Allrighty, here is my question of the day, if these epoxy boards are soo good why dont we see the pros using them? They just snap their boards anyway and throw them away. Why dont they utlize the ‘ohh so good’ epoxy boards? By the way has anyone ever snapped a epoxy board? Im sure its possible. corb.
A guy brought an epoxy board to Cardiff that was snapped in half. It happened in La Jolla the day before. He said that he lost it and it got sideways in the wave, then the wave slammed it against a rock. The foam was completely busted, but some of the fabric on top was still attached.
good question corbin.
Perhaps it is because the pros ride (for the most part) boards that are made by well known and established companys that have been producing polyester boards for years. Manufactures of surfboards, much like other trades, don’t want to give up a proven process to learn a new concept. Ive been building cabinets for years with good results, you should have seen the outcome of my first drywall job. What a mess! I just couldn’t get use to the new material. Thank God that spackle comes in 5 gal. buckets!!
seems obvious. they don’t ride expoxy because their sponsers don’t build epoxy. how many epoxy builders have team riders?
Aren’t pro boards made to last for a short time? Professional skateboarders do this too, I knew a guy that replaced his boards every few weeks because he said they lost their “pop.” If that is true of surfing then it makes sense to use polyester resin- it’s alot cheaper.
Most of the Pros don’t care for how the epoxies ride in general. There maybe a few that may have them in their personal quiver for small or weak surf, but in general it’s the overall performance that’s come into question. You can have 2 boards exactly the same, one shaped in epoxy and the other shaped in polyurethane. Both boards will ride entirely different, not even remotly similar. I have done this experiment with Pros and the performance has always come into question. When the money’s on the line, the pros will always go with the proven shapes. This is what happened to Sunny and the Bamboo epoxies, he was under contract with the epoxies, but when the chips were on the line, he always went with the polyurethane boards.
As was said,because of their sponsors.I have snapped one clean as a whistle,no peeling of the glass,nothing…snapped clean about a foot or so from the nose.happened in very hollow thick beach break,did not make the drop,nose must have stuck in the shallow bar,the wave did the rest.I still believe they are stronger though,poly would have done the same…or worse.I like a lighter board and would not go back to poly,I love the feel of an epoxy. Peace and waves…
I have seen a lot of snapped epoxy boards mainly back when they were using a laminated veneer stringer.Most of the negatives I heard from good surfers was about how all the weight seems to be in the skin due to the lightness of the core,giving it a different feel.I am speaking of handmade boards,not the offshore popouts.As for pros I don’t really care what they ride. R.B.
…Styro-surfboards displaces mass to the rails,simular to a bag filled with air.This tends to give a board, a soapy,lack of forward drive feeling. …Poly and wood boards center the mass,making it more stable,and giving the board more forward drive.Herb
We are talking hand made domestic epoxies here. Not molded import epoxies. Pros are riding epoxies. Andy Irons rode one in a few heats in Japan WCT event that he won last month, He says its the best smallwave board hes ever ridden …recorded for posterity. Shea Lopez is riding one right now in the Surfing XGames in HB , He will be riding it in the event tommaro , He says its helping him fly like Taj and Cory in the small surf… Cory is using one as his backup as well. Bruce Irons got the 2nd highest score of the entire US open on one last week (winning a couple heats on it) before the waves got bigger and more windy when he then switched to a poly board and lost…He will carry it with him the rest of the tour this year . Dino Andino , last year won the Virginia Bch EastCoast championships WQS event . Defeating an international feild of guys close to have his age in 1’ waves. He has actually won multiple events and made many finals in the last 5 years on epoxies. Going back a few years , Cory Lopez got most of his good results for qualifying for the WCT on a 6’0" Beaded foam epoxy which he dragged around the world 3 times that year setting a record for most events surfed in a year by a pro. Aaron Cormican “gorkin” Got the highest score of the day today in the XGames on an Epoxy(the field included…Cory, Shea, Hobgood, Slater . machado, T Knox, and Taj Burrow…Gorkin got a 9.2. So Pros do ride epoxies.
Not to metion (which I did a couple of posts back) Kieren Perrow current world number 3.
I wouldnt consider what hes riding an Epoxy Handmade board. Which is what I clarified at the top of my post. Hes riding (occasionally, because hes paid to do so)A molded hollow board…A Pop Out! thinnly veiled as a “blank” But its really just a molded surfboard with unfinshed edges. That for marketing purposes, Saloman is calling a blank.Its not a blank its a surfboard. In reality it would make more sense (finacially, and they know it) to have it come out with the tuck allready in the bottom edge and the bottom layer of glass allready on.They will do this once all the shapers are appeased they they were involved in the design and get to really feel like “shapers” when in fact they are really Puppets…conned into helping Saloman get into the surf buis. Orwellian paranoia maybe, But I call 'em as I see 'em. Time will tell.
…My statement above reflects stringerless popouts like serfticks.As far as hand built stringered styro/epoxy boards,they still carry some of the traits of it’s foam,but with the adding of a stringer and more glass,it makes it for one dyno small wave board…I don’t think I would ride one in large surf though…Ps. this just in: K.S. just got a styro/epoxy delivered to him as we speak.Herb
Epoxy boards are great for large surf. You just have to glass them a bit heavier. Downside to this is your board lasts longer. Bummer, huh?
That is a bummer huh greg…Quality glassing. But seriosly, I aggree, Wardo rode one at pipe this winter, It was his fave Pipe board this year, I wooried about it being stiff with the heavier glass, but it had a lot of rocker so the rigidness didnt seem to bother. He still sanped it though.
I gotcha, thats cool I never really knew that the pros rode them that much, like in all the mags and surf vids. ive seen they never ride those boards. and about snapping them, geez thats pretty gnarly never thought that would happen. corb.
I built one with Scott Bouchard about 12 years ago for Pipe. It was about 7’9" and we put rail channels in the deck, carbon power rods in the bottom, then glassed with 2-6oz bottom and 3-6 oz. deck. Still came out relativly light and he rode that board for four winters and finally sold it. For breakage, rail channels work and don’t weigh anything to speak of. All the wake guys use em now. Also you can ride a really lean rail with epoxy guns.
Yea, yhat glassing and rods is great for bead foam. Mungal did an 11 footer for my dad , No stringer, just rail rods top and bottom. . When In Braxil I use alot of the bead foam, its so light you can really pile on the glass huh? But were using the xtruded Foam more here now and its so much more dense we use less glass and no rods. GL knows all this, but for all listening, Its 2 completly differnt foams being used for hand shaped epoxys. One is very dense and doesnt soak any water when dinged and uses very little glass or it can get heavy. The other is the beadfoam which is shockingly light(but soft) and you can do double 6oz bottoms with triple 6oz decks and still weigh less then a standard board.