How Do You Choose A Surfboard?
Why do you ride what you ride?
Is it mostly a case, as veteran board builder Grant Miller has asserted, of being a victim of marketing? Of swallowing the Kool-Aid and riding the latest of what fellow veteran Chris Brock calls “fashion boards”? Or is there a deeper, more considered set of factors in play?
We've heard the shapers' perspective from Grant, so I offer the following surfers' perspective. One amongst a multitude and with no claim to universality.
Blank slates ready to become whatever you want them to be
When I started on a small sand island in southeast Queensland there was no surf culture and precious few boards. You came in on the end of the line, at the bottom of the food chain and begged the next guy up for first dibs on his board when he sold it. In my case, I was lucky: My mate, still my best mate, passed on a 5'5” single-fin for fifty bucks. A single-flyer pintail which he obtained from the best surfer on the Island. It was an advanced craft for its time. Made by South African Tony Cerff under Roy Meisel's Bare Nature label in Byron Bay.
Different economic era of course, and that scarcity enforced the famous Terry Fitzgerald maxim: First you build your style around your board, then you build your boards around your style.
We didn't have any choice in the matter, as I'm sure a lot of kids growing up back then didn't. A very far cry from the current post-COVID surplus of inventory.
Luck was on my side by the time I was able to break out of that long period of ride-whatever-you-can-get-your-hands-on scarcity. My first customs were in the pre-Slater era when late-eighties shortboards were incredibly user-friendly. There were no models. You went along to a shaper's shed in some dingy industrial estate, parked up next to the panel beater or mechanic, and had a brief chat. There wasn't much to it; mostly the shaper sizing up your size and weight by eye, estimating whether you could surf or not, and scribbling ballpark dims on an order form. Because the boards were so user-friendly - generous foils, flatter rockers, easy-handling bottom contours, and plenty of length - it was hard to go wrong. You were merely riding the incremental improvements that came along with surfboard evolution. I never got a bad board using that method. Sure, I had to chase Dominic 'Zappa' Wybrow through the nightclubs of Surfers Paradise to find out where my board was, but it was magic when it (finally) came.
The broad timeline of surfboards from Olo to modern shortboard. It wasn't until the early-nineties that surfboards used by rec surfers and pros deviated.
The Slater era ushered in an abrupt discontinuity in that steady trend of evolution. Most recreational surfers went backwards on low-volume, heavily-rockered surfboards that offered up unreliable handling and extreme difficulty of use in exchange for radical manoeuvrability.
Were we sucked in by marketing? Absolutely, to an unholy degree. But we weren't alone. The surf media flogged us these “advancements” and the shapers themselves would do well to examine their consciences. They made the things after all. There is plenty of blame to go round.
Each surfer escaped this prison of dysfunction in their own way. I spent seasons in Hawaii and after riding 7'6” Bushmans and 8'0” Rawsons and 9'0” Brewers, I simply could not ride potato chips anymore. I sailed home across the Pacific with a 6'9” Bushman as a single-board quiver. Upon returning to the Northern Rivers I ran into Geoff McCoy and before I knew it I was riding wonderfully functional full-volumed shortboards that worked in anything.
My purgatory was over. I could ride a shortboard again.
Credit who you will: Litmus, Tom Curren, Derek Hynd, Geoff McCoy, or any of the hundreds of hardcore local shapers who continued making functional surfboards, but we did collectively kick out of the Slater-era malaise. Alternative boards popped up like mushrooms, variants of the San Diegan fish mostly. Flatter rockers, easy to paddle, plenty of inbuilt glide and speed from a more evenly distributed planing area.
These elements were eventually incorporated back into the modern shortboard. The mainstream surfboard became functional again for the non-professional surfer, even if the dimensions chosen were often woefully inadequate.
The orthodox thinking is the surfboard industry has been relatively stagnant for decades. That view would have to overlook the convulsions of 'tech' boards which attempted to usurp the market dominance of the PU/PE surfboard and its mostly cottage business model via outsourcing to Asian factories which can produce boards for a lower unit cost via cheaper labour and economies of scale. The tech boards were marketed as a superior product, and a for a period during the early/mid-2000's it really did look like the cottage industry model with its beloved local shapers would undergo the type of disruptive destruction similar to what Uber did to the taxi industry.
It never happened. The market share plateaued and then dropped as surfers found the drawbacks of the new tech equalled or outweighed the advantages. Performance was a problem. EPS/Epoxy didn't offer the reliable handling of PU/PE. Dings were a nightmare if the EPS was exposed to water ingress. Innovation with materials continues but the process no longer threatens an extinction level event for the PU/PE surfboard.
But we've strayed from the premise of the essay - how do you choose your surfboard?
It's a maze out there. Marketing, models, tech boards, alt boards. We've moved immeasurably beyond the days of dusty, shirtless shapers telling you they would make you a 6'3” and it would take a month.
For some it remains a careful process of evolution and improvements with each iteration of a board as part of a custom collaboration with a trusted shaper. In a conversation with my colleague Stu he said he found it inconceivable not to conduct this process of constant evolution with each new board.
I follow that pathway when it comes to step-ups and guns but when it comes to what our American friends call daily drivers I like a more Catholic approach. I'm happy to run down various design rabbit holes in search of different feelings. I keep a working quiver of Bonzers for when the mood strikes. Basically single-fin dominated hulls that support Terry Fitz's maxim. Contra that philosophy I found I loved twin and trailer set-ups with that classic MR template and modern bottom contours.
None of those inquiries into different designs came at the behest of marketing campaigns. I got into Bonzers after meeting Davey Miller in Hawaii and being subject to his Bonzer evangelism. Twins and trailers followed after seeing guys shredding the point and wondering how they were getting so much easy speed.
“What are you riding, mate?” has led me down many fruitful paths.
Freedom of choice in the surfshop - you better know what you want.
Marketing has definitely loosed the plastic at times. JJF's 2017 blitz at Margaret River on the Ghost put me on the Pyzel train. I used volume to roughly size a stock board, fondled one in a shop to make sure the foil would be suitable, then waited for the text to say it was ready. It was my first foray with a big box manufacturer for years and the results were very favourable. The shape was insane, the quality of the construction top notch and it became a trusted tool in the quiver for pumping days here and overseas.
While volume as a be all and end all measurement is insanely kooky, as a starting point and ballpark figure to see if a board will basically work for you it's equally useful. If I want to jump down a different design rabbit hole it gives me a basic range about getting a board that will be functional, even if all the other parameters are foreign. Within a certain volume range it will float me, I can catch waves on it. If I can put the board under my arm and size up the foil and rocker I can have a high degree of confidence it will work, or not.
Other off-the-rack shortboards from big brands have proven equally reliable and well made. The shapes work and the quality of the PU/PE construction has proven durable. I can see why they make up the majority of boards you see in the water. As a response to the intrusion of overseas-made boards, the big manufacturers made better surfboards. And let's not forget, all those boards from the blank stage are made by hand in small factories, same as they ever were. The glassing and sanding is an equally crucial but unacknowledged part of the process.
Custom surfboards? Never had a bad one. Well, maybe my first Slater-era potato chip. Me and my mate got matching ones, promptly drove from Queensland to the South Coast of NSW as a major winter swell kicked in and got our arses kicked from Batemans Bay to Sussex Inlet and all points in between on our insubstantial, rockered-out blades.
Apart from that, all gems. I've seen some shockers though. A mate who ordered a single fin and received a Thruster with glass on fins. Weird dims, wrong colours etc etc. In my case, lucky all the way down. I've cold-called major shapers out of the blue and got magic sticks off them. Maurice Cole, Peter McCabe, Dave Parmenter etc. Plus all the face to face contact with Geoff McCoy, Gunther Rohn, Wayne Webster, Thornton Fallander. My only directive is to make sure you are ordering a board in line with what the shaper/designer is known for. Trying to push someone out of their area of expertise or interest usually ends poorly.
It still trips me out, I can ring any shaper anywhere in the world and ask them to make me a board, and within reason, they will make me one.
Obsessed with fins that may be of dubious utility? Guilty as charged. I'm up there with the worst of the worst when it comes to being a fin bitch, a deserved object of scorn and self-ridicule. My only defence is I like fins, have no other vices and I'm useless with my hands. Yet I can tinker with boards by changing fins. Most of the benefit is no doubt psychological. Five box set-ups have been a god send to me.
Fins occupy a similar niche as fishing lures to me. Realistically, I catch 90% of my fish on a handful of lures but the beauty and potential functionality of lures keeps me buying more. Same with fins. As a vice, they are cheap.
Marketing still gets me, and somewhat ironically, the last time I got fully skunked on a board via marketing was buying a Slater Designs FRK. His recommendation was to size it down and buy a lower-volume than you normally ride. I complied with that request. That put me back on the unrideable dogs of the first Slater era. Chippy little rockered-out things that paddled like wet socks and had the drive of a three-cylinder car with bald tyres on a wet road. Thankfully, in this era of abundance, I could move it on straightaway.
Everything Grant said in his article rings true and yet as a lifelong surfer who began in an era of scarcity and now lives in an age of abundance, my boards are the best they have ever been. I'm not sure how to square that circle. Maybe I was just born under a lucky sign.
//STEVE SHEARER
Comments
I only surf wave pools and find that EPS boards are easy to carry and I can colour coordinate my boards carbon inlays with my outfit so I look super cool at the pool.
I only surf Super Bank , Desert Point and Namibia ,so I only need to get in early and go fast in a straight line , so a lot of this technical stuff about fins and drive out of turns isn’t very relevant for me. Ha ha
You must look an absolute sweetheart on it.
I only surf Jaws, Teahupoo and Shippies. But mostly Currumbin.
Smart move. I only surf in pools also. But - I do have those shark eye stickers on the underside of my board for hard core points..
LMFAO
The last 3 boards of which i have only ridden 2 have been facey/gumtree finds. I would never have bought them new off rack or custom given the risk in them being dogs vs the money spent. So I have compromised usual preferred design, construction, dims in favour of a deal. Been pleasantly surprised / rewarded. Speaks a bit to Miller and his "under-volumed" comment and prob also to my ego. This 3rd find will test my theory a bit.. but there will be a wave for it.
I like your point about ordering a board in line with what the shaper/designer is known for. In my early days that meant Paul Gravelle and a board for SA’s west coast. You could not go wrong.
He’s widened his range of designs these days and I haven’t had a board from him in a long time, but he has the experience to know what will work, where and for who.
Thanks FR. I'll go back and read the story when I get more time. Funnily enough, on scrolling through to the comments I found my current but old and beat up daily driver front and centre in the third picture. RNF redux...one of my all time favourites.
I find epoxies and pu boards handle the same but heaven help you if you're on an epoxy surfing choppy waves.
I've also never had luck with the 5 fin boxes unfortunately. Generally if they go good as a thruster, they go bad as a quad and vice versa.
These days for boards, as I age the more extreme the board, the worse it goes. Nothing too short, fat, thick, rockered. Always second hand so I can keep it or move it on if it doesn't work.
I order my surfboard based on the waves I plan to chase with it.
Always second hand,don’t care who shaped it, around the size I’m after,
, pick it up, caress the rails a bit.tail to the ground , pull it to my face, lil kiss on the stringer, put it under the arm, up and down a few times , yep about right , hand over cash, done.
125 $ for my last one so no stress if we don’t work out.
haha, perfect. Got my last one like that in Robe some months ago, I'd dinged my usual. After looking around the surf shop at the borings and nasties, saw this weird Delta Designs board, and immediately respected it (WA crew helped me realise what it is in the margs comp comments). Way bigger than I would have chosen, but immediately saw myself potentially on it, and changed my game plan, instead of playing off the rocky breaks, I went to the sheltered beachy and got to know this new catch-everything board. That then led me to play with it on the way home at the sand bar between Beachport and Southend when the wind dropped. Good time, and an unexpected addition to my 'what have I got', 'what do I want to do' options since.
Lets talk Album surfboards for a minute, Josh Kerr etc all absolutely rip on them. The marketing for these alt boards makes me want to try an asymmetric or one of their twinnys. Would I like to ride one, hell yeah, would I pay north of $1500 for one, hell no, so economics comes in to play when choosing a board. These days I just purchase a board off the rack or the occasional second hand board to my desired dims & volume, so much choice out there now, being honest about your ability helps too.
I Wonder what Josh's Board Pricing will be . . .
https://draftsurf.com/
Has he split from album?
I got an email from them with pricing starting at $1099 which seems the standard from big brand shapers now
I make my own boards and tune them as I want which is relatively easy after you work out what works how for your own feel / requirements.
As a result I am always checking boards down the local and watching the local rippers tear waves apart and the one thing that holds true is their boards generally have the basics spot on as I must say so do most of the big name brands who don't wander far from the set formula that works.
After having to give up surfing for 3 years, any board on any wave is good enough now.
that can happen if you surf warm perfect waves & come back to cold crowds and windwaves
I was a factory grom for my first job which definitely made me dislike “pop outs,” so I’ve had more custom than off the rack but I’ve had really good boards from both avenues. For shop boards I gravitated towards Pyzels as I heard they were being finished / glassed in factories in the South West and have had good luck with durability, so have bought more. Boards are still probably too cheap but are still a once a year purchase for me, CI ultra light glass scares me.
I’ve had rubbish luck with epoxy. It is really windy here all the time.
Great article and very relatable.
I've never gotten into the tech aspect or fine tuning of dimensions etc. All my surfing life I've picked boards that 'look' right for me and surf them. Pretty much what greyhound says above, pick it up, give it a bit of twirl, look down the stringer and pretend I know what I'm looking at and then either 'yep, that's me' or put it back and fondle something else. My initial experience with customs had been pretty middling, I was young and not that versed in the ways of ordering and the first few customs I had were not the magic I was expecting. After that I rode seconds and a few newbies off the rack where my 'that looks about me' came into play and rarely let me down. I never had enough money to buy fashion boards and the ones I had I rode till they either snapped or died. Which I still do to this day. I keep boards for a long time and ride them into the ground. These days, basically get off the rack boards online and I adjust my surfing to suit them.
As a final note, I did strike up a friendship through Swellnet with MC and got a couple of customs from him. That was the exact opposite of my initial shaper/customer experience- It was such a pleasure and he made me two great boards over a couple of years. One was my daily driver that has long since died and another step-up that I keep for really special days and it doesn't disappoint. It's a beautiful thing.
A few things help me know what i need in boards. First of all back in the day, fin boxes gave me some knowledge of the performance of the board when i tried in different positions. Second bit was riding other peoples/mates boards in the same conditions i was riding mine and taking note of the differences. Also, even though (through riding mates boards) i didn't like twin fins because they are loose, i bought a DVS Hydro hull, 5'10'. The board went so well, such acceleration but still slid when pushed hard. But because of that i began to learn to control my turns and took notice of how hard to push, which helped my surfing overall.
I got my first custom shape when I was 16 and rode it for the next 12 years until last year when I decided well I guess I should get a new one.
(A combination of being a chubby teen, losing weight in my early 20’s, and just never really growing meant I never out-grew it. Heavy glass job meant it was bullet proof)
Last year I went to the next best thing (original shaper moved to Japan, his old glasser now does boards) and asked for… a remake, and that’s what I got. For someone who has surfed seriously for over 20 years I think I have the least amount of board knowledge of any similar surfer out there.
ordered a board a few years ago off a shaper from the goldie......they put the fcs2 plug in back to front........i mean how is that possible...........had a few good ones off highly regarded shapers and one thing i learnt if your a big guy and your shaper is a small guy well it could lead to volume problems.......never had a bad board off j.s and even places like sideways sell boards with pretty good quality glassing these days.
Regarding high performance (PU shapes at least), I reckon the big brands - JS, Pyzel, CI, Mayhem, DHD are all putting out consistent, high quality products that work really well. Obviously durability is only as good as 4/4x4 glassing allows, but the laminations are as good as they've ever been for high production ghost shapes imo. If you surf them 250-300 times a year as your main board you probably won't get much more than a year if you don't snap it first.
Then the long term well regarded shapers you generally can't go wrong from either.
The up and comers can be hit and miss in my experience. As are the Asian made PU boards.
JS and Gunther Rohn always go good for me.
I won't name the shapers that don't, but there are just some guys who's boards don't go good under your feet, time and again. But they work for others.
I second that.
Best off the rack for me... JS
Best custom experience and boards so far, for me, Gunther for sure. Can't speak highly enough of the guy.
Great article and comments. Went through the usual 2nd hand, then customs from the local shaper route, ordering whatever was the thing at the time. After some time out of the water I started trying out some different things. Hulls, fish, mid lengths, eggs, different constructions like FireWire, timber epoxy etc. After 40+ years of being a very average surfer I reckon I can just look at an outline and tell whether I will gell with it or not. Some boards just jump out at me when I see them and shout “buy me”. Happy to support smaller producers (yo Tim, sick stick!) but totally agree with the advice to go with their speciality, or go elsewhere you want something different. Oh yeah, you can never have too many sets of fins.
I remember the day my local backyard shaper that I had been loyal to for over ten years spotted me in the carpark with a shiny new hand shaped stick from the Goldy.
T'was an awkward moment.
I am 55, fit, still surf pretty well & have just made the long-term (I think) switch to fuller rail, more volume fish-style boards. 2 years ago, Rod Dahlberg hand-shaped me what I rate as the greatest surfboard I’ve owned in 40 years of surfing: a 6’1” 36L modern hi-perf fish. Ridden in 1ft Maroubra to 5ft Dylan’s Right. Then about 6 months ago, I bought a s/h Christenson Myconaut 5’11” & have only ridden the Dahlberg once since then.
I have owned a bunch of ‘fashion’ boards sold at big surf shops by over-zealous pimple-faced rippers in the last 5 years. Lost Andino fish - worst rack board I’ve had, CI Rocket Wide, DHD Eclipse - rubbish board with zero drive & a weird tail feel. All my fault for watching YT clips of Pro surfers shredding on these $1000 pop-outs.
At my local, most surfers - irrespective of age or ability - ride standard squash-tail hi-perf shortboards. I am really enjoying the more ‘relaxed’ feel of the Myconaut. It still flies - quad - and turns very well but just suits my declining reflexes and paddle power. Cracking board.
I Doubt that R.D. was Handshaped .
You aren’t the first person to doubt it was hand-shaped. Rod still shapes boards to order - just on a limited basis. But, it was shaped by him, by hand. Backstory - my mate had a ‘Rocket Rod’ pop-out which I like the look of & it was time for a new board. I rang Rod & had a 30min conversation about the ‘Rocket Rod’, plan-shapes & other surfing stuff. He was so generous with his time. I basically asked if he had heard about durability issues with the Surabaya factory licenced boards. He said “How about I shape you an updated version of that plan-shape?”. I said “Sure”.
The first time I rode it, even a gumby like me could feel the difference in rail hold, drive & responsiveness. Gonna take it out tomorrow now after talking about it! It is so sick.
Def not Hand Shaped.
Bit bored, mate? Maybe go surfing instead of wasting your time calling one of most highly-regarded shapers in Australian history a liar when he wrote his name & my name on the stringer.
Believe what you want.
Machine Cut since 2004
Handfinished not Handshaped - Believe it or Not .
I design my boards in Shape 3dx and send the file up to Kinasurf and they glass finish and glass in their "Dual carbon" layup. My current favourite board is one of these. Top drawer quality.
Whats the Cost of that ?
You have to ask them not sure what it'd be now.
I once had a conversation with a well known board shaper , and confessed to him, I really didn’t know much about board design and what made a board go good. His reply was, ‘well nor do I really’ I think he just made it up as he went along or something, because there’s so many different variables in custom boards for different people. I did actually ride his boards for 20 years, so he was good
I’d love you to cold call Simon Jones and see how you go Freeride, reckon you’d have problems.
Speaking of, how come they no longer MOTE? Falling out?
Have been wondering the same Solitude re MOTE .
I know a lot of people were off the brand because of ordinary dealings with them. Did Alby have something to do with it?
Morning of the Earth Surfboards was a 25 yr old Business.
Solitude. Hi mate. Hope ya well.
Myself and others could not fault the Jones Family operation.
Yes, it is a long wait for boards, but you have to understand, his boards are in such high demand globally.
Trust me, they are worth the wait.
Three of my mates have various Simon Jones boards.
In everyone of them you can see, beautiful shaping, attention to detail and finishing as well as excellent craftsmanship.
His own heart and soul in every board, If you’ve ever heard him speak, he would be totally devastated if he was to pump out a lemon, he puts care into every board and follows the initial individuals brief. AW
Answer is.
SJ wanted his own identity and was having to pay a royalty for having the MOTE label under the glass.
I know because I have a cracking Fiji, superbly made by him.
He definitely knows what he is doing. My mate received his custom in Torquay yesterday, it’s 6’10” Fiji with the new logo Simon Jones Designs. AW
Thanks Alfie.
Can’t argue with you Alfred and thanks for the backstory.
Everyone knows it’s a year wait for his boards. Not doubting the craftsmanship etc.
Good luck to them
Surfboards are like icecream, vanilla is good it's the stock standard reliable surfboard, you need it and it's good sometimes.
But lifes too short to not try all the other flavours, personally i like riding all kinds of boards but mostly get those more out there boards second hand, and if i dont like it, i move it on and rarely lose much $$$ on it.
And never judge or write off a board until you have used at least three different sets of fins in it, fins can make or break a board especially quads.
Most surfers are just average at best. What they should be riding and what they do are usually polar opposites. The key is volume obviously and people get to stuck on litres etc. I personally ride a EPS as it floats through the crap conditions well. Most people want a high performance looking board but with volume that can catch waves easily.
Used to be you could generally tell what Victorian coast crew surfed by the board brand sticker on the car.
Eg,Sundance Bass Coast, Island PI, Triggers MP, Strapper WC, Oke metro.
Loyal customers to their shapers and coast.
It's like my comment in the other article spawned a new one... the only way to reply is in Frank Black
I had so many problems
And then I got me a Walkman
I really liked it a lot, and
They walked right in and they solved them
They walked right in and they solved them
I heard Ramona sing
And I heard everything
The speed they're traveling
They are the only thing
Ramona
Talking fins I’ve been playing around with quobbas from WA for a few years now and love them. Heaps of drive and hold and speed with zero negative effects on manoeuvrability. Good in juice
Talking fins I’ve been playing around with quobbas from WA for a few years now and love them. Heaps of drive and hold and speed with zero negative effects on manoeuvrability. Good in juice
New SJD logo on my mates new board yesterday.
Looks sublime
Nice couch.
Board looks sick too.
Nice!
Good looking board that one. Funny, the forward foil of the nose looks a bit full. Then also the middle channels seem relatively long. Can anyone venture an explanation on how long channels should be? Is there a rule of thumb?
Namal. Hi mate.
Valid questions. My mate who owns this board is 95kg and 6’3” and loves to surf large waves.
The Fiji model is very easy to paddle and you’re on your feet very quickly, the volume in these boards is relative to your body weight.
Mine is 6’2” and it I find it so easy to catch waves compared to many other boards I have at present.
The channels definitely provide grab when turning, being a twin fin, it feels like a quad with the channels.
I’ve a lot of quads in various sizes, still my favourite boards, albeit, at present I’m loving the Fiji because it’s so easy to catch waves, especially this time of year when I’m clad in ample rubber. AW
An experienced surfer can ride any board, in good waves.
Kelly tried to surf a door once.... then stepped up to a snowboard doublender design.
Italo started on a floam lid, etc.
The board, for the wave, for each surfer, has so many possibilities atm.
You would think that direct distribution will be the next development. With more interactive online store. Bypassing the surfshop and selling direct from the factory. Either reducing prices. Or most probably keeping current retail price and making more profit.
Good point- I meant to include that in the article.
That development is well underway- a build to order model where small/medium sized board builders with confidence in their supply times can sell direct to surfers and avoid the head-ache and massive cost of carrying inventory.
I already see heaps of that happening already.
Yeah Jim Banks is a good example of that. Mine have been about 3 weeks straight from the Currumbin factory, very good communication throughout. Webster is great to deal with direct as well.
I used to get all mine shaped by Peter Stumpy Wallace. But years ago he bailed for the maldives to do surf tours and I lost track. Now its all fuckn shit
Stump is still around. I dropped in to see him when I was up the sunny coast earlier in the year. He's still shaping excellent boards.
As far as what do I look for in a new board. Paddle power, performance, and durability are at the top of my list. I'm mid fifties and average around 2 go outs per week, so ease of wave catching has become of more importance of late. Still want to crack the lip and get barrelled, so there still got to be performance in there. As maligned as it is becoming, the channelled mid length twin is ticking my boxes. Luckily I make my own, so I can tinker away. But the average punter has a plethora of choices. In this example you can go to Simon Jones and pay top dollar for a long awaited very good board. Or a multitude of different board builders are knocking out their versions of this style of board.
Everyone has different parameters and other factors that determine their choice, and are really spoilt for choice in this modern age. Durability should be of more concern to people in my opinion. Particularly in the high performance shortboard category where poor durability is evident.
Freeride you mentioned the name Tony Cerff
I was in Byron (1975) at the time shopping for a new board
Not exactly knowing what I was looking for
Then I saw it, just fell in love with it as soon as I saw it
The shape, the under the arm balance of it (6'6" rounded square SF)
The deck over the tail was just all scooped out (maybe GG inspired)
Undoubtedly the best board I have ever ridden (under the MR label)
All the attributes of a true flex tail, the load & release was just something else
With a good old reliable glassed single fin (no foam for a fin box)
Tried to do it all again with another shaper but no cigar
Sorry everyone but can't come at all this litres rubbish unless they have another column for "Age"
My take is if it doesn't feel right it's not your board
And always stick to your local shaper & go the journey together
So far, my best board was a custom A-Bom I got from D'Arcy after winning a comp on here. It changed the way I surfed! That was in 2009... I most recently rode it in small, punchy Paul do Mar in Madeira, and it's still a class freaking board! Over the years she's been bashed around and now has a little crease in the rail, so I was a bit worried about taking it off the rack for the Madeira trip... My son's just fallen in love with it too, after riding it in nice French beachies the last two weeks - figure if it snaps, so be it. That board has had some serious love! I've been shaping my own boards with my mate since 2017, and that has been the most rewarding enterprise ever - will never buy a new board off any rack again (though I still love feeling them for inspiration!). We've learnt everything about shaping from YT, and from riding the boards we've made - about 20 now. Frankly, I'm not that good with my hands, but my mate is a farkin stickler! But I surf better than him, so we have a pretty good to and fro regarding all these topics of volume (and its placement!), rails, shakers, fins, rocker and all that. Currently riding a 6'0" v-bottom four-channel twin - it's an EPS/Epoxy carbon bottom, carbon-kevlar deck. Took me about a week to get used to riding, and I thought it was originally a DOG!! But now that I've got the hang of it, it's become my go-to! Still didn't save me from a few crazy beatings at 6-foot Ponta Pequeña...
Got a Pic of that V Bottom 4 Channeled Twin ?
Yeah, but I dunno how to upload it...!
https://flic.kr/p/2q5N8U1
https://flic.kr/p/2q5PmDK
https://flic.kr/p/2q5QfER
Nice Mate... Dark Arts.
Yeah... it's shit for the wax job.
To Nice to Cover in Wax
Clear Grip ?
Nah, I'm a traditionalist. Could never go for the Gorilla Grip or clear grip options - I've even forsaken the kick pad lately.
i've tried many methods, custom, off the shelf, the cheapest, the best looking, the brand name, the no-name, the thing lurking under the house and everything in-between.
for my Indo gun, checked the baggage size limits for regional flights, and picked the highest volume pintail that fits in a 7'6 coffin. no regrets. i always take fresh leggies.
Thrown caution to the wind and relied on advice of the guy in the shop with varying results.
I've been unrealistic in the past...which has led to some poor choices (in life as in surf board shopping). That said, every board has its day and its fun to discover the perfect conditions for a specific board
main factors should be the waves you will surf and how you surf.