Surfing Waves

Hey guys

Just took my new toy for a quick spin today- I got a mixture of clean and white washy waves to compare to my other boards.
its 6'0 x 19 x 2 1/2, medium overall rocker with what looks like a decent single to double concave and thinnish rails.

Wow it is different to my other boards- first thing I noticed was how much slower it was on the wave face compared to my other boards with swallow tails. I've never tried a rounded-pin style tail before so it was really interesting!
The other funny thing in correlation with the slower speed was that at one point it almost felt like I was in slow-mo and actually had time to think "hey, i've gotten to the bottom of the wave and actually have time to think about doing a bottom turn" and start planning how I was going to do it.
I found I had more time to start trying to surf rail to rail instead of just speeding down the line and making a turn here or there.
The fins are 'GAS' fins which I've never tried or compared against my normal fcs G5 fins so that could be a factor too.

Anyone else had similar experiences going from swallow tail boards to rounded pin?

It would probably be a lot better with a quad set up which i'm stoaked is an option with this board.
Rails felt more thin than my Anderson and I also noticed a slight decrease in flotation which meant I had to paddle a little harder to catch the wave a touch earlier.

Really interesting and very different from any of my other 6'2, 6'3 boards of similar dimensions!

Can't wait to try out properly and in different conditions over the weekend!

Ah, the joys of a new board
Hmmm, I've not had a new board for a while now... about time I went shopping

benjl wrote:first thing I noticed was how much slower it was on the wave face compared to my other boards with swallow tails.

The tail shouldn't make a huge difference to the speed along the face - only when you turn the board should you really notice a difference. Much more likely that its sweet spot is a little different to your previous boards and that you're not getting as much drive as you could. Go back to basics, and really press that front foot and lead with your arm.

Thanks DBB- I took it out for another solid 2.5hr spin today and the board still feels noticeably slow! Even on 3-4ft steep waves.
The water was only 14 degrees and I went out til my feet were completely numb haha determined to make the most of the waves..

The turns feel really different and more 'carvy' than my swallow tail boards and I guess a touch less edgy.
Super stable though! I landed some pretty steep and sketchy drops on a couple of head high waves and the board stuck them everytime whereas on my Anderson I probably would've bailed on a few.
I also found that I had to drop in really late or I just wouldn't get pushed along by the wave.

The fins that it came with are 'GAS' fins which i've never tried or heard of before and are slightly smaller than my normal fsc G5 fins- if anything I thought that these smaller fins would add speed to the board!
I just picked up a set of fcs GX fins so that I can run the board as a quad so hopefully that will speed it up.

I actually think that the middle fin plugs are slightly out of alignment and put the back fin on an angle? See my previous photo with the thruster set up- reckon it looks slightly off skew?
I've checked the fin and it looks straight. Perhaps this was causing lots of drag?
The quad set up definately looks 'straighter' than the thruster looked?

benjl wrote:Thanks DBB- I took it out for another solid 2.5hr spin today and the board still feels noticeably slow!

Maybe you are just thinking faster

If you have a fin out of alignment, you can sometimes feel or hear a hum or vibration .
With shorter boards there can be a lack of glide on the wave face and they need to be driven from turn to turn with the turns providing the speed, any loss of continuity between turns. The board will seem to just bog down.
Often the tail slides and double pumps are speed gaining tactics to get through this.
It is also possible that even a good shaper can produce a dog, for two reasons; one it's a dog, two it just doesn't suit the way you put your surfing together. There is alway a tuning period where mere mortals like 99% of us here have adapt to a new board. I still suggest stick to one or two of your growing quiver and learn the subtle nuances of each and how they enhance or hinder your skills.

Haha I wish it was due to me thinking faster but it is noticeably slower going down the line than either my Anderson or my old 6'2 fish. In turns it seems to be fine and I did find myself successfully pumping some faces today and going across them nicely which was cool. I do quite like its thin rails and rounded tail albeit the loss in speed.

Hey guys- another question:

Do you think the fin plugs are correctly spaced apart? Especially as a quad, the back plugs seem far too close to the stringer and spread apart from the top fins?
Most quads i've seen seem to really leave the middle channel of the board open for increased water flow / speed and space the rear fins wider towards the edge of the board and just down from the fronts.
What are your thoughts on the below link on quad configurations? Seems like mine is about the worst of all set ups! haha
http://www.lunasurf.co.uk/pages/Choosin ... n-Set.html

I am learning stuff about fins, thanks for the link. Long ago I had a fish made by a friend who shaped boards. He was learning about board shaping and I wanted a fish design. It was a total dog. I could barely turn it and it was difficult to even catch waves with but I liked the way it looked. I found a shaper who was obviously more knowledgeable than my friend and took him the fish and asked him to make me a board like that but one that worked. He made me a swallow tail. It was markedly slow compared to my other board made by the same shaper but it turned well and was easy to catch waves with and it hung on a vertical wall reasonably well so it became my tube riding board. I had a tendency to outrace the tubes with my really fast board that I liked for most situations and with this board I could go fast but I had to make the board go fast by pumping a bunch of turns or it would cruise. Initially I disliked it but it became almost as much loved as my fast boards. Eventually I could ride it in many different conditions big or small fast or slow but if it was tubing and slow I absolutely loved that board. In my limited experience with quads I have to say the rear fins look close to the stringer. Maybe this can be your tube board Maybe different fins would help? I don't know I am still learning to use my quad and haven't really experimented with the fins yet.

I took it out for another spin at a different beach yesterday and with very different conditions. The waves were probably consistent 2-4ft but would peak up and be wally and steep where I was sitting.
Once again- I found the board slow! Even with the tiny quads on there the board didn't speed up at all and if anything felt slightly slower and worse than the thruster set up.

It was just strange, on every other board I've had you get that 'sweet spot' feeling when you know the wave has you and you know that it's time to pop up and ride on but with this I just don't get that feeling. It kept feeling like the board never got that 'push forward' feeling and often I would be stuck on top of the wave paddling and paddling before finally getting my weight to push it down the lip.
It's also the first time ever in 3 days of surfing that I haven't bailed on a single drop regardless of how steep or late / sketchy it was- which is a good thing, but after the drop the board feels slow.
I was constantly pumping around the lip of the wave trying to get enough speed to stay on the wave and having to take a very high line on the wave which is abnormal for me.

Perhaps i'll just try my normal FCS fins and see if they change anything but overall it's just strange.
I swear the quad fin plugs are too close together and too close to the stringer to be any good as a quad..

benjl wrote:I swear the quad fin plugs are too close together and too close to the stringer to be any good as a quad..

They do look in a kinda odd position now you mention it
Seems to me that they'd act like an anchor, with the back fins interrupting the flow around the front fins.

The centre fin looks surprisingly far forward too...

Tell me about it- the strange thing about putting the center fin forward is that it is supposed to losen up the board but this board feels very stable for a thin-railed, 6'0 performance shortboard.

I played around with the fins lastnight and closely examined the 'GAS' fins it came with compared to my normal fins. My normal FCS G5 fins are more canted outwards compared to the fins on the board so perhaps that will create some difference. Once again though, fins that are less canted are supposed to be faster than more canted fins so if anything the GAS fins should've been faster than what i'm used to but it didn't feel that way.
I wish I knew someone who was a good surfer and close by so that could give it a go and give their opinion!

Are you finding there is a problem with the board, or just that its different? i know you say its not as fast, but is that creating issues - speed is important obviously, but a slower stable board that allows you to do stuff is (in my opinion) almost always better than a lightning fast board where all you do is set the line and hold on.

In ther words - enjoy the board as it is, it may be different but so what so long as you are having fun and increasing your skills