Awhile ago someone posted about how a well foiled hull, if held under water and released will pull itself through the water. So this just in from a friend who recently got himself and Anderson veersion
Quote:
One thing about the Borq, it behaves differently when loose in the wave (during wipeouts). I've gotten hit by it 3 out of 3 times out, which almost never happened to me with other boards. It keeps driving even when underwater... I caught an outside rail while trimming through the soup and it knifed down and sprang back in a way that I wasn't expecting and I caught it in the ribs... then at Jalama an over the falls late takeoff nailed me in the calf with those knifey rails... ouch. Now I'm limping and wondering if I hammered some deep veins....
Don’t know much about “Hulls”, and I am pretty sure all this has already been discussed… but what are the caracteristics of a Hull?
What are the rails like? Where does the name come from? What are the caracteristics of the bottom/planning surface? What kind of rocker do they have? How does all this affect the ride?
All surfboard bottoms are “hulls”. But when speaking of hulls, surfers refer to the “displacement hull” as opposed to the “planing hull”. Displacement hulls are convex and tend to “stick” to the wave face while cutting through chop just like a boat hull does, planing hulls are flat or concave and tend to glide on top of the water and to bounce off chop. Maybe I’m over-simplifying there but more experienced guys will no doubt get into details…
That first thread is one of the ones that made LeeDD a household word, ain’t it.
I think that the DS original post has to do with his buddy getting freaked by the bladey rails and then it’s like the tree you don’t want to hit, and you stare at it, and you hit it! Maybe.
The Surfers Journal article has some great quotes about how to ride the boards.
My experiance is you pay for mistakes. I now have started wearing a leash on 4’ plus days 'cause I have gotten tired of swimming after my hulls. (and I had a Hwaiikine almost get totalled at Latigo).
What that initial post was supposed to be about was “transitional displacement hull” (just so we are clear) traveling under water on its own in a different way than other shapes and so my friend who has be surfing for about 40 years got wacked 3 in a row when usually he lands on it or away from it no problem.
off topic but i saw you got that 68 liddle on e-bay - i was eying it but i’m strapped for cash right now so i had to pass on it. that thing looked super cool! have you gotten it in the water? i myself have a 68 liddle V-bottom with the huge greenough stage 3 fin which is total fun.
Hulls suck, both physically and metaphorically. Unless going straight in trim is fun to you they are terrible boards, I have ridden several and owned one. In every condition they were possibly the worst boards i have ridden. this is coming from some one who has ridden fish, thrusters, singe fins, bonzers, classic logs etc. Never learn on a hull, they ruin one’s technique for any other surfing. I had been hit by mine several times; one time I was triming through a steep section in about wasit high surf and the board flipped and whacked me in the shins, It hurt like hell.
Everything in that TSJ was propaganda. Greenoug’s flex spoon worked great as a knee board but the design did not translate into a standup at all.
I have a fat 6’6" hull that was recently shown on this forum. It wants to do much more than trim in a straight line. Smooth, fast, loose turns all over the wave.
Maybe the hulls you rode and owned were designed more for straight trimming?
ok, the shorter ones can do a little more, but a traditional single fin hull, will not do a round house at least that was my expierence with every hull i rode.
I seriously love the forthrightness of your opinion, ROW. I was thinking about this question just today in fact. What’s the best surfboard? (I proposed to myself that I might translate this question into sports cars, where the ones that allow you to do the most things the best are considered best. And it is taken for granted that you are not Ayrton Senna, Phil Hill, Michael Schumacher, etc in considering the question) But when fish and “funboards” are considered crutches, and longboards are considered uber-crutches, and the “real” “shredders” are all riding the anti-fun-boards, what can it mean but that oneula’s new signature is perfect?
Awhile ago someone posted about how a well foiled hull, if held under water and released will pull itself through the water. So this just in from a friend who recently got himself and Anderson veersion
ruins one’s technique? can’t do roundhouse cutbacks? i suggest you check some of the footage from all about surf…yes, they arn’t for everyone, nor are the best for all types of conditions, but they feel unlike anything else and that, to a lrge extent, is what hull riders crave-the feel…
I think the problem is that a lot of people just don’t understand that each board has it’s own personality and even more with wildly different designs i.e. hull vs thruster. Each likes/needs to ridden in a certain way; take certain lines and not others, weight shifts in different ways, etc. If you try to ride a hull like a thruster you will be certain it sucks. Also vis versa. I have on too many occasions tried to ride a thruster like a hull–they suck! Approach the design on its own terms instead of trying to impose your own and a good shape will rock, no matter what it is. It is double difficult with hulls as there are precious few images or examples in the media or even at your local.
i think that it has more to do with the waves you are riding them on - - in NJ / East Coast, right? i’m sure you travel, but you must not have taken your hull. i’ve surfed NJ before, good on all manner of craft at beachies and jetties – but no long winding points i’ve ever heard of. (that manasquan jetty would be the closest thing i’ve seen to a long wave). if you follow these hull threads you will see that everyone that knows the craft agrees hulls have narrow operating ranges – long, down-the-line waves. I’ve always ridden shortboards – twins, thrusters, now fish, and for the last year or so my hull – and i can tell you once you get it wired the hull is a great ride. ( but i almost exclusively ride points or reefs, with the occas rivermouth)
Will agree with you on this tho: not a good board for someone to learn on.
But as far as ruining techn for riding other boards – well, you adapt. If anything i think it helps your surfing.
When learning to surf on a hull one develops a habit generating turns by heel and toe control. Laying the board over on rail and pushing through the turn , in my expierence those knifey rails bog. One can’t push the board through turns like you can other boards(planing hulls) the board must drive it’s self through. I can see them being useful for finer adjusting ones surfing, by teaching one how to finese their board, and finding the speed in waves, but I do not enjoy these boards at all.
I had a really nice sand bar with in a block of my house that would peel like a section of a fast perfect point for 1/10th of a mile. I rode the hull there and while it was great in trim it was not a ride I enjoyed. To each their own. Some people don't like thrusters, some don't like a late era single fin, some people don't like MR twins. I can't stand hulls. Out of everything I have ridden,(1960's logs, hulls, fish, pre-hawaiian semi-gun influenced singles, lightening bolt era singles, MR style twins, fish, post modern fish, bonzers, thrusters) i like them the least. I do not see any design(with the exception softboards used in surf lessons) as a crutch. The person riding it may use it as a crutch; the pro who rides a thrustered fish is using that board as a crutch because he is so engrained with the thruster's feel he can't ride a twin or a quad.
In regards to the original statement that hulls pull themselves forward in the water when submerged, I tried submerging my fish and my thruster and both shot forward when released. But yes, hulls with stay in a wave long after you have fallen off.(as though we are still on that topic)
Not sure about beach sand bar being like point. A true point break wave, in addition to feeling the decreasing depth and slowing the wave base in relation to crest causing it to break also has a significant amount of refraction going on as it bends in around the point. I think this may make a lot of difference in how the water is moving in the actual breaking part of the wave and so makes hulls ride quite differently at Malibu, Rincon etc vs a long sand bar set-up.
It is indeed true there’s different strokes fer different folks. Also, “hulls” vary a great deal in their shape/ride. I imagine there are a lot more lousy ones than good ones out there.