So... Should I buy a longboard or not?

take everything you read here w a grain of salt. if you are good enough you may not need a log. i don't know how assateague looks as a break, but unless its like absolute mush and like less than a half a foot, by me (5'10 145ish) i use a 5'6 firewire quadfish(the thinned out version that still has like 30 some liters in volume) and that at the very least allows me to ride the waves if not pump and most times do like 1 maneuver if its not completely and i mean absolutely gutless. i take the back 2 fins out and between the volume and looseness its fun in anything. also if you put the back 2 in and take out the front 2 i found it has just the right hold for better stuff. all 4 fins was way too tight in anything i almost sold the board immediately when i first tried it. logs aren't always the answer but you have to be prepared bc you really have to work for anything w a short super wide board like what i said in the really really small stuff. anything over a foot and a little shape and it flies with ease though and pumps so easy without the back fins.

 

try to take out the front or back fins and prepare to loosen up the board for those really small days and have even more fun

 

try to take out the front or back fins and prepare to loosen up the board for those really small days and have even more fun

 

am currently doing this with a 7/2 advance by firewire. yes, it does what you say but no, it doesn't
nose ride well.

 

Assateague does remind me of a lot of days down here on HHI. I have never scored Assateague when its great, so I am not saying it doesn't get good, but if that is your primary surf spot, no matter what your shortboard/fish/quad and fin setup is, you will be surfing some pretty "gutless" days. It can be done, but man a couple pumps into a 4-6 inch floater is not my idea of excitement. I went 10 years without rocking an LB. I was so in shape that I could shortboard a 4 inch, gutless piece of slop and still manged a pretty substantial tailslide/cutback on a HPSB.... But man, unless you weight 140 pounds, I can't imagine a scenario on any kind of shortboard when its ankle-knee high.

I have been glad that I pulled out the sharp eye down here on quite a few waist high days, just cause the conditions lined up and I was able to swing the tail around through some turns... But man, on most waist high days in gutlessness, good luck....

Thats why you will see me with two boards at the beach EVERY TIME! seriously. Since i moved here, I ALWAYS bring two boards and walk them out to the sand. Leave one, in sight near the dunes...

Even during Sandy, I went from my 5'8 SE Disco for about two hours... The offhore wind start picking up more than what I liked, I was getting hung up on the lip through some turns and on the face, so I switched out for the quad fish and it was the perfect call...

On other days, I will bring the fish and the LB... Go out with the fish, realize that it's not really lining up and that I am waiting too long for decent waves... Bam, out with the fish, in the with LB. Like I said, its a numbers game....

Only time I think it's a good idea to be out there groveling in knee high stuff on any kind of shortboard, is if you are involved in competitive surfing. If there is a chance, that you will have to compete in a SSB contest, like the one up in Folly last month, in 6" to 1' surf, then yeah... you better practice. But even the best of surfers can look silly with the wrong equipment.

Depends on where you live too. Zippy, if you live out west, your ideal of gutless and someone else s may mean something really different.

 

If he's in Vah Beach he's probably talking about Assateague near Chincoteague rather than the Maryland side. Either way it's pretty much a mushy longboard beachbreak wave that works best at low tide. When OC closes out with a macking swell, Assateague is the go to spot, but the paddle out can be a bear, especially for a flounder on a longboard.