I am currently looking to purchase a singlefin longboard off the rack and money is not an issue. I have been shopping around and the Tudors have been catching my attention. I currently have a 6’2 good Karma and love how it rides and the retro look to it.
If money were not an issue what other singlefins would people recommend to ride year around in San Diego surf. I am not looking for a high performance board, just something with an old school feel that noserides great. The reason that I like the Tudors is because the craftmanship on them is top notch and they have some great looks and colors.
I have been on the Tudor site, but they do not describe each board enough to understand how it would ride. My question is how does each board compare to one another in how it rides? I don’t want to have to go into a surf shop and buy a board from a person who has not ridden them and cannot explain them.
So if anyone has a tudor board it would be great to hear which one you have and how it rides. A short description about each board and how it would ride would also be great.
I bought a Joel Tudor longboard off the rack. I am not completely sure what model it is, but I THINK that it’s the Chick Stick (I’m a guy, I didn’t know it was the Chick Stick until I went to their website). The reason I think so is because it has a somewhat similar outline, mine is yellow, and it has the triple stringer exactly like the Chick Stick.
The board noserides very well. No complaints with the board at all.
I’ve ridden it from Ankle high up to about 8 foot (faces). Best damn noserider ever. The only complaint I would have is this: On bigger waves, when you set up to noseride, you accelerate a lot when you get close to the nose. You go past the section too fast and you don’t fully get up to the nose. In other words, it’s too fast to noseride in bigger waves (as soon as it gets overhead). One thing that I really like about it is that it turns very well also.
The nose width is about 17.75 inches. I never measured the tail width or widepoint. It has quite a bit of tail rocker. It’s 9’2"
I DEFINITELY recommend this board to anyone looking for an old-school board.
Cooperfish Malibu Foil. And old-school design with pinched rails for nice maneuverability. Excels in knee to head high surf. I can’t say enough good things about working with Gene. The board itself is a work of art, quality and construction are perfect. A board that will last a lifetime with proper care.
joel tudors a jack ass, i have heard great things about his boards ut as a person he reall sucks. all that karma crap he preaches is crap. i was skatin vans in orlando during expo 2 years back and he was snakin people the whole session. dropin in on people that where all ready in the bowl. it was ridiculous.
sorry for the random rant but i have heard good things about his boards but you could look ar tobert august and hobie they both have some old school boards that you would probably spend less on.
I love my Anderson Farberow. If I lived in SD I would probably check out Dennis Murphy. He has a pretty big following in that area and I had one of his boards that worked really well. It was more of a performance board but he makes a neat looking pig model.
The one Tudor I rode was an average board at best. The Malibu Foil looks like it works good especially under the feet of Mario Quiros. If you want a master to shape your board, I would contact Jim Phillips down in Encinitas. I had the distinct honor and pleasure to meet him today and got my hands all over his “Hot Curl” balsa boards that he recently shaped for an upcoming TV production. His commitment to quality and wealth of knowledge are unquestionable and he is also a great guy, easy to talk to and very generous with his time and knowledge. One of his creations is in my near future.
Have you checked out the Bing Noserider? This is the model based off the original Nuuhiwa Noserider which the Joel Tudor version is a direct knock-off. Both versions are very nice, the Bing version is much more honed and I personally prefer the Bing version more with the newer version with slightly more kick in the tail seems to give abit more control from the tip.
i own a 9-6 tudor “classic square”. excellent for knee-waist, the glass job was worth the xtra $$$ .i’ve owned a Jim Phillips longboard before,and in my opinion he makes the best longboards on this planet-
bigbrother, i orderd a 9-8 bing from matt, im waiting for it, hope it shows up in time for x-mas.BTW , since it sounds like you ride one, could you tell me how good that board rides .is it as good of a noserider as people say?
Ari, don’t gamble on “off the rack” boards. Contact Jim Phillips through this forum, he is in the San Diego area. Jim is one of a very few truely gifted shapers in the surfboard industry. I’ve been surfing and shaping for close to fifty years, (yikes!) and don’t make such a recommendation lightly. Have Jim make a board for you.
I thank everyone for their replies and opinions on my question. Although this is my first time posting on this message board I have been doing my research and reading the archives.
I have come to the conclusion that everyone speaks very highly of Jim Phillips, as a shaper and person who is passionate about shaping. I am going to get in touch with him and when I get my board from him I will be sure to post some pics.
You really can’t go wrong with any guy who has been shaping longboards for more than 20 years. Bing, Eberly (who shapes for Tudor surfboards), Takayama, all those guys (sorry can’t think of anymore, it’s 5:30 AM, I’m a bit brain-dead). They’re all good shapers and if you get their noseriding model you’re almost guaranteed a good noserider.
All those noseriders, no matter what brand you buy, have very similar characteristics. But they all put in their own subtle tweaks. Figure out which subtle tweaks you think would work best for you, and buy that particular board.
Did you make it past the next section or did you walk back really quickly before it closed out, or did you fall?
Whether you made it or not, cool picture.
Relatively straight outline, lots of tail rocker, not too much nose rocker, wide nose, big fat fin, and maybe just a little bit of nose concave is what makes a good noserider, right?
The guy took that pic right as I was about to walk back. Section broke in front of me, but by that time I was already back and straightened out…Thanks.
