Old Surfers and Big Waves

Surprised that no one else suggested the mid sized surfboard for blue hairs (or no hairs in my case). That glide gets me outside faster and in the wave earlier especially if you are interested in snagging bombs. I find that any length board will ride short if you ride it from the tail. Hardcore shortboard dudes seem to have a tough time moving around on the deck of a bigger board, just have to get on the tail to set the rail hard and slide forward a little to pump her through long and fast sections. Let the board do more of the work, stay out longer, cover more ground w/ less horsepower, less stress on the drivetrain and less gasoline burned. Unless you are trying to pull young chicks then you had better get a corvette to do burnouts w/ or stick to whatever Matt Biolos is hawking this month. Seems that a really strong back makes a great shortboard surfer and a good breeder stud but having already swam upstream and spawned I need to get as many bombs as possible before I float to the surface and a bear consumes my carcass.

 

[video=youtube;aPVLyB0Yc6I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPVLyB0Yc6I[/video]

 

I agree. The short-short board thing will come to an end soon, as fad do. Remember the Kane Garden fishes--everybody "just had to have one". I never see one anymore.
There is ZERO you cannot do on a 7 ft board that you can do on a 5'8". board. Zero. But paddling out is always in your favor - you go over the wave easily as it breaks onto those struggling with the paddling. My smallest board now is a 7'6. Thickness just under my chest (Mike Baron of Byrne made it for me, custom).
just opinion, of course.

 

How much difference is the thickness in the tail compared to the thickest point?

 

Not sure exactly, but I would say about 1/2 inch, perhaps. I had another board identical to it without the extra thickness under the chest, and it was much harder to keep the nose from diving on every paddle stroke. This present board is one of my all time favorites. Mike Baron came to our local surf shop ( he does so every other year or so), gave me the opportunity to share my thought with him. This board I have had for about 4 years now; it is the 4th board he has made for me. Works for me, anyways.

 

as an east coaster (south east north carolina) i really never see conditions that i am uncomfortable with.

however, about 4 years ago i was having a great session and catching waves all the way to the inside where it would be meaty chest high shorebreak. it was summer and a really nice glassy day, low crowds, etc. i cut back and hopped and made it to the shorebreak and saw it was going to suck up nice. tried to take a high line and speed the 6'6 into a back door barrel.....board hung up and i fell onto my back about mid face...... no big deal just go over the falls and go with it. ended up bouncing off the bottom on my head and got a stinger.....almost went out (saw white, had tunnel vision). stumbled in and sat down.

made me think about that one for a while. newly a father with a family and all. ya know...i'm not really worried about hold downs, long paddles or big sets. but severing my spine in crunchy shorebreak....yeah, i kick out sometimes now.

 

I agree with Garbanzo's premise. I have thicker/wider with what is still a HPSB for me. I think you have mentioned that the aerial game in surfing is not surfing. You can't really say that you can do everyting on a 7'6" that you can do on 5'8". Outside of the air game, you may be right (although there are critical take offs and snaps under the lip that prove to be more difficult on a bigger board). In the vein of "bigger waves" surfing, as we discussed in the step up thread, it makes a lot of sense to go bigger. I have more fun on as short of a board as possible but I am sure as I approach 60 (or even 50 lol), that the volume will continue to accumulate.

 

My observations over the years is that more surfers sustain injuries in sandy beach breaks than out on reef breaks.

 

I'm not old or weak or anything like that, pretty much the opposite. And I'm at the age where I WILL integrate with machines so I don't plan on dying.

However, I will say that if you are only 60 and feeling old that's because you didn't treat your body correctly. You probably didn't realize how important it was to keep moving, and not just to keep moving but to treat your body like it was your temple. A gift from god. If you don't feel good just breathing and being alive you aren't treating your body right.

I know I'm not old or weak. But I have seen plenty of 60 and 70 year olds that are lean and mean, and wiry with dense muscle and tendons, real men that used their bodies as god intended and kept moving.

A prime example, I saw a documentary about amazon tribes recently. The oldest man in the tribe was estimated at about 65. He chased a monkey for half a day through the forest shooting it with poison darts. He had to climb more than 5 trees, each time over a 100 feet, to finally catch the 20 pound monkey. So when you say you can't go out and play in the water because you're too old, no it's not because you're too old.

 

Lol. You're not kidding about the socks.

 

+1 I'm more afraid of getting slammed in shorepound than a big wave in deep water. All of my injuries have been at sandy beach breaks. Never really had a problem at a reef break other than scraping up my feet.

 

Glad you're still with us dude, that sounds scary

 

That's why the amazon tribes live so well you see. No socks.

 

Yup, age modifies the experience; our boards to evolve. Even staying fit, our surfing evolves. My bias in boards has always been to favor narrower, thinner boards (perhaps due to my growing up surfing in PR), so the fatter thicker fish like boards were not my thing, and I did own a very nice fish, design by Larry Mabile, made by G&S. But i sold it recently. Anyway, you are correct about the "air" thing; agreed.
At 65, I remain overall fit, take no prescriptions meds, and am still am able to go out when it is plenty big (for me). That makes me happy, and makes my beautiful wife think I am..... insane.....

 

Have a friend who got temporarily paralized in similar conditions. He regained most of his facultys in a year but it did have some long lasting effects on his balance. Makes ya think.
Last year I was surfing shore break that was pounding when a wave sucked out and I couldn't kick out so I ended up landing in a sitting postion after about a 3 foot free fall. Landed on da boys so hard I thought I was gonna throw up. My freakin' taint burned for ten minutes. Later I realized I was lucky I didn't jam my spine. All it takes is that one time.

 

We can all infer from your post that learning to land may be a good thing, something that can save us months and years of agony. I try the belly-flop approach on sandy bars.......if possible, of course.

 

I can't argue with treating your body like a temple (as long as it includes some wine and smoke) but I hate to bust your bubble sometimes in life things beyond your control happen. Injurys, accidents, hereditary tendencys, cancer car accidents ect. I have known people at both ends of the health spectrum and the results have varied. Some people seem indestructable and others start falling apart after their 20s. It is wise to try and keep yourself in shape 'cause it does not get any easier as you age.

 

learn to land and proper sand reconne!

 

Fins seem to find my body in close outs, barrels, spin cycle, etc., luckily none to the head (yet), but my feet and torso have gotten it pretty good before, chicks dig scars right? My wife almost threw up when she saw the gash on my side from a year ago in PR, the damn ER didn't even give me stitches, just put some iodine on it and called it a day, I was like WTF is this mickey mouse crap? I was more concerned about my shoulder though so I didn't make a big deal about it. Yeah it's still nice and pink, feels like a piece of the fin is still in there! HAHA