Prone (belly) boards with no flippers (swim fins) required....thoughts?

General Discussion
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I’ve been riding a 4’2" pu belly board made for me by Mark Pridmore (More surfboards) for a while now.
I’d like to have a prone board that is long enough to be able to arm paddle only without using flippers.
The shorter boards shortcoming is in conditions when there’s plenty of water moving around and the sweep on the point is running.  Generally unecessarily tiring to paddle around in the line up compared to my normal boards.
For example trying to get waves at a point means being left with the scraps as most paddle past before I’ve gotten enough paddling speed to take off.

Anyone got any thoughts on what they’d make for an easier prone paddler?
I’ll be looking at pretty much going straight and keeping in the pocket to get tubed.
I’d like to have enough foam to paddle the board well but not so much that I have a lot of foam to avoid if being pitched.

I realise there’s those who are prone riding longboards but I’m not keen to get rolled with one myself.
I keep looking at mini simmons for sale and thinking hmmmm…

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[quote="$1"]

You can believe any or all of that or not...I know the truth...Prone, in good size waves is mind blowing...

[/quote]

 I have news for you.

 Prone, on the right equipment, can be mind blowing in any size surf.   

3

Repost from a while back...

My last two sessions were prone...Yesterday was super fun...5 to 8' faces, offshore wind, beachbreak, no one else out, freezing cold......

I rode this...

 

Made it in March of '06 and haven't ridden it regularly, but I decided to take it out first, every session this spring and summer...I'm stricly arm paddling it, no fins..I like arm paddling better because it's such a good workout...Up here with the enlarged surf zone, you get a lot of padling in on the good days...Yesterday was a good day...

My first wave came fast, I dropped down, squared out a bottom turn and realized how fast the board goes through the gears...After that initial speed burn I angle the board over the top and got ready for the next one...

Subsequent waves were like this: Sit inside, wait for the wall, decide whether to go or not, then once I commit, I'm consiously telling myself "There are no late take-offs, their are only take-offs"...I say that the whole time I'm paddling for the wave...And going...

The paddle-in's, with the size, were committed, and as soon as I felt "engaged", I burried the inside rail at the top of the wave and became the Human Cannonball...The weight shift was always forward to keep going faster and on a few waves when I was going so fast it got bouncy, I pulled further forward still and that took care of the bounce,and revealed another gear...The goal is to go as far and as fast down the line before you get too far inside...No cutbacks today, just " burn, baby, burn"...

If I got behind a section, I race as fast and high as I could, then I'd drop to the bottom of the wave, add on some gravity enhanced speed, then lean hard into a never to be relased bottom turn...I'd release if I got back to the face, which happened more often than not, to my disbelief...I couldn't do that on my 13'5"...No way...The fins on the board aren't the ones in the picture...I made a pair of the old Lis style balsa keels...Lots of grab when you need it and frictionless when shooting straight...

The board is hollow balsa, with cork and ply rails, and it floats like a 7'egg..Good resonance with the balsa...The thing is s-decked with a domey deck / rail thing...Matt, you saw it at your place that day years ago...The rails have no hard spots...It being so short,I still can duck dive it and I'm sure that arm padlling is faster than kicking...Did I mention it floats like a 7' something...???...

I stood on it once but I did not dig it...Too twitchy of this old boy...But I got to thinking about it, and for flat out speed, laying down, legs out of the wave, has got to be the fastest....Significant waves, high line trim speed, little wind drag, and it feels like your going 120 MPH...

You can believe any or all of that or not...I know the truth...Prone, in good size waves is mind blowing...

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Thanks for the re-post Paul.

Very informative.

So the board was designed for stand up surfing but has shown its merits in the prone zone as well.

Anything you’d change on it after those go outs?

Uncle,

you prefer the thinner paipo style boards I believe.

Ever looked at more conventional boards for stand up surfing and seen attributes that would make it a good prone rider?

5

[quote="$1"]

 

Uncle,

you prefer the thinner paipo style boards I believe.

Ever looked at more conventional boards for stand up surfing and seen attributes that would make it a good prone rider?

[/quote]

Yes, but only for someone else. I started riding prone because I could no longer arm paddle due to an old neck injury. The injury also makes it very hard for me to duck dive boards with even average flotation so I have naturally gravitated to relatively thin wood boards(whose speed continues to amaze me).  

     Have you had a look at "Skiff's" boards over on Rod's site? His paipos are huge. One of the latest is 6' x 28" wide, x 3.25" thick......... 

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Certainly have.

he’s still using flippers too.

That’s a hell of a lot of board to go over the falls with.