Anybody got a link to pics or video of kirk putnam riding backside- i recently picked up a hull - however i surf it on a beach break wave that breaks left most often- i am a regular footer and want some to see the best approach to surfing these seemingly tricky but intriguing boards- thanks
there’s a picture of him backside at malibu in the journal that had the stubbie article…backside you gotta get back on the board a tad to make that bottom turn. once there trim forward as you would frontside.since kp is a goofy footer and surf 99.9% rights, he has liddle put in a tad more tail rocker to loosen it up for him…
thanks for the tip on backside hull riding- any suggestions on fin placement and fin options- currently i have a 7’2 anderson bojorquez- i got the board with a greenough 4a 9 inches- seems flexy but this is all new to me- any suggestions L flex 9" or should i try and get one of liddle volan fins off his site? also how far forward from the tail should the back edge of the fin be placed?
i’d love to see some more new picks too (new to me that is) - i found the stance of A Kopps befuddling in those screen grabs of him on the Siglo in previous posts - but then what do i know about footwork?
BTW,
That 7’4" Liddle in the Swaylock Surfshop is not a “Pointbreaker”. Its my old “Inbetweener” that I sold to that guy a year ago for $425.
Jim
Smoothie, TruAmes makes a L- flex in Volan. For your board its nice to have the 9’’ L-flex and the 9’’ L-Flex B it has a bit more base and can help when stating out on Hulls. Backside tips, start by just getting a good angle on your drop and when you turn use EVEN PRESSURE on your back foot, guys who grew up riding thrusters want to just hit the bottom and SLAM a turn , this works on 3 fins not so with hulls. Also Matts right on being back a bit more than you would on your frontside, Surfing frontside its easyer to set your rail more forward and keep it there, backside I turn then slide up to trim on the sweetspot, see whats goin on up ahead and plan my next turn. I have marks on my boards from my booties, and on my front side its up about 6 to 8 ''in. more than where I set my backfoot for goofy turns.Also to many guys OVERTHINK this JUST DO IT.
Just some videos I found, don’t know if anybody has seen these…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfHNMOoDU5U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2fKIwjhsGE
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=3531090
ditto what kp said about ta 9" l-flex. that 4a has too much base for that board you described…hey kp, i took out that 9" b and put in the usual 9" fin tha greg sends over(not the l-flex base but the g4 base) in the monster smoothie-surfs way better and still has the gears…
wayne lynch in evolution is some good backside inspiration, his hull has the wide point a little further back and therefore is easier to turn backside…,
like kp said he’s turning and then sliding up in to trim position sometimes even switching stance to frontside… ted spencer in fantastic plastic machine (he is riding a v-bottom actually) has some good backside style too…
Jim
thanks for the article link and the pix too - they’re great.
i really like this quote, “Be careful, you might get addicted… and if you do, it will mess with your mind. You, the way you surf, won’t be the same. I’m just warning you! -Greg Liddle”. i find it to be really accurate. i’ve surfed for 23 years this year and i have to freely admit that my approach has changed more notably from surfing a hull than from any other design/innovation i’ve ever ridden. here’s how
1 the wave is key. i used to want a large open face to get vert, now i want a pocket to slip in and out of to and fro, fore and aft. the bottom and the top of the wave offer equal potential if the face is pitching fast enough. thusly location has become of utmost importance in consideration to bottom surface, swell direction, tide, and wind
2 my devotion to the physical sensation created by a board has also turned the expectation on of any session/wave on it’s ear weather i’m on a log, fish, hull, even a skateboard. it’s become about unifying all acts to continue the feeling of ease in motility. turns are relative to one another and it seems i look further down the line to continue planning on how to make the ride last while traveling as fast as possible. you’re going to get there a whole lot faster on a hull/stub than you would if you were tic tacking all over the place on a thruster. i once heard a theory about classical music which i feel is comparable: if a note/group of notes is played unwaveringly one’s potential emotional response to it or possible affection for that sound grows in proportion to the sound’s length - this as compared to a movement which is staccato or sporadic - there is less significant body to the music eliciting a less favorable response in classical music - if you aren’t a devoted fan of chaos or bop that is - that said i still like rock and roll but GL didn’t say anything about hulls changing my ears
3 my feet and stance are different almost every time i stand up on a board. on a hull placement measurements are stretched and observations are fragmented into micro measurements. i put my flat duck feet all over the damn place in lieu of just hitting the tail’s pivot point risking possibly becoming a stinkbug. the stringer is your best friend and navigational tool with regard to the dance’s course of action and applied force to the fin. with hulls it seems that less is more with heels and toes and that relative action carries a lot more weight when you ride something that has 50/50 rails like a point breaker. ask almost any surfer (as was asked of Bruce Irons in Creepy Fingers) “barrels or airs?” and the greater mass will answer “barrels”… stepping up to the nose to generate speed has always been the most important part of coming out of a tube as it has with traditional longboarding. given the forward stance necessary to ride and turn a hull there is an obvious similarity in theory of speed generation - yes it is addictive and it’s fun as hell. the fun factor has changed my surfing and my desire to increase it’s frequency - it’s a stoke and a half!
blah blah blah, right?
alohas
Now only if we had enough waves and point breaks to go around. I think I dream about surfing more than I actually surf.
Jim
Between this thread, dreaming, other links, old magazine articles, VHS/DVDs and repairing my boards I feel the same… For many of us this is the new Porn.
Oops gotta go the wife’s yelling…
Yep,
Sometimes I just need to go in the garage an fondle my favorite board(s). Feel the rails, check out the rocker, and admire it from a different angles. Then hope for some good surf to come soon and get that elusive water glide again.
Jim
it’s only a matter of time until the 2 film genres meet. with weather and waves like it was today i need something to keep me going.
i’ve gotten my 5 year old little girl into learning how to cross step on my log on dry land, she’s into it more than she knows at this point. for a while i was practicing cross stepping on land along lines in the pavement, crosswalks, or anything resembling the length of a deck. little indulgent BS like that helps to keep my stoke and my eyes on the horizon for waves as have dvds, repairing my boards and of course the journal and vintage mags.
very nice also to have a forum to talk with others who identify with enthusiasm for surfing, be it to help understand principals new to me in board design, find local activity or events, or just to shoot the shit about plain old tradition. it seems there are individuals who feel it’s an activity meant only for some. when i first got on this thread i was met with many varied responses, mostly positive encouraging and public. but there was one swaylock member who had to send me a derogatory private message about how he felt about my frequent posts which was a bit of a bummer. who doesn’t want to see someone get a good wave on a new board? who cares what someone else is riding? it seems the notion that surfing a certain kind of board is exclusive to a select few is a inherent to those that don’t truly understand the spirit of surfing in general. i’ll surf around those people any day just to get into the water and get my glide on
i bid you good evening watermen and women
A.K. 1•CA•DAY - the web F’s color bad and that varies from monitor to monitor
Kirk and matt- thanks for the tips and suggestions of fins- i spoke with GL via email and he suggested a fin with a bit more base as well. cant wait to get the board back in the water!!
Thanks! I have not seen that little clip… good one.
It seems that he steps forward to trim and bottom turn then steps back for quick cutback.
this puppy looks fun and fast as hell to me!
in certain spots the waves were firing today and i was at home with a very mild fever - tomorrow i’m getting mine! packed up already loaded up on zicam and am headed for a long healthy snooze to rise with the chickens to get wet until lunch time, high tide be damned!
his copy of my velo spoon…thing about these boards people can dupe them but they don’t know how to glass correctly or where to put extra glass (which pg and george do because of years riding and building them)