I have a new board that’s 5’11’’ x 13.5 x 20 x 15 with a curvy outline, lowish rocker, and a diamond tail. It has a single concave and vee through the tail. It’s a quad.
I’ve surfed it half a dozen times now and it paddles great, surfs great, looks great–but sticks in the lip of a wave that pitches at all. I’m jumping to my feet high on the wave or worse, not making them and going over the falls. On waves with a quick first section, I’m just not making it.
Any ideas on why this is happening? Or how I can surf the board to avoid it? C
1, fins might be to big. smaller front fins first .
2, nose foil - thick nose boards have done this to me many times . they just float on top of the water and will not allow entry ( especilay in faster waves )
" fix it " by taking off with the nose slightly pointed twords the shoulder . if that does not work then your gonna have to stop using it in those kinda conditions
The nose foil is interesting (I didn’t shape this board): It’s sort of a traditional thruster foil, but there is the slightest degree of “beaking.” So it’s got some volume but not tons. That could be it. Maybe I need to ride waaaaay up on the nose as I paddle for waves.
Also, fins aren’t that big for a quad, pretty standard or even a little small. Compared to my friend’s Greg Griffen, they’re tiny.
I’ve heard people say that wide tails hang up, but this hasn’t been my experience for the most part. It paddles so fast and then just doesn’t drop. I’m perplexed! C
I am not an expert by any means but whenever this has happened to me in the past I have found a change in fins helps alot. I had a board that was getting pitched and sticking on steeper sections, I actually thought about getting rid of the board thinking it was something wrong with the shape but I messed around with the fins and realized that it just needed some tweaking. Give it a chance, try mixing up different fin setups. My board was a thruster and responded well when I simply downsized the fins.
Is your board EPS/Epoxy or PU/PE? I have found that EPS boards, especially light ones, can hang up on takeoff more than a similarly shaped, heavier PU/PE. Too light and the board sits too high in the water and tends to want to ride up over the back of the wave. Denser cores (PU) seem to sit in the water more and engage with the wave’s forward momentum better.
I have a VERY similar board to what you describe: 6’0" x 14N x 20.25 x 15T x 2.5" single concave EPS/Epoxy diamond tail. (no vee). It’s very light and I have experienced similar hangups. I’m about to make the same exact board but with a US Blanks Red PU core (still will use epoxy). So I will put this theory to test.
I’ll try that fin trick (although it sounds frustrating) and I totally agree on needing to paddle more parallel to the beach on short, wide boards. Thanks, C
Hey man, good to hear from you! I didn’t take “the walk.” Surfed Blacks. Blew a bunch of good waves!!
I think the fins are called “Fins Hawaii” or something like that. Beautiful black double-foil fins. But I’m going to mess with them to see if I can figure it out. Problem is, when you’re surfing a fast barrel like blacks you don’t want to be messing with your fins too much or it’s going to hurt!
To Ambrose’s point, I’m used to surfing a 5’8’’ fish with a wide tail so I know how to paddle into steeper waves with such a board. I’m guessing I just need to figure this board out. It’s sooo fun when I’m up and going on it. It paddles well, etc.
Look for uneveness in the acceleration of the rocker. Flatter spots or curvier spots in the entry will mess with taking off smoothly. The rocker should accellerate smoothly.
Check out the concave in the entry… it should deepen evenly and smoothly. If it gets deeper and shallower, or holds the same depth over any length of bottom in the entry, it could be pushing water at a critical time.
A secret I learned
from a world champion surfer a long time ago.
The physics
theory of contact adhesion. What he yoused was common car wax on the bottom of
his boards and it stopped the water drag factor on the surface.
What you
want is the water to bead on the surface of the board.
I was skeptical
at first but tried it and was amazed with the new speed and glide it made and it
also makes a difference dropping in to the wave
Fins; too many or too big or too close together or too far apart or too toed in or too canted. If you are too faint of heart to try Ambrose’s presciption, try it with just too.
Thanks for your replies. I checked the rocker. Looks really good to me. Concaves and everything seem smooth. I mean, I’m far from a pro. But I like the way this board looks and feels to my eyes and my hands.
I think I gotta just figure it out. Every board is different and deserves to be surfed on its terms, within reason.
LeeV: I think I’ll try with two and then build from there. It would be easier if I surfed waves that are clearly lefts or rights. But I’m all over the place!
I will throw in my hat for wide tail. i ride a lot of boards with wide tails (15"-16"). super fast down the line but definately make a late steep drop more difficult.
Grasshopper,
Kind of makes intuitive sense, doesn’t it? I mean, you get the benefit of a faster paddle, but that tail volume either rises up the wave face or … ? When you pop up that volume back there doesn’t want to fall through the wave as readily as something in the 13-14 inch realm. But sometimes intuition is wrong. I dunno.
Wide tails are not your problem. Fish have wide tails and they can take very steep drops without the hang up of feeling like the board needs to be forced into the wave. Without seeing the board I would have to say it is the rocker. On a shorter board rocker is critical. Slightly to much rocker in the wrong place and you are pushing water. Some photos of the board would help
