Are Mini mals a curse to surfing?

[Butts]

Me bitter? Twisted? You bloody bet. I reckon it's incredibly disrespectful for these newcomers to come to our lifestyle/sport without bothering to learn even its most basic rules, and it drives me batty that I can do nothing about it.

Buzzy, most newcomers I have found are quite responsive to a bit of
"information". They love a chat, are all ears cause they wan't to learn,
but come Winter there all gone! Problem

[Butts]

Aren't wide screen laptops great

Shit beanpole, mines only a 14! Explains why there scrunched
Once, once scroll yourself, merrily, merrily accross the bloody screen!

[Greensurf]

Some very interesting points raised here ...and a good, frank admission by a surfing newbie.

I think the important thing to note for NEW SURFERS when starting out.

1.Give way to the person closest to the inside of the wave (or on the wave first).

2. try and get out of the way of the breaking waves. Novices hanging in the impact zone really cause a lot of frustration to riders trying to nail the inside section.

3.Don't surf the most crowded peak. Move up/down beach if possible to lesser quality. When u are confident of taking your wave without impeding anyone else you can move onto better peak.

4. Don't get frustrated. A lot of the guys u see getting heaps of waves and making it look so easy have prob put in mega hours from gromdem on. Its a bit like deciding to learn to race a bike or car. You dont immediately graduate to competing against A graders.

5.Put in the time and effort, whilst practicing humility and respect to locals, and you will enjoy your surfing more. (no matter what your vehicle of choice).

6.If u have to dive off your board when a big wave comes, try holding the railsaver on the legrope to avoid the board flinging about and hitting a fellow surfer...remember, with an 8-9' leggie and a 7' plus board you potentially have an arcing turn of 16+'. Can be dangerous if uncontolled.

[Bandit]

Bandit,
Try a Tuflite soul fish 6'10", you will never look back.



My surfing buddy is 6'7", 110kg + (fluctuates like you) and
I have never seen him catch so many waves, and surf them like he is possesed.

Expense is an issue though

Butts, how much are they? Nice lookin board.

[buzzy]

That CI fish has a way wider tail thanany twinny I remeber from the late 70's. I reckon that's more the style from the early seventies (ie before my time)...oh, and now, in its retro guise.

As for the swallow tail thrusters, I know some younger guys seem to be getting the impression that anything with a swallow tail on it is a fish, but for me I reckon it's just a thruster with a swallow tail unless it's combined with a really wide tail like in that CI fish photo. Call it a semi fish at best.

Yeah, the crowds do thin. They're thinning noticeably now, but even still rampant acts of kookdom are a daily occurrence, or near enough. I need to move to a quiet country town, but unfortunately the lotto fairy hasn't visited me yet.

[Greensurf]

After originally raising this topic out of frustration I went and actually bought myself a cheap mini mal..Expoxy 7'6" for $350 (new)..made in China...but who cares...I saw Webber expoxies for $800 at the local surf shop....first session was on Saturday 30/4 @ Elouera and the surf was in the 5' - 6' range...first wave it didnt like it too much and slid out a little...However, after the 2nd wave I got the hang and DAMN...these things are fun...A cross between a short board and a mal...able to get across the dead sections better than a shortboard but can still be thrown around like a shortboard...I will be riding this when the surf is in the 4 to 6' range and reforming inside...for this type of surf it is great. However, for the purists it will be a compromise to either your shortboarding or longboarding roots.

[The Hitcher]

First, like to say hi to you all. This is my first post on this site, i am a new be, wanna be, sort off and yes im old 41?, if thats old. Anyway the problem could be solved by the lifeguards in the summer, posting surfing rules in the car parks and as you enter the beach area . Before i started i read up about the sport before i even took a lesson. Maybe zone areas for beginners. Do you not think that the media for the sport has made it its own enermy buy making out it is the coolest thing going. In the uk summer surf is crap, so come the winter most of the i`m so cool cos i surf don`t leave the pub, problem solved for us.

[Grooter]

After originally raising this topic out of frustration I went and actually bought myself a cheap mini mal..Expoxy 7'6" for $350 (new)..made in China...but who cares...I saw Webber expoxies for $800 at the local surf shop....first session was on Saturday 30/4 @ Elouera and the surf was in the 5' - 6' range...first wave it didnt like it too much and slid out a little...However, after the 2nd wave I got the hang and DAMN...these things are fun...A cross between a short board and a mal...able to get across the dead sections better than a shortboard but can still be thrown around like a shortboard...I will be riding this when the surf is in the 4 to 6' range and reforming inside...for this type of surf it is great. However, for the purists it will be a compromise to either your shortboarding or longboarding roots.

I've got a 7ft 6 mini mal too. Use it all the time, perfect for just about all conditions and manoueverable enough too.

I'm well over short boards (I'm getting older!) and I like the mini mals because you can catch plenty of waves and have a bit of fun on them too.

[Shaunm]

I suppose the smaller ones you can ride a bit more like a shorter board compared to a trad mal

[The Hitcher]

I`m on a 7ft3in mal, as hatchman said as you get older you need the lenght and width, well thats what i tell the mrs.

[ric_vidal]

I suppose the smaller ones you can ride a bit more like a shorter board compared to a trad mal

That, Shaunm, is an understand.

If there wasn’t a stigma attached to riding them a lot more people would be having a hell of a lot more fun with their surfing. Especially in our, more often than not, ordinary beach break conditions.

[Beanpole]

Had a 7'6" Pipedream I bought second hand years ago. I knew the guy in the shop and he talked me into it after a few reductions in price over a couple of weeks. Forced sale type of thing, going over seas etc.

It went great. Even had a good surf at reasonably sized snapper on it. The only thing it didn't do really well was barrel ride due to the roundish nose. At this stage most Sydney minimals were absolute dogs.
I ended up eventually trading it in up at Kirra Surf for a more gunny pop out shape which I've still got. I have had one of my best barrels ever on this up at Avoca but it is usually a pain in the arse to surf compared to that minimal.

You see a lot of guys surfing McTavish Carvers well and I've been planning a replacement for 6 months or so but something always eats up the funds
Thought I might get a Rabbidge shape but I need a really heavy glass job on the deck due to a bad habit of putting the knee into the deck.

The boards only as good as the shaper.

[lizard king]

Never thought that I would say this but mini mals are OK!

After riding 9'6 mals + logs for the past 6 to 7 years, I hired a 8'4 BIC
surfboard up at Byron - not expecting it to perform at all, I had a rude shock - best barrel x 3 that I have ever had, plus nose riding was excellent,
you did have to put some pressure on to get it moving, but once that happened it was great.....in fact if anyone has one for sale and the price is right give me a yell! (it was the 8'4 BIC - original Peter Pan shape)

cheers the lizard..

[Hawkeye]

You see a lot of guys surfing McTavish Carvers well and I've been planning a replacement for 6 months or so but something always eats up the funds
Thought I might get a Rabbidge shape but I need a really heavy glass job on the deck due to a bad habit of putting the knee into the deck.

If you're after a McT carver, go the tuflite version. More expensive, sure, but it will last you a lot longer, plus being easier to paddle and throw around due to the lighter weight.

Heavy glass will only save you so far from Bony Knee Syndrome. The foam comes inot it too. I'm a shocker for sinking decks, but so far the combo of tuflite and full deck grip has kept my smaller-wave sticks in relatively good nick.

[Beanpole]

Yep I have some serious dishing from applying the knee to much :?
My old tuflite was the only board that handled it so I may take your advice, Hawkeye.
As for deck grip, I really hate the stuff

[ric_vidal]

Professor & Beanpole, given the Surftech/Tuflites are so resilient to denting, do you ever find it a negative?

That may sound like a silly question, but I was watching a DVD recently with an interview with Darren Handley (DHD) and he was likening the deck compressions you get from standing in the same position on your board to that of a comfortable old shoe. To some extent I think he has a valid point.

Probably not as evident in a longer board where you move around a bit more although I made a very lightly glassed 9'4" and it felt comfortable - until it snapped.

Also did a 7'9" for a friend a while ago and had to take much more foam off the deck around the back foot area than I normally would have liked, net result is the deck crushed pretty quickly around that area but will probably only compress so far. I have ridden the board myself quite a few times and it just feels right, like the board is moulded to your foot and you just know it is in the right position... well that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it

[Shaunm]

What would you class the blue 8' aloha as?

[sean--]

What would you class the blue 8' aloha as?

A hybrid. Nice looking board