Back in the game and back to the roots

[benjl]

I had a bit of an epiphany surf last weekend..one that's been up there with the best surf experiences to date.

It had been 6 weeks since my last surf and I was almost losing the urge to go surfing anymore. To be honest, contemplating giving it up.
However the surf report gave a semi decent 7/10 report with waves sizes about 2-3ft and semi clean (the smallest and cleanest conditions it's been in about a month!).

I decided to take out my 7'2 torq as I thought my lack of surfing would be hard to jump straight on a shortboard. Probably 90% of the 40-50 other surfers out there were on shortboards if that says anything about the size and power of the waves when I got there.
The first 20mins were frustrating to say the least, typical of my local beach, endless and relentless paddle out with massive incoming whitewash to battle. I was nearly at my wits end when the wave direction changed a little and opened up a small rip that shot us out the back.

From then on, I caught probably 8-10 good size (head height) waves and chewed them up with ease. The board paddled easily in to them, made almost every drop and seemed to latch on to any half-decent wave that the shortboarders couldn't get. I was in bliss. To make it more surprising, they were all lefts (my backhand) but the board still dug in a rail and held / turned when need be. Something about that board just works with me.

The following day, there was rumour that our east coast finally had some small swell after 2-3 months of nothing. I hadn't been to 'Omaha' beach before but my mates said it was a minimal wave so once again I packed the 7'2 torq.
We got there to find tiny little 1-1.5ft waves that closesed out in waist high water. Our east coast is such a contrast to our west coast, I could literally walk out to the back without even getting my hair wet. Even on bigger days, the break is always about a third of the paddle distance of the west coast.
With this in mind, I had a blast on my 7'2 torq once again. I probably caught 30-40 waves and got used to completing an instantaneous pop-up, followed by a quick turn or trim on the wave before it closed out 2-4 seconds later.
On the ride home I was thinking about the two days, how different each day was but yet how much fun the 7'2 was and how i'd caught more waves on it than the last 6 months of surfing anything else. If only the west coast wasn't so hard to get out back on a big board with!

My gf's parents live out near the west coast and I decided to try and squeeze in a cheeky surf after work before having dinner with them. The surf report was terrible with massive 4-6ft+ (3m waves) and on-shore winds. I was too frothed from the weekend to let that bring me down and decided to take out 6'1 shortboard this time.
It was a very frustrating hour on low tide and only resulted in me getting out back once, and only getting 1x 5second wave. It was a mess of powerful churning, lumpy, dumping waves that would either double or half in size when they hit each other.
However that 1 wave back on the shortboard was AMAZING! Peeling down a choppy steep wave face and being able to turn and direct the board anywhere I wanted with ease was such a great feeling. It felt so free and responsive after the minimal.
I couldn't help but thinking that going back to the minimal had improved my surfing so much and that I would try to do it more often going forwards.
Following on from that weekend and experience is what inspired me to go ahead and get that 5'10 firewire dominator. Something that can up my wave count with paddling and volume but still be agile and fun if it's going to be too choppy for the minimal.

I would love to hear of anyone elses tales that have been through similar or would advise anyone who hasn't to give it a try and share your tales!

[Big H]

You are living my experience.....I ride my 9'6" longboard, 7'8" single fin or 7' mini mal, all three inches thick and good for different breaks/conditions here to work on things then get on a shorter board and translate the developments....additionally, I enjoy the longer boards on their own as well, not just as a learning tool.....much easier to develop technique on a bigger board than the smaller ones, then take those feels and put them into action on a smaller board.

I've ridden lefts exclusively for 7 months (dry season)....just started to rain and the winds are shifting so its back to the east coast and rights....riding the 9'6" exclusively this week (and it's really small surf) and getting the feels back for backhand riding...part of the fun for me.

[waikikikichan]

People always ask me for advice, since they're having trouble turning their longboard. I say "what size is your board ?" They usually say "9 foot". So I tell them to ride a 10-11 foot board for a couple days. "Shouldn't I go shorter instead of longer ?" they respond. I ask them does a batter practice swinging with a lighter or heavier bat before stepping up to the plate ? If you try-out/practice with a longer board, then you current board won't feel so long anymore. That's why surfers from Hawaii are different, usually our first rides were on big heavy 11' logs that uncle let us borrow.

[Big H]

Funny thing....the better I get at surfing my longboard, the smaller it seems, even at 9'6"....