Hey all, Recently saw a post, with responses from all kinds, regarding quiver suggestions. Just wanted to offer some two cents, if it's worth that... First of all, we all love being in the water. The craft is to assist you in getting where you want to go. The question of what I ride, and only offering me one choice, is retarded. Think of a board in three parts, secondly. The entry, stance, tail. The first part gets you in the wave. Smooth medium sized wave? Maybe flat is fine. Big textured surf? Bet your ass you want a veep. Think of how boats manuever through chop. The second part holds your weight on the board (think of putting your hand under the board to balance it... on a short board that's where your front foot goes) and last is tail / release. Once you are up surfing, that's the main part of the board that's in the water, and doing most of the work for you. The key word is "work". You can surf any board in most conditions... but why? If a wave is 1-3 ft and soft groundswell... and jonzing to get wet, well a longboard or fish is probably more fun. My standard shortboard 6' 2" won't get me where I want to go. I'll be tic-tac-ing all over the place and end up frustrated. If a wave is 4-8 ft... no doubt that's the funnest scenario for most, and also most crowded. The observation to delegate which board to ride is how many people are out and what are the waves breaking like. Are they fast, and top to bottom? Are they soft shouldered walled up point waves? Is it all over the place and victory at sea? If it's top to bottom barrels, there should be minimal question for an average surfer. You need tail rocker, you need as much rail as possible to backdoor a wave. I don't understand why people take out twinnie fishes 5' nothing when it's double overhead. I've surfed double overhead reef breaks on a fish, and had more fun than you can imagine... but standing up and leaning into a wave with all for broke on your toes-- that's just physics at that point on. It's all about manueverability and practical application. If I'm trying to race as fast down the face as possible, with a midface line as the wave is sucking up... I want a harder rail, especially in tail and a longer board (step up if you will) that has concave to channel water faster. The rail I want is fully extended, nose to tail... so I think pin at that point. These are much looser boards, but built for that reason. Regarding bigger surf with softer faces, i.e. not top to bottom, it's all about release. If you want to to a cut back on a 12 ft wave, well... throw all the mentioned above out the window. For an average surfer, your board will skip all over the place because of the concave, and your turns will be off the lip snaps where you will lose all momentum if the wave has any juice. You need flat tail rocker, to hold underwater longer as you are turning. At least if you want to connect any rebounds and smoothly execute a turn. This can go on for a long stream.... but the basics are ask yourself: 1. how often are you paddling? you might need more foam than kelly slater 2. what are the waves like? 3. how can i negotiate paddling around all these people? Open up your mind, and you'd be suprised what follows.
