Surfing Waves

Hey guys

I've got this 6'4 pin tail step up board that I want to put a tail pad on. The problem is that the tail width is so narrow that the tail pad is almost as wide as the rails.
I'm wondering if this would negatively affect the boards handling when cornering as the water line would hit the pad instead of further sinking the rail / tail. My thoughts are that The pad would have buoyancy and also stop the tail from digging in to the wave face.
This is just my theory..
The tails on my other boards are much wider and have about 6cm of tail width on each side before the pad starts.

Kind of excited to have a dedicated step up in the quiver. It's 6'4 x 18 3/4 x 2 1/2 although very thin tail, rail volume and heaps of rocker.

Tail pads come in different widths, shapes, amount of pieces (1,2,3,5) and lengths. Find one that fits your board and leaves the rails free.

A Tokoro! Nice! Is it a custom? It looks like epoxy, am I correct?

Quick fix here. Just remove the two side parts, keep the center arch and put wax in the space they previously occupied. I used to do that on some of my boards.

That said, the answer to 99 out of 100 questions regarding the degree to which an accessory affects a boards performance is: negligible and barely detectable at our level. But I wholly understand the need for a piece of mind!!

kookextraordinaire wrote: Just remove the two side parts, keep the center arch and put wax in the space they previously occupied.

Then that’ll leave him with just the Arch Bar. He won’t have the benefit of the Tail Kick. I would save that wide pad for another board. You could put one side of the pad upside down on the board, align it to fit inside the pin/lap line ( which you molded-Epoxy doesn’t have ), draw a pencil line along the stringer on board the back of the pad, cut with utility knife/ razor blade, then put that pad on the other to make a mirror image cut. It’s up to you if you want to keep the center piece straight, but it’ll take more math calculations to figure out.

waikikikichan wrote:

kookextraordinaire wrote: Just remove the two side parts, keep the center arch and put wax in the space they previously occupied.

Then that’ll leave him with just the Arch Bar. He won’t have the benefit of the Tail Kick. I would save that wide pad for another board. You could put one side of the pad upside down on the board, align it to fit inside the pin/lap line ( which you molded-Epoxy doesn’t have ), draw a pencil line along the stringer on board the back of the pad, cut with utility knife/ razor blade, then put that pad on the other to make a mirror image cut. It’s up to you if you want to keep the center piece straight, but it’ll take more math calculations to figure out.

You can jam the board pretty hard without a tail-kick. I present to the court my first piece of evidence, the raging bull in all his glory, sans tail kick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw1540E_WWM

(I have no idea how to embed a video)

I rest my case.

Thanks for the responses guys, I guess I also thought another option could be just cutting the tail kick / pad about 2cm in on either side so it has a more narrow profile?
I do have a slightly smaller one but it's also quite a lot shorter and I wanted the extra length of the current one.

Regarding the board, yes it is a wade tokoro! good noticing! Although it's just a factory issue and non custom but the dims are what I would like anyway. I thought it would be a good combination with my 5'9 custom as everyday and at least have the confidence that when the swell is big, you have a board made for it.

In comparison to my 5'9. it's nose is around 3" more narrow, tail 1.5" more narrow. Surprisingly, the rocker in the nose the same at my 5'9! but the tail rocker is 3/4" more which is quite a lot.

I forgot to mention, they make tail-pads with the edges beveled in, like so:
https://www.surffcs.com/community-story ... s-traction

This might work for you and they are still fairly long. I think most companies offer a beveled in option, you don't have to go FCS if you aren't so inclined.

Would LOVE to own a Tokoro. Especially with a deep single all the way through. I've never had a board with that much kick out the tail. Let us know how that extra rocker feels!

addendum: beveled edges=tail kick doesn't drag in the water when on rail=less drag

benjl wrote:Thanks for the responses guys, I guess I also thought another option could be just cutting the tail kick / pad about 2cm in on either side so it has a more narrow profile?

That's what I'd thought until I read wkkkchan's post. I guess either would work? Sweet board, btw!

Hey kook where abouts do you live? I know a dude here who got a container of them at really good prices ie $300nz when they used to be $1200x Might be an option to get one and send it to you?

benjl wrote:Hey kook where abouts do you live? I know a dude here who got a container of them at really good prices ie $300nz when they used to be $1200x Might be an option to get one and send it to you?

A bro-deal is always appreciated, but unfortunately I live in North East America. Unless of course the entire container is 1200, in which case I would say, send away!

Out of curiosity, what is your height and weight? Do you generally surf shorter and lower volume boards? I have this strange mental aversion to surfing anything below 6' but I was thinking of getting a smaller board soon. I'm 6' tall and 70 kilos.

haha in that case the boards would only be around $213 USD brand new. Not sure what shipping would be, maybe $100?

I'm about 5'8 and currently 69kgs. Was around 64kg when I had that 5'9 made.
I only really got in to 'short' boards not too long before snapping my achillies. I had thought anything under 6'0 was nuts until getting a 5'8 vader which blew my mind but was way too much volume. I then got a 5'10 firewire dominator that really started to transform my surfing and felt really instinctive for turns and speed.
I then saw a 5'6 fst firewire dominator that was only 28.3l. I thought it would be wayyy to small and low volume but was absolutely awesome- I ripped on that thing. Having my feet so close to the tailpad at all times just boosted through turns with the single concave and flattish / wide hybrid shape it was also fast and paddled well. I took that thing from knee / waist to overhead and loved every bit of it. However on low tide or hollow waves it wasn't ideal.
Hence I gave my shaper the 5'6 dominator and my 6'1 pin tail and said can he merge them- I wanted the 'short' and nimble feel of the 5'6 but stretched out a few inches (ended up being 3"), more narrow, more rocker and with some vee in the tail- but still having enough width and chest volume for speed and paddling. here's my end shape with all deets

Maybe I should evaluate my disinclination towards shorter boards! I started surfing in the early 00's when 6' was as low as one went; I think I just got used to it over the years. Hence all my boards are 6'. I've only recently discovered that surfing low volume boards is easier when the waves are steeper, which was a big breakthrough for me, and the 3 currently I own are all less than 2 3/8".

Benjii, do you think that a 5'8" (4" less) is too big of a jump? Was it difficult for you to adjust from longer boards?

Id say it depends more on the shape, volume and waves intended than just 4" shorter alone. You could ride a wide flat 5'0 board fine in fat small waves and could potentially find it more Stable and easier than your current performance 6'0.
In theory though, if you've been surfing for a long time I'm sure you would be absolutely fine on a smaller board if it has the width, volume or nose distribution to make up for it. Generally
Once you get used to shorter you won't want to go longer again!
I went from a 7'6 minimal to a 6'2 fish after 4 months of surfing (having never done it before) and was fine after 1-2 surfs.
For instance the tomo boards are made to be ridden stupidly short and they are still very stable due to the parallel rails and flattish rocker. The hypto is another design that is short, flat, wide and stable.

What's your normal dims, wave size and volume? Got any mates shorter boards you can try?

https://shop.firewiresurfboards.com/pro ... -dominator

The dominator is a board of swear by for going shorter- and it can also handle some size! The 5'7 or 5'8 should be good for you depending on your preference for volume