Surfing Waves

I went on a short trip up the coast and decided to take the Catchsurf 6ft Odysea Quad Skipper even though the conditions weren't suited for it, just because it's more portable.

I hadn't been on a shortboard for a while so it took some adjusting, but managed to sneak in a couple through closeouts and even got complimented by another shortboarder (it was mostly longboards and paddle boards and you needed to catch the wave early just to get some face before it closed out)
The board feels a lot more bouncy than even my old 6'8" shortboard, no doubt because of the extra buoyancy. You'd think it would turn better, but it feels like it would take a lot of front foot pressure just to keep it from waddling all over aimlessly.

Anyway, not my main driver, but I'd like to get better with it because I think it would be fun on days where it turns into a shoredump.

Where did you go?

Long Sands Beach in Maine

You got that backwards. On a sponge with flexy rubber fins, fat boxy rails and tons of float, you need to get weight over the BACK foot even more. To engage the edge on the tail into the face of the wave. Getting front foot biased will make the fins disengage / fly and that’s when it will “ waddle all over aimlessly “.

waikikikichan wrote: you need to get weight over the BACK foot even more.

thanks I will try that

I took a Catch Surf 54 Beater out for the first time at Zuma yesterday and had a blast. It was a family beach outing and not a surf session (hence the Beater), I assumed I'd only bodyboard it but was able to tuck into a crouch on plenty of waves.

My head was ahead of the front of the board which felt weird, but the nice thing is that you still paddle the board instead of kicking as with bodyboards. The small size and soft foam encourage you to go for everything, catching waves wasn't hard and if the drop was too steep you just ride it prone. Lots of fun!!

yeah I have a beater too (the Softtech Rocket) I usually ride it in small surf where I can stand up waiting for the wave, then throw the board down when the wave passes by.
I also converted mine to a bodyboard by drilling an arm leash plug . Hope to get some shorey barrels like that when conditions are right.


The Odysea is more like a traditional shortboard, but the round nose and extra buoyancy keeps it from slicing the face like a regular shortboard with a sharp nose.