Do ecletic quivers help you improve faster?

[IanCaio]

Hey everyone!

It's been about 7 years that I surf and I never did a board with a shaper, but recently I was gifted by family with some money to make a board, so I think it's time I finally go for it. My current quiver is basically performance shortboards (5'9" round tail and two 5'10" swallow tail boards) which I enjoy specially when the conditions are right. When it's too small, they don't work as well: Have to paddle hard to get into the wave and it's hard to keep up with it when it hits some chubby sections. The newer 5'9" round has been really nice, I love how it works when carving and how fast it is. The only possible drawback is that I think it's a bit hard to make an early drop on days where the wave hits the sandbar too hard and gets hollow fast, so I end up with a later drop, but I didn't get to surf those conditions enough to be sure it was the board.

I have a friend who surfs a twin fin, even on really big days, and went to talk with his shaper. I was thinking of making a twin fin, might test one of the boards he has tomorrow. It looked like a choice that is very different from what I have, both in design and fin setup. But I thought one, I'd be able to surf smaller days easier because of the speed and extra flotation, and two, I'd have a completely different type of board to surf, which could make me improve my surfing because I'd have to learn how to use it and maybe it would even reflect on my surfing with the other boards. It's a bit of an investment, so I wanted your opinions on that. You think going for a very different kind of board will really help me improve or that I should use what I know of my current boards to try making another thruster trying to fix the drawbacks of the ones I have?

[waikikikichan]

Get a TWIN PIN.

[IanCaio]

Get a TWIN PIN.

If it makes me surf with half the style of Mikey February, hell, I'll even get two

I didn't manage to test a twin fin today, used my 5'9" round. Not sure it would be good conditions for testing a new board though, hard to find the right waves. It was about 3" hawaiian, maybe slightly more on the biggest sets, a bit hollow on the inside. Tomorrow's forecast is that we will still have some waves so I'll try to grab a board to test!

[waikikikichan]

You think going for a very different kind of board will really help me improve or that I should use what I know of my current boards to try making another thruster trying to fix the drawbacks of the ones I have?

YES most definitely, a new and different type of board WILL help you progress, BUT NOT in the way you might be thinking. You will learn to adapt and overcome thru adversity. You will improve your skills as you ride different lines and turn on other varied parts of the wave where you hadn't before.

** But until you fix that problem that you have with your back hand, I don't think a new or different type of board will matter. **

[IanCaio]

YES most definitely, a new and different type of board WILL help you progress, BUT NOT in the way you might be thinking. You will learn to adapt and overcome thru adversity. You will improve your skills as you ride different lines and turn on other varied parts of the wave where you hadn't before.

** But until you fix that problem that you have with your back hand, I don't think a new or different type of board will matter. **

I see, I thought my problem was mostly on my lead hand though, wasn't it? I remember I kept the palm faced down when pulling my arm on the bottom turn, which is still something I didn't manage to get rid off completely. Specially when I maneuver unconsciously. Can you remind me what the problem was with my back hand?

I have a small clip from 2 waves of yesterday. They were a bit small and chubby, I didn't do really good. But maybe you can see that problem in the video?

There's also this older one I don't remember if I posted here:

[waikikikichan]

Sorry correction, your front leading arm/hand. ( must be my thinking coming from a Regular footer looking at a Goofy footer ).

I think the waves you surf will be great for a twin. You can try putting a FCS MR.TX or Futures T-1 with small trailer center onto your current boards to see how that affects your turn ins.

[IanCaio]

So I tested one of the shaper's twin fins. Not the greatest conditions though, very small. Barely 2ft and chubby waves, and the board was a 5'8" twin fin. Definitely could feel it was easier to get into the waves than my performance 5'9" and I guess it also felt easier to stay on the wave on chubbier sections. It felt like it was a nice board for a different style of surfing, more cruising, cut backs, foam climbs. Didn't feel like it was too loose on the tail like I thought it would be (as in hard to control) and I didn't get to try some harder tail turns because the waves didn't really create opportunity for those.

Those are the first impressions but still weak conditions to really get a lot out of. The shaper said he has another 2 boards I could test so I can give some feedback and we can get to something. Guy has an interesting view about making boards, guess I'm decided about giving those twin fins a try! It's a matter of figuring out what kind of design now

[IanCaio]

Had another test drive today, with a different twin fin. It had a different tail (not a conventional one, it had a curve but two edges). Conditions were better than last time, around 2ft. I liked how the surfing felt, I didn't feel confident enough to try to kick the tail thinking that the board would slip out, but it was great for just cruising, doing floaters, cutbacks. Even the pumping felt more natural and fluid. I guess it could even work if I tried to kick the tail, but I have barely any experience with twin fins so I still gotta figure them out too.

Tomorrow it seems the swell will get bigger, probably will keep testing!

[Naeco78]

I've kinda been thinking along the same lines.. deciding if I should go with a completely different board design.. or just a modification to the boards that I'm used to.
In recent years, I always go with a fish/hybrid with a swallow tail, but the newer Twin Pins and Channel Twins have me wondering if I should make the switch to a pin tail, for those steep/hollow days, to fit into the wave better.
Any news about how the new board search is going?

[IanCaio]

I've kinda been thinking along the same lines.. deciding if I should go with a completely different board design.. or just a modification to the boards that I'm used to.
In recent years, I always go with a fish/hybrid with a swallow tail, but the newer Twin Pins and Channel Twins have me wondering if I should make the switch to a pin tail, for those steep/hollow days, to fit into the wave better.
Any news about how the new board search is going?

I only have a round pin shortboard, it feels different. Maybe it's because it was newer than my other boards (both swallow tail) and had less rocker, but it felt faster. I liked how it answers when you carve too, but "breaking the line" (as in kicking the tail a little) seems easier with the swallow ones. Never tried a pin tail though, I'd guess it's very different. Let me know what you think of it when you try!

The search took a hiatus, I had tried 3 or 4 boards and found the one. A small fish, so fast and so loose. I only surfed once with it and saw lots of potential. Then I decided to buy it and the guy said he lent it to someone, but was asking it back. After a while he said the guy that had it paid for it so he didn't have to give it back. Got me a little frustrated to lose the board after experimenting for a while, so I stopped searching a little. Should probably start looking for something again

[oldmansurfer]

I think if you learn to use each board to the maximum amount then it helps. But if you don't learn to ride one board well it's probably not going to help to learn on another one. Each board works differently and may be easier to ride on certain waves but learning to push that envelope is how you max out your learning. You learn little tricks so to speak how to make a board work for you on the waves you are riding. These little tricks can be used sometimes on other boards and other waves

[Naeco78]

I only have a round pin shortboard, it feels different. Maybe it's because it was newer than my other boards (both swallow tail) and had less rocker, but it felt faster. I liked how it answers when you carve too, but "breaking the line" (as in kicking the tail a little) seems easier with the swallow ones. Never tried a pin tail though, I'd guess it's very different. Let me know what you think of it when you try!

Yeah that's what I've noticed too with the round/pintails. I had one back in the day and it was always my best board for hunting tubes. I think they have a lot more drive and projection while navigating the barrel. But that same thing can work against ya, when trying to dis-engage the fins for a tail throw. But when it gets big where I live, the waves are usually like freight trains anyway.. so there's a lot more barrels than open face surfing. So I've been thinking about going back to a pintail step-up again, but it’s a tough tradeoff with the narrow/low volume design for most of those boards nowadays. I’m getting too old for that But the newer Twin Pin designs seem like they might be somewhat of an equalizer for that.. by removing the drag of the middle fin and also the wide point forward design.. but I haven’t been able to test out the theory yet.

I hope ya get to test out some others. Good luck with the search and let us know how it goes

[IanCaio]

Yeah that's what I've noticed too with the round/pintails. I had one back in the day and it was always my best board for hunting tubes. I think they have a lot more drive and projection while navigating the barrel. But that same thing can work against ya, when trying to dis-engage the fins for a tail throw. But when it gets big where I live, the waves are usually like freight trains anyway.. so there's a lot more barrels than open face surfing. So I've been thinking about going back to a pintail step-up again, but it’s a tough tradeoff with the narrow/low volume design for most of those boards nowadays. I’m getting too old for that But the newer Twin Pin designs seem like they might be somewhat of an equalizer for that.. by removing the drag of the middle fin and also the wide point forward design.. but I haven’t been able to test out the theory yet.

I hope ya get to test out some others. Good luck with the search and let us know how it goes

Nice! Where do you surf? On my break it varies between hollower days and others that are more for carving. Before making a board completely shaped for tubing I wanted to get more confident in bigger days, so I can surf more of the tubular days. Right now I'm a bit limited to the sizes I'm comfortable with (or sort of ), which gives me some barrel days but if I could go bigger I'd have even more tube hunting time. Also, some of my boards work nice in those conditions, maybe not as much as one made for it, but still good!

The twin fin idea makes sense, and twin fins being faster already it might make it even better for shooting through sections. The only problem I can imagine is if you end up going straight and need to carve a very strong bottom turn to set yourself in, the twin fin might be a little harder to do that with without slipping out.

Coincidentally, you sent the message in the topic and I ran into the shaper these days and today I tested a board that showed up there. First impressions were nice. One of the waves I pulled a cutback and as I went back in the pocket I inverted the board really hard and managed to get it back in line smoothly. It has a little more scars of use, so I'm hoping the price will be lower. Depending on it I might add it to the quiver, let's see

[IanCaio]

The saga continues. That last board didn't work out, the owner wanted more than I thought the board was worth. But then some time later I got myself two new second hand boards to the quiver, a twin fin and a more performance thruster.

The twin fin felt fine for some very round lines, best paddling from all my quiver by far, good for trying floaters. But I felt I had too much volume, breaking the line became harder because the whole engaging/disengaging of rails required much more effort for a light guy like me. I'm thinking about replacing it with another board, been testing a friends twin fin that is basically a shortboard design but with 2 fins. Gives up all the paddling but it's much more responsive.

The thruster felt really good to surf with, but I wasn't very lucky. The third time I went with it to the water the conditions were very hollow. Almost got myself out of a barrel (so pissed off at myself for not making it, since the exit was right there), and then on the last wave I decided to try a snap at the wrong section. Lip threw me forward, board under me. I completely destroyed a fin cup and lost one of my fins, also got a crack on the middle of the board from rail to rail on the top. It's being repaired right now, expensive session that was.