“For me a longboard with a gunny outline is much more versatile. I’m not
nose-riding it and the rocker in the nose lets me drop down the face
rather than relying on the angled take off.”
Agreed.
nice drop in!
To settle this forum once and for all…no, performance longboards are NOT for experts only. I am no where close to being considered an expert.
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nice drop in!
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Second that....way above my skill level!!!! Thanks for posting the pics of the gunny longboard.
my suggestion is don’t do the big fish, but this is a guess coz I’ve never ridden one (although I have borrowed small traditional fishes and they are not easy to control in substantial waves).
I used to know 2 Santa Cruz surfers who rode big Skip Frye fish of that sort of size (maybe even bigger), so big fish do exist. However both were expert surfers - one of them was really good at treating a traditional longboard like a HPLB if that makes sense - really knew how to maximise the wave to throw it around, the other was an expert big boy shortboard rider.
That’s Philippe (whom I made this board for) riding his local spot in Guadalupe.
Flexor,
From your comments it appears that the main reason you’re on a longboard is because you need a longboard to get waves. It is what it is. If you can’t get a 4ft wave on a smaller board then there’s not much reason to be thinking about going smaller for an 8ft wave because in those conditions you’re in over your head anyway.
You haven’t said much about your primary board but from your description of your preferences I’d guess that the board you’ve got may already be more versatile than your skills. Unless it’s a classic noserider it will probably already handle a good sized wave without a problem; you would just need to learn how to handle it better in those conditions.
Regardless of how thick you get it, a more heavily rockered board will not paddle as well as the flatter board, assuming the flatter board is already of sufficient float for you.
Maybe the thing to do is to try before you buy. See if you can borrow a more aggressive board from one of your friends or perhaps swap with someone out in the water. Experimenting by purchasing is the most frustrating and expensive way there is to suss out your boards.
I don’t know where Guadalupe is, but it does not matter,whether Guadeloupe in the Carribean or Guadelupe in Spain,South America,Mexico,it’s his local spot,and it looks empty,and that wave just makes you drool!Hope nobody goes and bothers him(except you,Balsa!)
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Flexor,
From your comments it appears that the main reason you're on a longboard is because you need a longboard to get waves. It is what it is. If you can't get a 4ft wave on a smaller board then there's not much reason to be thinking about going smaller for an 8ft wave because in those conditions you're in over your head anyway.
You haven't said much about your primary board but from your description of your preferences I'd guess that the board you've got may already be more versatile than your skills. Unless it's a classic noserider it will probably already handle a good sized wave without a problem; you would just need to learn how to handle it better in those conditions.
Regardless of how thick you get it, a more heavily rockered board will not paddle as well as the flatter board, assuming the flatter board is already of sufficient float for you.
Maybe the thing to do is to try before you buy. See if you can borrow a more aggressive board from one of your friends or perhaps swap with someone out in the water. Experimenting by purchasing is the most frustrating and expensive way there is to suss out your boards.
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Hi Gdaddy - it's a performance noserider and I reckon you are right...just need to handle it better in steeper waves. It turns very well and has quite a bit of lift in the tail. I need to work on angled take offs I reckon.
I’ve seen this spot when I traveled to Guadeloupe, a french island in the carribean. Conditions like those on this picture are very rare though as it needs a good north swell to work which happens only a few days of the year. Rest of the time, you get small choppy waves from the trade winds …
Those boards are designed to handle a wide range of conditions. I wouldn’t think you’d be able to do all that much better with a more aggressive nose rocker. If you’re like most people in your situation your standard takeoff right now involves dropping in straight and bottom turning, for which even a HPLB wouldn’t do that much better than your current board. An extra inch of nose rocker isn’t going to be that much more forgiving on a 9+ft board when you’re dropping straight into the face.
One easy way to transition into more aggressive diagonal takeoffs is to focus on taking off right at the curl on the smaller waves, even when you don’t need to. That will force you to get accustomed to the more abrupt transitions and the merits of actually getting those side fins and rail to hook up. Less flat, more rail-to-rail. For 2+1 fans what’s not to like?