I once saw a guy riding a very flat longboard. Almost no rocker. I couldn’t see hardly any curve in it at all. It looked very flat and tabular. Maybe 9’; not quite as long as I’ve seen before.
It also didn’t have extra volume at the nose for nose riding.
It seems it was all out for small waves and it was working great. He managed to catch a lot, lot more than the rest of us and I for one was jealous. Turns were easy and he did managed to get forward for a bit at a time.
In general I got the impression that it was a well made, professionally done board.
I can’t remember the fin(s) though… It was a while a go.
I’d like to recreate this board. I’ve never seen another like it.
It wasn’t the board. You just encountered a jerk being a wave hog on a longboard. Don’t be that guy. Don’t be envious. Call him out and block him next time if he gets out of line. There are already too many of these assholes on the water.
Wow Mako, harsh response. Didn’t say he was paddle battling or hopping anyone. When I go out long boarding, I’d like to say I catch more waves then anyone around me, but I do it respectfully, and give waves up freely. I’ll just catch waves that others can’t paddle into or catch, due to proper equipment and dedication.
Lots can be said on that first comment but I’ll skip that for now.
Thanks for the photos. Yes, those are wave catchers for sure. Not in the same ballpark as the one I saw. This was shorter at maybe 9’ and was a bit more curvey. It looked like a competition board… But flatter than anything I’ve seen before
My go to “longboard” for waist high and under point surf is only 8’ long. It has a fair bit of volume. It is a roundtail with dropped, soft rails through the middle and hard edge at the tail. Nose is thick and wide with down rails. Toilet seat nose, as they’re called. I can knee paddle it and I weigh about 145. I usually catch a wave with two strokes, sometimes one, or even none. On a typical day I will catch more waves than SUPs that are out. Why? Because I know how to surf and how to position myself. 50 + years of catching waves leads to efficiency in technique.
Very flat 9’+ longboards paddle very fast even with little thickness, and force the rider to walk the board more to fit in into the wave face and require much more user input to turn. not very user friendly, except for paddling speed.
Forced traditionalism, rather than those butt waggling and shuffling their 9 foot well rockered shortboards, and using the paddling advantage to think they rip while relying on their leash to not drown and insulting each wave they ride.
Might want to try a low rocker 9+ footer soft railed board before deciding to make one. It is a different type of longboarding at the most opposite extreme of modern shortboarding. Switching from one to the other takes some time for the hangover to subside.
My most recent board was built with smaller waves in mind. It’s longer than the one you saw, coming in at 10’6". 8" square tail and 17.5" nose. Hips behind the mid point. It’s pretty thick in the nose with some concave. It catches anything even at high tide, trims down the line smooth and can float me on the nose even on tiny waves.
A while ago I experimented with very flat rockered boards. I went as low as 2 1/4" in the nose and 1 3/8" in the tail on a 7’ 6" board. I have several 8’ boards with just under 3" of nose rocker. I usually add a slight concave under the nose and try to keep the bottom flat. I have more than a handful of boards made from a 3" thick slab of fom, so all of them have nose rockers that are at best only 3", but I try to keep a smooth even curve all the way through, so the tail usually has about 2" to 2.5" of rocker. The tail rocker will help for turning.
I love the way they paddle and they glide through flat spots on waves really well. The flatter rocker is great for small or weak waves and smooth water. They are not good for waves that have steep take offs, or choppy water. I’ve ridden my flatter rocker boards in overhead surf and on choppy days, and I’ve had my share of being tossed off the board when the nose digs in.
I’ve included a shot of the really low rocker board, and a shot of a board I did about 10 years ago that was lees than 2’ thick. Not sure what the rocker ends up being, but the smooth curve made it a really good board. I gave it to a friend a while ago. I think the smoother curve is more important than the flatness. My brother has a 10’ board that seems to have a flat rocker, but it’s almost 6" in the nose. The length of the board and the smooth curve makes the rocker seem much lower. That board is a really good board, but a little too big for me.
Came in @ 25 pounds…10 ponds less than the one I keep on Oahu above…
