V. small wave grovellers

[batoes]

I am still a massive fan of the mini sim style board in the small stuff. I've ridden a few of the lost grovel boards - the bottom feeder and lazy boy. Both good boards, but not for knee high. Like the firewire potatonator, they can work in chest high and up. The baked potato was really good i thought, but i kept stuffing around with fins and could never get the combo quite right (me, not the board).
My go to board in junk is still my Rake magic peanut. The thing is beat to hell - but i'll get another summer out of her. 5'0, 20, 2 1/2. It all depends how you wanna surf i guess. I have a NPJ Squail coming in next week so i'll see how that goes till winter.
The hard thing isn't finding a board for grovel waves - the hard thing is settling on one!

[JaM71]

I am still a massive fan of the mini sim style board in the small stuff. I've ridden a few of the lost grovel boards - the bottom feeder and lazy boy. Both good boards, but not for knee high. Like the firewire potatonator, they can work in chest high and up. The baked potato was really good i thought, but i kept stuffing around with fins and could never get the combo quite right (me, not the board).
My go to board in junk is still my Rake magic peanut. The thing is beat to hell - but i'll get another summer out of her. 5'0, 20, 2 1/2. It all depends how you wanna surf i guess. I have a NPJ Squail coming in next week so i'll see how that goes till winter.
The hard thing isn't finding a board for grovel waves - the hard thing is settling on one!

I like the look of the NPJ squail, what dimensions have you ordered? Stringer less? Please post a review once you ve got a few waves on it, & the vbowls!

I am still digging my DVS wasp with his quad keels, great zippy little board for the beachies.

[batoes]

i spoke with neal and he recommended 5'3, 20 1/4, 2 3/8 - stringer and glass ons. I have a stringerless quartet - really good board. It is quite a different ride and i was finding it difficult to transition to the grovel board which required a lot of active riding compared with the quartet which needs a more subtle approach.

I'll keep you posted on the new boards

[spork]

Hey Tonka, hope ya had a good chrissy mate. While I'v dabbled in short wide boards (gravy, biscuit, MSF, Motorboat etc.) I can't honestly say they are better than a high performance mal in small gutless waves.(yes, I agree with Shearer on this). If you think that little block of foam is going to get you heaps of waves and let you do stuff you can't do on yur normal board yur kidding yourself. That's why we keep trying em, looking for performance that isn't there. The last bloke I saw ripping the bag out of waves on a really short board was a guy on his kids foamy. It was pretty devastating to watch and it told me that its 'not the board' once and for all. I can also attest to the corky problem too, thick short boards will climb up the face like a tufflite leaving you on the lip. Having said all that, there is NO WAY you are getting on a mal, so look closely at short (5'6"- 5'9" for tight turning) wide ish (20"+ for easy planning) tri plane bottom with hard rails off the tail (for speed) and thin (21/2"max) and flat rocker (for easy paddling) and you will have what you need. And yes that describes the Gravy, but also many other local products. If yur down my way you can try mine...I have two.

[Natho]

I tell ya what. This 5'8 Maurice Cole Mermaid thing I got is going insane. Took it out in steeper waves and it seems to like those waves better. Goes vertical with ease. I'm learning something from riding this board. The added tail rocker and back end curve in the plan shape just makes this board so much more versatile than I first thought, despite the extra width. The super deep concave seems to be complimented by the lower knifey rail so it all just works and the board still holds in nicely at speed. I think Maurice is onto something.

[swvic]

If your going to Torquay, do yourself a favour and have a look at Maurice Cole's boards in Patagonia. Like Natho says, he's onto something

Dan Thompson is too. My V4 is nothing like any other short/wide(ish) thing I've ever ridden

Although the differences are significant, there's similarities to the approach by both shapers. Low rails, hard edges and lots of conc (MC more so)

[Natho]

Not yet but if I get a chance to measure it out I will let you know.

In simple terms it is flatter through the front but has this nice increase in rocker behind the front fins. Basically if you lay a bottom turn in a steeper wave the board naturally just wants to go verticle straight up into the wave without much effort. This was a bit of a pleasant suprise because often with these wider, flatter slightly fishy boards you have to really push the board into wanting to do that and kind of over power the boards natural turning arc to get it to go straight up (if it will at all). This baby just wants to go there in the first place. The board is 19 1/2 wide which was a bit of a concern for me before surfing it. Nearly all my boards are less than 19, around 18 1/2 give or take. Again I am learning something. Certaily not a board for everyone though. There are some very fine tuned ultra high performance elements going on. The board needs to be surfed off the rail and rocker curves rather than flat like some of those hipster retro things. Surf it flat and I would think its going to buck you off pretty quick.

[pirate_agenda]

if you've already got a board that works in 2ft up, theres no point getting a short wide thick shortboard like a neckbeard etc, as thats what they are for. You need a full blown very short very wide groveller in the sub 5'4 long over 20 wide category. they make slop and tiny waves super fun.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Good point pirate! If you're surfing a performance board its generally going to have range from 2-5ft pretty easily. All variants of the same species.

I reckon if you want to surf 2ft and under you need to go ridiculous! Go waaaay over the top. Who would ever want to take their surfing seriously in 1-2ft waves? Ride something that will put a smile or your dial and give you the most fun!

My choices are (and I pretty much always have fun surfing these, and other surfers even have a little hoot when they see it too):

Surfmat
Finless with lots of volume
Soon-to-be mid-length mal by MP with a stinger tail to loosen it up.

Even better, go through the trouble to shape yourself something crazy for that wave range. It'll be all the more rewarding if you're surfing something you made yourself. Its not really that hard, it just takes time and you have to be okay with making mistakes.


I paddled out my finless at solid Tamarama last week and had a great time! When people were seeing me having fun all of a sudden the mood lifted and people were chatting and hooting while I was flying along going backwards and falling off mid-catastrophic slide-out. It was great to see people just catching on that its just super fun, and nothing about being competitive. They start smiling, having a chat and having a laugh. Doesn't take much!

[Beerfan]

Exactly, you're out there just to get out there in that wave range. I have a new 5'4" that is ridiculously loose and fun. Surfed it today in knee to waist high junk high tide windswell. Had fun and got wet. All the junk surfs build up the good wave karma haha.

[Beerfan]

There was definately more size around the corner!, but lots of wind too!

[Nick Carroll]

Semi embarrassed to admit it but my current tiny wave groveller favourite is my racing surf ski

It's such a focus thing, moving something that's 20' long and 17" wide with a full displacement hull bottom around a bumpy short interval little lineup. You've got to set everything up way before it happens. Really keeps your head in the game.

But it's sooo fast and catches waves so far outside, makes a 1-2' wave feel like what it really is, which is a tremendously powerful thing. Even tiny waves have huge amounts of energy in 'em.

It also destroys SUPs, I mean really destroys 'em.

Trying to figure out how to pop the tail out off the back of waves while going down the line, and thus spinning the ski so it pulls around to 90 degrees to the wave. Crazy.

[alakaboo]

I don't have a full size ski but I've been doing the same. Keep bending the rudder out of whack from the twisting forces though?
Then I took the SUP out and it was a pig of a thing in the same waves.

I know surfing is great guys, but if the waves are under knee high why not just bodysurf or do something else?

[marauding mullet]

Sometimes I wish I still had my Don Burford clubby racing mal, that thing was the most fun you could have on your knees. It was amazingly agile on a decent wall.

[Nick Carroll]

I don't have a full size ski but I've been doing the same. Keep bending the rudder out of whack from the twisting forces though?

Nah, that's the thing, you get the rudder out of the water off the back of the wave and just sort of spin the ski off the lip line, then snap it down with a few quick paddle strokes

It's all about the paddle.

[alakaboo]

But how do you set it up?

[Nick Carroll]

Trim across a little wave then put the ski on the lip line a couple seconds before it breaks.

Then sorta rip it around with the paddle, like paddling not dragging the blade? I don't really understand it that well, just having fun doing it. A couple of the kids I coach can do foam bounce floaters and stuff.

[alakaboo]

Alright, I get it.
I've got a shorter flatter ski and it does little slides sort of like grinds on a skateboard.