Next Board Dilemma

[SaltWaterHeart]

We aren’t into our good wave season yet here in New England and I got the RW basically as Atlantic Hurricane season (hurricanes that produce good swell this far north, regards to those in the Caribbean, those hurricanes will be nothing and won’t impact us) was winding down. Just have to wait for winter swells to kick in to test it out in better waves. It’s coming but we’re between hurricane season and winter which is basically summer 2.0 as far as flatness goes though the temps are already colder here than most of the country will be for their winter. Our temps are bit more extreme. Flat forecast in the near future, so we’ll see what December brings us and I’ll report back on how the RW does.

[Naeco78]

SWH thanks for the tip about the Jordy's. I've been looking for side fins that are geared more for a bigger guy like that. I'm about the same 6' and 195 lbs and have issues with sliding out with Med and even some LRG's. I have a Fin setup that works really well in my other board.. inside foils and cutaways on center fin etc.. but it has Futures boxes and its been harder to find equivalent stuff on the FCS side.. I've found a few inside foils but they just haven't seemed the same.

I picked up a set of the Machado FCS Tri-Keel's recently but haven't been able to get on them yet. The reviews sound like they have a similar hold on the sides and more release with the center fin.. hoping it works out that way.

Here's my RW with the JS fins.. my friend took them on her cellphone so its kinda grainy.

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[one0one]

@78 Livin the dream surfing without wetty

[Naeco78]

@78 Livin the dream surfing without wetty

lol yeah those were the days. I think I would take the summer crowds over the Seal suit right about now. 53 degrees this week.

I had to get a backzip just recently because my hip replacement just doesn't work very well with my zipless on most days. I have a Billabong Furnace CarbonX, its like having a fleece coat inside of a zipless. Didnt realize how cumbersome that would be

[waikikikichan]

I have a Billabong Furnace CarbonX, its like having a fleece coat inside of a zipless. Didnt realize how cumbersome that would be

Cumbersome just wearing it or trying to put it on ?

[Naeco78]

I have a Billabong Furnace CarbonX, its like having a fleece coat inside of a zipless. Didnt realize how cumbersome that would be

Cumbersome just wearing it or trying to put it on ?

Both, but getting in and out of the suit is the worst part. I lost some range of motion with the hip replacement and climbing into the wetsuit through the middle entry usually get my hip balking at me before I even get in the water. Then the thickness of the neoprene and fleece/furnace stuff really takes away from the flexibility of the limited range of motion that I'm already working with.

I switched to a 3/2 back zip, which worked out much better, but I think it's only rated down to about high 50's and we passed that really quickly in the last month.

[one0one]

I got 4/3 billabong one up from entry level for winter.. They are quality for your buck..

Got a flashbomb plus 3/2 for spring.. Summer is coming but I still wear wetty most days.. Used to be my winter wetty but getting old so has air-con lol

Going to switch from ripcurl to billabong now.. They are good.. My next one will be decent even though the 4/3 is good..

[SaltWaterHeart]

Had a short session last night (which in Maine is 2pm as it’s dark at 4 this time of year, Daylight (not) Savings). It was 3-4’+ but with a lot of wind to deal with creating chop, ribs, shifts, and you had to kind of pump after standing just to not get pushed back off the wave and pulled with the water. It wasn’t great conditions for us. However, I was able to try the small center trailer fin with the 2 Large Jordy sides. I want to say the set of Large Jordy thrusters (the new ones) work best together in better waves with solid drops because of the additional hold of that center fin. The looseness and skatey feel of the small center in my opinion or at least for now seems better suited for smaller, mushy waves to get additional speed. It could just be my solid intermediate skill level factoring into that whereas someone who was advanced or better could ride anything in any conditions. Anyway, just a short session and a heavy crowd out last night, so not much to go on but that was my initial assessment.

Pretty cold here. Water was maybe 45 but with the below freezing wind chill and maybe 30-50mph gale force winds last night it felt a lot colder. Definitely get a few ice cream headaches diving under sets and I’m in a 5:4 Vissla North Seas with 5mm boots and gloves. I have 7mm Solite boots (6mm and 1mm socks) and 8mm Vissla mittens for when it really gets cold. The Vissla North Seas is great for strong offshore wind, you don’t feel it. It’s on its last season though. I had it patched by Patagonia Worn Wear a couple summers ago. I wear a 5:4 from mid-October through May, and a 4:3 for a month or so outside of that, and a 3:2 in between though sometimes I just go straight from 5:4 to 3:2 and rough it with being cold as long as you’re moving and active, it’s fine. We sometimes get a year when you can wear board shorts for a few weeks with a jacket and sometimes it doesn’t warm up that much. You can wear board shorts if you’re just getting your feet wet or swimming for a few minutes in August-September, but if you’re out for at least an hour it’s best to have a 3:2 to keep the chill off here. Vissla’s suit is very warm when new but I would say less flexible than other brands and a bit stiff. I like the company and it’s cheaper than some other options and good value.

[one0one]

that sounds cooooold.. do you wear a hood? when its winter here i always wear a hood.. and no booties or gloves.. if its a rock entry sometimes i wear the boots or if its a dawny..

I went to a spot two hours away on the saturday gone.. its a left point and i'm natural stance.. it was two foot when i hopped in at hour after low.. i had the two plus one mr fins with a 5'11 board i use for mid range waves.. it was groveling way better with the larger fins.. don't know if youve heard of paddling faster due to the fins lol.. might be a myth but feels like it..

an hour later it was heaving 5 footers.. the largest ive used this board with these fins.. was a bit speed wobbly, but once I anticipated this happening I had a really fun surf.. theres so much lift and drive in these fins and they carve more than pivot, like the carver family.. never really feels loose imo think its the xL raked side fins.. done a few good turns must have got about 12 waves.. 5 of those long devent runners, 4 small ones at start with 2/3 turns on each one.. wasn't fun because i could see rocks under my board when turning and i was thinking, this is a bit small for this spot..

SW wind is supposed to be crosshore there, but the line up was empty.. and there was only about 8 out at the farthest take of spot, and about 8 at the second spot.. so as long as you made the first section, you were in for a good ride when it got bigger.. it was a 19 second period.. I even jumped off my board instead of duckdiving one of the waves lol.. i was the farthest out and the entire line up got caught out.. i must of looked like a kook, but there was no way i was gonna do a double cartwheel under the water holding my board lol.. this is a good topic for a thread.. latest surf action.. i might start one..

chchurr!!

[SaltWaterHeart]

Still awaiting better conditions for it and for winter swells to kick in up here. Had a small, 2-3’ day with some solid 3’ waves about a week ago but took out my Bing Quad fish and had some fun until it got small so I swapped for my Woodin longboard. Have had more longboard waves lately, good logging days, but no solid good wave days. It will be an adjustment once we do get better waves and I take out the RW again, my log, fish, and egg all are more front footed boards where you surf farther up on the board whereas the RW is definitely a back footed board where you keep your back foot on the pad and don’t move it. Looking forward to getting some more time with it, just need winter to kick in.

[one0one]

I've ridden mine in 6 foot point break.. Was only 3 foot when I paddled out.. Bumpy as, I didn't enjoy it.. But it was ripping the 3/4 footers.. I'm still learning how to ride it properly though

[SaltWaterHeart]

Update on the new Rocket Wide as we’ve had a great run of swell the past 4-5wks in northern New England.

I have mostly used other boards but used the RW twice the past several days and had a blast with it. Best waves for it so far, 3’-7’ and mostly clean which is rare for us as we usually have a lot of wind and current to deal with this time of year. I took some different boards out for the bigger days where it was 10-15’ as I felt more confident and comfortable on those boards and being able to make it out in pretty turbulent conditions. So, this 3’-7’ waves were as the swell was fading and dropping a bit from a couple days prior when it was really amped up, so conditions were cleaner and easier to paddle and drop into waves for sure. I used the Large new Jordy Futures with the RW and it was fast, smooth, a bit skaty due to the swallowtail but not overly loose. Feels pretty controlled which could be the fins or just my mostly surfing different fin setups and then going back to the thruster and recognizing the stability. I could take off late, as long as it wasn’t high tide and wonky I could take off on the white water and it has enough speed to ride out ahead of it, I could take off early if it were the right spot with a good ramp.

It’s very easy to paddle compared to my other boards (classic log, quad retro fish, single fin midlength retro egg). I made it out the back the other day in 5min when it was 3-7’ but that felt very manageable compared to the conditions we’ve had which have been twice that lately.

It’s a super fun, forgiving board. The extra volume in the middle helps you catch waves a bit, though when I say that it’s still a shortboard and not a groveler with chunky volume. Though, for a shortboard, I would say it is grovely in that smaller days where you might consider a fish or baked potato in trying to get more speed than a longboard, it would probably still work but it is very fast and you run the risk on small days of outrunning the wave and making a lot of effort for extremely short rides.

I’m really looking forward to trying this RW in the summer when I don’t have all the winter gear and added weight of that gear. I feel like there would be just an extra level of control in a 3/2 versus a hooded 5/4 w/ 7mm boots and 8mm mittens, that gear does the job but does kind of double me as a human, lol. I have tried it once with the small trailer center fin, called a 2.5 setup I think. I didn’t love it but I think it works better with large sides like a twin fin size sides with the trailer. Considering Captain Fin’s setup, I think it’s called the twin especial or something which comes with a trailer. Could be fun to throw some keels on and I might throw my Rasta keels in with the center to play around. Cheaper than buying more fins too.

[one0one]

update lol.. just rejoined this platform.. snapped my leash and the rwide ended up on the rocks so i sold it.. went to the wave pool in melbourne and brought another one.. went good as.. still liked the cheaper pu version of the rwide better.. maybe because it was lowest volume. whats everyone riding now? I got a twiinny for small days.. man the thing is fun.. i'll add a picture some day.. only have a 3 board quiver at moment.. sweet spot 3.0 is my step up.. and a stacey roach in pu I use like a short board with raked fins.. usually i'd have a 6'2 round tail but it got all dinged up and I sold.. was a cheap board from ausie but i loved it. sky bourton sky rocket.. those boards are glassed thin but go hard..

i'm off to bali in a couple months so if the money is right i might get a board or two there..

what boards are yall riding?