Finallllyyyy back on the board

[benjl]

Hey guys!

So first surf back in 1.5years! It was fascinating to surf again, especially after supping all this year and finally the opportunity to compare them on back to back days in overhead surf!.

Soo.. since my last surf, everything was against me yesterday.
- 1.5years since last surf
- I was on my 5'9 custom 28.7l little board (the lowest I ever surfed was 28.3l). Only ever tried this board 2-3 times in smaller waves before my injury.
- I was In a 4/3 winter wetsuit with booties
- I haven't paddled or swam in 1.5 years and also just come back from a month in Europe largely partying most nights
- I've put on 6-8kg since I stopped surfing / kickboxing (with my achilies injury) and put on a lot more muscle mass through gym work
- it was solid 3-5ft, windy, choppy waves

How did I get on?!
Surprisingly well! I was standing first wave, a little wobbly with balance but none the less up. Second wave I started to get the balance sorted. I then decided to give paddling out back a crack and somehow made it fully out back. Paddling on that custom board felt surprisingly organic and like I hadn't stopped. It was just the continuous paddling that I wasn't used to.
I then caught a solid overhead wave, made the drop and then started doing turns. It wasn't until I bailed off the wave that I realised I'd even been going backside! Next wave caught me by surprise- a fairly late head + size wave. Forehand this side and instinctively cut back towards the whitewash before going back down the line. I swear it was one of the nicest turns I've ever done and could see the spray coming off the board and I cut back. The custom board felt great! So fast, agile and able to hold. Also really natural to paddle and catch waves on. I paddled for a solid hour.
I think stand up paddling has made me a better surfer for sure- after trying to manouever a 8'5 112l board and then going to a 5'9 28.7l board, every little movement was magnified and the required effort to turn it after a sup was much less.

The downside?
My shoulders and neck started to ache after an hour. To make it worse I got stuck in the rip and trying to catch a wave in when it got really windy, choppy and lumpy was a nightmare.I wished I'd had a paddle.

Vs paddleboarding?
So different. When first trying to get out back I wished I'd had my sup and could just paddle out back. Both have pro's and con's.
I still love the whole body workout of the sup, and the way you can catch waves earlier and way longer than on a shortboard. I think sup's open up ability to surf if you're old or have problems with back etc. At the worst, it's another skill set to make you a better surfer.
When it's big or really messy I think surfing is easier. Another pro of supping is that there is a lot lower chance of getting surfers eye and ear through less time in the water and with your head under ie no duckdiving etc.

Shakka

[IanCaio]

Glad to hear it went so well! Like riding a bicycle huh?

Sore shoulders and neck after an hour in overhead conditions seems very reasonable, so you're still fit, maybe not as much as before, but that will come back with time..

And what a view on those pictures, beautiful spot, waves look good!

[oldmansurfer]

Sup doesn't keep your paddling muscles in shape

[benjl]

oh also another great bonus, I met a girl recently who is most interested in surfing and all the intricacies of tail, rockers, bottom design etc. She actually requested to sit on the beach and watch me! great success..

[Big H]

oh also another great bonus, I met a girl recently who is most interested in surfing and all the intricacies of tail, rockers, bottom design etc. She actually requested to sit on the beach and watch me! great success..

Good times! Firing on all cylinders! I was out three months and am only now just shaping back into form after 6 weeks of near daily sessions. So much depends on paddle fitness and mine was totally gone.

Well done on the beach sitter. You can take the Shane to see how it is sharing a hobby with a partner. Personally, I treasure the time I take to surf and how it transports me away from everything else in my life, but then again I'm a twice married geezer for whom Sunday afternoon naps are getting sweeter and sweeter.

[billie_morini]

beautiful photos, too! Thank you for them and the great news!!
billie

[dtc]

yep, great news. just need to stop all that shuttle chasing nonsense

[benjl]

What's shuttle chasing? Is that some sort of reference to sup?

[dtc]

Badminton..

(I know, you have suppressed the sport and have post traumatic memory loss)

[benjl]

haha! I was racking my brain as to the correlation between shuttle chasing and sup.

If I can bike, surf and gym again then I'm happy to give up the badminton!

Actually on a side note, I took the sup back out again yesterday and the conditions were a lot bigger than I expected- especially on a low tide. See the few black specs of surfers in comparison to wave size. I saw a guy get a solid double overhead wave!
Was pretty hard trying to stay up on my narrow nose pro sup with all the water movement, wind and chop but managed a 2hr session.
I caught two waves, one that built in to a likely double overhead size and broke twice. The wall of whitewater when it broke was being like hit the back with a car! The other wave was amazing, felt so incredible to fly down the line and turn on the sup but quite a distinctly different feeling to the surfboard on the prior day.

I wished I'd been on the surfboard, purely for the fact that it was so difficult to catch waves that big on my little sup.
I think i'll take the surfboard out for bigger days and the sup out for smaller days. The whole body workout from supping is definitely good for ya!

[kookextraordinaire]

oh also another great bonus, I met a girl recently who is most interested in surfing and all the intricacies of tail, rockers, bottom design etc. She actually requested to sit on the beach and watch me! great success..

Benji, marry this woman.

Nice little round tail, how pulled in is that tail? Is that a local NZ shaper?

[benjl]

haha- it's only been 2 weeks but will see I got a request on my instagram from her mum lastnight..

Here's a thread on my custom board that I had made. It's a local shaper called 'primal' and the shaper was glen carkeek whose been around for awhile. Do you know them? Sadly after having it made I snapped my achillies tendown twice and have spent the last 1.3years unable to surf or use it. Only just getting to try it now but all tests so far seem very good. Feels very 'natural', paddles well, has stability, speed and turns quite instinctively. I guess If I could use it straight off the bat after 1.3 years of not surfing or swimming and go to head high waves then it's fairly user friendly. Can't wait to test it in bigger stuff.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=26073

[benjl]

Actually question for DBB and some of the others- earlier on in my custom board thread you recommended making the middle section flatter if I wanted it to handle big waves more specifically.

I'm curious how making the middle flatter would benefit for big / hollow waves? I thought having that constant curve would fit the wave better and provide more range for hollow / bigger stuff?

[oldmansurfer]

If the board is flatter then after the drop you will be able to generate more speed because more of the board will be in the water allowing the wave to push it more so going down the line it will be faster. This is why a longboard is faster if you are only trimming down the line. A flat bottom and sharp rails will allow you to ride higher up the wave and go faster yet. Thicker rails push the board back out of the wall making fall back down the face.

[kookextraordinaire]

Benji, are you referring to a rocker which flattens out in the middle section? That's called a "staged" rocker, when it goes from rockered nose to flat to rocker out the tail again.

A staged rocker with lots of nose and tail flip might work pretty well. With a flat section right under your front foot you'd get going pretty fast! Is that what your Tokoro is like?

[RinkyDink]

Congrats on your recovery. Have fun.

[Big H]

Actually question for DBB and some of the others- earlier on in my custom board thread you recommended making the middle section flatter if I wanted it to handle big waves more specifically.

I'm curious how making the middle flatter would benefit for big / hollow waves? I thought having that constant curve would fit the wave better and provide more range for hollow / bigger stuff?

He was talking about the plan shape and rail line....Check out the below article.




From SurfScience webpage:

Rail Line
surfboard rail line
The rail line of a surfboard design is also called the plan shape or template shape. It is the curvature from the nose to the tail when looking at the surfboard from above. The design varies by the amount of curvature used to affect acceleration and maneuverability.

Curvier rail line - The rounder rail line allows you to bury the rails deeper into the water giving you more acceleration out of turns. A rounder rail line also makes it easier to change direction of the board because there is less side directional water resistance. An exaggeration of this concept provides a good mental image: If a surfboard is shaped completely in a circle it would be easy to change direction but difficult to keep straight.

Straighter rail line – A straighter rail line is often found in longboards or boards built for bigger waves or more speed. Straighter rails are useful for adding more surface area of the board to trim the face of the wave. Guns have a straighter rail line for added stability needed in high speeds on big waves. Conversely, this makes turning and changing directions more difficult. Straighter rail lines will cause the board to lose acceleration through turns but faster in straight lines. Imagine a stretch limousine taking a corner compared to an old Volkswagen bug. Which do you think will turn better and which is better suited for speed on highways?

[kookextraordinaire]

Actually question for DBB and some of the others- earlier on in my custom board thread you recommended making the middle section flatter if I wanted it to handle big waves more specifically.

I'm curious how making the middle flatter would benefit for big / hollow waves? I thought having that constant curve would fit the wave better and provide more range for hollow / bigger stuff?

He was talking about the plan shape and rail line....Check out the below article.




From SurfScience webpage:

Rail Line
surfboard rail line
The rail line of a surfboard design is also called the plan shape or template shape. It is the curvature from the nose to the tail when looking at the surfboard from above. The design varies by the amount of curvature used to affect acceleration and maneuverability.

Curvier rail line - The rounder rail line allows you to bury the rails deeper into the water giving you more acceleration out of turns. A rounder rail line also makes it easier to change direction of the board because there is less side directional water resistance. An exaggeration of this concept provides a good mental image: If a surfboard is shaped completely in a circle it would be easy to change direction but difficult to keep straight.

Straighter rail line – A straighter rail line is often found in longboards or boards built for bigger waves or more speed. Straighter rails are useful for adding more surface area of the board to trim the face of the wave. Guns have a straighter rail line for added stability needed in high speeds on big waves. Conversely, this makes turning and changing directions more difficult. Straighter rail lines will cause the board to lose acceleration through turns but faster in straight lines. Imagine a stretch limousine taking a corner compared to an old Volkswagen bug. Which do you think will turn better and which is better suited for speed on highways?

Thanks for the info, Big H. I've been surfing for quite a long time and I always thought plan shape affected the nose and the tail, e.g easier to paddle in and more surface area in tail, not so much turning which I always associated with rail thickness and foil.

Surfboards are pretty damn complicated.

[saltydog]

Congrats on your full recovery! Is the break with the island the same place as the one in the picture with karma that you've picked up awhile ago?https://surfing-waves.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=26728&p=195434#p195434