A while back a person asked if anyone had ever ridden a ‘‘riddler’’? I checked the archives and it still never seemed to get answered.Some time as passed and i was wondering if anyone has had a chance to ride one.i am thinking of putting an order in for one or having something like it built locally for next summer.If you have taken a spin on one please share your thoughts. Thanks
You’ll get more feedback, probably, if you also ask about the Jacobs & Velzy 422’s. Same outline & rocker & odd hips. The Riddler also gets a squared-off nose & a bigger concave…
There have been a couple threads about the above 3 boards over on the longboard.net forum if you want to do a search. Photos too…
Aloha,
I picked up a used Riddler in CA over Christmas. I was fortunate enough to be able to surf with Tyler on it before he converted it to a box and shipped it to HI for me. (Sorry, my wagon can easily fit a 10'0" but w/o the fin.)
It is a very unique board. Heavier than what I am used to riding. When you drop on this board you can actually feel the gravity pulling you down the wave.
Great noserider when traversing across the wave. Even in mush I can walk almost to the tip going across the wave, but the board really excels is steep long faces. Staying high on the wave I have been able to crash through just-breaking sections to continue with my nose ride. This is partly due to the momentum/weight of the board.
Turning from the rear is easy as it should be with everything he has put into the board.
While surfing with him at El Porto I remember a few things he told me:
1. Take off sideways and let the board slide down the wave as opposed to doing a bottom turn. El Porto is a beach break and that is especially true there. The nose is super flat for Hawaii boards. I follow that advise when I can here, but I am not always in super steep waves so I often end up a little further back on the board when paddling.
2. Stay High on the Wave. This works amazingly well as I noted above. He mentioned something about the board not performing well on the flat of the wave.
3. Also, don't be afraid to go to the nose. The board is designed to work from there, and on a long steep face it really does! Holds like a concrete sidewalk and able to turn while on the nose!
He said a lot more but those are the main points I picked out. Still working out the details here at home so I'll post more later if there is interest in an update.
let’s see some pictures!
