Help my friend with her strange board

by **BaNZ** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 8:42 pm

Her board is 7.1", three fin with a big centre fin. Board is quite wide and is a bit like a fish. Not rounded nose and with a wing tail. I don't know what is the volume as she just bought it from a random person. The board definitely looks very cool but I've never seen a board like that, especially with that tail. I'll try and ask for a photo.

She is in her late 30's, 47kg, physically fit and sporty. Probably around 155cm tall so I think she is struggling to paddle with wide board. She surfed for a few years but not often. Only started surfing every weekend since a few months ago. Just white wash and small green wave. I was helping her out and I can see that her stance is good. She can definitely catch green waves by herself but just lacks the confidence. She does have a bad habit that she does a two step popup process using her knees. So sometimes she ends up not popping up in time and ends up in white wash.

I'm probably not the best person to give her advise, but I told her to get rid of that board. I've told her to try a 7"6 Torq board or something similar size. She is on tight budget so she doesn't want to spend too much.

Should I ask her to go for something else?

by **dtc** » Sun Jan 04, 2015 8:44 am

At her size a 7ft board is probably equivalent to an 8ft for a male, so its not necessarily too small. However, a more pointed nose is generally less stable (wide noses are just more stable) and will usually have more rocker (pointier nosed boards generally have more rocker than wide noses, although not always).

A mini mal will likely be 'more' suitable, but that isn't to say that the existing board isn't suitable - hard to know without the dimensions and outline (or a photo).

It will just take time to get onto unbroken waves - certainly the knee pop up method is something to work on before going to another board - a new board wont be much better if the pop up doesn't work

by **BaNZ** » Sun Jan 04, 2015 7:43 pm

Sounds good. I have advised her to rent a few boards and try them out. Since buying a new board is a big investment so I think that she should try it before she buy it.

She left her board in the shop so she can sell it. I didn't see the exact spec of the board, but from a distance. It looks as wide as a SUP board. I think if she is a short girl with short arms, she will struggle to paddle due to the width of the board.

by **dtc** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:09 am

BaNZ wrote:I think if she is a short girl with short arms, she will struggle to paddle due to the width of the board.

Plus if her arms have to go out at an angle to get into the water, it puts much more strain on her shoulders (least strain is able to put your arms straight down or close to that).

The 'problem' with renting as a beginner is that you don't really know what works anyway, so renting may not help. But what she can concentrate on is the ease and comfort of paddling around (which, as you know, is 90% of what you do) and whether she is comfortable in controlling the board in white water. Rather than 'does this board catch waves' or 'does it turn' etc.

The Torq 7ft6 sounds about right.

by **jaffa1949** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:40 am

Why not encourage the girl with the strange board to talk directly with us, information can get a little like :bigoops:

*what we call Chinese whispers, each mouth changes the information slightly . I think a few of us would like to see a picture of this strange board too :!:

An aside by Uncle Jaffa, * it is amazing how many old English and Australian sayings are based on ethnic and racial stereotypes!
I know of similar in Malay and Japanese, , worldwide you think, very likely! :lol:

by **BaNZ** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 9:31 am

jaffa1949 wrote:Why not encourage the girl with the strange board to talk directly with us, information can get a little like *what we call Chinese whispers, each mouth changes the information slightly . I think a few of us would like to see a picture of this strange board too

She is shy and overly cautious person so she doesn't have an online presence. In addition, it is hard to work out what she is trying to say as she isn't English speaker. Her speaking is much better than her typing grammar.

One of my colleague here at the surf camp saw the board and said it is retro and not too suitable for her.

I'll attach the photos of the 2nd hand one that she is renting at the moment. Got photos of her surfing too, but I don't think she will like me posting it. Her stance is rigid, once she pops up she looks where she is going. Have her leading arm forward and back arm at a 90 degree angle. It's like a textbook style stance, looks much better than my idiotic stance. My gf has been saying that the way I surf is different to the others and she can spot me a mile away from the crowded lineup :oops: