Grip

[NickyG]

ive got a grip with a decent kicker and a arc pad in the middle.. It's always a good feeling when your foot is right square on the grip.. Also helps with the duck dives although.. I've copped it in the balls before when the board has slipped between my legs when mucking around in the surf

[pridmore]

most of mine dont have grips, all boards I make for myself are just wax, ones I accquire 2nd hand, if they have a grip, so be it, doesnt make me surf any different, just have to make sure its a good wax job, something I am pretty finicky about, also have flat feet so dont like bumps and arches in my feet, love the feeling of super soft and sticky wax so my feet almost sink and stick to it...shame there's no great wax on the market atm...there was wax called 'gloo' it was the dux nuts......
I sell the FK pads and they seem good, and decent value also....

[gibber]

I went from being a no grip man to a converted grip acolyte in one surf.
I first tried grip back in the day when gorrilla grip had the old three circle tail pad with the differing colours and no tail block back in '87 and hated it, it was slippery and made my knee and thighs rash and really, wax seemed to do a better job. So wax became my one and only grip method for many many years there after until...
I was surfing with a mate who rides with a tail pad on all his boards and after a few waves he offers me his board saying its sick and that i should give it a go. I eyed the board suspiciously as it had that ugly looking sh1t on the tail and feelings of chafed thighs and red raw knees flooded my head but seeing he was so stoked with the board i had to have a go. The board itself was just your standard 6'2 squash tail single/double conc that is prolific in south east queensland and all seem to do well in most conditions here so i thought what the hell and swapped leggies and paddled around looking for the button of the approaching set.
First wave i took off on i placed my back foot on the tail pad and felt the block on the edge of my toe and thought, that feels weird...bottom turned and went up and layed the board on rail for a turn off the top and repeated 3 more times, each time my back foot felt perfectly planted and able to help drive out of the bottom turn with more purchase on the board and therefore more power! I was hooked!
So from then till now, about 7 years or so, i have been extolling the virtues to all and sundry of the benefits of a good tail pad and block grip, don't get me wrong, I love wax and still keep my gun as a wax only board, but for small to medium wave surfing there is nothing that compares to having the security of a decent grip pad under your back foot

[JET01]

I had a great days surfing yesterday as i mentioned in another thread.
The first surf i had was on my quadfather which has a gorilla pad on it. I haven't surfed this board in sydney for a while because the surf has been too small for it for around 2 months. In that time i bought a 5'9 custom (similar to dumpster diver). Have been umming and arring about putting a grip on it.
After the day i had on the Quadfather yesterday, i really noticed how much i relied on the grip as a reference point.
I've ordered a gorilla pad with a big smiley face on it from surfstitch. Can't wait to get it on.
I'm now a full convert when it comes to grips on shortboards.
Not too fussed on Funboards/longboards.