Has anyone made a kneeboard for small, crappy conditions?
I now live on the North Sea, so its not the best for surf period.
Obviously the flexspoon needs more power than we get here
Has anyone on the Great Lakes / Sea of Japan / North Sea / Med made anything for small waves
I need all the help I can get.
Hi Simon,
You might want to have a look at some of the contest boards that are being used - they tend to be in the 6’6" x 23" range for the marginal ‘waves’ that are typical of contests.
Myself, I’ve found that wind waves here ( on the other side of the Atlantic) can be plenty steep enough to push a standard ( shorter) kneeboard but the sections are awfully short.
hope that’s of use
doc…
Hi Doc,
Are you making boards around the 6’ mark?
Simon- look into the design on this board: http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=756428 I have a kneeboard built around the same principle: really thick with lots of release in the tail area. It works insane. The waveskate even has a concave deck. -Carl
Simon,
I’ve had this kneeboard in the water several times now. First wave of first session was a solid 6’ barrel, held the high line well, got blown out with both arms straight out. Every session since has been in chest or smaller, but pretty clean. It works great in the small stuff too. plenty of thickness to float(powered by UDT’s though) turns nice, good tail release. I think the first wave was probably a fluke, as it seems to be much better suited to small, clean waves.
Consider a short, wide fish, keel for tubes, quad for release…or maybe the oz style boards like what parkes makes. those boards seem to have a wide operating range as well. good luck
http://www.swaylocks.com/…oard%20stoke;#256725
edit: consider Doc’s post below as gospel. the only complaint i have about my board is that it’s too thick. easy to duck if i’ve got lots of time, but not so hot in short-period swells. my next board will be 4’6x23x2"
Hi Simon,
Well, of late I have been avoiding the less-good days, and I am using a pair of 5’4" Romanoskys, one quad and one tri. I run about 1.75 m tall and around 80 kg. With the UDTs and glassed on fins I am mostly happy with them, and on short if steep sections, say 1 m and higher faces, I can get away with it pretty well on a board that size. Plus they work well in more lined-up waves. More dimensions ( in US units, sorry) here
Now, I said ‘mostly happy’ with the 5’4"s - one thing that I am not that happy with and something that you might want to think about is floatation. At around 6 cm or more thick, I think they float too well, and I have to either paddle around or do the surfboard-type duck dives when caught inside by a set or a peak in a funny place. I would be perfectly happy with, let’s say, 4 cm thick, no more than 5.
You may want to go with a thin board, as those short-period, steep North Sea waves won’t give you a lot of time to duck dive, instead you may find it a lot easier to just power with your fins and push down under, submarining the board under power instead of wrestling it as the surfboard guys do.
Much like Carl Olsen has been describing in http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=256971; - I found that on thin boards I could push down on the nose, holding onto the rails, dive the board and flatten my head and body close to the deck and then lever off my elbows to bring the nose back up as the wave went past to come back up, kicking hard all the way through. It’s really a paipo technique, but it adapts well to a thin kneeboard.
You do wind up doing late drops as a consequence, staying where it’s steep and fast rather than working out on the flat, but …heh…I don’t count that as a drawback at all. For me, that’s a positive rather than a negative.
Anyhow- some things to think about -
hope that’s of use
doc…