RealSurf Surfers' Forum

With only very distant memories of overhead surf in SE Queensland, I'm starting to wonder whether I need to invest in some new surfcraft to make the most of the very mediocre conditions (surf between knee to shoulder high). Has anyone here tried the following boards?

Lost Bottomfeeder

Rusty Happy Shovel

Firewire Baked Potato

JS Pier Pony

I tried a sweet potato, caught knee hit fat bumps, and actually turned as well. I have a similar shape coming from josh, and I have no interest in my longboard whatsoever anymore.

I'm 5'9" x 77 kg and when I tried the SP my paddle fitness was terrible. I could easily have went 5'2", and if I wasn't a lazy paddler a 5'0" would be doable. But niggling injuries, kids etc mean I like a bit more foam. I found although I could have gone smaller, it was thin enough to not be too boaty/chunky. And in tiny waves, a little extra volume isn't going to hurt.

Beerfan wrote:I tried a sweet potato, caught knee hit fat bumps, and actually turned as well. I have a similar shape coming from josh, and I have no interest in my longboard whatsoever anymore.

I'm 5'9" x 77 kg and when I tried the SP my paddle fitness was terrible. I could easily have went 5'2", and if I wasn't a lazy paddler a 5'0" would be doable. But niggling injuries, kids etc mean I like a bit more foam. I found although I could have gone smaller, it was thin enough to not be too boaty/chunky. And in tiny waves, a little extra volume isn't going to hurt.

Hey Beery,

Thanks for that. Have had a look at the sweet potato but the massively wide tail, from my perspective, detracts from its appeal. I think you're right though regarding a bit more volume in small waves.

Chilli make a good groveller. Merrick has a few too, the joe and neckbeard go alright.

Braithy wrote:Chilli make a good groveller. Merrick has a few too, the joe and neckbeard go alright.

Yeh, don't mind the look of the average joe. Not sure about the Neckbeard, outline through the back half of the board looks awfully straight.

Just be careful. A lot of boards marketed at being designed for 2 foot slop are often pretty gimmicky with limited performance ability. Sometimes we all have to face up to the fact that 2 foot slop is 2 foot slop. In many ways it takes more effort and technique to surf tiny waves than it does to surf good waves.
I would think that if you go an all round small wave board rather than a 2 foot slop special you will get a board you can ride a whole lot more. Don't get too caught up in marketing names and the blurb that goes with it.

just ride a longboard and stop pretending.

I rode one (a longboard) two weeks ago in some really weak 1-footers breaking in ankle deep water. Had a ball.

Natho wrote:Just be careful. A lot of boards marketed at being designed for 2 foot slop are often pretty gimmicky with limited performance ability. Sometimes we all have to face up to the fact that 2 foot slop is 2 foot slop. In many ways it takes more effort and technique to surf tiny waves than it does to surf good waves.
I would think that if you go an all round small wave board rather than a 2 foot slop special you will get a board you can ride a whole lot more. Don't get too caught up in marketing names and the blurb that goes with it.

Cheers Natho, will keep those points in mind.

I ve ridden a couple of different 5" to 5"4 grovel specialist boards & mini sims. I had most fun on them in bigger, fatter open faced waves not 1-2ft slop.

Sure, a 5ft board works for some but you have to be on your game, no sore back, stiff shoulder, slop pop up etc. I am 73kg & can easily paddle a 5ft sweet potato but would I be able to catch my share of waves on a crowded beachie or point?

When the tide drops out & it starts pitching you can't get in early because a) you don't have the length & b) the board is too thick so you take off in the pitching lip.

My solution was to stick to my normal length but go a bit wider and thinner. Planning area but still able to get in early. I go with a quad set up.

Hope this helps

Thanks guys. Given me some food for thought. Perhaps better going with a less radical departure from my normal go to board.

I reckon if you want something still along the lines of a performance board the Aloha and JS look pretty good. I reckon the Webber Mini-Fish is pretty mental for micro slop too.

I'm an open minded surfer so for me its all about the feeling I want in the board. A typical performance board can be surfed well in small waves but its a very active and athletic type of surfing you need to do it. Its fine if you're 100% focused on the performance side of surfing, so if thats what you're into theres no point in surfing anything different.

I'm different in that way, I prefer boards that actually ask you to surf them differently. I have a finless, a quad fish, a performance board, and next up is going to be a mid-length mal. Just because I have to surf each of them completely differently and I like that. There are surfing principles constant from board to board, but the variety gets me going.

Whenever I want more lift out of less effort I always prefer a wide straight planshape like the modern variants of mini-simmons or variants of the Tomo modern planing hulls etc. Its a myth that they can't be surfed hard, they just need to be re-worked in other areas to bring the performance back from their traditional counterparts. In the typical performance board, once you start pulling in the tail more you get the board slowing down more through turns which gives a completely different feeling to your surfing, especially in smaller waves.

Each to their own. Go and try a bunch out and see which ones you like the best. Thats much better than buying someone radical you've never surfed before and being bummed.

Amen to that Captain!
Different kinds of boards put me in completely different places on the wave and that's what keeps it fresh for me.

I ride a Dung Beetle ( Dung Beetels eat the shit up )...its a high volume slab for tiny waves, they are wide and plane really well, they get waves with ease, get to a high speed very easily and still have pretty good manouverability...I surf mine in waves from little ankle snappers up to about 3 ft and its going great...its a single to double concave, 5 fin plugs but usually as a quaddy, the thruster just feels much slower after the quad but on ya backhand the thruster is easier to surf top to bottom....there's plenty of small wave options out there, but this ones what I enjoy and came about after a long flat spell when my other small wave boards just weren't getting me enough waves , even though they had a lot of volume, I just wanted more waves, more speed and more fun, and this does the trick nicely for how I want to surf in small waves, and especially coz I don't wanna resort to riding a mal.....

http://www.moresurfboards.com/the_Dung_Beetle.html

I've seen the Dung beetle in action (the aquatic one that is) and on a day where the waves were miserable tiddlers there was only 2 people along several banks within my field of view, that were getting long rides and tearing it up.
One of them was on a Dung beetle.
Everyone else was struggling to go anywhere on the waves and for more than a few seconds of ride times.
Even though the surfer was riding a dung beetle he didn't have a poo man stance (common around these parts in summer) but he did have a shit eating grin!

Cuttlefish wrote:I've seen the Dung beetle in action (the aquatic one that is) and on a day where the waves were miserable tiddlers there was only 2 people along several banks within my field of view, that were getting long rides and tearing it up.
One of them was on a Dung beetle.
Everyone else was struggling to go anywhere on the waves and for more than a few seconds of ride times.
Even though the surfer was riding a dung beetle he didn't have a poo man stance (common around these parts in summer) but he did have a shit eating grin!

been lovin my current Dung Beetle but got a newy on the shaping racks right now..slightly pulled in the nose, reduced volume from 40 ltrs to 38 and a touch more rocker...will place fins very slightly further forward and will roll the rails a little lower.and an inch narrower...just mods tryin to perfect a few things...the other ones been going really well, but I just wanna adjust a few things....

tonka79 wrote:

Cuttlefish wrote:I've seen the Dung beetle in action (the aquatic one that is) and on a day where the waves were miserable tiddlers there was only 2 people along several banks within my field of view, that were getting long rides and tearing it up.
One of them was on a Dung beetle.
Everyone else was struggling to go anywhere on the waves and for more than a few seconds of ride times.
Even though the surfer was riding a dung beetle he didn't have a poo man stance (common around these parts in summer) but he did have a shit eating grin!

I left out the really ironic part.
The guy riding the dung beetle was on Mark's personal dung beetle which was going like shit off a shovel for him.
Meanwhile poor Mark was struggling with the other guy's self shaped board which was a real dunga!
But it was good to see him bogging rails like me for a change.