Surfing Waves

Hi all, thank you for the good advice last year that lead me to my 9ft longboard, which I really like. Now I contemplate to expand my quiver, as we plan to do a few more trips where we fly, combine city visits/standard vacation with a few days of surfing. Being landlocked, I need to travel anyway when I want good waves. The combination with normal vacation time is is key for family happiness as my wife does not surf. Our first combro trip (just as an example) will be Lisbon and then Peniche, others will follw this year. Board storage possibilities might be limited at our destination, so I may face the need to put the board into the rental car, as I don't want to let it on the roof in a city. That pretty much rules out taking the longboard, apart from the hassel at the airport.

I am old (52), big (6.2) and heavy, and a beginner with only about 100 surfing days under the belt. Due to age and long non-surfing periods, the board needs to be a good paddler.

I received several suggestions, i.e. from CI to stay below 7.6 and at a volume of ~50l, which sounds very low to me. The new Firewire volume calculator puts me at ~60l. My local shaper suggest a board like the below at 7.10 x 22 1/4 x 3, which has a wide and flat nose and is supposed to be a good paddler. Might just fit into a car:



Any thoughts, suggestions?

Rent a board? I don't think that board will paddle anywhere near as good as a 9'6" longboard. The problem really is the irregularity of your surfing. I guess it depends on how good shape your paddling muscles are in by the time you go surf. But for it's length it's probably good.

Yeah, I thought about renting but I dont have great experiences with it as board selection, shop locations snd opening times, surf conditions and travel logistics often do not fit well. But it remains an option. During winter I swim 6km per week to keep at least some form.

That board closely resembles my egg board which is 7'. It looks like the board pictured has a continuous rocker without much nose or tail rocker. This makes it a little more forgiving in positioning while paddling than a board with pronounced nose rocker. My 7' board doesn't paddle as well as my 8' board. Too bad you can't try it out before you purchase it but I liked my egg from day one and the only reason I didn't use it more is that it didn't catch waves as well as my 8' funboard and I have a limited time to surf (30 minutes) so I need to catch as many as I possibly can in that length of time in order to learn to surf faster.

yeah. looks like it will be an easy wave catcher and nice and stable once you are up.

that said, epoxy are 'better' travel boards as they can handle more abuse. You may or may not like epoxy boards though; but if you are ok with them then concrete vitamin pointed out the new Torq 'chancho' model, which may suit

https://www.torq-surfboards.com/chancho.html

or a walden mini mega
https://shop.surfindustries.com/au/surf ... surfboard/

Most cars will take a 7'10 board inside but usually at the expense of the passenger front seat. So you can store it in the car but probably need to transport it on the roof. Depending on the car, you might be able to get away with something under 7ft in the car always, but if you are driving a typical euro hatch then that still takes up a bit of the front seat, so not great for long trips

Thanks.My idea was to put it on softracks while driving and putting it in the car while parking.

1) You would rather want a wider Square(er) tail for stability and float, than a Pin tail for speed.
2) Boards left inside Hot cars is not good. How cold/hot is it there ?
3)

Oldie wrote: the board needs to be a good paddler.

I haven't found any manufacturer that stated in their advertising " this model was designed to paddle terribly". They all state "easy to paddle, catches plenty waves with ease". Beware.
4) How about a inflatable board ? Solves a few of your problems.

Cool

April in Portugal is in the low 20 degrees (celsius), summer in Ireland probably lower. But indeed, in the sun it can get hot. Most cities here have parking garages, though.

Check out http://www.thecarboncompact.com. I’m landlocked and frequently travel to surf. Luggin my 8’ to Tamarindo last Summer was a hassle. Cost is a little high but it could be worth it. I’m going to be buying one in the next month or two.
I have a couple old Pope Bisect boards already, but these look more solid.

Peniche has heaps of board rentals, logs to frogs and everything in between.
FireWire Torq, Portuguese brand all for hire.
Good way to test the range available

Soft racks in car storage for board OK. Some theft around.
Factor in cost of flying a board in against hire!
BTW, nothing paddles like a longboard, some longboards don't even paddle like a long board, ( those with big nose and tail rocker)

Have a look at the Janga shop he has a try before you buy on some Sunova and other boards and rentals too!

The whole street of Baleal has many outlets to check.
There are brand name outlet stores too!

waikikikichan wrote:
4) How about a inflatable board ? Solves a few of your problems.

I'm digging the inflatable surfboard. If I were traveling and surfing, then I'd buy one. I wouldn't store it for long periods rolled up in its bag though; I'd store it fully spread out and unrolled. Anyway, most of my serious surfing is done around where I live so pulling out the inflatable for a surf trip would be a nice change of pace. I doubt I would have less fun riding it on good waves than I would if I had my regular board. That's just me, though. I'm easy to please when it comes to surfing.

Thank you, good feedback. I street full of surfboard outlets sounds lIke a good reason to postpone a decision .