I know I am stepping into a potential minefield here, but hey here goes.
I have developed severe tendonitis in my right elbow. It is exacerbated by paddling too much. There is no way in hell I am giving up surfing, but my thruster just ain’t gonna’ be part of the program anymore.
A while back I had a quirky board that paddled great 6’4 by about 19"x 2.5" Walden CD. The board still could get pretty vertical, and handled nice size waves. Almost a thruster rocker set-up with a slightly wider nose/tail profile. When I went to the Walden site, it would appear that the CD has turned into a mini-log. Not what I want.
Any suggestions. My only stipulations are the following:
Not a fish (this board is for medium to larger waves)
Relatively High Performance
Duck Divable (I can’t sink a log, so please nothing over 7’2")
For Me, a 20 yr. surfer who is 5’8" 140lbs, not inclined to airial maneuvering, lover of steep late take offs and good barrels in shallow water, in decent to good shape, but in a hell of a lot of pain (i.e. even typing seems to hurt)
I’ll take dimensions and make it myself, or if you know something that’s out there allready, that would be helpful too.
i am 5’10" 165lbs and can almost sink my 9’0 LB… can just dip my 8’4" gun… you have got to get most your weight over the front half the board to get it underwater and get your foot, not knee, on the tail…
bummer about your elbow… take care of that thing… a few months or years off from surfing is far better then spending the rest of your life in pain… i don’t know one life long surfer who hasn’t had to hang it up for while for one reason or the other… my girlfriend is currently on her second month off due to a dislocated shoulder, she is 29 and hasn’t gone 2 months without surfing in the 8 years i have know her, and she has a few more to go…
you could widen the nose a bit to make paddling easier, mabye go 12.5’ in the nose which is still a shorty style point but is a couple of inches extra foam than most shortboards. lengthen the board by a few inches and maybe go half an inch wider than your other board. thats all you could do really if you dont want to go to an egg shape. also keep the thickness along the stringer all the way through to the tip of the nose, then just plane it down 45 degrees like they used to do back in the 70’s/80’s. you can still roll off the rails to keep them low.
i’m 5’9" and all i ride is longboards…9’0" is as short as i go. anyhow, i usually rely on good timing to make a quick, dry paddle out…i love the feeling of getting out to the lineup and my hair is still dry. however, on occasion, the time comes when i’ve gotta get wet. if i’m not in a rush, and i’m just having a nice leisurely paddle out, i’ll usually just turtle roll to avoid the whitewater. if, however, i’m really motoring for the outside…approach the whitewater at an angle, and move all the way up on the board…push the nose down as if you were duckdiving and follow the nose underwater just as the whitewater comes…there’s no way to get the tail under, but the whitewater will pass right over you, and as it’s passing over the tail of your board will simply straighten you out rather than toss you around…taking it at an angle is key.
on another note, i just finished a new board…it’s a longboard plan shape, but chopped down to 6’6"…a short longboard…i call it “the shlong board”. anyhow, i’ve still gotta sand and gloss/polish, but i’ll let ya know how it rides. take a look at the shape…
Arboreal, I have the same tendonitis. what a pain. go the the drug store and get an adjustable band that goes around your arm just below the elbow. then get back on your short board. Don’t know why it works but the compression around those muscles and tendons keeps it from hurting. For real.
I don’t think a different board is going to alleviate the tendonitis. I had it bad in both shoulders three years ago. I thought this was the beginning of the end. I could paddle with pain and anti inflammatories,but couldn’t even do push ups. Went to the doc, sent me to a physical therapist who put me on the correct exercise regime which I still do. Pain went away 98 percent and I’m still in the water. Think about PT. Mike
First, I second the compression band around your forearm just below the elbow. It’s sold at sports stores for Tennis elbow, but I’ve used it to stop pain from both paddling & swinging a hammer.
Second, keep practicing your duckdives. With timing & technique, you can duckdive almost anything. After years of practice, I can dd a 10’ longboard when I need to. The key is to move your weight strongly to the nose but maintain really good foot contact on the tail end, so you can press there when the wave is passing you and pull up on the nose to pop through with some momentum. You’re back in paddling position much faster than if you turtle or something else.
As for shape, with the where & how of your surfing, you could probably decrease tail rocker, and make your nose rocker a flip at the very front rather than a gradual entry. Nice long sweet spot. Maybe not hard down rails, but more like 80/20 or so, so the natural floatation line is with the board more on top of the water than in it. Dome the deck & pinch the rails. Sounds like you know what you’re doing & want control more than you want slashing…so build it that way. 7’-7’2" with a squash tail would be about right?
Not sure what tendonities actually is but you might try some form of Glucosamine.
I’m in the construction business and the aches and pains in my joints were starting to catch up to me. A doctor friend had been told by his knee doctor to take the stuff in lieu of knee replacement. I swear by it now, but you gotta make sure you get top quality stuff or you are wasting your money.
The product I use is called JOINT STRENGTH by a company called Mega Food.
the 6’6 you might shape is still going to be a hard paddle at those dimensions. i would still suggest because of your paddle problems that you go to 7’0’ there is a very noticable difference in paddling power. although you will give up a small amound of performance by going longer.