Ask Carroll

[chrisb]

Nick, what % of surfers are goofy? Is it like a 50/50 split?. Totally useless fact I guess but I'm a little hungover and it's an idea running around my head right now.

Well I think there's a more even split now than there has been in the past. Where I surf it feels pretty close to 50/50 but it probably varies depending where you are in the world. There's no anti-goofy prejudice thing in surfing anymore so it's not like everyone feels any pressure to be one or the other. But I don't have any stats on it at all so what I'm saying is purely observational.

50/50 is big call for a self confessed bloke with short legs. I'd argue more like 80/20. I surf a fair stretch of coast (Southport to Coffs) due to travel for work, and surf almost every day. I can not remember any surf in the last few months where there is more than 20% goofy surfers in the water.

Yeah, I'd also say 80/20. I surf a couple of beaches south of Nick. Down here if you want solitude the left-breaking points are the place to go as just a couple of goofies surf them while the masses of "normals" crowd the beach breaks with most going for the right-handers so they can face the waveface.

[PeepeelaPew]

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[Nick Carroll]

Nick, do you have many EPS boards, in what conditions do you like to surf them? Do you find them a little more sensitive then PU boards etc...

Yes I do have quite a few. A fantastic near original HS fiberflex from 2007, a bunch of Firewires of different ages (though they're not all eps), three MC eps/epoxy (two with a wooden stringer), and a Tomo Evo handshape (stringerless), along with all my racing paddleboards.

They're all quite different and I would find it a bit hard to generalise too much. I do have a long term familiarity with PU/wood flex patterns and could generalise a lot easier about them, probably because almost every PU/wood stringer board is laminated with the same sorts of resin and cloth combos. To me PU feels predictably cushiony and its flex is centred around the stringer which makes it sorta reliable to the touch, but the foam does break down over time and PE resin also tends to become brittle and deteriorate with heavy use, inexorably changing the board's performance. EPS/epoxy changes from board to board a lot depending on where the stringer is set and what materials and laminating processes are used. The FWs all feel very similar to each other, for instance, since similar methods are used -- they're not particularly sensitive and behave pretty predictably somewhat like PU, but with a bit more bounce. That doesn't include one FW which is an original thick balsa rail super lightweight craft from the first era, Bert Burger style, that thing is very sensitive and explosive in its movements, but absorbs a lot through the natural wood flex along the rails. The HS is sharp and buoyant with a hard carbon flex feel that gives way sometimes to a much softer response when you put pressure on the centre line away from the rails, like in big lip bounce type turns, it's a 6'1" pintail that handles more like a bigger board. The MCs are all different, one is a bit psycho and almost lifts off the surface at times, one feels quite normal a la PU, and one is a bit difficult, it's v hard and non flexy and really wants continual power in the wave to perform properly. The Tomo is probably the most typical eps and you might expect it to be "sensitive" (aka sorta bouncy and scared to bury a rail) but it's not like that at all, the whole feel of the board on a wave is very relaxed and easy to surf.

[Nick Carroll]

Much higher percentage in the land of lefts.

Here's a question: on tv I've been seeing ads for some new show with some venerated Australian actor. I think it has 800 in the title. There's a dreamy looking left with a big island in the background. Where's that?

Haven't seen this ad, if I do I'll give you the tip.

though vaguely dreading it, new shows with venerated Australian actors fill me with queasy horror.

[ctd]

The show is 800 Words and is filmed in NZ. Karekare perhaps? It one of the filming locations and there is an island, of sorts, in the middle of the beach

[PeepeelaPew]

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[chrisb]

Yeah, thanks. Story is he does a sort of anti-smntl and makes a sea-change to NZ. I thought it looked Pacific but if it was east coast Oz, why hadn't I heard of it?.

The venerated actor you are thinking of is Erik Thomsen, no relation to Shaun, but he is a pretty OK surfer and on a shortboard no less so has a bit of street cred. He was brought up in NZ but sees himself an an Aussie, ala Russell Crowe.

[PeepeelaPew]

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[Davros]

Thanks Nick, yeh trying to get my head around an EPS board just now.

[chrisb]

Browsing around google and I reckon it might be Piha Beach. Google images suggests the tv ad might have caught it on a rare good day. This is the best I can find, nowhere near as good as the tv shots (which while not spectacular are much better than the average tv waves shots).

Segue time .... I reckon that there could be 50 percent or more goofy-footers on those waves .

[gcuts]

I don't get it. Why more right foot forward surfers at a left breaking wave? Or vice versa. Can't people surf backside? I like surfing backside, pushing through bottom turns and wrapping turns off the top backhand are awesome fun. I'd rather have a good wave, than focus on having a wave break in a particular direction.

That pic Legion posted looks a lot like Gallows in Coffs - a good spot for this current south swell north wind forecast that is about to herald the start of spring, if ya like a healthy dose of fecal matter with ya surf session.

[chrisb]

When on a wave, I prefer to be able to face the wave face, especially if the takeoff is critical. On smaller softer waves I'm happy to go backhand.

You're right, it is very similar to Gallows in Coffs. Gallows is the only place where I saw sharks in the lineup. Creeps me out every time I go there.

[Drailed]

Nick, how do you suggest best way to overcome the dissappintment of buying a new board and it not really doing ut for you when in your mind you thought this board was gonna be the f$ck&ng one!!

[alakaboo]

Nick I've fallen out of love with surfing. Not the ocean, just board riding. Should I try and reconnect or enjoy the reprieve?

[Nick Carroll]

Nick, how do you suggest best way to overcome the dissappintment of buying a new board and it not really doing ut for you when in your mind you thought this board was gonna be the f$ck&ng one!!

Learn from it. No board is gonna be the fcuken one. Don't buy a board with that in your head.

[Drailed]

Nick I've fallen out of love with surfing. Not the ocean, just board riding. Should I try and reconnect or enjoy the reprieve?

Go bodysurfing for a while and enjoy the submersion and break from the crowds.

[Drailed]

Nick, how do you suggest best way to overcome the dissappintment of buying a new board and it not really doing ut for you when in your mind you thought this board was gonna be the f$ck&ng one!!

Learn from it. No board is gonna be the fcuken one. Don't buy a board with that in your head.

Nick, I was hoping for a little more empathy and softness in your answer. Why didnt you offer that, Nick?

[alakaboo]

I still like waves and I still surf most weekends it just doesn't feel like I am a surfer only a person who can surf