Body Boarding

I have some bodyboarder questions:

* Sand/rocks in fins (putting your fins on before you get in the water)... in all kinds of bodyboarder videos I see guys putting their fins on first then walking out; whenever I do this my fins get full of sand/pebbles and rip the **** out of my feet in the first few seconds of paddling, I end up having to take them back off in the water, rinse them out (+ socks if I have those on), and put them back on. How do the dudes in the videos deal with this? It can't be the type of fins because they all have the same fins as me (Churchill Makapuu).

* Getting out of the water in tricky spots. Similar question, do you take your fins off when still in the water? If so, what do you do with them? I sometimes go to a break in Baja that has an outer break but then has shore-break against rapidly-eroding, extremely steep ( like almost 45 degree slope) sand dunes; the waves are usually good sized there, so the waves go WAY up/down the sand dunes -- when you step on shore, you usually only have maybe 5 or 6 seconds to quickly climb 6+ feet up the dune before the next wave comes, knocks you off your feet and makes you roll back down. Climbing a steep sand dune with fins on is basically impossible. Unfortunately, especially if the water is a little chilly and my fingers are a little numb, and I'm tired/shaky/dizzy after a long sesh, my balance is usually not that good by then and it takes me more like 10-20 seconds to get my fins off so that I can try climbing the dune, at which point 3 waves have grabbed me and rolled me back down to the bottom of the dune, wrapping my leash around my neck and dragging me over the sharp barnacle-covered rocks underwater a few times.

If I take my fins off before coming ashore, I end up with fins super awkwardly in 1 hand, making me really slow in the water because I am trying to paddle with 1 hand / kick without fins...

I have one idea that like, in tricky spots like this maybe I should take the fins and leash off in the water, then thread the leash through the straps of the fins, then put the leash back on and just swim ashore with the fins floating on/attached to my board?

 

I walk up to where the sand is wet and put my fins on there...if they get full of sand or whatever I just do a little flush once I'm out. As far as the tricky spot exit thing...you could do what you said w/ the leash, idk, I just usually take them off and hop out.

 

The only other solutions I can think of are "never go out at that spot on a big day" or "if you do go to that spot on a big day, make sure you bail out of every wave perfectly and never get caught inside, then when you are ready to go in, swim/paddle half a mile south to where there is a little rip so coming ashore isn't quite so gnarly"... well, or just practice my escaping-from-the-washing-machine-when-caught-inside-on-a-big-day skills. You know, when you are trying to paddle out and duckdive every wave (and getting jealous of surfers because their boards hold so much momentum/paddle so much faster) but the timing of the sets is exactly wrong so as you make it farther out, the waves are getting bigger and bigger at the exact same time and all breaking right on your head, and then you **** up one duckdive and get swept back/lose the last 4 minutes of progress ...

 

Usually isn't an issue for me in New England as most of the spots I go to are beach break or have beaches nearby, so even during hurricane swell there is a nice flat shallow spot inside where you can just take your time pulling your fins off...

 

Ohhh another question: Board size. I'm a big guy (6'2", ~175 or 180lbs), right now my only board is very large (BZ Big Bruddah 45" -- comes up almost to my bellybutton ) which is great for being able to get enough floatation/lift to catch ****ty weak windswell waves; what should my next bodyboard be? I was thinking about going down to a 43" or a 42" for more maneuverability/control?

 

I'm about your exact size, and I ride 42.5 boards. 45 boards aren't going to be good for big or hollow waves.

 

If the 45 is right up to your belly button I'd say you could downsize but probly 43''...definitely need less board in bigger steeper stuff...I'm shorter than you but I have a Custom X Bull and absolutely love it...gives me enough float but still small enough to be very manueverable. PM me if you wanna talk specs.

Hey Swellinfo looks like we typed at the same time...there ya go epictetus, 42.5.

 

Cool -- specifically looking for a "winter" board, I know I like crescent tail, everyone seems to say PE is better than PP core for winter, although there is also this "EFC" core I see? I wish there were an actual like, bodyboard shop somewhere around the east coast (and not just like, surf shops that might have 1 or 2 42" EPS boards for $50).

 

Dude I hear ya on that...one of my dreams if I ever have the money is to do just that...not for profit, I wouldn't care if I just broke even, but I'd love to have a BB specific shop. As far as cores dude, I've been interested to get a PE for winter...my boards now are PP 1 stringer, my dk board is Arcel 2 stringer...idk how much of a difference there is, I know the PE will have more flex...maybe SI could weigh in here..

 

If you go crescent tail, you could prob go to a little bigger board, maybe 43.
I'm used to riding bat tails, which give a little more surface area.
Board width also plays a big role. I just bought a Hubboard 42.5, which is a narrower board then I was riding. Feels a lot different, but I'm actually liking it quite a lot for hollow stuff.

 

How bout cores SI? Do you have a PE for the winter? If so, do you notice a big difference?

 

I dont current have a PE board... But a lot of the PP cores are different, or at least the boards themselves in combination with skin, stringers, etc vary quite a bit in their stiffness. I think a PE core for the winter is a good idea. I like having some flex, and especially for steep waves on the bottom turn.

The Hubboard has a really nice stiffness/flex for me in warm weather. We'll see how it behaves in the cold.

 

Yeah I saw a bunch of the new Custom X boards(and others) with 'mesh' cores and such. I've had no issues w/ my PP in the cold, just wondering if Im missing anything. Cool to hear good stuff about the Hubboards...I was thinking about getting an Anomaly custom w/ a PE, from what i hear they do customs at a really good price.

 

I don't mess with customs anymore, because I could never seem to get the dimensions right. So, i just try to find stock boards that work. The Hubboards have the mesh in there, which makes for really good flex.

 

I keep wondering about a whole new board design. At 6'0" - 200 lbs. I've used everything from the old Morey Mach 7 to my current NMD 45". My idea is thinner with appropriate stringer to compensate the density. I don't need more float. I can swim, and my fins are my acceleration. If a bodysurfer can get lift from a McDonald's tray or even a old school Paipo board, then a Sponge that is thinner with denser foam/honeycomb design and properly placed triple strings (two in the tail and one in the nose, or what about parabolic nose stringers- I like my flex). Point is, with everything going on in surfboard design, I feel like the engineering going on in sponge design has become a bit stagnant. Then again, have board will shred. I even like using a 38 or 40". I feel foot thrust and and acceleration, as well as foot placement when on the wave, are far more important than the board you use, thus fin choice is what I feel effects my performance most. As others have state, smaller board equates better steep wave/deep in barrel position.

 

Have you guys seen Andre Botha's bodyboard tutorial? He cracks me up... but did make me think of things I hadn't thought of before (particularly that boards bend/flex slowly as you store them which can change their rocker). I also like how he says that good boards don't have any weird padding/bulbs/shapes on them but the sponsored boards with his name on them have all that crap.

http://vimeo.com/75206241

He has another one on "catching waves" which has a nice explanation of how to pick bigger set waves vs. smaller nugget waves and some discussion of how to pick up speed.

 

epictetus,
i realize customs are pretty expensive, but if you want a specific board for a specific condition, it's the way to go. have you ever heard of Ballistic board? pretty solid company based in Hawai'i. check it out (www.getballistic.com). the owner, Carlos Rios, is a real nice guy, and very humble. i have collaborated with him with making flowboards for the flowrider. to this day, the boards he had made for me on chlorinated water is still way solid, and it gets more abused than any ocean boards. if you have any more questions, feel free to pm me.
Aloha

 

Spunjer:
Yeah I'm not sure I am quite ready for a custom yet -- although if I had a laminating machine/access to one it would be kinda cool to try to make my own? The BZ is the first "real" bodyboard I owned, before that it was all cheapo EPS boards that would crease/break in any serious waves, so I don't really know enough about how different shapes/sizes/cores/etc ride yet to know what to get in a custom board.

 

You might want to try a thin stringerless EPS/epoxy paipo for the flex you want, experiment with thicknesses and whether you want to add a form of stringer (center or near rails). Talk to a shaper that understands EPS/epoxy options.

 

you know what i like sponging. im going to sponge up the ocean with my big old ****.