As a follow up to which is fastest…I’d very much appreciate a scientific discussion on which produces more fun…
according to my studies…the sides of mouths of longboarders seem to be more inclined to an upwards position than those of shortboarders…as a shortboarder myself…i wonder if i snarl as much as other shortboarders…?
Interested in your observations…
IMHO, from my recent fun on longboards after 20 years of short,
longboards just feel more like play than performance.
Scientifically speaking, it could be that the longboards’ speed in relation to performance drag can cause an upward turn of said mouth corners due to the inherent casualness of intended line. Then again it may simply be a relaxed variable to the mathematical equation of happiness.
H=S/D
Where ‘H’=happiness, ‘S’=satisfaction, and ‘D’=desire…
Anytime S>D, H is sure to follow.
-jar
i think it all depends on what your in the water for…the right reason or the wrong reason.
the people that ride with smiles are the ones who love to be out there…just to have fun in the waves…aka the right reason
the ones with scowls are the ones who are out to prove how badass they are or to lure a sponsor or photographer or something…aka the wrong reason
it just so happens that most of the people scowling are on shortboards because they are younger and havent found out why the love to surf yet.
me…im out on a 10ft day or a 2ft day…always on a sub 6 footer and always with a smile
well for me it is all fun. If the waves arn’t perfectly groomed lines, I am not going to have as much fun on a longboard as I am on a shortboard. On a shortboard it is more about stucking your maneuver makes you happy, on a long board it is more about getting in sync with the wave, the difference between ballet and martial arts.
For me nothing beats a high performance shortboard in quality waves. The board to suit the conditions is what will give the most fun.
A 9’6 nose rider in heaving slabs is not a good look.
Neither is a 6’2 squash in knee high dribble.
Daren
I dunno…I’ve gone through periods where I was real into my shortboarding, but I like the diversity the LB offers (and fish and discs and guns and stubs and…)Also, if youve been shortboarding your local heaving slab all winter, taking a longboard out can be quite exciting…like seeing it through new eyes…theres a lot more at stake when you’re guiding a fat 9’6 through the bowl, gives you a heightened sense of awareness, for sure…
I’m a big fan of switching boards around, of riding whatever in whatever type of surf…I think it loosens you up to feeling what each kind of board is doing, making you more aware of how each behaves, and after a while making it easier to transition between types, to ride each board the way that makes them go well.
It’s like speaking different languages (not that I do either very well) but I’ve found you can borrow stuff you learn on the LB that is real fun on a shorty. An arch-back bottom turn can be a great way to stall and setup a tube after a late drop…
I dont think you can grab a longboard and expect it to be a good shortboard, you have to ride it like a longboard…which can be done extremely well in large aggro surf.
but yeah, eight times out of ten I’ll grab the shorty for the good stuff…
my2
ditto, summed up the experience of riding both styles perfectly for me. When I get tired of riding one board/one style, I just change out the feeling, it is an endless addiction.
Waves are certainly easier to get on a longboard I find. But I’ll think it’s really down to the individual.
I was out at the Fort Point on Tues & Thurs.On the first day I had a gun out and it was grumpy surf with the swell breaking out side the bridge. I had lots of fun because no one was out.On Thurs it was a little smaller so I took out my 9’ longboard.With the longboard I got 2x as many waves and connected the waves from outside the bridge to the end of the parking lot.Still no crowd out,weird I may have to give the fort a go more often.
My surfboard size attention span is short,so I may have to break out the 6’ fish next.
I find I can surf most boards in any conditions if I believe my own hype.I have gotten tubed on big waves on a log.The wave seems to slow down and you have to much time to think about how big your board is if you get rolled.
It is more about how much energy I have and my mood.
Ian
A 9’6 nose rider in heaving slabs is not a good look.
umm… it can be a very good look!
I dont think you can grab a longboard and expect it to be a good shortboard, you have to ride it like a longboard…
after time riding a longboard in beachbreaks you bust out of just cruising. you look at the lip, hit the section and smash the whitewash. you fine tune your fin setup and begin to do things beyond possible on a shortboard due to the extra speed you get from the drop and positioning early in the wave… you start to do big manuvers.
hopefully, you still do it with a lovelly style like Harrison Roach here.
PRECISELY!!!
Lavarat,
benny told me what your name means, I suppose now I’ll have to be Gnivri…
In a sick and twisted way, I love surfing the fort. It has a carnival atmosphere, some of the most dramatic scenery of any surfspot anywhere (makes you feel small, surfing under the bridge with huge container ships going by) and in my opinion is an underrated big-wave spot. overall, it’s a lumpy mushball of a wave, but it has flashes of brilliance, you just have to know where to look…The crew is classic, too… one of my favorite memories is looking up to see “Todd” (some call him Odd Todd) doing a headstand on an eight foot wave, coming under the bridge…last year a bunch of the guys got together and bought him a Rusty gun for his b-day, and signed the bottom…
I’ve surfed just about every kind of board there, but longboards and fish seem to go best, at any size. I surfed it this week too, can’t remember when, I may have been out tuesday…I was on my little compsand I just finished, tried the outside, but the current was making it too lumpy…
from earlier this winter…
yeah, I’d have to say mood is up there on the list of factors that makes me decide what stick to grab…
Here’s a question for the thread…who thinks switching boards alot makes them surf better, and who thinks it screws up their surfing, and why? talking about the fort has me verklempt…discuss amongst yourselves…ok, im bettah.
I think the fun factor is based on a couple of variables. The break you’re at, the wave size and the crowd.
If there’s a pretty intense crowd, a longer or thicker board will help to paddle better and get you into waves earlier. More waves usually means more fun. If the waves are good enough a smaller board will be more manuverable, and making nice square turns of the bottom then off the top is usally going to be a lot of fun.
I get a lot of enjoyment taking off behind guys that have longboards but can’t really make those tight turns. I’ll just go up and down in the sweet spot of the wave, and have a great time. It’s also fun to make those air drops and fall right into the pit. That’s not as easy to do with a longboard.
But when the waves are small and it’s crowded, a longboard will be a lot more fun than missing all the waves.
I have a bunch of friends who only have one board and an old single fin longboard. They they ride um in everything and they always have a great time.
I think I smile more on longboards. I probably spend about 60% of my surfing on my 9’2" Brewer. Not to say shortboards aren’t fun… I just catch about 1000x more waves when I’m on a bigger board.
If the waves are gutless - longboard
If it’s really crowded - longboard
Other longboarders in the water - longboard
Gnarley currents - longboard
Super long paddle out - longboard
Clean point break - long or short
Only shortboarders out - shortboard
Breaking on dry sand - shortboard
Slabs - shortboard
All drop - shortboard
Gonna take some on the head - shortboard
Long walk to the beach -shortboard
Wanna feel like Slater - shortboard
Longboarders smile more because longboards are easier to ride. You can catch anything and outpaddle others. In Nor Cal you stay warmer, since you sit out of the water more.
Shortboarders grovel more for waves. It’s harder to outposition other surfers. Late takeoffs are key, but there’s usually someone deeper in a better spot. The currents at spots like Ocean Beach can be demoralizing when you’re paddling as hard as you can, and you’re still going backwards.
I like my longboards to surf like shortboards as much as possible. Just because I’m on a tanker, doesn’t mean I don’t want to do slashing turns and stick floaters. I do. I’ve surfed some really critical waves on longboards, and had a blast doing so.
The older and fatter I get (I can’t seem to help it) the bigger my shortboards get. My thrusters start at around 6’4" now instead of 5’7" like they used to… but I’m OK with that. My “go to” shortboards are a 6’4" Brewer XTR, and 6’4" Stewart S-Railed EPS Fish, and a 6’10" Surf Perscriptions PU/PE. Those boards usually go to the beach on every trip - along with my longboard.
My next daily driver will probably be a 7’0" Brewer retro round-pin winger. That way I can hang with the shorties and still have a high wave count.
Oh yeah… I forgot to mention that some spots REQUIRE specific boards… to best fit the waves. Also when all the other boards in the lineup are covered by sponsor stickers you gotta be on something that allows you to blend in with the crowd… or you’ll get snaked every time.
Quote:A 9’6 nose rider in heaving slabs is not a good look.
umm… it can be a very good look! A 6’6 pin tail would do it for me. Like everything, surfing is very personal, and personally this looks like struggling. Just my opinion.
A 6’6 pin tail would do it for me. Like everything, surfing is very personal, and personally this looks like struggling.
doesn’t look like it to me. i’ve ridden big longboards in even bigger surf. in fact, i love paddling out, and having the entire board flat against the face of the wave with more wave past nose and tail. don’t know what it is…but it always puts a smile on my face. had Reef Road about 10-12 feet on the face and heaving. rode my 9’0" singlefin. got some of the best barrels of my life, and never so much as flinched. the ability to drop early allowed me to backdoor the peak and land myself right in the pit. i’ll never forget that sesh.
a good buddy of mine, and one of the best longboarders i know, rode shortboards exclusively as a kid growing up in south florida. and he was good, too! eventually, he bought himself a longboard for the days when there just wasn’t enough wave to push his potato chip thruster, and he liked it, but the shortboard was still the go-to stick whenever there was barely enough wave to push it. finally, the day of reckoning came. fun cold front swell was pushing through deerfield beach – a couple feet overhead and super clean. unfortunately, his shortyboard was in the shop for some ding repair, and he was really bummed that he couldn’t go surf. he’d look at the surf, and then look at his longboard and say to himself “no way, man…i can’t ride that thing on a day like today”. well, after about an hour of arguing with himself, he’s just staring at these beautiful sets rolling through and finally says “f— it…i’m goin’!”. he grabs his log, and paddled out for what turned out to be a really fun sesh. when he got back to his house, he called up the shop doing ding repair on his shortboard, and told them to patch it up, sell it, and give him a credit on a new custom longboard. he says he made this decision after his first overhead wave on the log. anyhow, you can still see him on a retro shorty every now and again (although never a thruster), but there’s no question that he’s a longboarder.
I don’t think switching boards makes you rip harder, but with my ADD I can’t help myself.The fun factor goes way up with different points of view.And I have to justify my board making addiction by ridding them all.
I have more than two boards, more like 20.
North of the GG Bridge setting up the bowl on a 7’2" & on a 8’10".
I used to be part of the crew at FP in the 90’s.Now when the swell is big and the tide is low
my friends like to go up North.
Ian
spose ill have to get you drunk and find out where…the bay points are fine, and close, but the hassle factor can get annoying.