so if you come to my home break in wrightsville beach and you see a bunch of guys on wavestorms yes the boards you get at costco and sams club you will drop in on us? well guess what we can all surf amazing on those and then we can go to a regular shortboards and still be able to surf amazing. so guess what before you should drop in on anybody you should first see them ride a few waves on any kook board. as i surf with a guy from hawaii he was born there total local surfed pipe and is even related to sunny garcia and he surfs a wavestorm during te summer before his surf class in the afternoon, and when he doesnt have a class he'll ride what ever board he feels like and is not afraid to chrage the big waves. so please before you drop in on anyone first see what their wave surfing abilities are.
Sometime Retro dont go out of style I am gettin my retro fish from Legend and it looks sick , I have seen a few of wynn too and I hear good stuff about his retro fish's also This is why a retro fish is a excellent board for the eastcoast in the summer/fall I sit there and cant help to laugh my ass off in the summer when I see you kid who bought the coolest $700 off the rack fad going paddle out and doesnt catch one wave. 3months later what do u see in the surf shop thats right his board. It almost a virus now with the new groms coming up the peckin order that your not "cool' or your a "kook" if you dont ride this type of board. What the reality is that the surfer who doesnt fall into the what is cool trick is catching more waves on his board cause its at his skill level. I am not knock those 700 dollar of the rack boards (lost , Ci Firewires ect) but i would say that 70% of the boards made from those companies are not made for our quality of waves.
Hey Lolwut, get a funnie or longboard. do your time on it. it pays off. you will be surfing for ever son so dont rush the important stuff. you skim, i used to. you are gonna learn so fast bro. what ever board you start with you will have in your quiver forever until you retire it as your first surfboard. bottom line is that surfers have quivers. start yours and let it grow as you do. LONGBOARDS/FUNBOARDS DEVELOP STYLE. remember that the next time you see a guy riding a shortboard looking like karate kid with a wide stance like hes going to mount a horse or something. you dont want that. longboards provide the most magnified approach to surfing. shortboards are tooo quick and fast and will prolong your development. just look at the longboarders. surfing saved my life, let it save yours
I have a Chaize twin fin 5'10 fish and love it. I definitely recommend getting a board from this guy. He's a local shaper from asbury park and makes great retro shapes like bonzers, eggs, and fishes. Without a doubt this guys what you're looking for. Also I'd look into al merrick if you're more into the new school stuff with an old school edge. They have a few cool boards like that like "the pod", the biskcuit, the fishcuit and the dumpster diver. They are all pretty rad, but also a pretty penny too. If you're into the newer shapes than go for them. Otherwise I'd say Chris Chaize all the way!
man..im as down with buying local shapes as the next guy, but i dont see your point ^^. You have no idea whether the guy your dropping in on bought the board, rented it, or is just riding a crappy 7s popout it for the hell of it. I wouldnt buy a GSI, but ive rented them on trips, paddled out locally on random popouts just for the hell of it. If you drop in on me for no reason other than what label is on the board im riding, you have issues.
not promoting the board, just the peace.... but have you ever ridden one? I rented a 5'10 superfish for a few days and surfed it in waist high to a little overhead playa grande. I grumbled a little when the kid handed it to me, but ill admit, its a decent board. Easy to get waves on and it handled OK. The board was never a limiting factor. Point being... you wouldn't have dropped in on me because of what I was riding, if you could even tell. Those boards have their place in the food chain, and im sorry that all of the kooks in your area are riding them. In vb the kooks are the ones on the $1000 "custom" boards.
Good point, how many of us have seen kooks on Al Merricks? How can you automatically assume people know how to ride based on their rig? Makes no sense... You can tell the talent of a surfer by how they ride not what they ride.
You right my comprehension skills got in the way reading OP 1st post then how you allowed your ego to run a muck knocking skim boarding when OP was reaching out with a very honest post about his ability, experience and aspirations. You missed the boat comprehending a new member being scolded by a seasoned member "don't give a crap about skim boarding". It very obvious you have issues with certain areas of surfing but how are you making it better knocking new posters and stating dropping in on riders with off brand boards. I have respect for those here who provide just outstanding advise and opinions for those who seek it just as much for those on the beach who help the less experience in spite of the type of board and ability. Just give it some thought about the bigger picture and not the narrow picture you have painted .
bonzers are not always retro...does this look retro to you? kook=barney=not a real surfer. in terms of the 7s superfish, the rider is a kook in the sense that, on some level, they're more interested in the price of their board than in supporting shapers who still shape by hand. it's the same mindset that resulted in the explosion of "big box" stores all over the country & the demise of the "mom & pop" shop. people are more concerned w/ saving a pennies than in supporting local craftsmen & women. & no, i've never ridden one of those boards. nor will i ever. when i travel, i take boards w/ me from my personal quiver. & if i broke every board in my quiver, i'd seek out a local shop & purchase a board made by a shaper from whatever country i'm in or a used board. i wouldn't rent a piece of chinese or tiwanese made crap. to borrow from a ricky carroll ad from a few years ago, "charlie don't surf. so why is he making your surfboards?" the options are there, if you choose to search them out. surfing is my life & everything else revolves around it. the more people buy pop-outs & boards made overseas, the less work shapers like brian wynn, jim barnes, tim nolte, scott busby, et. al. have. eventually, they'll close their doors & you'll never be able to get another board from them. the margin is already small. how much more slim can that get if they want to stay in business?
that's hysterical, b/c i'm a pretty open-minded person, esp. in terms of surfcraft. in fact, i'm fairly certain i have one of the more diverse quivers of any poster on here. admittedly, you will not find a skimboard included. as previously noted, it's not my thing. however, i believe that the fact the OP is a skimboarder is irrelevant to the type of board he needs to his stated ability level. hence, "i don't give a crap about skimboarding." if you choose to see that as my ego running "a muck," then that's how you choose to see it.
increasingly, Fish shapes are acquired and ridden around here for very questionable reasons. People not skilled enough to really ride a thruster, but somehow think they won't get any respect on a longboard or a bodyboard.
That all you see in the summer like a stated earlier. Groms or Kooks and the beach with the lates off the rack 700 dollar merrick or CI Fire wire ( basicly what ever is deamed cool at the time by surf media) . Then you see him paddle out and he get skunked on every wave he paddles for. Why cause he tired to walk before he could crawl. I guess my reasons are questionalbe then . I prefer not the drink the Thurster Koolaide. Nothing agianst ppl who ride thrusters or that type of board but, it just not what I am into and it dont agree with my style of surfing
If you're worried about riding a particular shape because other surfers think it's "not cool" or "lame", then you probably won't last as a real surfer. If you ride a particular shape because it's mainstream, then you are limiting yourself as a real surfer. But if you're not riding a shape because it doesn't agree with your style, then you have a legitimate reason. I totally agree that nobody knows local conditions like your local shaper. Most will probably shape you the best board for your local conditions. But, there's also a reason that shapers like Pavel, Christenson and Mabile have made inroads on the East Coast with their Fish shapes, as opposed to the "Pop-outs" that seem to be so popular these days. You'd be short-changing yourself without taking a look at what a real Fish shaper has to offer.
Yeah, I think its about each individual. Years ago, when the retro fish thing came back to the west coast, a core group of locals from here broke out the old fish and never looked back. Everyday. Every condition. Different styles, but they love it. In a lot of ways, its a more simple way to surf. They get more waves than normal, they make big mushy closout sections, yet they still stall out in a shallow reef. You can really ride those things in any condition you see fit, and you can make it look good. I am trying out new boards these days. I even long board sometimes, and I really get stoked having fun days on different equipment now. The fish twin fin retro fish I tried, I hated. It was like 7 years ago, on a waist high day in mission beach. Low tide, onshore winds. The thing would just ride towards the beach. But that is because it was a truely aweful day of surf. I made poor judgments on fish in general because of that session. But years later, I got a really good swell at the right spot, and then it clicked... Its like SUP baords. They arent meant for small surf. They are meant for big sh**. Then it looks good, then its fun.... And P.S. Not only is maui ruined, I counted 20+ SUPs on the cliffs 2 days ago.
Zach, I've ridden Mission low tide onshorey waist high and that has to be the weakest most crumbly wave ever. Its weird but I can totally believe the twinnie would suck in those conditions. Retro Twinnies need a bit of a steep wall to come alive IMO. I'm gonna be in La Jolla in March..lets surf!
it was to show that i have experience riding a wave, just very little experience paddling into and popping up. pretty simple to realize that.
Lets do it! Lets hope for a solid swell and meet up on the cliffs or LJ reefs. March is usually good. Tons of left over NWers from the winter, with pretty solid windswell. Keep in touch.
paddling into, popping up, & riding a wave on a board w/ fins is, IMO, only similar to riding a wave on a board w/out fins in the sense that each is riding a wave. saying that they're similar at all beyond that is like saying that bodyboarding & bodysurfing are alike. so it seems largely irrelevant to your needs as a surfer, but that's just my take on it. but what do i know? i'm just a dumb surfer...
