Hey everyone… been wanting a longboard for the texas gulf coast
I was out today and had fun on my 6’4" but I’d like to nose ride and get into waves earlier
Also necessary for the days when I want to drink>surf instead of surf>drink : )
So what length should I be looking at? Bottom contour? Nose width?
I’m 5’8" 150 lbs. I can rent a few different models but I’d like a head start on what would work best.
I’ve been looking at Stewart’s (hydro hull), Walden’s (magic model), and McTavish’s (fireball, but $$$) online
Should I stay away from the “performance” longboards? I wont be getting into waves bigger than chest high as I’d rather take out my short board in those conditions (which are rare)
I’ve been on second hand boards since I started out a few years ago and want to make my first purchase this winter (going back to school in a few days) when I come home for break.
For someone your size, I’d recommend a
9’2" to 9’4" PU square or squash tail with moderate rocker (less than a
what you’d find on a “performance” longboard) and a 9" to 10" single
fin. Glassed 2 X 6-oz. on top, single 6 on the bottom, with a deck
patch if you want to knee paddle. Compromise rails: something between
shortboard rails and 50-50: most of the volume below center (in
cross-section) a bit of turned-under edge and not a lot of belly on the
bottom. Ball-park dimensions: thickness around 3", nose under 18",
width not more than 22-1/2", tail 14-1/4"-14 to 1/2".
Anything
under 9’0" and you’ll make doing the classic, cross-step to the nose
deal much harder for yourself. On a board that’s “too short” the
temptation is to “shuffle” instead of cross-stepping: bad form. The
above dimensions will give you plenty of volume/flotation for
paddling/early entry.
More rocker and smaller, multiple fins
would turn easier and ride more like your short board, but will also
make the tail more likely to break loose and side slip when you’re on
the nose. For classic nose-riding, you basically want a stable platform
to walk on. You gain speed and make waves more by trimming the board
than by standing on the tail and pumping turns (which is what you’re
used to).
The reason (if I were you) that I’d stay away from a
retro, purpose-built, concave, nose-riding “specialty” board with super flat nose
rocker, a lifted tail and 50-50 rails is that they tend to make big,
slow, pivoty, pendulum turns which would probably seem clunky to you
since your whole frame of reference is short boards. The nose on a board
like that with super flat rocker will tend to catch and pearl in choppy
windswell as well. Those boards fun too, but that style is an acquired
taste and would involve a steeper learning curve for you if you haven’t
ever ridden that sort of board before. You might be better off leaving
that kind of equipment to geezers like me who learned on such boards
back during the 50s and 60s. What’s nostalgic for us might seem like a
giant pain in the ass to you.
I suggested PU construction because,
in my experience, PE/Epoxy longboards are “corkier” and don’t catch
waves as easily. A heavier, less buoyant PU board builds and maintains
momentum better as you paddle. You can mitigate this by glassing a
PE/Epoxy board heavier, but that adds to the cost.
dropnee got it. but i personally prefer a 19’ nose for noseriding. and i will have to disagree with eps/epoxy construction. i am a huge fan of HPLB epoxy/eps. but i can understand the retro noserider eps/epoxy instead of pu/pu being corky.
Man, that IS a wide nose. ;-) (a assume you really meant 19")
But I hear ya. My 9’8" nose rider has an 18-1/2" nose, flat rocker, 50-50 rails, giant concave, tail kick, retro fin: the whole nine yards. I was just thinking that for a guy who knows only shortboards, too much nose (what some of my buddies would call “a nose with ears”) might constitute an awful lot of swing weight and could also tend to trip him up in turns.
Thank you for the correction, yah sounds like my nose rider, 19" nose, 50 50 rails, giant single nose, Made my own huge pivot fin. same deal. and surfboards are all preference noone is ever right when making or building them
Interesting. Looks like it has more rocker in the tail than in the nose. And what's going on with the V in the nose? I'd like to know more about this board.
Walden, Stewart, McTavish… those are all performance boards made to handle a wide range of surf especially larger surf. If you want a “real” longboard experience skip all the EPS/Epoxy board and stick to Poly Resin boards, 9’0" to 9’6" (any bigger gets hard to handle, turn etc…) and since you only want it for small waves look for soft 50/50 rail all the way through like the Harbor San O’ model showed above or the Harbor 19".
Ask for an “OLD SCHOOL” board, single fin box (No glass on’s so you can try other fins), lots of rocker nose and tail, 9" fin, spoon nose…old school! Then if you love it and realize how fun they are and you want a longboard for bigger waves get the Walden Magic.
I always have two longboards, an old school and a high performance one…but best to start with the old school thats best for small waves.
The Harbour shape I posted above is a Banana, not a San-O. The San-O is quite similar to the Banana, but has a slightly wider nose and tail (more parallel rails). Neither of those boards really have what I would call 50-50 rails (note meat slightly below center and turned-under edge as opposed to continuous curve blending into bottom belly in above cross-sections), but his 19, NoseRider and a couple other of his designs do. His Merlin’s rails go from from soft/eggier up front to harder in the tail.
Huck,
Go to his website: lots of specifics about each model are there. The unusual bottom contours in the nose are what he calls “nose channels”: basically a channeled nose concave which improves trimming and nose-riding while reducing swing weight. It’s a feature which also seems to assist early entry, IMO.
One other word about “performance” vs. “more traditional” longboard rocker: it comes down to a performance trade-off (like most design perameters).
You say you want to get into waves earlier. Flatter rocker will definitely help you there, but it will also require that if you DO try to do a late, critical take-off, you either be able to finesse the drop or take off more parallel to the wave to avoid pearling. A performance longboard, due to it’s greater overall rocker, will make late, straight-down-the-face take-offs easier but that same, additional rocker (+ the narrower tail and reduced, overall volume of a performance LB) will make make you work much harder to catch waves early (though it will still get you in earlier than your 6’4").
