It really is all about timing and how you trim your board; my opinion is single fin longboards hold the line better and nose ride longer then multifin boards; when you analyze the act of noseriding you find itʻs quite amazing that the tip of the board can support all your weight and still move forward and maintain speed; just another little miracle and a gift from the surf gods; In my prime I used to be able to walk back and forth fluidly but not any more; now itʻs mostly a shuffle to the nose and back; but tip riding always feels special; for the wannabees it takes much practice and a lot of pearl diving before you get it right; itʻs all about the “feel” and holding trim and speed…good luck!!!
I would encourage you not to lay out a board and walk on it in a surf shop, seems like a bad idea at best… think $400 glass job… the shorter the board the easier to cheat 5… cheating 5 on a 10’0" is not really cheating compared to on your 7’ speed shape keep your back foot in the middle of the board crouch down and get your tows up there, its fun. This thread should really be renamed ‘is it possible to tell someone what kind of board to buy on a forum.’ Obviously some waves require specific boards, everyone would tell you to get a gun for pipeline, or a longboard for doheny, outside of basic advice its next to impossible. My best friend who I surf with everyday, know his style, know his skill, know the wave he wants the board for etc, I might be able to help him in the process. Having new boards shaped or buying new boards is a personal process based on preference. I have heard many shapers say if the board feels good under your arm surf it, go look at some boards, take some of this advice, surf, enjoy.
Move on and get off the Southpoint. They are such dogs. I've been around 100's of them and they are ALL dogs. They are about as refined as an ironing board. If you can kinda sorta almost cheat five on a Southpoint dog; You'll be a nose riding fool on a 9'0 or 9'2 Polyester/Polyurethne shaped and glassed in a real surfboard factory instead of Charlie Chan in Thailand.
uh yeah
I would encourage walking on a board because you know what? thats what its made for.
more than half the pros here prolly cant tell how long a board is with their feet.
and thats basically not bad for arguably anyone
no sand or cushions in dana?
Say hi to beth
Wow, I just fell in love with the Auntie Mo … thanks for the recommendation!
haha… you’re right about renaming the forum! a lot of this feedback has been helpful, though, as i have never thought too much about what i really want / need in a board. thanks for all of your help! 
Wegner is a great surfer, who can ride anything(and does). He shapes some interesting wooden wall hangers and can ride 'em. But most folk who want to ride waves seriously are not gonna spend a few K on a fourteen foot wallhanger. Wegner hasn't mowed enough foam to be taken seriously, but they eat his $#!t up "Down Under". When he lived on this side of the Pond we called him the "Joker". If you buy his $#!t the joke is on you.
Where in MA are you located? I would suggest tracking down a guy named Roger Beale. He is an experienced shaper who lives in MA, and is well acquainted with local conditions. Plus, he’s old enough to know what a good longboard is.
I second Sammy’s advice. A local shaper who surfs the waves in your area, who has plenty of experience shaping longboards can probably shape something good for you. We need to define “noseriding” a cheater or stretch 5 can be done in almost any board, I am 5’10" 215 lbs and can do them on my 6’ keel fish. Now, hanging 10 is a whole different story and LEARNING how to hang ten is easier on a classic log. Just don’t go with a board designed ONLY for noseriding as turning to position the board where it needs to be on the curl in order to start cross stepping is really important and those dedicated noseriders can be difficult to turn for a beginner logger, especially if you are not surfing a perfect mellow pointbreak…
Which is why I advised against getting a board that’s too big. “Noseriders” aren’t the most highly maneuverable boards, by nature. Add too much length or bulk and the rider is hindered in other aspects.
Yea, those tounge depressor type with 19"+ nose are only good at glassy knee to shoulder high and peeling for 200 yds. I have a 9’10" Bing Silverspoon and I am thinking about selling it to buy a few blanks and resin, can get about 3 logs from my used board jejeje. I have a 9’0" x 18" x 22 1/2" x 14 1/2" x 3" Junod singlefin whith a blend of 50/50 to sharp down aft I prefer to noseride and to ride any wave from knee high to 2XOH. Needless to say, the Bing was good for learning how to hang ten. Here’s a link to the Harbour site chart. Most board recommendations for a 120 lbs person are around 8’6" although I would recommend a 9’ because in my closed mind, a log should be at least 9’ and I have seen petite girls ride beautifully on 9’ + boards, only thinner and a bit norrower than a man’s board. http://www.harboursurfboards.com/surfboards.asp#cruisers
http://adventuresintrim.blogspot.com/2010/03/suction-self-promotion-and-art-of.html
Some general advice from my point of view! Don’t go too big
Im 5’6 and 145lbs and 9’4 is about perfect for me and I ride logs in beach break most of the time.
This vid white one is 9’6 yellow one 8’4
For what it’s worth…
I think that you should shoot for something smaller, especially for someone your size.
I ride an 8’5" Channin nose rider that was shaped for me many years ago. With a concave nose and nice full lines it performs very well for me and I am 6’5" and 220. I’ve ridden that board in all conditions from 1’ beach break slop to 10’ baja, nose riding when appropriate…
I think that a board much bigger than that for someone your size is going paddle great and all, but it’s just too big to allow you to perform turns and cutbacks like you would on a board under 9’ that you could still nose ride just fine.
Hope it helps…
Thats a fair point, although as others have said, length needs to be taken into account in conjunction with width and thickness too.
like i said in the ramble on my link, you can noseride almost anything as long as you put it in the right place on the wave and learning exactly where that is is the key.Hell, the sight/sound dvd has tyler warren hanging five on a 4’11 mini sim!
I agree you dont want to end up with a barge that is so bulky you cant manhandle it, you’re better off with something more user friendly and concentrating on understanding how to make noseriding work.
Also, being able to move up and down the board in a fairly quick fashion is key.
i see lots of people at my local who move forward so slowly that the section that would have supported them on the nose is gone before they are even halfway there!
here’s the text from my previous link:
The Art Of Noseriding
Magazines like this one are filled with pictures of surfers nonchalantly
perched on the tips of their longboards. Yet to many intermediate
surfers, standing on the front 18 inches of their boards can seem a
daunting, almost impossible prospect.
In truth, noseriding isn’t THAT difficult and is within the grasp of
most people once you understand how it works. Like many things in
surfing, it’s difficult to teach people how to noseride, there’s a lot
of feel and experience involved and this isn’t intended as an exhaustive
“how to”, more a list of tips from someone already in the know.
- Learn to cross step
This isn’t a specific noseriding tip, more a general longboarding one.
Learning to cross step fluently is a major step to good longboarding.
Not only does it look better but it is more functional too, allowing you
to move up and down the board quickly and make use of the noseriding
sections of the wave as they appear and disappear. If your water time is
limited, learning to cross step on a long skateboard or an indo board
can help a massive amount
You will notice that some surfers take two steps to the nose while some
take four. This is dictated by the length of your legs and the length of
your board, to begin with just go with whichever feels “right” to you.
-Pick your waves
Small clean waves are the ideal learning conditions. Although it’s
possible to hang five in almost any conditions, the bigger and messier
the waves get, the more difficult it is. `Ideally you want a lined up
wave that has a long tapering shoulder- there’s a reason the worlds two
best noseriding waves (Noosa & Malibu) are sandbottomed points.
- YOUR Longboard WILL noseride
Sure some shapes make it easier to stay up there for longer but any
board over 9 feet will let you noseride if you get the board in the
right place on the wave.
- Practice, practice, practice
Don’t be afraid to fall off, just make sure you understand enough to
only try and go to the nose when the time is right. Try and analyse your
waves and note the differences between the waves where it worked and it
didn’t so you can concentrate on replicating the successes.
- Positioning
This is the biggest part of getting your toes on the nose!
In simple terms, when you stand on the nose, your weight is counterbalanced by two things
-
The upwards force exerted by the water rushing up the face of the
wave and across the underside of the nose of the board. Wider noses and
nose concave increase the amount of lift available -
The counterweighting force of the wave breaking over the tail of the
board. Look at some pictures of people noseriding and you will see that
at least the back third of the board is sunk inside the wave. Having
soft “50-50” rails and a convex “bellied” bottom in the tail encourage
the water to do this. Tail kick also helps here as well as acting to
slow the board down and hold it in the wave.
For a really solid noseride, no. 2 is the most important thing. You will
see pictures of people perched on the tip where the suction is so great
that the whole front third of the board is lifted out of the water.
These things only happen if you position yourself in the fastest part of
the wave, about two thirds up the face and as close to the breaking
part of the wave as possible. The further away from this position you
are, the more likely you are to nosedive or stall out of the back of the
wave. Straight off your take off you can get in the right spot by
fading towards the peak as you paddle in before standing and swinging
back the right way. Once riding you can either stall the board and wait
for the wave to steepen in front of you or cut back far enough so that
the wave is already steep ahead of you as you bottom turn again.
Obviously in a sectiony beach break style wave, the wave might steepen
ahead of you naturally.
Once the wave is steep ahead of you, dont hesitate, go straight to the
nose, the moment can be gone in a split second. Too many people wait too
long and let the board trim too far in front of the pocket before they
start to move. The board outruns the section and then nosedives as they
reach the nose.
It helps to think of starting to walk forward as the board begins to
climb the face after you bottom turn so that you arrive on the nose as
the board reaches trim, rather than trying to move forward once at the
top of the wave with the board already starting to head down the face.
Weighting your inside rail helps too. In fact when on your backhand it
often helps to have your heel quite a long way across the stringer
towards the inside rail.
Unfortunately, knowing exactly when is the right time is one of those
“feel” things that takes experience to fully master but trying to
heighten your awareness of what is happening on each wave you ride as
mentioned earlier speeds up this process.
- Stretch those toes
Don’t worry too much about where your back foot is to begin with, just
make sure your front toes are properly dangling over the tip. Anything
else is just forward trim.
- Don’t be greedy
Once you’re up there, it’s easy to freeze then fall as the wave breaks
or stall out of the wave. Often the section will only support you for a
short time. Once you sense the board start to slow down or drop down the
face, step back, cut back and set up again.
- Watch some videos
There are lots of good logging films and plenty of clips on you tube.
When you watch them, analyse what the surfers and waves are doing. Watch
waves that show the surfer setting up the noseride. Pause the action
just before they go to the nose and look at where they are and what the
wave is doing around them. Try and visualise how the wave looks at that
moment from the surfers point of view.
Once you become adept at hanging five you’ll notice that there are some
times where the board feels much more stable and “locked in” compared to
others. This might only be for a split second, especially in beach
break style waves. These are the moments when the time is right to move
the back foot up to hang ten or kick it out into the wave face or hang
heels or lift it up and hold it while you stand on one leg! Only feel
and experience can help you judge the moments it will work but you can
practice the balance needed for the moves over an over again on a long
skateboard. Then when you’re in the water, you’re only learning how to
get set up properly not trying to improve your balance as well. This is
something i found really useful when learning to hang heels.
- Most of all, have fun with your surfing, after all thats why we all started in the first place isn’t it?
Peter St. Pierre's-Campbell Bro's collaboration "The Thumb" would be a great choice.
Super versatile board designed for cheater 5 stylin'.
That’s a nice looking board unclegrumpy! Now, a question to everyone: How easy or difficult, by experience, do you believe is LEARNING to noseride on a sub 9’ board no matter what your height is (unless you are Chuy, the mexican guy in Chelsea Lately)? Oh, and by noseriding I mean hanging ten, hang fives are not complete noserides in my book…
Well, I’d say your “book” has very narrow definitions. The first noseriding contest in 1965 established a criteria that both feet had to be planted on the front-most 25% of the board to initiate timing by the judges. This event was scored solely on elapsed time. As i recall, each ride was clocked with two stop watches. The first was engaged when the rider stood up, second watch began once the rider had both feet on the nose. Scores were weighted accordingly. Virtually every noserider model of the period (mid 60s) had a line across the nose at exactly 1/4 from the tip. So, a 10’ board would be given a line or stripe 30" from the tip. The Hobie noserider that I just sold had solid light blue pigment covering just the front 1/4 of the board, with a black pinline at the edge. A nose ride is when the surfer stands on the nose. Hanging ten is a sign of an accomplished rider, but it is not the definition of a nose ride.
Sammy, thank you for the historical data! Yes, I agree, my definition is narrow… but it was so difficult to learn to do a proper hang ten that I feel the “quest to the nose” must go on until one learns how to hang ten. I am relatively a noseriding newbie (was born in 1977), yet I became fascinated with the art of traditional longboarding after I visited Waikiki in 1995 and tried my first log. The sensation of glide on a big board is awesome! Still need to learn how to hang heels and other advanced tricks. Sammy, by any chance do you happen to know if the noseriding contests still go by the rules mentioned above? I know that modern longboard contests require boards to be at least 9’ for men (often measured from tip to tip on the deck). Anyone know what is the current requirement for board length in women’s pro longboard contests?