Discussing Roy's surfboard designs.

Yes it was, we had 15 people on board the bus, including out first grandson aged 3 months. Parked opposite the three level pole house which I built and lived in when first married in '88, Whale Bay has an incredible sub tropical micro climate, it's a gem of a place.

 

Duck diving big boards is not a feasible method, the correct way is to roll under, a technique which most who try don't do right.

That particular board has been out in head high to head and a half high waves but other boards of similar size and several feet bigger I've had out many times in waves three to four times overhead. Rolling under is very effective in such waves provided that the boards are not too light and provided that the rails have a shape which allows a very strong grip.

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The usual mistake is to grasp the rails too far forward, but it does depend upon the board.

A second big mistake is to lie under the board horizontally and/or to grip the tail with the feet.

In bigger surf I used to be able to get out the back when caught inside as fast or faster than shortboarders do, provided that the swell period was long enough ( say 11 seconds plus). In short period waves with size it's harder to keep up with the duck divers as it takes a tad longer to roll upright and get paddling again than it does when duckdiving. With sufficient gap between the waves the faster paddling speed of the longboard makes up for the extra time taken to roll.... but in either case most of the time no more distance is lost during the roll than it is with duckdiving, provided that the roll under technique is correct.


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Best not to grab the nose. or twist the board.

What happens when trying to drag the nose down is that unless you have negative buoyancy all you'll do is pull your body up... typically then the wave will get under the nose and flip you and the board you'll then cartwheel... that's the worst possible result.


The best way is to grip further back and drive the body downwards vertically to act as a sea anchor... if this raises the board at all the nose will be tipped downwards provided that you are holding the rails behind the balance point of the board. If the board is heavy enough ( say 15 to 20 pounds) then it won't be lifted up when you drive yourself down. It also helps to have some nose rocker so that when flipped the nose slopes down into the water, this prevents the wave from getting under the nose.

Also at the moment of impact if one is wearing a helmet the grip can be increased by pulling the board down onto the head.

The technique changes when paddling up the face of a breaking wave as the board needs to be punched through the lip, in that case it is vital to grip the board even further back and to thrust it outwards and through the lip, the board will punch through and then the nose will drop down the back of the wave and drag the rider through the lip. NEVER try to punch through the breaking lip be holding the board towards the nose as then the tail will drop, presenting a large area to the wave face... cartwheeling in the worst possible way is the result of this folly.

The technique which you describe is used by those who ride very lightweight longboards often with not much rocker, there's really no way to roll under a lightweight longboard well, particularly if wearing a buoyant wetsuit.


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To be honest I'm the only one who seems to know how to roll under correctly, I've ridden heavy leashless longboards of 10 to 17 feet long in some pretty big surf for many years.

The point regarding the rail shape is not correct however, most longboards ( except SUPs ) have suitable rail shapes, their main issue is that they are often too light.

 

I'm telling you how it is man, if your delicate sensibilities are an obstacle to learning then so be it... it can't change the facts.

Rolling under broken waves only works up to a certain undefined size though ( it depends on wave shape and power also). Really big waves can't be rolled but as i said I've rolled successfully countless times at 3 times overhead and sometimes at 4 times overhead. Punching through the lip when paddling up the face can be done in bigger waves though.

Have a good weekend.


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I'm talking about 18 to 24 foot wave faces, which many would call 10 to 12 foot waves.

Most of the boards used at places like waimea are too buoyant and light to allow rolling, and what they call 25 feet at waimea is much bigger than the waves which i am referring to.

 

Yes exactly.

I'm not suggesting rolling under waves that large, plus there's a major increase in power with those long period swells coming out of deep water... ability to roll under depends on grip strength as well as technique so when one reaches the limit that's pretty much it.

 

I see people bailing their boards at double overhead and less, it doesn't mean much.

18 to 25 foot faces at Waimea are probably at least 50 percent more powerful than the waves i've rolled under at the same size, so I doubt if I'd be able to roll them.