Tryinging in paint, Swaylocks accepted it. C’mon baby.
Great question and I have given it some thought. If I was holding on to a handboard I would be very inclined to get on my knees and ride on it. Heck …I might just be wacked enough to try to stand on it.
A bunch of purveyors of shape on this forum may not want to hear this, but here is lesson 1 for BODYSURFING 101.
Bodysurfing is just what it is…the only accessory item that should be going for the ride are your fins because the Good Lord didn’t shape most of us with flukes for the necessary propulsion to catch waves. Trunks are optional…and sorry ladies…for guys the skeg is standard equipment but we are more than happy to share it with you!
Seems to have worked, won’t go into the time spent to do it.
Whoa bad ass KOKO. That looks like a hand gun on steroids. any vee or concave in the bottom? with those side keels it almost looks like a bonzer! Chip would get a kick out of that, a bonzer hand gun. can you give me some dimentions.
And mad dog, god didn’t give us built in engines either but everyone seems to be taken up by tow surfing. Hand boards are just a variation of bodysurfing. We all got styles and abilities and preferences. I know what you mean though it does take away from simplicity of bodysurfing as one of the few things with little or no equipment.
Bodysurfing naked rules! Takes the title of dick dragger away from the bodyboarders:)
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I know what you mean though it does take away from simplicity of bodysurfing as one of the few things with little or no equipment.
Sometimes it’s just fun to have toys. Just like sometimes it’s fun not to. Handguns are cheap to buy when available, easy to make, fun, and very low impact wave riding vehicles. They can buy you an extra second to view a totally crap closeout wall pitching over your head, and they can buy you a whole sectional transition on a better wave.
As the North American summer slowly approaches, here is a little brain teaser. Take $20 and buy a 2’ x 4’ sheet of .25" ply, some nylon webbing, some screws, and some polyurethane sealer. If you have any money left and nothing similar at home get some colorful paints. Take a sheet of paper and put your hand on it, and start thinking about shapes. Mess with that a bit, and maybe set it all aside for a while. Go back, draw a planshape, and cut it out of the wood…taking care to leave as much wood as possible to play with later. Figure out what you probably ought to do to the rough shape to make it work, and root around the garage and find the tools you need. Fix it up, smooth it out. Decorate the son of a gun, any way you want - it’s so small hardly anyone will see it anyway. Freak out! Seal it with the polyurethane. Figure out how to attach the strap. Go ahead and make slots to slide the strap through if you want. Don’t worry about strap drag - your whole body is hanging back there anyway. The key concept is to use the handboard to plane your body as much out of the water as possible.
When you have one handboard ready, always have it with you at the beach. Try it out. These puppies get stressed really quick, so if there is a construction or design problem it will become apparent fairly quickly. See if you can fix the board you have, and then try it again. Did anybody see the Greenough exhibit in California last year? All his personal equipment looked like beaters…obviously he wasn’t living for trade shows. Once you wire the board you have or determine other things you want to try, cut away at the remainders. You can probably get 8-10 handboards easy out of one piece of that ply. They won’t last forever. Every time you make a new one you will gain skills or knowledge. Cheapest, quickest, easiest surf equipment buildout you can imagine. It’s all about fun. Going pro is not an option.
Good man nels tellin the truth. 3-6ft south swell ooh yeah goin for a surf and then to sandys if anyone is there an sees someone going on a completely unmakeable mind bender only to do flips over the falls…it is probubly me
The red rocket is 14" x 8". The nose has a hull type bottom, the rest is flat.
Might be a completely stupid question, but being a bit of a newbie to bodysurfing, thought i might as well ask.
Anyone tried bodysurfing with those swim-training paddles on? Plastic hand-sized sheets of acrylic that strap to each hand… they’d increase paddling speed, while i imagine slightly improving planing, but you wouldnt get any arm wrenching on a closeout… any thoughts?
a) there are NO stupid questions—only stupid answers…
b) that said; i tried the swim paddles once! only once, almost dislocated my shoulder—either i was/am clueless or i didn’t know what i was doing, but it reallllly hurt–never again,— go pure—fins and trunks only
In aswer to Poobah and Kevin,
Greg Deats is most likely using a pair of swim training paddles in the photo that Dale posted. When I was growing up, Greg was one of the best bodysurfers at the Wedge. Both Greg and another guy, Mel, would use hand planes. They were a couple of the only Wedge Crew guys who would regularly use them (I think a lot of the guys thought it was “cheating”).
For those not familiar with the training paddles, the rectangular acrylic ones that are slightly larger in area than your hands are the ones to use. They have straps made of surgical tubing for your middle finger and around your wrist. That’s how the planes stay in place. I have a pair at home, I’ll try to post a picture of them tonight.
I don’t always use the planes when I bodysurf, but depending upon the conditions or my mood, I’ll take them out. They add quite a bit of speed, allowing you to make waves you might not otherwise make. The planes give you a good edge to help hold you into a steep face and a nice solid surface to slide on while riding the flatter faces. They’re also small enough and flexible enough that you can comfortably swim with them on. I like using the actual swim training paddles because I like the flex. Some of the crew guys like Mel use custom-made acrylic planes that are a bit stiffer but the same shape and size as the swimming paddles.
I’ve never experienced the shoulder-wrenching pain from catching an edge, etc. but if you do catch an edge you’ll wipeout. Swimming with the paddles does put a little more strain on your shoulders because you’re grabbing more water with each pull so be careful not to over-do it if you’re not a strong swimmer.
Some of the other things we used to use bodysuring include kickboards, sandals, restaurant trays, a pizza tray, chopped off old swim fins and the handboards called hand guns. All are fun but the training paddles have always been my favorite since they allow you to bodysurf exactly like you would without the planes on… just at a higher speed.
I say: yes. This is the “sand crab”, the product of too much free time and a bunch of left-over water toys. It is pretty darn fun, though!
I have the hydro sports handboard http://www.hydrosportz.com/bodysurfer_handboard.html
It kind of works for me,pretty good speed and flotation, but I think its too small (Im about 6’ and 180 lbs.), because it sinks a little when I put weight and plane on it. Also akward to paddle into waves, I paddle with my other hand and kick with my fins.
Thinking of making a meal tray styled handboard thingy out of wood, with a square tail and a rounded nose that will be about the same lenght as a meal tray.
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ive been using this little 10x14" speedo kickboard. its made of soft bendable foam so you just grab the front with your hand and use it like a hand board. it flexes on wipeout so you dont ruin your shoulders and when it hits you in the face it bounces off. best handboard ive ever used. used it in some good doubel overhead newport point and had some guy wanting to trade his hard handboard for it. it makes it so much easier to get waves, i am way bummed whenever i forget to bring it with me to the beach.
if its closed out shorebreak i dont bother with the handboard, it just gets in the way and after all, your only goal is to get inside the barrel, not to really go anywhere. if its makeable surf then i love the handboard, its fun to be right in the curl with it and go forever like that.
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Great tip from Gatordave! Bought a Speedo Jr kickboard recently and it is super fun in the beachbreaks. Went to the beach tonight with the kids and I caught more waves than the six surfers on the next peak down the beach. Best $10 I've ever spent for a surf toy.