:I surf mushy sloppy 6-7 seconds windswell so volume is needed to keep gliding

You can't get the comfy ride of a Cadillac if you take it off road in the woods. You or I, the Bic or any board, can not get glide in mushy sloppy chunky monkey surf.

Don't know about this, ive seen guys having glide on longboard so many times at my break.
This is my break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v28BgXjPZ1U

The double wide looks good - wide tail, low rocker, thick rails. Wide nose for stability.Very high volume for its length, but on the waves you are describing I think that will be good on the whole. Probably not the board for overhead low tide plungers, but doesnt sound like you ever get those conditions.

Another option, which I should have thought of earlier, is the Walden Mini Mega magic. However, i think it only comes in 6'10 and 7'6, so if you really cant go beyond a 7'4 that might not be feasible. Its also more expensive, but its an excellent board. Probably a bit higher performance than the double wide (more rounded outline, narrower nose - easier turner but less stable), but at your level this shouldnt influence you too much.

in any case, not having ever seen the double wide in the flesh, it look like a pretty solid choice. Waikikichan might have some more info on it from his industry experience.

I think we have a couple of Dutch surfers who post on the forum - they might have some thoughts if they spot this thread.

dtc wrote:The double wide looks good - wide tail, low rocker, thick rails. Wide nose for stability.Very high volume for its length, but on the waves you are describing I think that will be good on the whole. Probably not the board for overhead low tide plungers, but doesnt sound like you ever get those conditions.

Another option, which I should have thought of earlier, is the Walden Mini Mega magic. However, i think it only comes in 6'10 and 7'6, so if you really cant go beyond a 7'4 that might not be feasible. Its also more expensive, but its an excellent board. Probably a bit higher performance than the double wide (more rounded outline, narrower nose - easier turner but less stable), but at your level this shouldnt influence you too much.

in any case, not having ever seen the double wide in the flesh, it look like a pretty solid choice. Waikikichan might have some more info on it from his industry experience.

I think we have a couple of Dutch surfers who post on the forum - they might have some thoughts if they spot this thread.

I have been eyeing the mini mega magic to be honest. I am surfing a 8'0 rental now but I fear the 6'10 might be a step down too much, I see guys recommending not going down too fast like its the bible, so thats why I was hesitant about the walden....

The 7'6 version unfortunately won't fit the subway/bus. 7'4 is the absolute max

Raysn29 wrote:I surf mushy sloppy 6-7 seconds windswell so volume is needed to keep gliding

Raysn29 wrote:

waikikikichan wrote:You can't get the comfy ride of a Cadillac if you take it off road in the woods. You or I, the Bic or any board, can not get glide in mushy sloppy chunky monkey surf.

Don't know about this, ive seen guys having glide on longboard so many times at my break.

Wow, I would love to surf waves like that. And if you call that "Mushy Sloppy", I would like to see what's it like on a "Clean" day.

Anyways like others have said, you can only get the glide on a longboard, the shorter you go the more YOU have to create the speed. "Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine".

You should be able to do some Cheater-Fives on that double wide 7'4".

dtc wrote:The double wide looks good - wide tail, low rocker, thick rails. Wide nose for stability.Very high volume for its length, but on the waves you are describing I think that will be good on the whole. Probably not the board for overhead low tide plungers, but doesnt sound like you ever get those conditions.

Another option, which I should have thought of earlier, is the Walden Mini Mega magic. However, i think it only comes in 6'10 and 7'6, so if you really cant go beyond a 7'4 that might not be feasible. Its also more expensive, but its an excellent board. Probably a bit higher performance than the double wide (more rounded outline, narrower nose - easier turner but less stable), but at your level this shouldnt influence you too much.

in any case, not having ever seen the double wide in the flesh, it look like a pretty solid choice. Waikikichan might have some more info on it from his industry experience.

I think we have a couple of Dutch surfers who post on the forum - they might have some thoughts if they spot this thread.

Fwiw I have a Walden superwide magic and I Frikin love it. I surf it almost exclusively now. Still a new surfer but I'll answer any questions or show any photos you want on it. $350 used, kind of hard to find I think. I also surf a weak mushy shore break and it catches anything, out surfs me for sure. I have a single fin in it. It paddles great and will catch all the little waves that the short boarders grumble about.

If I had one complaint, it's that I can't sit on it. It's 7'4, 24" wide and it's wide almost the whole length unlike many boards that taper, so you have to have child berthing hips to sit up on it. I'm pretty thin bone structure, but a bigger guy wouldn't have a problem. I have to lay the whole time which wears out my diafragm, so that's a down side for me but maybe not for everyone. Other than that I love it

dtc wrote:I actually used to have a McCoy nugget. It never quite gelled with me (I’m too front foot and/or incompetent) but it was very easy to catch waves. A 7ft something nugget would be a great choice

Hey etc. I’m halfway to getting a used tufflite 6,6 nugget (seller needs to fix grub screw issue first). What didn’t you get on with out of interest?

Prancing monkey wrote:
Hey etc........

Arrgghh stupid autocorrect....meant to say dtc

I had a 6’10 original (McCoy hand shaped) nugget. I didn’t mind it and still think my best ever bottom turn was on that board. It was great at catching waves, particularly smaller waves

But for me it wasn’t quite right

- in bigger and steeper waves, the fat tail meant a really fast takeoff, which meant I sometimes felt out of control for a few seconds and that messes up the whole wave (but on smaller waves this wasn’t an issue). Since I have a funboard for smaller waves, I was sort of doubling up on small waves and nothing for bigger waves (this is only an issue because I’m old and slow; more agile surfers probably love it)

- I know that being a ‘front foot’ or ‘back foot’ surfer is a question of technique or lack thereof, but I am a front foot surfer for better or worse ie tend to put most weight on the front foot. My excuse is I’m left footed but surf natural (left foot at the front). Anyway, the McCoy requires a heavy back foot (big tail) and Geoff McCoy says that most surfers are back foot surfers and so his design is perfect for them. I’m just not that person. It also meant the board was a bit unstable because I was weighting it wrong (note: better or more normal surfers would have been able to deal with this)

It’s hard to duck dive - the nose goes under but the tail was impossible. However it’s a big board so I never expected to be able to dive it anyway

I suspect a smaller nugget (eg 6’6) or a bigger 8ft one might have meant some of my issues were less of a problem. But I bought it second hand, rode it for about 2 years and sold it for $20 more than I paid for it. There is nothing wrong (I think) with moving between boards to find one that works for you.

It does surf a bit differently and it’s a bit of an ugly duckling, but it’s absolutely worth giving it a go

Thx dtc. It looks like the nugget is a ‘go’ although won’t arrive for a few weeks.