Yes, the hellfire is a great board
my .02
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Unless you weigh 220, your board is too big.
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If you have that Hellfire or whatever stick to that for awhile. Sometimes in the intermeidiate stage you can learn so much from forcing yourself to ride a single board in a wide range of conditions. The Hellfire is a pretty versatile board with a wide effective range
I would suck as a surfboard salesman. Resinhead is tall and lean. Stingray is shorter and not lean. Stingray’s boards are rounder, Resinhead’s are narrower. To fit the rider and the skill level. I do not surf “top to bottom”. I drive/cruz down the line and then do a big hack or cut back. How you surf matters for what board you ride. Fish are for “down the line” surfing… not Mick Fanning at Trestles slashing “top to Bottom”.
Save your money. Ride the Firewire 3-4 times a week.
Stingray
nice turn Resinhead!
but, seriously? booties in Sandy Eggo?
thanks all I think some good comments here.the Hellfire is a great board . I think I will take that advice and just try to excel at that 1 board… but if I do that how do I know when it is time to finally purchase a new board?
It’s Swaylocks…build a board
yes but I am not a shaper, nor will I ever be. While the various shapes intrigue me, I just don’t have the time to get into shaping. I’d rather surf! About every 9 months or so I start looking for a new board. Partially because I’ve improved and partially because I think a better board will help me be better, which I know is not necessarily true. I think this time my boredom stems from some of the small, crappy summer surf we’ve had. Now that winter’s here, the hellfire will work just fine.
I also get excited by some of the cool new shapes out there, they just look fun to ride.
I’m surprised more people did not comment about your surf spots. In my opinion, a good wave makes a huge difference. I’m just north of you in South OC and for the longest time did not surf Trestles due to the time and fear of competing against great surfers. Then I went down there one day and was like “…oh man, this place is awesome…” I kick myself for avoiding that spot for so long. I’m 37 and started surfing in my mid 20’s (since I’m originally from the midwest). A good wave will makes a huge difference. I’ve shaped and glassed a handful of boards and still don’t consider myself either a shaper or glassed. But I know that I can take one of my crappy home made board to a good surf spot and still have a blast.
yeah I think a lot of it has to do with the waves, and lately, even at good spots, there haven’t really been too many good days. I have gone to black’s on occasion and I loved it. I surf with 4 other guys, but only one of them has the balls to go out with me on bigger days or to places like black’s. The others are lazy and either want to surf as close as possible to home (Cardiff) or we just go to Del Mar. I like Del Mar but it’s a slow wave. Cardiff beach can be fun sometimes too, I don’t care for the reef because it’s usually so crowded. If I want slow mushburgers I’ll go to Del Mar, I feel like it’s a little less crowded down there. Black’s is awesome though and I will be hitting that up again, and more often, it just involves such a time commitment. I’ll also do the cliffs this winter as well. I definitely have noticed that on a better wave, I am better for sure. And I think part of the problem is I’m still looking for that magic board that can make knee high slop into something wonderful, but maybe that doesn’t exist.
If you want something off the rack, a Fishcuit might be the ticket. A buddy of mine who surfs “good” (as opposed to “OK”) has one, and he kills knee high waves on it, at your same weight. I think his is 5-8 or 5-10, but he’s 20-something and upper-tier fitness-wise.
To answer your question (and hopefully someone will correct me if they feel like what I’m saying’s wrong), a little too much volume is less critical in a small wave board than something like a step-up for bigger, good waves. I have a very voluminous (probably about 48L but maybe as many as 51L or 52L at 215 lbs) 7-0 step-up I made for myself that is very flat, and very very fast – too fast. It floats me so high (when I’m standing on it) that it flies too far out ahead of the wave too quickly, and gets me all out of rhythm. I do better in the same waves I’d take that out in with a smaller board that is a little slower, a little rounder rockered, and that holds me in the pocket a little more because it’s not as fast.
It sounds like you might like a Fishcuit for what you’re seeking. The Firewire site’s volume calculator has always been pretty on the money on its volume recs for me, and I use it to plan board dims for myself. If you plug in honest assessments I would think a Fischcuit either in the middle or upper end of its recommendation for you in slop waves would suit your needs.
Also, to echo hchou, it did sound like from the info you gave you were disappointed in the board you have based on waves that weren’t suited to it (since apparently you liked it better in other smaller surf in the past?).
I recently made a Lost Rocket V2 copy, tweaked out for a big guy (6’ 3" but about 46L) that I wanted to be a small wave grovel machine, and the first time I took it out in waist-high, crumbly, mushy waves I was crushed. It felt like the slowest board I’d ever ridden. I kept trying and kept being very sad on my first surf of the board. Then I moved over two peaks, to a wave that had better shape and was more vertical (but the same size, basically) and was happy with how the board worked.
You definitely can’t judge a board by how it works in just one set of conditions. Some boards just aren’t that well-suited to a wide range of conditions. Because your board is more or less a “noob self-shape” – not expertly designed or executed – chances are it’s more finicky in terms of what it’ll do well in.
batfische, no I’m probably OK and average or slightly above average fitness “for my age” which means I’m nowhere near as fit as these 20something year olds. Clairemont surf shop has a used fishcut for 300 and it looks interesting. The CI boards to me seemed to have too little volume for a guy my size. I think my sweet spot is around 33 litres. The hellfire I have is around that and I do well with it. I think if I get a small wave board it should probably be a little bit more. I had a 6’4" Dominator at 41.5 litres and it almost seemed too much. I liked that board, hell I loved it for a while, it was a great transition board, but then I felt like it wasn’t good at any one thing. It wasn’t really great in mushy waves, wasn’t great in small crap, and wasn’t great in steep pitchy surf either. That’s why I sold it and moved on. I think as long as it’s pitchy, the hellfire works great, even in small stuff, so now it’s just a matter of the mushballs. The hellfire even does ok in bigger reef waves that are slow.
I think it’s definitely me to some degree, I need to understand wave types and breaks better and which board to choose for those breaks. I’m slowly getting there, I am better now than I was a year ago. That’s funny what you say about the rocket. I thought that was going to be my small wave board, but then I picked up a 5’10" on CL and found it much slower than I would have expected. It was a fun board for waist high and up, but definitely not a small wave board.
I copied the Rocket V2 closely, including both rail and stringer rocker, and was really surprised at how badly it did in waist high and smaller flat-faced mush…until I went back and watched the promotional vids that are out there and recognized the same qualities in those vids that I didn’t see originally because I hadn’t ridden the board yet. I actually find that it does do well in some waist-high waves (for me, at 215 lbs, which is a feat for a board) but they have to be clean and steep with good shape.
As far as the Fishcuit, it’s definitely a small/mush-friendly board, and actually not good for bigger than head high or steep waves because it’s so flat-rockered. It’s hiding a lot of foam, though. The 5-8 is rated 37L+ by CI. Based on my buddy’s results, it seems like that’s accurate.
I’m working on an Ebert “Poi” copy right now. There are alot of these around Santa Cruz at the moment, and there’re a lot of older, heavier (180lb+) guys having fun on them, surfing them well. There’re a good number of similar mini-simm hybrid boards out there with a similar planshape – Vernor has one, L41 (McGinty) has one, and Awesome (local shaper, I think, a couple of friends have these and rip on them). Stretch’s Buzz is also arguably in this vein. The newer Eberts have a bottom like Tyler Warren’s “Bar of Soap,” which is unusual as most of the mini-simm variants seem to have belly-to-single-to-double-to-vee bottoms, with the double varying in how far to the nose it goes.
My personal Simmons-hybrid (5’ 10", probably about 46L or 47L) has a pulled in tail and a single-to-double-to-vee bottom, with a planshape based on Mandala’s Superchunk (http://mandalacustomshapes.com/boards/superchunk-asq/) only without the tail corner cutaways (i.e. with the rail line continuing all the way to the tail line, pulled in instead of cut away). It grovels well down to knee high (mostly going straight, because for me at my weight the board doesn’t go fast enough for much of a turn at that size) and surfs well vertically from about navel-hi to head high. Smaller than waist-high and you’re mostly going straight. Bigger than head high and it begins to become tracky at high speeds.
Simmons hybrids are definitely adaptable to different sizes and shapes of waves, some being more adaptable to a wider variety than others. Hopefully the Ebert copy will be in the wider adaptability range.
Which boards do you consider Simmons hybrids? All the one we’ve been talking about?
I guess a Simmons hybrid’d be something with a tailblock over 8" or 9", a wide nose & tail, rocker under 4.5" in the nose, 2" in the tail (I’m just making these up as I type).
Not that many of the boards mentioned originally or since are in that range, other than in my posts. The Couch Potato maybe is, and that’s another board that I can say from personal experience surfs really, really well. Again, though, that’s a board you probably want to get in a volume 10% or so greater than your daily driver HPSB. I traded boards with a guy about my same size/weight who had one, for a couple of waves, and the Couch Potato felt really good on rail, aside from being a wave catching machine.
Peeked at an “Average Joe” yesterday while surveying boards for hints at how I might proceed with my Ebert “Poi” copy. It’s got a very pulled in tail and a wide nose. Guess it’s a “tweener” as far as whether it’s a fish or Simmons hybrid as far as planshape (I don’t remember the bottom design right now).
What others say about S-hybrids being hard to turn or wanting to go straight is true enough, but in under navel-high waves you’re mostly going straight anyway if you’re 180+. OTOH as I mentioned there are a bunch of different things you can do to make the board go more vertical in chest-hi up to overhead, such as make the planshape more curvy, and/or pull in the tail and/or play with the rail line (to make it shorter). I mentioned the Fishcuit because it’s the only board I’ve seen anybody 180+ really rip on in waist-hi waves. My buddy’s more advanced than you, but the potential is there. Key for mushy/flat waves under waist-high would be a good, flat rocker and well-conceived volume for your weight. The “good” aspect of that is probably tricker than the wording signals.
thanks… I think my problem is that I’m expecting to find a board that surfs well in knee high closeouts and really I don’t think there is such a thing. A very advanced surfer may be able to work that situation with the right board, or with any board, but not me. I’m not yet good enough, and I may never be good enough to make knee high closeouts fun. Plus, if they’re closing out, there just isn’t anyway to go. I talked to the kid at clairemont surf shop the other day and he said those types of boards are only good for a small set of conditions, and I’m really looking for a board that will be fun in knee to head high surf that I can ride as my goto, and then switch to the hellfire for head high and up. So I think I had it wrong about the way I was originally looking at those boards.
Try a sweet potato. Don’t use the big keel fins just a standard quad setup. Stick to the uncrowded waves and you’ll have a ball. They turn better than you’d think, and catch anything a longboard can. I have a sweet potato inspired board ( search Josh Dowling 5’4" ) for pics ). I stopped riding my 9’0 when I got it. You giggle to yourself when you get to the beach and it’s waist high. No crowds and tonnes of fun. For bigger, use your hellfire but you’ll get lots of turning practice in on the potato. Just no keels, a standard quad set will do
thanks beerfan, I’ve tried the sp in several sizes but was never a fan, again, maybe I didn’t give it enough time.
Ok mate, did you surf it with the big keels?, and did you go really small?. Good luck with the search !
Not sure on the fins, it was whatever the shop threw on. I did try down to 5’2"