Hi, I need a second board for small summer surf and I like a 10’ longboard for this purpose.
At the surf shop I noticed a new hawaiian brand, NSP. They named their longboards SOUTH POINT. These seem very similar to BIC longboard but have seamless rails and the lines seem good, relative to a thermoformed board, I mean!
The fact is that these board are cheap and they come complete with fin and leash. All of this is perfect for a cheap second board 10’2’’ long and for summer surf where performance is not needed.
they said me that these south point longboard can be repaired with epoxy and that they works better than BIC’s.
Anyone knows these board and tryed them?
Anyone knows if they are really better than bic?
Bic’s is a sure choice, but with all of their limits, these hawaiian boards sound good, so here I wish to open a report with rewiew…
It’s unwise to pay too much, but it it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money - that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying little and getting a lot - it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well advised to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough for something better.
This is a quote from a building brochure I read last week and it seems to fit the pop out/ mass production market perfectly.
Yes I know and I agree but here the question is not about “how much to spend” but "how much is worth to spend in a surfboard you will probabily use 3 or 4 times a yea"r. I think you cast away your money if you spend 1500$ in a board you’ll use few time with 2 feet waves!
Here the questions is: is SOUTH POINT better then BIC?
I have never ridden a BIC, but have heard they are OK.
I do own a 9’2 South Point.
All I can say is have you ever heard of buyers remorse?
Do yourself a favor and shop around for a beater. If your only going to use it a few times it doesnt matter. Try craigslist.com or Ebay and save some $$ and guilt. Or better yet do it yourself
NSP is made by Cobra International in Thailand. Cobra also makes Surftech and a range of foam/fiberglass boards. Their boards are computer shaped (not molded) - I will try and provide link to video. Cobra also prides itself with the only ISO 9002 certification standard in the surfboard industry. That means that they have a standardized manufacturing process that ensures quality control. The manufacturing technology is at least a step up (pre preg, vacuum bagging, heat curing, etc.) from what is generally found in domestic glassing factories. BIC has several product lines as well. Both companies have good websites. Read up on the info presented on the websites and decide for yourself.
just my opinion but , NSP’s and BIC’s (bic made by the people that make the lighters and pens),like i said , “just my opinion”…those boards are worthless, never rode one but ive had a look at them…rails look funny and so do the kids riding them , falling all over and there ususally the choice for surfer groopie girls as well…i guess there ok for the beginner but so is the pawn shop board…made in the us of a…and then the biginner only gets the weird look cause of the falling not the board…oh i think im rambling, well its just those boards are little toys for little boys ,just my opinion.
I can ride my Bic boards as well as the top 10% of surfers at almost any spot, short of top level competitiors.
It’s not the board, it’s the pilot, who surfs and guides the board!
Don’t believe me? Ask Craig McArthur of Cowboy Surfboards in SantaCruz. Ask Doug Haut of Haut Surfboards. Or ask anyone who has seen me surf in the last 7 years.
Believe me, the board is the least important part of the equation, as skill, conditioning, adaptability, and being stoked on what you ride is every bit as important as which actual board you are riding.
Of course, some criteria must be met, for me, like flatter decks, lots of tail rocker, and a semi “correct” shape.
I can easily make a surfboard which I cannot ride, but it might require some thinking and planning.
OK - Thanks for the correction! I misunderstood the shaping machine news on the website…
"GSI and Cobra International acquire 3DM industrial shaping machine.
We are please to announce the completion of the installation and testing phase of this machine. Manufactured in the USA by 3DM, the machine can cut boards at lightning speed; this machine adds further resources to what is undoubtably the best Surfboard manufacturing facility in the world. Two test boards were cut and finished in less ten minutes, the two up machine allows two boards to be cut simultaneously.
The machines utilizes the 3D shapes software. The software is currently used by some high profile surfboard shapers in the US. Cobra’s technical staff have been quick to learn and implement the software, creating a back catalogue of their current range of masters.
To our knowledge Cobra is the only surfboard manufacturer in the world currently producing surfboards in an ISO9002 certified facility, the 3DM machine will only add to both the effeciency and professional quality range of boards Cobra and GSI produce for the market."
In fact I don’t live in USA, I live in Italy.We have plenty of foreign boards, americans, australians, hawaiians and so on but they are all quite expensive. we have also some good shapers, I know one very well, but the price for a longboard is still high, in the range of 600-700 euros ca. 700$. I know very well that an hand shaped board is better but I think it is unwise to spend too much in a board I’ll use few time.
I have got two boards, a plastic bic 9’ and a glassed board named superfrog by bic the last shaped and glassed as any other surfboard. I notice the difference riding them and ,sure, the galssed one is better but if anyone tryed a Bic you will probabily Know that they aren’t so bad,!
All depends from surfer skill, I agree.
I like classic longboard and I like hand shaped boards far away, but I cannot understand why there is so fury against machine shaped boards! The lines are good and glassing is still man-made!
Looking at BIC and SOUTHPOINT I noticed that NSP lines seem better, the board has a good concave under the nose and the seamless rails semm good. Bic are roughest but a lot of people said me they work great compared to a glassed board and keeping in mind that ,in the end, the are thermoformed. regards!
P:S: how much does it cost in California a good hand shaped longboard (bessel and so on…)???
i wont knock what i haven’t tried but bic seems ok. Hundreds of windsurfies swear by them and just because lots of learners use them to flounder around in the shallows doesnt mean they surf really bad. Both bic and nsp look like good boards if you arent pushing the boundary of high performance longboading at pipe or somewhere. Almost every serious international brand of board is becoming close to a popout, how much care do you think a shaper with a certain amount of boards to get through before he can knock off for a friday night surf puts into each board? I have seen some very reputable international ‘handshaped’ brands with some serious faults in them, one in particular had one side fin’s toe in lining up with the stringer at the nose and the other lining up with the stringer 1/2 way down the board.I have a mate who brought a ten foot bic and is very happy with it.
whatever they say about surfing there is definitely a lot of bullshit involved.
i surfed a bic 7´3 mini mal in some small waves where my thruster hadn´t had a chance to get the waves. it was quite funny because it was the first time on a board with so much volume. I only ride 5´10" fishes to 6`6" semiguns so a 7´3" mini mal was a new thing to me. It surfed ok. a bit slow turning but i guess thats the price to pay ridding a mini mal
How is Craig the cowboy doing. Does he still own his shop? I bought an old Bulkley from him back in the mid eighties when I live there. That guy used to rip for as tall and big as he was. I loved that town of Half Moon Bay. Always reminded me of the Sleepy Hollow with all the pumpkins. Also miss Anuo Nuevo, but not the White pointers.
Who cares about high tech. when it comes to making surfboards. They are and always be popouts. They are still taking jobs from local workers and giving them to countries with low wages. Thats the bottom line cause Stone cold says so.
Lee is right about whats between your ears being the most important, but I am not going to own a popout when I can get Geoff Mccoy, Steve Forstall, Jeff Bushman, or Greg Pautsh to make me a board that will work and be something I can later cherish instead of throwing it in the dump. I still have never heard anyone say, “Boy I am sure sorry I got rid of that magic popout I used to own.”
Do yourself a favor and call a world class shaper who still believes in quality control and get him to shape you a custom. Pay the extra money. It will be money well spent and you will have something made by someone else for you instead of something popped out of a machine for the masses.
In fact I don’t live in USA, I live in Italy.We have plenty of foreign boards, americans, australians, hawaiians and so on but they are all quite expensive. we have also some good shapers, I know one very well, but the price for a longboard is still high, in the range of 600-700 euros ca. 700$. I know very well that an hand shaped board is better but I think it is unwise to spend too much in a board I’ll use few time.
I have got two boards, a plastic bic 9’ and a glassed board named superfrog by bic the last shaped and glassed as any other surfboard. I notice the difference riding them and ,sure, the galssed one is better but if anyone tryed a Bic you will probabily Know that they aren’t so bad,!
All depends from surfer skill, I agree.
I like classic longboard and I like hand shaped boards far away, but I cannot understand why there is so fury against machine shaped boards! The lines are good and glassing is still man-made!
Looking at BIC and SOUTHPOINT I noticed that NSP lines seem better, the board has a good concave under the nose and the seamless rails semm good. Bic are roughest but a lot of people said me they work great compared to a glassed board and keeping in mind that ,in the end, the are thermoformed. regards!
P:S: how much does it cost in California a good hand shaped longboard (bessel and so on…)???
Just a quick note about BIC and SUPERFROG Surfboards: BIC are popouts whose plugs have been shaped by Gérard DABADDIE, ex-french surfing champion and longtime shaper. Gérard has been shaping for years under his own brand/label: SUPERFROG. He has been consistently producing hot longboard shapes for many of the best longboarders around. Nobody can even question his involvement into the very spirit of surfboards shaping. For a while, he used to be the president of the A.S.A. (Association des Shapers d’Aquitaine, or “Aquitaine’s Shapers’ Association”). The fact that he did shape the molds for BIC does not necessarily means that he “sold out” or so did many of the U.S. top names with SURFTECH. We should not mistake the validity of the shapes (nobody can question that) and the (low) quality associated to mass-production. What do you think? Should “real” shapers keep away from it? Or is it just fair that they, too, can get a piece of the cake? I have my own answer, but someone else may have another.
I’ve had both and can say that for me Southpoint was better then
BIC.
My first board was a BIC. I bought it because I didn’t want to spend a lot on a board that I was going to learn on and I wanted something that I could throw in the back of my work van without worry. I tried to surf for half a summer with the Bic and had great difficulty. Even tho I was a rookie surfing in less then perfect conditions on the East coast the Bic seemed very difficult to catch waves with. By that I mean if I was a little too far forward I would pearl quickly yet if I moved back a bit the nose was high and the wave would pass right under me. At the time I assumed it was all my fault.
However, that winter I had the chance to work in Hawaii and while there I picked up a southpoint 8’6". Caught the very first wave with ease and on the third wave of the day I was riding backwards. I surfed every day with that board for 2 months and sold it to a friend foe $50 bucks less than I paid for it.
Back on the east coast I got back on the Bic and had the very same problems. Finally one day mid session - when I was struggling to catch waves with the bic - I swapped boards with a friend a caught every wave I wanted with it.
That’s when I finally realized it was the Bic board that was giving me so much trouble. maybe it was my particular weight and board combination but if I wanted a cheap durable long board to play with it would be the Southpoint hands down.
I’m from norway and have the same problems with board prices as you do. Have you considered building one yourself? It’s will be a lot fo work, but a hellowualot cheaper and if you want to build a longboard, chances are it’s going to be rideable. Just a thought.
Anyway, I’ve ridden a few bics and their longboard are not all that great. The 10’ noserider is okey, the slightly shorter one is IMHO crap, never could get that “¤#&”#¤ to do what I wanted. The 8’(New model 7’ something) bic is a much better board and is IMHO underated. There are alot of NSP longboards in the water around here specially this time of year, they seem to be OK. I think the last national longboard championship was won on one, but that’s not saying much.
Anyways, good luck whatever you choose. How’s the surf in Italy?
I havn’t ridden either, but a buddy of mine surfed in one of those all BIC surfboard competions. He is a very good competitive longboarder. Afterwards I asked him about the boards and he said they rode fine. He didn’t have anything bad to say about them.