First board: Bic/Torq dilemma

[Jripper53]

A boogie board! Haha! I know it's dicey, but we don't have the luxury of smooth rolling overhead barrels or anything like that here. You kind of have to take what you can get. It would be years before I would ever consider going out in those types of waters anyways I'm sure, overly ambitious I guess. Oldmansur thanks for your detailed response. I see what you mean about just making the board work no matter what shape or size. I agree with that. And trust me, I never even considered a short board as a 1st stick. I'm looking at 8-9'" boards now and have a few in mind. Just one question, would you be able to paddle out through waves with a board that size? I've been reading up and it seems like longer boards require you to paddle out "around the break". If so, how does this impact your surfing fun/experience? Just another kicker for fun, what's the biggest wave you've surfed on a longboard? Look forward to these responses!

[waikikikichan]

Just another kicker for fun, what's the biggest wave you've surfed on a longboard?

For me it was 4-6 foot Haleiwa and Makaha. But that's the beauty of riding longboards, same board for 1 foot mush for beginners and double overhead monsters on the northshore.

By the way, Bonga's 10 point ride was on a Molded-Epoxy board pulled out of the box, waxed up, fins on and paddled out.

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Takuji Masuda on the nose.

[Jripper53]

Man that is just awesome. I could watch people surf all day, but then again that is how I got the desire to try myself. Surfing seems different from any other sport in that there is such an artistic element to it. Hawaii looks like a wave seeker's paradise, I have a friend who moved there from the mainland and loves it.

[oldmansurfer]

Concerning getting out with a bigger board, lately as I am an old man now and relatively out of shape as compared to long ago, I use only boards that are bigger than I can effectively duck dive them. So for bigger days that means paddling around at first. On smaller days you can work on techniques of going through waves. But eventually you will learn techniques and hopefully get into shape better both of which are required for going through substantial waves. Still the key to going through waves is to minimize the number of times you need to do this. This requires reading the waves look at how they are breaking and figure out the minimal effort to get out which is not usually the shortest path but is the shortest path through the breaking waves. So in general if you want to go to point A outside you don't go directly from the beach straight out to that point. That will be one of the most difficult ways to get out generally. Instead look for where the break comes closer to the shore and you can get outside of the breaking waves before you paddle all the ways out to the break you want to be at. Sometimes there are breaks all over the place but still careful observation will show you where the waves are breaking strongest and where they are the weakest and you plan your paddle out with that knowledge plus what the currents are doing. It also may mean waiting inside of the shorebreak for a break in the waves then paddle quickly out through the shorebreak when it isn't breaking. I have come around to doing a half duck dive for much of the waves I go through. It has taken me a while to get used to that to where I feel more effective doing it but what it entails in before the waves hits I shove the nose of the board down under water and don't try to get the rest of it underwater. So I am kind of doing a handstand shoving the board down but my rear end and the back half of the board are still above water. The whitewater will hit my rear end and the back half of the board pushing it under water then I pull up on the nose and it sort of works like a duck dive. I don't do this if the wave is about to break on me. In that situation I turn turtle which is another skill to learn and perhaps the one to learn after the next two. For small white waters that are lower than my chest when I push up on the board. I keep paddling until the wave is about to hit then push up on the board like I am doing a push up and the whitewater will pass under my chest and over the board. In cases slightly bigger I will push up but lean back and pull the nose up so that the wave hits the bottom of the board and the wave will pass under the board. Anyway there are lots of ways to go through waves and you need to learn to perfect the techniques on smaller waves. All of them work better if you are in better shape.

[HANGokaLOOSa]

If you have a solid background with snowboarding and skateboarding I would say you are going to do just fine learning to popup and balance.
It wont matter what kind of board you get you will need to learn to read the waves, but you can still build the muscle memory for now.
There is a lot of experience on this site, but from a guy with similar background as you described I can tell you I got a 7'6 Channel Island Torq funboard and it locks into small gulf waves, has plenty of volume and at that length its not cumbersome to maneuver or haul around.
What part of the gulf are you in?

[pmcaero]

I have the 8'6" Torq Epoxy and the 7'9" plastic Bic. The Torq is much lighter and more maneuvrable than the Bic and catches waves easier.
If you can pay a little more or find it on sale, picking the Torq longboard should be a no brainer.
I'm also space-constrained and I made it work

[Jripper53]

I'm in Venice. I went out to the beach a couple weekends back and saw a bunch of surfers at the local jetty. They were catching the swells stirred up from a small hurricane/tropical storm that hit Louisiana just the day or two before. Without really thinking about it or even realizing I was doing it, I just instinctively headed into the water and started trying to body surf the waves. By the second wave, I was in. After that I could catch anything and ride it nearly back to my chair on the shoreline. I was even getting out of the waves smoothly. But that ain't surfing. I saw a group of shortboarders floating real shallow, getting almost no waves or maybe a 3-4 second ride at best. They were mostly younger kids. Further out there was a girl with a board at least 7'+ in length. While she wasn't the most stylish, she caught most of the waves she paddled for and rode them straight in. So I saw it right away - the bigger the board, the smaller the wave it will catch. The swells here aren't spectacular, but they're better than any other place I've seen on the Gulf Coast. hANGOKALOOSa I am glad to hear that board worked for you and was able to catch the small stuff we have here. Where are you on the Gulf?

I ended up finding a used 7'2 NSP funboard on CL for $200. It's in surprisingly good shape, only minor dings here and there but it looks good. Leash and all. I'm just going to make it work, it's not a huge investment and the length, width and style look right for what I hope to accomplish. I tried looking all over for something a bit longer in that price range but had no luck. The board feels bouyant enough for me, and I'm pretty determined to get up on it so I'm gonna head out for the next swell and see what I can do. I feel like I got a decent deal, but let me know what you think. I'm ready for the good/bad. BIG THANKS to everyone for all the advice, tips, info and stories. Hopefully I'll be starting to make progress soon.

[waikikikichan]

I'd say that board is over 13 years old. Those board last a long time. BUT ...... the olive colored leash rope is way too long. cut it down or double it over so the rope does not go past the edge of the rail. That's okay for that molded-epoxy NSP, but once you start riding Poly/PU, that length of rope could slice through the rail like a rope saw.

[dtc]

Also, its just me perhaps, but I dont trust second hand leg ropes. I mean, it may be great and you should inspect it closely; but for $40 I would get a new one (ocean and earth are the ones I like, but thats purely personal, they arent 'better' than any other really).

As waikikichan says, make the leash rope (the cord attaching the leg rope to the board) much shorter. It only needs to be a couple of inches long and, as he said, absolutely should not go past the rails (edges) of the board. While you are at it, check it for nicks and tears etc - often this is the bit of the leg rope that breaks first. Easy to replace for a few $$ (you can buy them pre-made or make your own, dyneema is good)

The board itself - should be a good wave catcher once you have got over the initial paddling/positioning hurdles; expect to fall off a lot at the start (this is normal, but that board is a little less stable than a 9ft longboard) , albeit you have some good balance background. Just stay persistent and you will get there!

Drop back in if you are having problems and seek advice

[OlegLupusov]

Had both torq and nice. Torq is much better

[Jripper53]

OK I will definitely cut down the rope before taking her out on the maiden voyage. I didn't get the sense that this bord was so old (over 13 years, as waikikichan said). If so, it's in pretty good shape for that age as far as dings, scratches, etc. Hopefully the shape and materials are still similar to NSPs modern boards and I didn't miss out on too much. After my first time out in the whitewater, assuming I find the board to be a good fit, I will likely be replacing the leash. I think it will hold for the first outing or two, but shouldn't be trusted much longer than that.

[Jripper53]

Here's a few better pics of the board now that I've got it back home.

[dtc]

Don’t worry about the age, surfboards don’t go ‘off’, especially epoxy; it looks to be in good condition so it’s totally fine (I have a longboard made in 1994 and it’s perfectly useable. Slightly yellow but otherwise just as good as new)

You might struggle a little bit in white water in that it’s not a huge board, and so will need a bit of planing speed to keep you afloat (and the lower the speed the less stable it will be) So if you have weak white water you might fall off a lot or sink very quickly; but if you can find somewhere with a reasonable push then you will be fine (might be a short ride until the power dissipates, but enough to get some understanding and a pop up).

Learn to turtle roll before you head out, will be a very useful skill

[Tommywallbanger]

Hello I'm new to this forum and discovered it in my research of Torq boards. I think I want a TET-CES 9' longboard. I owned a 9' Bic longboard maybe 20 years ago and I loved that board. It was a thinner performance long board about 2 & 3/4 inches thick. It really turned easily. I rented the board one day, I liked it so much and I bought that same model. I broke it one day when I was paddling out and a rather large waves hit the board and kind of snapped in half. I replaced it with a 7ft 9in natural surf by Bic but I never liked that bored as much as the 9' Bic.
This winter I went to Hawaii and surfed the South Shore one day largely in part because the waves on the North Shore were about 40 foot that day but the South Shore was like three to four foot. Well I rented a torq board and I believe it was a 9-foot TET. I did not like that board because it was very hard to turn but it was plenty buoyant and you could fly down the line just fine. I prefer a board that turns easier.
I'm trying to get any info on the 9' TET-CES because I'm considering buying one. I hope my info about the Bic board and the Torq board that I rented helps.
Feel free to ask any follow-up questions

[BaNZ]

I have a 9'0 TET. I also rented a 8'0 TET-CS. I think they are more for beginners but at my level, I can't really tell. My friends who are much better surfers than me prefers the TEC ones. Perhaps you should look into those? If you get a Torq, let us know what you think of it!

[UK81]

Hi, posting so I get updates on this thread (sorry its my first post!).

I recently bought a 9ft TET-CS (Carbon Strip) from a UK online retailer as my first board, but had to send it back for a number of reasons, will post a proper hello and ask for advice as still looking for first board when back from hols. Cheers!