whats a good longboard?

i'm thinking about a longboard for next spring/summer, but really have no idea where to start. i've been riding shortboards since i started surfing and as much as i ****ing despise guys sitting way outside picking everything off, i do think it would be fun to ride on a waist high day. noseriding and just walking the deck looks really fun also. im' 5'9 like 150lbs, any suggestions for some specs?

 

Man if you guys were from down here I could take you a few places that have sick sick deal right now.

 

if you're looking for a board to walk on, stability on the wave is your main concern. a singlefin is the best for cross-stepping. it holds much much better than a trifin setup because a trifin breaks up the water and doesn't draw a clean stable line through the wave like a singlefin can. another key feature for noseriding is rocker. get it flat. maybe a bit of concave in the nose, but the less rocker, the more stable. if you're just getting starting longboarding, the wider the nose the better. a wide nose, flat rocker singlefin that's above 9'6" is perfect to start walking on.

what i hate more than anything is when people buy longboards to turn. don't do that. if you want to turn, buy a 6'0". longboards are not for ripping, they're for flowing. besides, a nice long noseride followed by a long drawn out cutback on a heavy log is one of the most stylish things in surfing, as opposed to shortboard style snaps and pumps on a 9'0".

 

I thought you wanted to nose ride?
That board you posted is a "modern HP" board made for short boarding on a longboard.... ehhh. Oh, and I wouldn't ever want FCS for anything but sidebites on a lb, in my humble opinion. I need to move around my center fin. Even on my shortboards. I like to dial it in basedon the conditions. Unless it's a board that I'm more than familiar with, then I order them glassed in.

Conway had great advise, btw...

 

Amen!!!!!!

 

I have a 9'5" noserider and a 9' performance board for sale if you're interested.

 

If it is one of the Challenger boards from San Diego it could be hand shaped. I guess a lot of shapers are into the punch out boards. Can't tell from pics. Does any one know if some of the Challenger boards are from China?

 

Just by a Cooperfish and be done with it . Spend the 700-1500 for a new longboard that are probally the best longboards made

 

Cooperfish are more like $2000 Having ridden some, they are not for everybody and don't magically make you a great noserider. Overall I found them just hard to ride, even more than my heavy 9'10" 1963 D-fin Pig. Of course, some people ride them great.

This board is like $1000 new going for $600:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/spo/1465107511.html

 

Yeah a board Shaped by Gene will run you that much . You can get a Coop designs for that price which is a cooperfish but its plain jane , no acid splash or anything fancy. Same glassing and shape but a bit more plan

I wish I still had my 10'0 mello yellow. I loved that board and it perfomed well in all size surf. But hey when your outa work you gotta pay the bills some how. Still debating if I am gonna order another Coop or another Brian Wynn. Gotta wait til income tax time and redo my bathroom that I have been promising the wife for over a year now before I can order another board.

But yeah Coops have there little knack to be ridden dependin on how the board was glassed and shaped. It took me a good cpl of session to wire the Mellow yellow . After that the weight didnt bother me . I actually perfer and heavy board now , I do alot of foot work and I guess you could call me a Retro style longboader so I prefer that type of longboard

 

Noseriding

6', 190 looking at a 9'6" board sounds like you're oversizing things a bit. While length matters (in any number of ways) noseriding is more about bottom shape and outline than it is just size. It also depends upon how much time you actually want to spend on the nose, and of course how much that nose time slows you down on the wave.

 

Not really over sizing I am 6ft 175 and I have ridden longobards from 9'0 to 10'0 . I find the wider board with not a lot to no rocker noes rides very well . With the right size and style fin you can spend a decent amount of time out on the nose before you start to slow down and have to step back or stall on the tail to get the board back in postion to build your speed back up