Seems to be plenty of boardmakers making this kind of claim these days.
What’s the general opinion about claims like this?
Was the shortboard revolution all for naught?
If a board can do this what are the key characteristics of its shape?
I think this subject is worthy of some attention.
The only board i have ever surfed that is close to what you descrbed was a 6’0 x 20 3/4 x 3 3/8 9-Fish. I didnt take all the dims but it had a super full nose mayble 16" or 17". Board paddled into waves like a champ, one or two strokes and i was in. Board was light enough to boost also.
Thats a salesmans line of crap
For selling funboards and hybrids to kooks
My interpritation of “paddles like a longboard” is glideing on top of the water
“turning like a shortboard” is only relevant to your size and ability
For the most part, it’s BS… Ever try knee paddling a fish?
But if you take a shortboard, add some foam all around, relax the entry rocker, and give it a modern bottom and rails, you have a more user friendly modern shortboard. It won’t paddle any more like a longboard than a good ol’ fish, but it has the ability to draw more “shortboardesque” lines than a traditional fish with a displacement bottom in stead of concaves, keel fins instead of a thruster setup, and less tail rocker then the twin pins, even with heaps of vee added.
“Paddles like a longboard, turns like a shortboard” is a pretty big claim that’s at best only slightly hinting at the truth. But hey… if you’re selling your boards to the faceless, nameless masses, it what you gotta do to pitch your product. Why don’t they just say, “Magic board that does it all”…
An interesting discussion point for guys like me. I am 52 years old and have become a born again surfer. I know a few guys like me who have got back into the game by buying longboards and enjoying the relative ease and glide.
But after a while you want to try something else but end up getting frustrated by not being able to get the speed up that a short board requires or simply find it too difficult to do anything much on a wave once you are up !
My solution was to get a local shaper to build me an 8 ft fish. Double concave, 3 inches thick, hard rails 2/3 rds down the board for easy turning and flat exit area at the back. What I found is that it skated down bigger waves…the sensation was like being on ball bearings. it offered a looseness that was so different to my longboards.
It was also a little heavier so that it got thru the mush that you experience on the beachbreaks of Sydney
I do own a 7 ft 6 inch mini mal but it does not give the thrill or the turning of the fish
For me a great compromise.
Thats a salesmans line of crap
For selling funboards and hybrids to kooks
My interpritation of “paddles like a longboard” is glideing on top of the water
“turning like a shortboard” is only relevant to your size and ability I’m with you ken,salesmans bullshit!!!If it paddles like a longboard,then it is!!!
7’+ McCoy Nugget single fin with his Gull wing fin
one of the most advanced bottom concepts ever
I’m 58, 6’3 x 195, and the board I have the most fun on in up to slightly overhead conditions is a Coffey 8’0 x 21 3/8 x 3" swallowtail with fairly beefy rails midboard tapering in the back, long spiral v and double concaves, relaxed rocker throughout, 14 1/4" nose and 13.25" tail with a 4.5" swallow,thruster fin set moved up 1/4", and run either Sunny Garcia or Occy fronts depending on conditions, and 4.5 graphite in the back. Thanks to the beefy front foil and flatter forward rocker, board paddles and catches waves much like a mini-longboard. Bottom config provides tons of carve and drive, easily skates thru the flat sections, loose enough to snap a direction change, and really makes those average conditions a lot of fun. Flatter rocker becomes an obvious issue in larger, hollower conditions, which is what the RP’s are for…
Quote:Thats a salesmans line of crap
For selling funboards and hybrids to kooks
My interpritation of “paddles like a longboard” is glideing on top of the water
“turning like a shortboard” is only relevant to your size and ability I’m with you ken,salesmans bullshit!!!If it paddles like a longboard,then it is!!!
My nugget floats me better than my 9’0’‘…It paddles just as well and in fact there are times I can catch certain waves better than longboards. The extra couple of feet of a longboard does make a difference in hard to catch mush burgers…but there are boards that are shorter that can paddle. As for riding like a shortboard. You can do all of the shortboard moves on nuggets and the like because the modern shortboard was created from this very type of shape. Will they feel like a 6’1’’ twig…No way. If you have the ability can you do the same moves…yes…but the feel will be totally different. The fact is…on many an average day…unless your an elite or light surfer…your going to be sucking to catch as many waves as those skilled surfers riding boards with more float. No two boards ride alike anyway…so…you can paddle very close to a longboard on certain designs and surf very close to modern shortboard moves.
Hey Solo
I have to agree those McNuggets do paddle well. One of the local crew rides one when its small a 6’6" and he can compete with the longboards for waves and He is 6’4" and 225lb. This guy is not a gumby and can surf really well on it.
Like the greedy Silverbak says its relative to your size and ability. Makes me wonder what a 5’8" surfer with the same ability as the big guy would say about the paddle v turn equation of the nugget.
Cheers
Mooneemick
Hey Solo
I have to agree those McNuggets do paddle well. One of the local crew rides one when its small a 6’6" and he can compete with the longboards for waves and He is 6’4" and 225lb. This guy is not a gumby and can surf really well on it.
Like the greedy Silverbak says its relative to your size and ability. Makes me wonder what a 5’8" surfer with the same ability as the big guy would say about the paddle v turn equation of the nugget.
Cheers
Mooneemick
It’s not just the nuggets. I used to ride a board called a cheater that also floated well and rode like a skateboard. There are creative shapers out there. I will admit that the whole paddles like a longboard surfs like a shortboard has become somewhat of a sales line though. Kind of like Fun board was a name created to degrade surfers riding anything other than a stock 6’2’’ thruster.
I was about to head out somewhere yesterday so my initial post was tapped out pretty quickly just to get the ball rolling so to speak.
Thanks to all for replying so far. Very interesting responses.
The whole point here guy’s is this,if people rode equipment suited to the conditions on offer(quiver),there would be no need for outrageous claims!! 98% OF “surfers” are sheep,who are kidding themselves tryin to ride boards,too thin and advanced for their ability!!! I think fashion seem to be the major influence when “the sheep” select their shooters,coupled with the too cool salesman at the"surf boutique",who by the way rides a lid,and tell’s em their gonna surf like kelly or mick fanning!! Personally i say let em,more waves for me!!!
Hi Guys
from someone who has been riding this type of board for about five years now, tho my boards are 25" wide with flat rocker and a thickness of 4" vol 72 ltr with rails turned, they do paddle really well.
BUT they do not paddle as fast as a long board, nor do they catch waves as easily as a long board, this is to do with the waterline length. Longer boards feel the wave earlier and travel further with each stroke.
I like the wider and thicker boards for fatter waves because they sit on the surface of the wave and mostly rely on fins for hold, light weight is very important as well, PUPE is too heavy and makes this type of board slow to react, EPS is best.
Its like adding more ram to your PC.
I have been telling the local long boarders to share a few waves with me for some time now to no avail, problem solved, Stand Up Paddle boards, this the new challange for rider/designers.
Boardbumps
The Downing Slippah was designed to be this kind of board. A short board that paddles really well. I used my brother’s 6’ 8" slippah as my longboard for a summer, and it worked great. Problem with that board was when the waves got to be solid overhead, the tail was too wide. I use 7’ and 8’ eggs as my longboards. They paddle well and I can throw them around really easily. When the waves get big I just add 2 side bites for more bite.
There are quite a few surfers in Hawaii, especially on the south shore that can turn a 9’ longboard as well as a short board.
Guy’s like J Richardson and a guy named Froggy were making these elongated shortboards in the 80’s. Once Lance Hookano got on one of those, it was wavehog heaven and he never looked back. All the other wavehog’s followed his lead. Today almost everyone’s on a 9’ board and a lot of the guys have gotten pretty good, but the SUPs have become the wavehog’s board of choice. It will be interesting to see where everything is in 5 years because some of those SUP riders are getting real good. For those guys it’s “paddles better than a longboard, turns like a shorter board”.
The Downing Slippah was designed to be this kind of board. A short board that paddles really well. I used my brother’s 6’ 8" slippah as my longboard for a summer, and it worked great. Problem with that board was when the waves got to be solid overhead, the tail was too wide. I use 7’ and 8’ eggs as my longboards. They paddle well and I can throw them around really easily. When the waves get big I just add 2 side bites for more bite.
There are quite a few surfers in Hawaii, especially on the south shore that can turn a 9’ longboard as well as a short board.
Guy’s like J Richardson and a guy named Froggy were making these elongated shortboards in the 80’s. Once Lance Hookano got on one of those, it was wavehog heaven and he never looked back. All the other wavehog’s followed his lead. Today almost everyone’s on a 9’ board and a lot of the guys have gotten pretty good, but the SUPs have become the wavehog’s board of choice. It will be interesting to see where everything is in 5 years because some of those SUP riders are getting real good. For those guys it’s “paddles better than a longboard, turns like a shorter board”.
I never have had an issue with my Mccoy holding in and it’s tail is 18’'. I have ridden it double overhead.
How about a lightweight (compsand) longboard? With minimum swing weight and the right combination of fins, rails and rocker it should turn damn close to a thruster shortboard. Paddling should not be a problem… I’ve tried a few fishes (including my own thick, flat rockered one) and while they do paddle well, they do not paddle anything like a longboard.
How about a lightweight (compsand) longboard? With minimum swing weight and the right combination of fins, rails and rocker it should turn damn close to a thruster shortboard. Paddling should not be a problem… I’ve tried a few fishes (including my own thick, flat rockered one) and while they do paddle well, they do not paddle anything like a longboard.
Yeah, it paddles like a longboard,cause it is!!! They turn good,but still not shortboard like.You cant make short radius turns as quickly in critical positions cause it’s nine feet long!! So no matter wot you do,nothing paddles like a longboard and surf’s as well as a shortboard.Close,but no cigar!!
I couldn’t agree more…
“Paddles great” is not “paddles like a longboard”… “Snaps a direction change” is not a gouging “shortboard turn” in the pocket at speed.
“close” is a pretty generous statement.
I’d have to say that most people who can say that about their board are not pushing their longboard or their shortboard to the performance limits of their equipment.
Quote:How about a lightweight (compsand) longboard? With minimum swing weight and the right combination of fins, rails and rocker it should turn damn close to a thruster shortboard. Paddling should not be a problem… I’ve tried a few fishes (including my own thick, flat rockered one) and while they do paddle well, they do not paddle anything like a longboard.
Yeah, it paddles like a longboard,cause it is!!! They turn good,but still not shortboard like.You cant make short radius turns as quickly in critical positions cause it’s nine feet long!! So no matter wot you do,nothing paddles like a longboard and surf’s as well as a shortboard.Close,but no cigar!!
I have seen 6’ 150 pounders riding little 5’6’’ nuggets catching more waves on the fat tailed little boards than other good longboarders in the line and turning on a dime just like a shortboard. Here is another fact…the average surfer can’t even ride a shortboard or a longboard very well so few are getting optimum performance out of their equipment. If we are measuring by the pro standard then the measurment is unrealistic to begin with. For all practical purposes…there are boards that paddle almost as well and turn the same as shortboards. No…when your missing an extra two or three feet it’s not going to be quite as good…but good enough.
The entire argument is one of semantics anyway.