Long Boarders: Kick me some knowledge please

Haha. No doubt. Still waiting for a 10 footer to grace this stretch of coastline.

 

depends. Its very good training not too. I went leashless a lot in the summer in CA. There were numerous spots along the Sunset Cliffs where it was poor etiquette to wear one. You surf a place a few times and see that everyone is leashless, and you get it. Its like a penalty if you blow a wave. It takes you 10 minutes to swim in, get your board and paddle back out 300 yards... Its a cultural thing in most places. If you are surfing 48th st in OC MD in July, yeah I could see wearing a leash for safety and to protect your board, but out of hundreds of leashless sessions, I have never, not once ever put anyone in danger with it....

A lot of it is mental too. Its great training for competitive surfing. I did a couple summer comps when I was 25 and 26 and weeks leading up to it, I would try and go without a leash, because it trains your mind to operate different with regards to commitment. Its easy to try and boost an air reverse off a closeout section with a leash on. But there is definitely a naked feeling you have without the leash, where you are way more dialed in to actually sticking the trick instead of going as big as you can. Its a great tool to work on the very technical side of things. Cause even in a charity comp or whatever you are surfing in, if you blow a move, you lose your score.... Same thing applies in free surfing. The goal for me in any free surfing session is always to finish the wave and stick your landings. Nothing worse than coming out of a barrel and doing a layback snap and falling...

Try going out and doing a bunch of layback snaps without a leash. By the end of one day of it, you will have mastered it and understand the full commitment level of the trick...

With that being said, I never use a leash on a longboard unless it huge out. How can you cross step and turn backwards on the nose and do all the fun stuff on a longboard with a leash. We used to go out on the cliffs and do the paddle in shove it, fins out, let the fins catch, board spins and then you ride out... Can't do that with a leash.... Just youtube some of your favorite longboarders. Tudor, whoever... They never have a leash on...

I agree with the concept you have of safety, but brother, I am also not out there blowing drops and stuff. On a typical longboard day down here, I will paddle out with dry hair and a couple hours later leave with dry hair. Sometimes I will dive in to cool off, but its not a really difficult scene down here with regards to surfing.

 

Haha, well, as sad as it sounds, we were graced with about 1.2 @ 8 seconds yesterday evening. I got out about 3 bours before high tide on the new LB. The waves were NOT good, but they were plenty surfable. Consistent waist to stomach.... Took me a couple waves to get my mojo going. Getting the balance points right and the fin... The first hour or so I was out, I felt a considerable about of Drag/Lag and it felt like it was from the fins more than anything. I would paddle in and as I would transfer my weight to turn the board down the line, there was a bit of a delay. It felt like a combination of a gutless wave, and the huge fin with the side fins dragging. As the tide came up more, and there was the maximum amount of power, I really got loose on the thing and started having a blast. The last few waves I got were without a doubt, 200 yards +. all the way to the sand. turning, floating and noseriding on the inside section...

So all in all, once I got used to the volume and the board in general, I had it dialed in.... What I will say is that I am going to try two different things, that I think will match my style a little better. First will be taking the side fins off and trying it as a single fin, as you boys suggested from the start. The second setup will be to put the fins from my fun shape on there. They are just standard fins, kind of like FG7's, the larger standard fins. On the funshape and stuff, that setup really feels like a shortboard setup through turns... I will play around with the single and the thurster....

But for sure on such a small day, I could feel that big arse fin dragging substantially. I could see if there was some more size to it, that fin would lock in through bottom turns and build up some torque, but on a day like yesterday, they key was turning down the line, getting up a lot of speed and going from there. Once she got moving fast, she was turning quite easily. In a couple of hours, I easily had 30 -35 waves... I was gassed afterwards.... Saw a BUNCH of little tiny sharks the whole time again. Bastards.

Ohh, and I didn't notice until I had paddled out and flipped the board over to inspect the fin, but the 9" middle fin was placed in the center for the box. There was a good two inches above it and below it. And you guys ALL told me rock that thing up all the way.

 

Yeah, no doubt. I will always be partial to the SB, but I would be kidding myself to think I can ride a HPSB round here more often than not. So I am definitely glad I am in a place with a more open mind than I would have had, say 5-6 years ago....

And also, the last three waves I got last night were BY FAR the longest rides I have gotten in the two years I have lived here. I was out with two buddies, I mean, by the time I hit the beach, I looked back and my homies looked to be about 1/2 mile away from where I took off. I called it a legit 200 yards, but it was easily that. I only got on the nose a few times throughout the whole session, but I chalk that up to the lackluster surf. I really only had a few times where there was a solid face and I was locked in to it enough to walk all the way up. I was messing around with walking up to the nose on the mushball inside on a few bad waves, but there just wasn't enough "Umf" in the wave. I got my right foot up to the front and I could feel it about to pearl, so I called off the dogs... But once I got a good section and I had some speed, I felt the tail lock in the wave and it gripped enough for me to get all 10 on the front.

Either way, super fun. Excited to keep playing around on it and get my style dialed in more than anything. I had happy feet the whole time, just adjusting constantly to find the sweet spot. You know, going into a floater with feet positioned a certain way, then having to shuffle in the middle of the floater, then tip toeing after the landing.... Doing crazy maneuvers on a SB is incredibly hard, but getting a legit style and groomed technical side of longboarding will give me plenty to do in the near future.

But for now, I will just mess with the fins and see what the deal is.