So, just when you think your quiver is full and you have something for anything the Atlantic can throw at you, you get caught in a situation, where afterwards you think, man, I bet you it would have been even more Epic had I had the "right stick"... This has happened to me on a few of the bigger hurricane swells with strong offshores. Here is the deal: On most days, I am on the 5'7 fish. If it gets chest plus, I break out the 5'9 sharp eye disco (Dumpster Diver kind deal, thruster). If the winds are light and it gets over head, I will take out a 6'1 - 6'3 round tail, thruster (plus ones).... Obviously, the Long Boards when its waistish.... But here is the deal: Same thing happened during Sandy... I brought the Disco and the Fish, same with Arthur. Start on the SB. Getting some pretty good ones, getting nice turns in... The waves themselves aren't hard to get in, regardless of the shortness of the board... But my issues are with these 15-20 Knot offshores... About an hour into these bigger swell sessions, I get help on the face throwing cutbacks and anything chest or under is just useless. Not enough power, the wind just hold the little SB up like a sail... So then, I inevitably grab the fish, just cause it has more girth... Not the turn on a dime kind board, but I can still get loose... So, The only good barrels I have really gotten down here in the SE is on my fish... But I can feel, inside the barrel that the board really isn't designed for these kinds of conditions. I feel like the big swallow doesnt lock into the barrel all that well and it kind of stalls some... Mix that with the quad setup and it usually takes me a couple tries to get dialed in and be able to stay back in the pocket and go in and out.... So, with all that said, I need to figure out what the "right board" is for these HH to a couple feet OH days with the strong winds. Cause really, it results in nothing but barrels... So, what is the "go to" barrel board with strong offshores.. What designs and why? I am thinking almost a fish, not maybe as wide, but with a rounded tail and a thruster might be the call... My fish has the wearwithall to get into the waves, maintain speed, fight through the wind, but then in the barrel, it just gets a little squirly until you lock your line in and get your speed back. I don't need anything with a ton of length, cause it maxes out a few feet OH and I have no problem getting an angle, even on a really small board to get in them... But once that wind catches you on the face, its different.... What boards are you guys using when you know its going to be blowing hard offshore and holding those lips up... Of course, when you come out of the barrel, you want a board capable of at least getting a roundhouse in... But I am more concerned with finding a board that holds up in the pocket better and can fight the wind... Also, its harder to take a quick, high line and get right in under the lip and backdoor it on a fish.... I dont need a big wave board. I need something that can beat the wind and take a good line and keep speed in a barrel.... On the west coast, all my HPSB's accomplished this, but we had dead wind all the time. Not raging offshores.... I would just take a different length of board, based on the size really and they could get barreled, throw big turns and still be light enough to go air born, basically able to do it all.... Well, those boards just don't work around here on heavy, barreling days. They are like riding a piece of loose leaf... What do you boys rock during conditions like we just had? The local shaper here gave me some advice, but it was for an all around board here, and it still has a swallow, I just feel like those swallows don't do well up against the wall when you back into the tube.
It sounds like you need a "rock-up" type board. They generally have a wide point forward that shortens the nose while still giving you enough rail line. Also, It has a rounded pin which is what you want, especially for barrels. I would get it with a tri-quad converter. The rock up will give you the fish feeling with the performance of a short board/step up in good waves
Just Sayin Ando's Fish with a pin tail (Hypto Krypto) Works pretty good in tubes. http://www.haydenshapes.com/page_var184
The Fish was designed with San Diego waves/barrels in mind, im pretty sure you know this Zach. So it would work. How big are you Zach? A 5'7 fish is a big hunk o' board (if its a true fish, not some swallow tailed shortboard they call "fish" these days), so it is apt to catch in the wind. And you are probably gonna slide out a bit trying to drop sideways into a barrel, due to the wide tail. I'd check out the Bing "Dart" thats what im thinking im gona model my next barrel board after. The Pin tail helps that thing cut into the wave face straigh off the drop.
The Roberts black thumb is good similar to rockup. Also, the roberts dream catcher is good. The black thumb is more of a hpsp that needs rider input but isn't held up in the wind. The wind doesn't affect the dream catcher which catches anything but the dream catcher does most of the work with less rider input.
The Roberts black thumb is good similar to rockup. Also, the roberts dream catcher is good. The black thumb is more of a hpsp that needs rider input but isn't held up in the wind. The wind doesn't affect the dream catcher either which catches anything but the dream catcher does most of the work with less rider input.
Don't confine yourself to thinking about shape. Once you get into OH sized surf, a little more weight is nice to have... especially with hard offshores, which we get almost every sizable swell, winter and summer. I'm a big EPS/Epoxy fan, which makes for incredibly light, strong, responsive boards. But for OH surf around here I go back to traditional PU/PE, and it feels great. Consider asking your shaper for a denser blank, substituting a layer of 6oz for 4oz on the deck, gloss and polish... or any combination of the above.
" My fish has the wearwithall to get into the waves, maintain speed, fight through the wind, but then in the barrel, it just gets a little squirly until you lock your line in and get your speed back. I don't need anything with a ton of length, cause it maxes out a few feet OH and I have no problem getting an angle, even on a really small board to get in them... But once that wind catches you on the face, its different...." "I feel like the big swallow doesnt lock into the barrel all that well and it kind of stalls some... Mix that with the quad setup and it usually takes me a couple tries to get dialed in and be able to stay back in the pocket and go in and out...." Campbell bros. Octafish http://bonzer5.com/boards/models/octafish/
I am 5'9, 160ish right now. It is not a "true SD fish". It is more of a hybrid shortboard fish, but it has the fishy rails and huge swallow on it. My shaper made it for me custom in SD... And it works like a dream on those waves, but like I said, offshore wind usually comes in the winter there and its usually much bigger out than to bring a fish.... But in SD, I would also never ride the fish at a HH+ beach break. I had 10 other boards that were better fit for that. The fish was for chest high beach mush and smaller days on the reefs.... And yeah, the wide tail and rail config going to the tail definitely makes for a tricky side drop... The big problem I have, is that yes, those high lines to backdoor a lip are hard to take on the fish, and the only real way to have smooth transition into the barrel is to drop in, straighten out (almost aimed back at the beach), stall a bit and keep a very precise line (45 degrees or so), that is when the thing will lock and and hold the barrel line, but if you stall too deep into it, the tail doesn't react quick enough. It can get a little help up in the back and that can lift your head up into the lip..... And if I am out on the face and I try and reduce my speed with a line take more horizontally on the face (the way I typically would on a SB) with a simple little stall, the thing gets squirly. Not sure if the quad fins don't like to be slowed down on the face like that, or if it is just that tail shape that conflicts with the face.... But when I use the standard HPSB approach to reducing speed to tuck in, while the barrel section is right behind you, it just doesn't want to hold the right line. It usually okay to straighten out a bit to get INTO the barrel, but as soon as you get tucked in, my natural reaction is to want to get the board hoizontal to speed back up and eject and this is where the fish just doesn't like it.... Don't get me wrong, I love the fish, but it works well in mushier stuff where a real vertical, up and down or barrel approach is not really in the cards.... Again, my barrel riding techniques were developed in different waves, without a lot of offshores... Most of the WC barrels, unless I was at a slab reef, are to high speed kind, where you basically drop quick, take a pretty shallow bottom turn and basically maintain a lot of speed and then just get back on the face. Kind of like racing next to the lip and then just with an ankle tweek, while going very fast, getting back under the lip. From there, on a HPSB, its pretty easy to slow down, speed up, check speed etc. in the barrel.... Like I said, its just a different technique. I get it. I got a handful of really nice barrels on Thursday, I just feel like I left quite a few out there and if I had a board better suited for those conditions, I would have spent more time under the lip then not. Here are two pics of the fish. Sorry I don't have a better shot, but I am at work and these are the two I had on my phone.. So, aside from fighting the wind, its really a matter of getting a board that can hold different lines.
I remember you posting this pic a while back. What's the volume like? Can it hold up to the wind. Looks kinda potato chippy.
they wont post the volume on their website. there is a tab/column for it but no info posted wtf?. kinda pisses me off. let me present to you the following points: 1. more volume than a regular thruster 2. is still a thruster so you don't have to wiggle it/skate to get going like on a fish 3. no slow drawn out turns 4. this board is $520 (not a bad price for a off the rack board)
