Just wondering what other guys do with the boards they make. Do you ride one board all the time then move on after a long period, or do you ride an assortment of boards? How long do you keep your boards?
Before I started building my boards, I had about 5 or 6 boards of different sizes and shapes, and depending on where I surfed or how big the waves were, I’d take a certain board. Mostly, I tended to use one or two boards a lot and the others only when needed. As we all know, a PU/PE board feel dead after a while, so there’s a point where you need to replace it.
Since I started making my boards, I’ve made several with similar dimensions, but some small changes to experiment with ideas. I find that I’ll ride a board for a while to get the feel of it, but once I get over the newness of it, I go back to using different boards all the time. There are long stretches where I may ride a different board every time I surf. Now I’m working towards getting back to sticking to a couple of boards, but I enjoy riding all my weird creations so much. And since I don’t ride any one board all the time, they seem to stay in great shape for a long time. It’s like having a bunch of kids and loving all of them and wanting to spend time with each one.
I've heard of the 'dead' PU/PE thing but never really experienced it except after the board was toast... as in buckled, totally waterlogged, or whatever.
Between new board projects for myself I try to ride anything I can that is both the same and different from what I intend to make. That includes used beaters, Surftechs, Boardworks.... whatever I can get my hands on. It's all a learning experience for me. I generally keep all my boards as reference even if I don't ride them much. If you saw my backyard and garage rafters, you'd understand.
I figure it all adds up to the sum total of data in my data bank... every board ridden, every board I checked out, every wave I rode or even paddled for. It all adds up to experience.
I learn something new with every board and wave I ride. Even waves I don't catch add to the data bank grand total. (Maybe I need a flatter rocker or ??? on the next board so I catch the next wave like that.)
With a quiver that includes everything from air mats, paipo and bellyboards on up to 12 Mickey Munoz Surftechs, SUPS and kayaks, it's hard to find an excuse that I don't have the right equipment. The trick is picking the right toy(s) to take to the beach on any given day.
I hope to visit Ambrose Curry some day and see if what I suspect is really true... that maybe the equipment isn't as important as the attitude.
No matter how good im surfing on a particular board, i always swap after a few surfs. Probably doesnt help my surfing, but that's how my mind works, and i can't change it, so i go with it.
John, the dead feeling I talk about is probably the flex response. When you get on a new PU/PE board there’s a certain feeling that you get when you apply weight. This is felt in the turns more than anything. The board will load up and then release and that will give you a more lively feeling.
After a while that feeling will go away and the board will feel dead in comparison to when it was new. After reading the posts here, and seeing some of what kelly slater has said, I’m pretty sure that it is the flexing properties of the board, and probably is more obvious in modern shortboards. I noticed it on a board I bought in the mid 80’s, after riding the board exclusively for several years.
These days, I’m building heavier, stiffer boards, so I don’t notice the change in the liveliness like I did when I rode shop made short boards. I’ve always preferred the heavier glassed boards, because they lasted longer. In hind sight, the lighter board’s flexing is probably what makes them so attractive to the younger kids.
As far as changing boards all the time, I think I’d be better off staying with one or 2 boards, but that’s so damned hard with all these choices. At least the ratio of boards I’ve made and continue to ride compared to the ones I won’t ride is pretty good.
Most of my boards are pretty thick and glassed heavy so they likely don't have that lively feeling to begin with. My level of 'performance' is not that lively anyway.
I still get stoked if I manage to get slotted... no matter what I'm riding.
Sticking with any board (weird and otherwise) long enough to figure out where all the 'buttons' are is a good plan. I've had many boards that didn't really turn on until I played around with the fins, figured them out, and finally surfed them in some good waves.
Needless to say, we don't get good waves everyday so it often doesn't happen right away.
As of now, my quiver consists of three boards, and eight-footer, a hybrid performance swallow tail (wide thick shortboard), and my 5’7 diamond tail quad which resembles a retro fish except for the tail. I’ll ride my hybrid shortboard when the waves are good (stomach plus), and my diamond tail in anything smaller, or in fatter conditions. The longboard is my “I really want to get wet but it’s knee high” board, but I love the way that thing glides.
I’m a firm believer in that if you change it up often enough, there’ll be a point where you can ride a longboard really good one hour, then get you short board and rip like that’s all you surf. It does feel good to have a board “wired,” but I’ve ridden two of my boards for more than a year anyways so I’m pretty comfortable with them - I’m still getting used to the diamond tail quad, but it’s starting to feel good now.
I won’t ride a shortboard in waist-high mush, because frankly, I would have more fun with a board with more volume, so I make the best decision on what I should ride before I leave for the beach based on the conditions. Sometimes I wish I brought my longboard. Sometimes I wish I brought my shortboard, but I still end up having fun though.
I bought it used just to try. It is lots of fun but hardly qualifies as a 'high performance' longboard. It is in fact an 'ultraglide' model as the name implies. Easy to catch waves and ride even the tiniest ripples. Does pretty good up to about head high for me. After that, it is a lot of board to control. I find that, as with most really big longboards, it helps to use the paddling efficiency to get in to waves early.
I analyzedthe shape and found that along with a 'ball bearing' vee/belly about 1/3 up from the tail, it has 5" of tail rocker. In personal communication with Mickey Munoz I asked about that. He said the board "Needs a lot of rocker so you can turn it." It does turn but it helps to be pretty far back on the tail.
The Takayama Prince Kuhio model is another longboard with 5" tail rocker.
In some ways the rocker and belly might inhibit speed. I had trouble finding a sweet spot that acted as an accelerator. It has tons of glide at moderate speed though.
As a plus, it doubles as a back up SUP (as inspired by Blane Chambers) for some of our lighter weight friends who might want to try Stand Up Paddling.
I pretty much have one favorite shortboard and one longboard. When I build a new board for myself, I ride it every session until I get it figured out, then I sell it to get more materials and build myself another one.
Shark, I do what NJ does. Just sell the used ones. Always looking for the magic board. But I keep the ones made by the masters. I don’t want to be on some buyers board building schedule. I just want generate enough money to keep my habit funded.
I’m going to have to do something to get the numbers down. I’ve run out of space to store boards. My last board was kept on the shaping racks, but now that I’m making another board, I don’t have a place to store it properly. Probably give away a couple then sell a couple more. That should give me enough room to make a few more boards this year.