ever try riding your surfboard without wax? How far did you get?
I use Versa traction grip on my black carbon fibre 8’er.
It’s a thin opaque grip which looks virtually clear in the water.
Made in the US.
Works very well and has eliminated the migration of wax all over the board (rails and bottom) when its placed in a board bag.
No issue with wax to melt on a black carbon fibre board in the sub-tropical climate I live in too.
Both my Dick Van boards have concave decks which really help with keeping the feet locked in when you want.
I wish I had the concave deck on my mini-simmons as I’ve had my back foot slip off a couple of times. I just have wax on that board.
Yes. I have surfed a lot without wax. But I had some interesting replacements. I just couldn’t get them to work when wearing a wetsuit with a nylon outer skin. Too slippery and nothing to ooze (like skin) into the texture on the board. Couldn’t make it viable in all circumstances so I gave up the pursuit.
Wax makes sense to me on a longer board, where you are walking the board while surfing. But was just thinking - on shorter boards that most guys are riding today, seems like their feet always end up in one place, and stay there. I posted a thread awhile back on foot wells, because I wanted to verify my observation. The gist of the comments did seem to validate my theory that most shortboard riders always place, and keep, their feet in the same place / position. So I've been playing with the idea that if you had some well-defined footwells in the proper place on a shortboard, you might be able to get away without any surfboard wax at all. Just a thought.
Has anyone ever tried to inlay traction pads on there boards so its flush with the rails? I think that would be a sweet substatute to wax and you could go really far :)
One of the better solutions I came up with was 1/4" EVA medium density foam covered with grip tape.
Shoes, booties, barefoot, your foot just locks in. Clear grip over colored EVA provides options.
The best grip under the worst conditions - including snow/ice - but not as attractive so easily dismissed by the usual suspects.