best longboard?

[duhkine]

whats the best longboard you ever had or know that exists? or any shapers of longboards? also whats a good fin for a longboard? i may want to get a new one since my current one is getting damaged often.

[jonny]

you looking for traditional or performance?

I think Tyler makes the best longboards in the world right now. Not many get close. Not cheap though.

[duhkine]

I never heard of tyler. Here in hawaii we have different brands I think. Theres a guy named matt yerxa who shapes for eric arakawa. Eric arakawa shapes for andy irons. I heard yerxa is good but same quality as arakawa but cheaper. I also heard of jon mar, gabe garduque and glenn pang. Im not sure whats the diff between trad and perf but the real traditional ones i know of are made of solid wood by hand weighing 100+ pounds. I like the boards with single fin. I rather noseride than rip if that answers your question. I would like turning to be easy but i dont turn a lot. thanx

[gulfsurfer]

support ur local shaper

[babyboarder89]

i just got a new board which is pretty much like you described, well sort of. its 9'0"x22 1/2"x3" it has a rolled bottom so turns nice and smooth and is made to be ridden in a traditional way. and its from my local shaper. it says so on the bottom

[deathfrog]

I like stewarts and coastal azul, but the stewart boards have a delam tendency...

[Phil]

i agree with jonny just wish i could aford the £1000 + for the single fin yellow board

[typhoon]

if you are not familiar with long boards, you should rely on local shapers. they know what you need as you surf your home break. this my suggestion.

[Ironside]

I think Pat O'Hare makes the best longboards. My new O'Hare longboard will be ready in a week or two and I will post a picture of it here.

[Roy Stewart]

Nothing can compare (in my opinion) with a true longboard, and by that I mean a 12 foot plus timber board.

There is also nothing better than building and riding your own timber board.


I believe that what you get out of the experience
depends upon what you put into it. The 200 hours or so which it takes to build a wooden board is well spent

Free wooden surfboard plans are available at
<edit dead link>

The Power surfboard is very easy to build, and is superior to other longboards terms of speed, tuberiding ability, and ease of control.

Surprising but true!

Regards,

Roy

[gulfsurfer]

i think wooden boards are cool for old style longboarding, but i would much rather ride an epoxy now. Theyre so much lighter and easier to turn and all that, but wood boards are still awesome.

my .02

[gulfsurfer]

oh yea, i agree with you, the bigger the better.
nobody make any queer jokes about that statement, im talking about SURFBOARDS.

[Roy Stewart]

i think wooden boards are cool for old style longboarding, but i would much rather ride an epoxy now. Theyre so much lighter and easier to turn and all that, but wood boards are still awesome.

my .02

So you have ridden a new era twelve foot plus timber longboard (like the Power Surfboard) ???

In my experience regular superlight longboards are hopeless to turn (apart from doing slow tail pivots), admittedly this is partly due to the anomalies in shape caused by noseriding demands, but it is definitely true that well designed big heavy boards are much less demanding to turn because they are less twitchy, have a lower centre of gravity, greater momentum, and are less prone to stalling. In short, they are almost 'self tending' . . . just close your eyes and do it! This is particularly the case with high speed turns and in choppy conditions. It may seem surprising, but the planshape and rocker of conventional 'malibus' is not conducive to efficient turning. A big heavy board can be much 'looser' than a noseriding 'Malibu', simply by introducing the maximum possible planshape curve via a circular arc, and by using sufficient rocker. . . also evenly applied via a circular arc through the tail section.

Just my ten years worth!

[deathfrog]

How easy is it to paddle a 17ft solid wood board?

Seems like alot of material to get moving...

[Roy Stewart]

Hi deathfrog.

At 40 pounds or so they take a little longer to accelerate when paddling than a lighter board, but they have a higher top paddling speed because of the extra waterline length.
Contrary to what many people believe, a heavier board will accelerate just as fast as a lighter board when taking off and riding a wave, because gravity is the motive power and a board and rider combination has gravitational potential energy in proportion to its mass.
Paddling wise, a heavy longer board has an advantage in most situations except when paddling out through waves which are very close together, because sometimes then there isn't time to accelerate to top speed. This is offset by the fact that heavy boards can be rolled under very efficiently and so they gain distance that way.

[TheBurningHouse]

I would say that Tyler, Takayama, or Skip Frye

(TBH)

[/code]

[Roy Stewart]

I would say that Tyler, Takayama, or Skip Frye

(TBH)

[/code]

I thought that Tyler, Takayama, and Frye were people, not longboards!

It gets rather pathetic after a while when one is continually expected to swallow the idea that any surfboard that has a particular name attached to it (or has been touched by anyone with a particular name) is therefore a 'best' kind of a whatsit. This is pure unadulterated Noddyfantasy and belongs in the nursery along with Teddy bear and the five Halloween Pumpkins. The laws of physics are such that boards shaped 'thus' behave 'thus' regardless of whether or not they have some special kind of Southern Californian name attached. I rather suspect that Mr Takayama, Mr Frye, and Mr Tyler would agree with this, and that it is even possible that the gentlemen themselves might find that it is cloying to have people worship their names.

Excuse me please, I am about to yawn.

Yawning now.

Bye.



PS There are some people who think that there are other people whose dung doesn't stink. After a lengthy survey of International Droppings I would like to propose the theory that all human doo doos are rather pongy.

[k mac]

i think what they are trying to say Roy is that tyler,mctavish etc.. Are some of the best in there trade which is shaping and beacause they have shaped the board themselves (i know they some times have shapers working with them/for them)they will be a top quality board and have gained a reptation through that,im sure if there boards were no good then they would not demand such a high price tag eg Mctavish fireball somthin like £900-£1200(not excatly sure on the price),also you are saying the laws of physics mean a boards performance is the same regardless of the southern californian name attatched to it ,well lets say the laws of physics can allow some one to walk a 100ft long tightrope but can every one tightrope walk? ,and the people that can there is always going to be somone better then them at it and more well know . Its like..if some one asked who were the best shapers of super long tree boards im sure Roy Stewarts name would come up somwhere

[Roy Stewart]

You are right of course . . . I suppose what what I am saying is that if a board by shaper X is superior in some way to all other boards then it must be because of some actual physical attributes, and it is those features which are more interesting to the dedicated surfer than a name.
Also there is a syndrome (In my opinion) whereby some surfers are really just name dropping when they say that shaper X or Y is the 'best' . . . .like they are just blindly parroting a name and couldn't really back it up by saying why the boards by that shaper are reputed to be good (in terms of actual shape).
On top of all this, the surfer who says that some shaper makes the 'best' longboards should qualify their statement according to what style of longboard they are talking about. For example there are very few builders of dedicated speedboards out there . . the majority of longboards built by 'name' shapers are relatively slow boards built as platforms for stylish bodily poses . . . and thus their boards are only the 'best' for that particular activity. This is the case regardless of how many famous surfers ride them, or how many 'style' contests the boards have won.
Regarding my own shaping reputation . . I really have no idea ....I think that it is irrelevant because anyone with basic carpentry skills and reasonable care can build a Power Surfboard identical to the one which I make. There's no mystery about it and the remarkable qualities of the Power Surfboard can all be explained physically without any mysterioso guru shaper nonsense.

Just my dry and rational opinion.

Cheers,

Roy

[gulfsurfer]

A lot of times people will base their opinion on who makes the best boards just by the people who ride them. Like in shortboards, theres people who have never ridden an al merrick and say he's the best just because of all the pros that ride them. Al is definitley one of the best shapers, but people need to atleast ride one of his boards before they say hes the best.
i dont know who shapes the best longboards, i havent ridden all that many shapers boards, but i stick mainly to the local shapers in my area.
the only thing i know is that i wont ever ride a surftech, there is absolutely no soul in a board made in a foreign country by some 12 year old kid.