[Aside: Just noticed, a “Wind in the Willows” fan Doc?]
I am indeed. Well spotted.
My father read it to me when I was young and my first log-on was ‘waterrat’ in university. Still messing around in boats…
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Simply messing
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Foe me, at least, life has imitated art- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | Project Gutenberg
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Read it in 5th or 6th Grade reading class in Rocky River, Ohio.
Loved it.
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You two are hopeless romantic’s.
. The world would be a dull place without people like the two of you.
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Update: I took the board out today, even tho its not completely finished. Its water tight, and I wanted to try it out.
Mixed review. 1st wave was fun and. I was stoked! But then I had a hard time catching waves after that. I learned a few things.
I haven’t ridden a prone board in years, and I was having a bit of trouble with being in the right spot for dropping in, its not the same as a surfboard. The wave needs to be almost breaking on top of you to catch a wave with this thing. I need to work on that.
Also, I didn’t wax it. The thing is slippery when wet, and I struggled at times to keep it from popping out from under me. I am thinking of modifiying it to scoop out the deck more, and maybe add a layer of cushion foam like the SUPs have.
When it got going, it was a blast. But I struggled to get it into the wave. The fins were comfortable, and I was never sure if I should be paddling it like a surfboard or kicking like a belly board. The waves were small and lacked push, so that didn’t help. But the main problem was operator error, I need to adjust to this new way (for me) of wave riding.
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The shorter the board the later the take-off…
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BTW Jay Reale instructed, for “bodyboard” take-offs, grab the nose of the board on the side you will be turning into the wave face and simultaneously kick with the fins and paddle with your free arm.
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Huck,
When I was riding my Morey Doyle closed-cell foam board in the 80s, I developed a late take-off technique for waves at my pier break.
Last summer, I started refining it for my BBs/Paipos at my local public pool during lap time before the pool opens to the public. I practice in the deep end. I merged my 80s method with the beginning of Jay Reale’s recommendation.
When the wave heaves up,
- I pull the nose of the board up
- Start spinning the board around with my legs and fins
- Shift from spin into a roll (a sort of spin-roll)
- Pull down on the front end of the board from/with the rails a bit forward of the widepoint/middle (using both hands)
- Grab the nose with one hand on the side turning into the wave face
- Start kicking hard when the board begins to cork back up
- Then go into Jay’s simultaneous kick/free-arm paddle.
I practice this sequence of moves, alternating the spin-rolls to the right and to the left, for 20 minutes. I do this twice per week.
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(chuckling) - ‘operator error’, my life in a nutshell. On the other hand, you don’t learn anything if it all goes ‘just right’. So, some suggestions-
Deck pad. Yep. Traction plus your ribs will thank you. You could make one I’m sure but better to buy it. the Cove Pad Guy was the best but he seems to be taking a break. Look on the Giant Internet Retailer of your choice for EVA foam boat decking, peel and stick, comes in sheets, assorted colors, patterns and what have you.
A little wax on your rails. You’re gonna be hanging on with at least one hand at all times, you’re gonna need grip.
Having that grip - use your fins. Late drops are where it’s at. But small, gutless stuff isn’t where you want to be. For days like that, I have a 7’0"- with a nice old Penn 700 series spinning reel and live bait.
hope that’s of use
doc…
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I added this blue, “flat” (brushed surface) HydroTurf deck pad to one of my first foam and glass channel-bottom BB prototypes. Cut the pieces from one their adhesive backed sheets (43” X 83”).
Decided to add nose hand-hold patches.
Far from perfect, but fairly decent for a first-time deck pad application. It did the job. I smoothed the deck-pad edges with a microplane. The pastry roller worked well for smoothing the pad down as I slowly removed the the adhesive backing no-stick paper. preventing air bubbles.
(I believe it was one of the Jimmy Lewis videos that had a slick trick for aligning the pad before pulling off all of the no-stick backing.)
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Another option rather than wax:
(But no significant rib padding.)
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Good stuff Huck, you’ll get there. It’s all a new learning curve. I have a vintage single fin Kneeboard I try and ride every now and then. It’s a whole different set of skills with paddling, positioning etc. Still haven’t managed to catch a decent wave and ride an open face!!! Keep the reports coming, you’ll get there!
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Exactly!! Thnx for the words of encouragement! Yes with this and also SUP I just want to ride a few waves but no no no its not that easy Lumiere, I gotta fight the learning curve all over again at 70 yrs old, it just aint fair!!
Ive been playing with piapos and bodyboards trying to get some prone stoke, but Ive had the best small wave sessions just belly boarding my longboards. No swim fins to deal with…etc. just the embarrassment of not getting to my feet. A new body would be nice😎
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My friend Roger (proneman on Swaylocks, rogerpronemankelly on Instagram does just that. He rides his longboards prone, I think some of his boards might even be customs made just ofor that. I don’t recall his age, but I think its more than mine, tho you’d never guess that from looking at him.
You do have a point, there is not so much of a learning curve just riding our same boards prone. I might do that, if my other avenues (SUP and bellyboard) lead to a dead end.
Meantime I cut some glass off and shaped some foam off this board, in line with my comments above.
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That looks WAY more comfortable!!! Hopefully this will help crack the code!
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Thanks, I hope so!!
The board is big enough volume wise to paddle it like a surfboard, I may not even need swim fins if I could do that. The problem was that it was so slippery (picture a wet bar of soap) that I needed both hands to hang on or it would squirt right out from under me.
So I could paddle a little on flat water, but on a wave face I was hanging on with both hands and kicking with the swim fins, and then I could barely stay on. And that was a bit of a problem because the buoyancy kept me pretty high, and the swim fins work best when you’re down IN the water, not so much on the surface.
Comfort wasn’t a big issue, but I’m sure it would be if I stayed out for a longer session. I had my paddle cushion vest on, I was doing ok.
So hopefully with the scooped out deck, and some cushion like the SUPS have, I can paddle with both arms. But even if I end up hanging on and kicking with the swim fins, this should still help me quite a bit with staying on the dam thing as its moving!
I really feel like I could have taken more foam out, but this is a pretty big chunk removed, so I’m gonna stop here and try it out this way. Its all experimental anyway at this point.
That all makes sense. Keep refining until you find the sweet spot then you can build a new one if required. I still haven’t tried swim fins with my kneeboard but I have the opposite problem where I don’t think there is quite enough volume, maybe that’s just because I’m used to a surfboard? Keep working at it, you may come up with a whole new take on prone riding?!
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