Where did you surf today ?

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buddy
Snowy McAllister
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by buddy » Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:14 am

I find I'll choose my turns more wisely on a bigger board/proper stepup ie do a proper bottom turn and line up the section or bit of face that you want to turn in.
And the more you surf it, it carries back to your surfing on your regular shortboard.

Anyway, I won't go for turns that I'm not going to make either if the waves are seriously good. Can't waste em, unless you're getting a shitload of em.

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steve shearer
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by steve shearer » Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:28 am

Nick Carroll wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:53 am
steve shearer wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:52 am
but proper step-ups can ameliorate the deficiencies in a sub-par skill set.
Only because they stop people from trying to turn.
god dickless fcuking urban vegans who can't turn a 6'3" in OH surf should be put against the wall.

but no-one rides 6'3"'s anymore, we've been brainwashed into thinking anything bigger than a 6'1" is a mini-mal.
I want Nightclub Dwight dead in his grave I want the nice-nice up in blazes

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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by buddy » Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:32 am

steve shearer wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:28 am
Nick Carroll wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:53 am
steve shearer wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:52 am
but proper step-ups can ameliorate the deficiencies in a sub-par skill set.
Only because they stop people from trying to turn.
god dickless fcuking urban vegans who can't turn a 6'3" in OH surf should be put against the wall.

but no-one rides 6'3"'s anymore, we've been brainwashed into thinking anything bigger than a 6'1" is a mini-mal.
They get on longer boards for the first time and don't know how to get their feet back far enough. Then they decide the board's a dog and doesn't turn.

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PeepeelaPew
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by PeepeelaPew » Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:40 am

...
Last edited by PeepeelaPew on Sun Aug 04, 2019 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

channels
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by channels » Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:55 am

steve shearer wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:28 am
Nick Carroll wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:53 am
steve shearer wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:52 am
but proper step-ups can ameliorate the deficiencies in a sub-par skill set.
Only because they stop people from trying to turn.

but no-one rides 6'3"'s anymore, we've been brainwashed into thinking anything bigger than a 6'1" is a mini-mal.
^
This.

This whole extra short trend, while not as extreme as the banana rocker amd low volume 90's trend, hampers many intermediate surfers.

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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Nick Carroll » Thu Jul 04, 2019 12:14 pm

It's not hampering TardG!! He's going fcuken ham with those head dips

I guess this could be the thing, not-very-good surfers riding too short boards in good waves. Like trying to impose these twitchy short turns they've learned in two foot surf on to waves that really want you to change your timing a bit.

Like it's the timing thing, not so much the board I think. It's pretty easy to ride a 5'10" in 6' surf if you're all good with the timing. But the slightly longer step up forces a timing change on a less competent surfer.

Perhaps we are at the darkness before the Dawn of the 6'5" Step Up!

Or (gasp).... a 6'9"!!

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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Hatchnam » Thu Jul 04, 2019 12:44 pm

Going to short mostly leads to ugly short arc tick tacky surfing. Jagged and under powered.

When did a standard step up stop being 6’4 or 6’6?
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Cranked
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Cranked » Thu Jul 04, 2019 12:53 pm

steve shearer wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:28 am
Nick Carroll wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:53 am
steve shearer wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:52 am
but proper step-ups can ameliorate the deficiencies in a sub-par skill set.
Only because they stop people from trying to turn.
god dickless fcuking urban vegans who can't turn a 6'3" in OH surf should be put against the wall.

but no-one rides 6'3"'s anymore, we've been brainwashed into thinking anything bigger than a 6'1" is a mini-mal.
IMO the return to short low-volume boards is the best thing that has happened in the last 10 years - Its given me a much better chance of catching waves as a lot of surfers end up riding boards that don't match their skills.
“I don’t necessarily agree with everything I say ”— Marshall McLuhan

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steve shearer
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by steve shearer » Thu Jul 04, 2019 1:07 pm

true Cranked
I want Nightclub Dwight dead in his grave I want the nice-nice up in blazes

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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Thud » Thu Jul 04, 2019 1:55 pm

Word. 100% on longer boards papering over the cracks in lined up surf. That was me Monday/Tuesday. I'm shit but I was in early and getting a few. Much better than me sat on their boards working out where the corners might be.

If a 50 something silver back isn't cool for walking up the beach with a 6'10 into good surf so be it. I see regional older guys riding 7ft boards all the time, better waves I guess and they are always getting a bag full.
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Nick Carroll » Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:22 pm

I don't think riding longer step up type boards actually improve you as a surfer though. They just sorta seem to, up to a point.

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steve shearer
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by steve shearer » Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:24 pm

totally disagree.
I want Nightclub Dwight dead in his grave I want the nice-nice up in blazes

Nick Carroll
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Nick Carroll » Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:35 pm

well of course you do!

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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Nick Carroll » Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:42 pm

I can only go on my own personal experience as a surfer, and that's been that every real skill step I've taken has been on a small board, usually a real dynamic little thing that's put a lot of pressure on me to develop control and timing.

They're the boards that opened me up to new angles and reflexes I couldn't have got near without 'em.

Mostly what bigger boards have let me do is ride bigger waves with some ease, they've given me a window into that kind of surf and so actually have been an important part of me learning to be a better surfer. So you must be right!

But riding them has always felt like I'm drawing on a pretty basic level of actual wave riding skill, focused on takeoffs and the basic big turns and barrels, done with plenty of time up the sleeve. Sometimes I really like that feeling of calm, sorta dignified surfing but I don't feel it as a challenge to my abilities. In smaller waves I become a bit irritated by excessive length in a board, and feel a bit stifled by it.

This all is still true for me today, it's not just all in the past.

Maybe some of it is due to having quite big boards as a kid, I started on 5'8"s and 6'0" but then quickly morphed into the classic near seven foot pintail single fins of the early 1970s, which were pretty hard work for a 15 year old. I guess I felt liberated by the shorter boards that quickly followed.

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Snowy McAllister
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by channels » Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:25 pm

I think your definition of smaller surf probably differs from mine. The same for bigger waves as well!

But I agree here with Shearer & Thud, a bigger board allows me earlier entry into waves where I'd probably otherwise get smashed at a critical takeoff due to lack of water time, poor reflexes, poor fitness, tired, or e) all of the above. Not talking about mals or minimals but a 6'8" with volume to ride 5-6 foot surf.

I'm also at the point where I'm never going to throw an air or get a super deep barrel. If I'm feeling comfortable in what I call big surf, 5 - 6 foot, I need to be getting in early and a good wave for me, is a speed run, some carves or cutties and maybe a lip hit if I'm feeling it.

The short, high volume approach has worked for me in waves under chest high though. I posted up a Simon Anderson here before which is 6'0", and the first time I have ridden a board shorter than 6'2" and it's a revelation in the small stuff.

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BA
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by BA » Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:50 pm

Word.

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Wyre
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Wyre » Thu Jul 04, 2019 6:31 pm

channels wrote:
Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:25 pm
I think your definition of smaller surf probably differs from mine. The same for bigger waves as well!

But I agree here with Shearer & Thud, a bigger board allows me earlier entry into waves where I'd probably otherwise get smashed at a critical takeoff due to lack of water time, poor reflexes, poor fitness, tired, or e) all of the above. Not talking about mals or minimals but a 6'8" with volume to ride 5-6 foot surf.

I'm also at the point where I'm never going to throw an air or get a super deep barrel. If I'm feeling comfortable in what I call big surf, 5 - 6 foot, I need to be getting in early and a good wave for me, is a speed run, some carves or cutties and maybe a lip hit if I'm feeling it.

The short, high volume approach has worked for me in waves under chest high though. I posted up a Simon Anderson here before which is 6'0", and the first time I have ridden a board shorter than 6'2" and it's a revelation in the small stuff.
Interesting conversation, I would also add that quality waves on a bigger scale don't happen much on the east coast- I bet if we had the level of experience in juice like NC and many others on here have had, we might be able to start working those waves with a shorter board.
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Re: Where did you surf today ?

Post by Nick Carroll » Thu Jul 04, 2019 6:49 pm

Well especially with modern shorter boards, where the outline’s been mostly cut back out of the nose, the entry rocker has been lowered, and the board’s thus been pulled down from something that would once have been a bit longer.

Like that Ghost thing that everyone’s made a bit of noise about, it started out as a 6’2” cut down from a 6’6” outline.

Same as Kelly’s famed 5’11” Pipe board from 2008, the board that started the whole modern cut down trend, that thing was basically a 6’10” with the nose cut off.

If you go back and have a look at a lot of short boards made prior to say 2005, you will see a few inches forward basically wasted on a disappearing curve that never touched the water. There’s been a lot of advancement since then, incremental but visible.

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