Kneeboarding At 3 G's
Moderator: Moderator
-
Bruce Blake
- Grom (25 or less posts to site)
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:11 am
- Location: Avalon Beach Sydney Australia
fat pengiuin site explains all worth a look
yeah it took me a while to stop giggling but
check the guys site he seems to have done his homework...
http://www.surfersvillage.com/article.asp?id_article=24
check the guys site he seems to have done his homework...
http://www.surfersvillage.com/article.asp?id_article=24
Old Kneelos just takeoff later...
-
Scott
- Legend (Contribution King!)
- Posts: 1244
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 5:36 pm
- Location: San Jose, CA
First Day Recap
Scott,
You, Barry Baker, Dale Solomon, are all after me for some details from this weekend. I only took the Black Beauty spoon out for one session at Swift Street Friday afternoon. Saturday the swell had dropped and the wind was on it when I came in the afternoon, so I just did a short foam board session with Garth at 3 Mile—not a good wave that day for the spoon, for sure.
It’s tough writing a review after just the one session—I’m afraid everyone will try to make final judgments based on my first experience. I felt like my one session at Swift Street only began to scratch the surface. The waves were about 4-6’, some bigger sets, pretty lined up and slightly bumpy conditions. The waves were pretty quick with lots of sections; getting up to speed and maintaining it was vital, especially in the first 50 yards of the waves. The second 50 yards presented a more carvable wall, but still pretty quick. There were only about 6 other surfers out, as opposed to 65 at the Lane. I felt this sort of wave would provide a fine first experience for the board; just get it pointed and go. I feel a bit like some sort of custom lightweight airplane inventor who is just happy that this wild design got off the runway and set it back down rather quickly, trying to figure out what will be the next step. But he’s not ready to take his friends up in the thing yet! But that’s a poor analogy because it suggests any problems are with the craft as a prototype, not the pilot. The reality is that this pilot is having to learn to fly now in a very different style. And all these other pilots, some much more highly skilled with various craft than I, are now wanting some feedback. That’s a lot of pressure!
Okay, so here is a list of impressions, not necessarily in order of importance.
a. Time is slowed down. Not like in the tube, but in what happens in the water between waves. On a foam board I rush out to the line up, rush around hunting down waves, sitting high and scanning the horizon for a quicker jump on the next set. On the spoon, it’s slower, like paddling a bodyboard. It’s comfortable enough with almost exclusively kicking with feet, and with adding one arm when paddling for waves. Only my head is above the water. No sitting on the board. It’s eerie to just let it drift away from me for a minute, unencumbered by a leash, with just the nose sticking straight up about 10” above the surface. No rushing fast out to meet a cleanup set, though. It takes an extra moment to get it up to paddling speed and you can’t close the gap between you and an outside wave quickly. So the experience is what (and who) is immediately around you, not 50 yards away.
b. When paddling for waves, it feels like I’m going to have trouble getting into it, but just as wave starts to pick me up the board suddenly begins to plane much quicker and dropping it is not much problem. I think I only missed one wave.
c. My first 3 waves were just abut getting settled on it. It immediately felt solid and stable, but didn’t like me the least bit too far forward. Even with the displacement hull, there is not a lot of rocker and it doesn’t appreciate a lot of pressure on the nose. When I look at past pics of my own bottom turn on a foam board, I tend to lean way forward and out over the area into which I am turning. The spoon does not seem to like that. Pics of GG (especially his famous B/W shots bottom turning at Rincon) show him much more centered and sitting back on his turns than the way I approached it on Friday.
d. More on my first 3 waves. I eased down into the trough, got settled and the board began to accelerate, but the lip was already past me and I was in the white water. It doesn’t seem to like cruising in the soup much. As I rolled over in the soup on the third wave, the torsion bar came off. That surprised me as it didn’t seem like there was much stress to cause that to happen, but it may have been because of how forward I was with my weight while up on my knees, not on my haunches, and pressing down on my kneecaps. The may have caused a lot of flex in just one spot and popped of the bar. MOW is actually quite thrilled about this development as he has seriously come to regret adding the torsion bar. It did look very cool, however… Anyway, I paddled in and stored the bar in some rocks and kicked back out into the lineup.
e. While the board was quickly released by the wave when I fell off, it still washes in about 20’ then pops up, nose high. 20’ however is enough to potentially create some collision problems for other surfers inside of me who would instinctively think my board must be connected to me. I’m already talking with MOW about leash plug possibilities.
f. My fourth wave is my first one up and going on the unbroken waves. Very comfortable, decent speed. Not a board that wants to be pumped. I have some trouble with cutback as I don’t know quite how to transfer my weight right.
g. As others have written about the spoon, it has something of its own mind on where it wants to sit on a wave. I feel like I’m sorta “along for the ride” some of the time.
h. My next two waves are each better than the previous ones, but I finally get positioned right to stick a one good bottom turn. Very interesting: this seeming slower responding board suddenly turns very quickly and shoots out of the turn. It just jumps! Many of you know that experience of giving a short hard push off the lip on a foam board, but we like our bottom turns often a bit more drawn out. With this board it’s the opposite—it seems to like some push off the bottom and it really responded with a tight arc and some real pop. That one move was what I really want to work on more next time—very tasty!
i. Duck diving is really great. I just have to start going under early, then I can descend as far as down as I want. It’s strange to have a guy next to you paddling out to the set and then suddenly leave him on the surface and just disappear deep under quite awhile before he starts his duck dive (“Dang! Where did that guy go? Did something get him!!?) Looking towards future sessions, I can definitely see how I could pick off the last wave of a large set that would lay waste to everyone else in the lineup while I motored out about 15’ down. Granted, that takes a bit of breadth control.
j. After 90 minutes or so I’m pretty tired. Not used to so much leg work, and so sitting so low in the NorCal water. I’m wearing my big Duck Feet for extra power, but that is also somewhat taxing. Definitely need to get into “spoon shape” for long sessions. I take a wave in, retrieve the torsion bar and drop everything in the back of my truck. I take out my Flashpoint for another hour or so, now with my shorter Viper fins. How strange to be so high up! Reverting to my old skills, I get my foam board firing down the line quite easily: Garth, Travis and I pretty much dominate the sets for awhile. Now I need to see how all that transfers to a spoon.
k. Definitely the coolest looking board by design I’ve ever seen. Just other-worldly. One footboarder paddles up to me asks what the heck that thing is. He thinks it’s some weird sponge! How do you explain a spoon hydrodynamically to someone in 30 seconds?
l. MOW saw the posted pics and has given me some good advice about sitting back on my haunches, rather than up on my knees. He has posted that insight, too, elsewhere on this site.
Not much groundswell around now. I don’t know when the next time I can get in the water. I’ll try to get the board over to Jon Manss so he can try it and make it available to others. MOW himself is journeying 4000 miles to the Bay Area in two weeks, and we’ll have fun surfing it together.
G'nite, all...
You, Barry Baker, Dale Solomon, are all after me for some details from this weekend. I only took the Black Beauty spoon out for one session at Swift Street Friday afternoon. Saturday the swell had dropped and the wind was on it when I came in the afternoon, so I just did a short foam board session with Garth at 3 Mile—not a good wave that day for the spoon, for sure.
It’s tough writing a review after just the one session—I’m afraid everyone will try to make final judgments based on my first experience. I felt like my one session at Swift Street only began to scratch the surface. The waves were about 4-6’, some bigger sets, pretty lined up and slightly bumpy conditions. The waves were pretty quick with lots of sections; getting up to speed and maintaining it was vital, especially in the first 50 yards of the waves. The second 50 yards presented a more carvable wall, but still pretty quick. There were only about 6 other surfers out, as opposed to 65 at the Lane. I felt this sort of wave would provide a fine first experience for the board; just get it pointed and go. I feel a bit like some sort of custom lightweight airplane inventor who is just happy that this wild design got off the runway and set it back down rather quickly, trying to figure out what will be the next step. But he’s not ready to take his friends up in the thing yet! But that’s a poor analogy because it suggests any problems are with the craft as a prototype, not the pilot. The reality is that this pilot is having to learn to fly now in a very different style. And all these other pilots, some much more highly skilled with various craft than I, are now wanting some feedback. That’s a lot of pressure!
Okay, so here is a list of impressions, not necessarily in order of importance.
a. Time is slowed down. Not like in the tube, but in what happens in the water between waves. On a foam board I rush out to the line up, rush around hunting down waves, sitting high and scanning the horizon for a quicker jump on the next set. On the spoon, it’s slower, like paddling a bodyboard. It’s comfortable enough with almost exclusively kicking with feet, and with adding one arm when paddling for waves. Only my head is above the water. No sitting on the board. It’s eerie to just let it drift away from me for a minute, unencumbered by a leash, with just the nose sticking straight up about 10” above the surface. No rushing fast out to meet a cleanup set, though. It takes an extra moment to get it up to paddling speed and you can’t close the gap between you and an outside wave quickly. So the experience is what (and who) is immediately around you, not 50 yards away.
b. When paddling for waves, it feels like I’m going to have trouble getting into it, but just as wave starts to pick me up the board suddenly begins to plane much quicker and dropping it is not much problem. I think I only missed one wave.
c. My first 3 waves were just abut getting settled on it. It immediately felt solid and stable, but didn’t like me the least bit too far forward. Even with the displacement hull, there is not a lot of rocker and it doesn’t appreciate a lot of pressure on the nose. When I look at past pics of my own bottom turn on a foam board, I tend to lean way forward and out over the area into which I am turning. The spoon does not seem to like that. Pics of GG (especially his famous B/W shots bottom turning at Rincon) show him much more centered and sitting back on his turns than the way I approached it on Friday.
d. More on my first 3 waves. I eased down into the trough, got settled and the board began to accelerate, but the lip was already past me and I was in the white water. It doesn’t seem to like cruising in the soup much. As I rolled over in the soup on the third wave, the torsion bar came off. That surprised me as it didn’t seem like there was much stress to cause that to happen, but it may have been because of how forward I was with my weight while up on my knees, not on my haunches, and pressing down on my kneecaps. The may have caused a lot of flex in just one spot and popped of the bar. MOW is actually quite thrilled about this development as he has seriously come to regret adding the torsion bar. It did look very cool, however… Anyway, I paddled in and stored the bar in some rocks and kicked back out into the lineup.
e. While the board was quickly released by the wave when I fell off, it still washes in about 20’ then pops up, nose high. 20’ however is enough to potentially create some collision problems for other surfers inside of me who would instinctively think my board must be connected to me. I’m already talking with MOW about leash plug possibilities.
f. My fourth wave is my first one up and going on the unbroken waves. Very comfortable, decent speed. Not a board that wants to be pumped. I have some trouble with cutback as I don’t know quite how to transfer my weight right.
g. As others have written about the spoon, it has something of its own mind on where it wants to sit on a wave. I feel like I’m sorta “along for the ride” some of the time.
h. My next two waves are each better than the previous ones, but I finally get positioned right to stick a one good bottom turn. Very interesting: this seeming slower responding board suddenly turns very quickly and shoots out of the turn. It just jumps! Many of you know that experience of giving a short hard push off the lip on a foam board, but we like our bottom turns often a bit more drawn out. With this board it’s the opposite—it seems to like some push off the bottom and it really responded with a tight arc and some real pop. That one move was what I really want to work on more next time—very tasty!
i. Duck diving is really great. I just have to start going under early, then I can descend as far as down as I want. It’s strange to have a guy next to you paddling out to the set and then suddenly leave him on the surface and just disappear deep under quite awhile before he starts his duck dive (“Dang! Where did that guy go? Did something get him!!?) Looking towards future sessions, I can definitely see how I could pick off the last wave of a large set that would lay waste to everyone else in the lineup while I motored out about 15’ down. Granted, that takes a bit of breadth control.
j. After 90 minutes or so I’m pretty tired. Not used to so much leg work, and so sitting so low in the NorCal water. I’m wearing my big Duck Feet for extra power, but that is also somewhat taxing. Definitely need to get into “spoon shape” for long sessions. I take a wave in, retrieve the torsion bar and drop everything in the back of my truck. I take out my Flashpoint for another hour or so, now with my shorter Viper fins. How strange to be so high up! Reverting to my old skills, I get my foam board firing down the line quite easily: Garth, Travis and I pretty much dominate the sets for awhile. Now I need to see how all that transfers to a spoon.
k. Definitely the coolest looking board by design I’ve ever seen. Just other-worldly. One footboarder paddles up to me asks what the heck that thing is. He thinks it’s some weird sponge! How do you explain a spoon hydrodynamically to someone in 30 seconds?
l. MOW saw the posted pics and has given me some good advice about sitting back on my haunches, rather than up on my knees. He has posted that insight, too, elsewhere on this site.
Not much groundswell around now. I don’t know when the next time I can get in the water. I’ll try to get the board over to Jon Manss so he can try it and make it available to others. MOW himself is journeying 4000 miles to the Bay Area in two weeks, and we’ll have fun surfing it together.
G'nite, all...
-
AM_Glass
- Ripper (more than 100 posts)
- Posts: 105
- Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2004 12:15 pm
- Location: Oakland :(, CA
Great wave by wave synopsis Scott. I was out there but didn't see you ride any waves except from the back. Not what I would imagine would be a good spoon wave, but the fact that it worked at all says the design is usable in a variety of waves.
Scott, sorry I missed you Saturday. I figured you got busy at home and I went up to 4mile late in the day only to find the wind on it hard. Sat on the beach and got a sunburn instead.
So in the last month I've met 6 kneeboarders, counting me that's at least 7 kneeboarders for Santa Cruz and I know there are more. I havn't been hasseled once for being on a kneeboard in the hassle town of Santa Cruz (except by my friend, but he's been getting into 70's single fins so he's not mainstream either.) I've now seen two flex spoons being used, and boards from Hawaii (Blast), Australia (Flashpoint) and local (Freeline.) To me that speaks of the future of kneeboarding more than anything.
Scott, sorry I missed you Saturday. I figured you got busy at home and I went up to 4mile late in the day only to find the wind on it hard. Sat on the beach and got a sunburn instead.
So in the last month I've met 6 kneeboarders, counting me that's at least 7 kneeboarders for Santa Cruz and I know there are more. I havn't been hasseled once for being on a kneeboard in the hassle town of Santa Cruz (except by my friend, but he's been getting into 70's single fins so he's not mainstream either.) I've now seen two flex spoons being used, and boards from Hawaii (Blast), Australia (Flashpoint) and local (Freeline.) To me that speaks of the future of kneeboarding more than anything.
It could be worse, I could be in Oakla-homa.
Spoons and Leashes - my experience
Sunset, Pipeline, Malibu at night, 12' Rincon out at the Indicator alone at night, Pt. Mugu directly in front of the rocks - never considered a leash. Never. You learn to hold on to the rail at all times. Death grip. Sometimes your arm will get twisted around while you're holding on. Never let go.
So your riding style includes always holding the outside rail. That is your leash.
I never considered wearing a leash with any spoon until I got an edge board that didn't float whatsoever - it would just sink. So I thought I would be smart and attached a short leash to the nose and to my wrist. It got in the way a few times when paddling but I learned to deal with it. I like a non-buoyant board - makes everything easier.
So I thought I had it licked - the leash worked. Then one day at Rincon I was riding inside rivermouth, 4 - 5' tubes and some guy on a standup board snaked me and wiped out, causing me to take a tumble. And the board was ripped from my hand(s). When I tried to surface guess what? - the board was held down by water pressure/suction forces and I could not reach the surface! I was tied to the bottom. So with the kind of strength you get when you need it I ripped the leash from the board and made it to the surface and air. Relief.
But wait...where's my board? It never came up. Never found it. Went home empty handed.
Lessons learned:
1. wear a leash only in extreme conditions and make sure you have some kind of release
2. Make sure your board has at least some buoyancy
3. Paint your board with bright colors that are easy to spot in both open water and the inside mix of whitewater and foam.
So on my next edge board, which also did not float, I glued some kind of auto interior foam to the deck to give it a little flotation - no leash.
Now if you think that because your spoon has foam in the rails and floats ok that it won't be held down or pinned to the bottom think again. With the spoon-like shape the resistance to being pulled, pushed or moved against water pressure/suction is tremendous. If a spoon is lying flat on the bottom No force in the world could lift it straight up - both suction and straight resistance would prevent you from lifting it. You could slide it sideways and release it but not straight up against the water.
One day at 2-3' Log Cabins on the North Shore I was riding my spoon. Got wiped out and wound up on my back in a "chamber" in the rocks. My board was flat on top of me - like a coffin lid. It was impossible to push it off of me - I did manage to slide it sideways allowing me to surface. And that board floated!
Last story. One night at Rincon my friend and I were out - it was a pumping, tubing 6-10'. I was at the Rivermouth and took off on a large wave. Before I could get to my knees the wave had pitched out over my head and the lip was coming down in front of me. If you've ever surfed the Rincon Rivermouth you'll know what I am talking about - the wave jumps up and throws out. So I freefell without even getting to my knees and had a nasty wipeout - letting go of my board. Couldn't find the board so I slowly swam in scanning for it, expecting to see it wallowing somewhere in the water or maybe even washed up on the beach.
Got to the beach - still no board. Searching and searching. HINT: BRIGHT COLORS - paint your spoon with bright, highly visible colors as a spoon will wallow in the water and be difficult to see.
So I walked and ran up and down the beach from the Rivermouth to the highway and back a few times - searching, straining to see my board. It was my first and only spoon at that time. I had to find it.
And remember its pitch black at 3:00 AM. After an hour or so of this I was devastated - no board. Ready to give up I was standing ankle/knee deep just outside first point when the board bumped into my leg. It was right next to me and I couldn't even see it! BRIGHT COLORS.
So it may come down to a choice - your board or your life?
Just to be clear I will have leash attachment points on all my boards from now on. There will be times and places where I will choose to wear a leash. The leash when worn will have some kind of quick release. And my boards will have easily located BRIGHT colors and some amount of buoyancy. How about a GPS homing device? A pop-up buoy. Dye markers. Audio beeper.
And for night surfing that luminous, glow-in-the-dark paint - or would that attract ????
Sunset, Pipeline, Malibu at night, 12' Rincon out at the Indicator alone at night, Pt. Mugu directly in front of the rocks - never considered a leash. Never. You learn to hold on to the rail at all times. Death grip. Sometimes your arm will get twisted around while you're holding on. Never let go.
So your riding style includes always holding the outside rail. That is your leash.
I never considered wearing a leash with any spoon until I got an edge board that didn't float whatsoever - it would just sink. So I thought I would be smart and attached a short leash to the nose and to my wrist. It got in the way a few times when paddling but I learned to deal with it. I like a non-buoyant board - makes everything easier.
So I thought I had it licked - the leash worked. Then one day at Rincon I was riding inside rivermouth, 4 - 5' tubes and some guy on a standup board snaked me and wiped out, causing me to take a tumble. And the board was ripped from my hand(s). When I tried to surface guess what? - the board was held down by water pressure/suction forces and I could not reach the surface! I was tied to the bottom. So with the kind of strength you get when you need it I ripped the leash from the board and made it to the surface and air. Relief.
But wait...where's my board? It never came up. Never found it. Went home empty handed.
Lessons learned:
1. wear a leash only in extreme conditions and make sure you have some kind of release
2. Make sure your board has at least some buoyancy
3. Paint your board with bright colors that are easy to spot in both open water and the inside mix of whitewater and foam.
So on my next edge board, which also did not float, I glued some kind of auto interior foam to the deck to give it a little flotation - no leash.
Now if you think that because your spoon has foam in the rails and floats ok that it won't be held down or pinned to the bottom think again. With the spoon-like shape the resistance to being pulled, pushed or moved against water pressure/suction is tremendous. If a spoon is lying flat on the bottom No force in the world could lift it straight up - both suction and straight resistance would prevent you from lifting it. You could slide it sideways and release it but not straight up against the water.
One day at 2-3' Log Cabins on the North Shore I was riding my spoon. Got wiped out and wound up on my back in a "chamber" in the rocks. My board was flat on top of me - like a coffin lid. It was impossible to push it off of me - I did manage to slide it sideways allowing me to surface. And that board floated!
Last story. One night at Rincon my friend and I were out - it was a pumping, tubing 6-10'. I was at the Rivermouth and took off on a large wave. Before I could get to my knees the wave had pitched out over my head and the lip was coming down in front of me. If you've ever surfed the Rincon Rivermouth you'll know what I am talking about - the wave jumps up and throws out. So I freefell without even getting to my knees and had a nasty wipeout - letting go of my board. Couldn't find the board so I slowly swam in scanning for it, expecting to see it wallowing somewhere in the water or maybe even washed up on the beach.
Got to the beach - still no board. Searching and searching. HINT: BRIGHT COLORS - paint your spoon with bright, highly visible colors as a spoon will wallow in the water and be difficult to see.
So I walked and ran up and down the beach from the Rivermouth to the highway and back a few times - searching, straining to see my board. It was my first and only spoon at that time. I had to find it.
And remember its pitch black at 3:00 AM. After an hour or so of this I was devastated - no board. Ready to give up I was standing ankle/knee deep just outside first point when the board bumped into my leg. It was right next to me and I couldn't even see it! BRIGHT COLORS.
So it may come down to a choice - your board or your life?
Just to be clear I will have leash attachment points on all my boards from now on. There will be times and places where I will choose to wear a leash. The leash when worn will have some kind of quick release. And my boards will have easily located BRIGHT colors and some amount of buoyancy. How about a GPS homing device? A pop-up buoy. Dye markers. Audio beeper.
And for night surfing that luminous, glow-in-the-dark paint - or would that attract ????
Living the Greenough Legacy...and beyond
After my "leash rant" I realized I'd better add this.
For those who are trying out Man O' War's spoon and anyone riding spoons that hasn't learned this the hard way yet:
When you dive under a breaking or already broken wave with a spoon there is no "pop back up like a cork" that you may be accustomed to when riding foam boards. It's up to you to get you and your spoon back to the surface. If you dive under and your board is angled down when you get hit with the energy, turbulance, whitewater or force of a broken or breaking wave, you will be driven down.
The spoon shape is excellant at capturing all that energy and being forced in a direction by all that energy. You will have to change the "angle of attack" of your board to point it towards the surface consciously and in time or suffer the consequences. A spoon pressed down by water pressure is IMPOSSIBLE to fight.
Angle it upward before the "force" hits you and it will help you get to the surface.
Angle it down and get driven down.
Unlike a foam board the "fight" is NOT to get it to dive down and under waves - it is to get back up!
There are many ramifications to riding a spoon that are not immediately obvious.
A famous quote I like to go by is:
"Smart people learn from their own mistakes, geniuses learn from the mistakes of others".
So I'm sharing this for all you geniuses out there! I was only smart.
For those who are trying out Man O' War's spoon and anyone riding spoons that hasn't learned this the hard way yet:
When you dive under a breaking or already broken wave with a spoon there is no "pop back up like a cork" that you may be accustomed to when riding foam boards. It's up to you to get you and your spoon back to the surface. If you dive under and your board is angled down when you get hit with the energy, turbulance, whitewater or force of a broken or breaking wave, you will be driven down.
The spoon shape is excellant at capturing all that energy and being forced in a direction by all that energy. You will have to change the "angle of attack" of your board to point it towards the surface consciously and in time or suffer the consequences. A spoon pressed down by water pressure is IMPOSSIBLE to fight.
Angle it upward before the "force" hits you and it will help you get to the surface.
Angle it down and get driven down.
Unlike a foam board the "fight" is NOT to get it to dive down and under waves - it is to get back up!
There are many ramifications to riding a spoon that are not immediately obvious.
A famous quote I like to go by is:
"Smart people learn from their own mistakes, geniuses learn from the mistakes of others".
So I'm sharing this for all you geniuses out there! I was only smart.
Living the Greenough Legacy...and beyond
flexspoon is very accurate about the spoon not surfacing in the turbulence of whitewater. my method seems to be learning things the hard way--being that i am actually slightly stupid.
i got pinned under a big set in the shallow impact zone and found myself being pushed towards shore underwater while chattering across the reef. eventually i had to force myself and the spoon to the surface.
getting under sets- in the deeper water-however is a joy. you can open your eyes and watch these waves thump above you as you cruise like a little submarine beneath them. meanwhile your foam counterparts are being pulled inside--leaving you alone with next set wave.
i was able to ride a few good sized waves and complete successful turns. those rides made me want more. there is so much to learn...overall i would consider the first real test successful--not in a glorious way--but in a realistic way.
i got pinned under a big set in the shallow impact zone and found myself being pushed towards shore underwater while chattering across the reef. eventually i had to force myself and the spoon to the surface.
getting under sets- in the deeper water-however is a joy. you can open your eyes and watch these waves thump above you as you cruise like a little submarine beneath them. meanwhile your foam counterparts are being pulled inside--leaving you alone with next set wave.
i was able to ride a few good sized waves and complete successful turns. those rides made me want more. there is so much to learn...overall i would consider the first real test successful--not in a glorious way--but in a realistic way.
-
Man O' War
- Legend (Contribution King!)
- Posts: 555
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:57 pm
- Location: Miami FL
-
schwammenmaschine
- Grom (25 or less posts to site)
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 11:56 am
- Location: eastcoast usa
Re: is kneeboarding in a tailslide
eh! granted i kinda lost track of the thread cuz i forgot my passowrd but i am here i shaped a 5'0" fish last winter and i hope to ride it this coming summer. and i am 16 now granted i can't talk a single person i know into kneeboarding but well kneeboarding i doubt will become mainstream esp. now if ever. what about inserting a thin layer of a flexible foam into the spoons core, now with the template modifictations and the added voulme you can ride smaller sh!ttier waveswaka wrote:I think kneeboarding biggest problem,
is lack of Youth.
Check the average age of a kneeboarding, its not overflowing with youngsters.
As man of war said about his son bring home dvd's of young footboarders doing it better, of course they could ,
because they are YOUNG.
Even the SIMPSONS (CHEYNE AND TROY)
there 25+ years.
not exactly gromments eh?
Matty Nov leads our next wave of youth, but there is not a lot of kids following thru.
body boardering, video games, blame what you will,
but it is had to turn things around.
As i said before about Kneeboarding ( or whatever form of surfing ) is about FUN.
I am proud to say that i have introduce all three of my sons to surfing, with only Curtis still surfing!.Its up to us fathers and Elders to introduce the sport to our kids
waka
-
Eric Carson
- Legend (Contribution King!)
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2003 6:21 pm
- Location: Melbourne Florida
-
Nov
- Ripper (more than 100 posts)
- Posts: 229
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 8:35 pm
- Location: North Narrabeen beach
Groms and spoons.
The way I look at spoons is, would you be able to do 360's off the lip on one? Would you be able to pull barrel rolls on them? I've had a go of a spoon and I can tell a spoon wouldn't be able to follow through a move like that in the kind of waves that I ride everyday 
, maybe if you've got perfect 6-8ft surf everyday, but how realistic is that?
Shortboarders are doing everything (well almost everything) better at the moment as they are always looking to the future, for new moves and experimental tricks that can be done on a board. In the latest mags guys like Josh Kerr are inventing their own airs and other futuristic moves (Kerr invented his own Kerr-upt Flip, an air double grab where the left hand grabs the right rail with the opposite for the right hand). Could a kneelo on a spoon do something like that? Only if the waves are perfectly suited to a spoon. Kids look to those standup guys and see that they are the ones going foward and doing those turns, they want to be part of that movement, spoons won't do the turns they are looking to do in average surf.
I bet you could carve on a spoon in huge perfect waves but for us groms who are stuck surfing average waves everyday spoons aren't really a realistic option, modern designs suit much better with better float and planing ability.
I'd love to have a go of one next time Northy's 6-8ft and peeling off...
looks like they really tear when it's good.
, maybe if you've got perfect 6-8ft surf everyday, but how realistic is that?Shortboarders are doing everything (well almost everything) better at the moment as they are always looking to the future, for new moves and experimental tricks that can be done on a board. In the latest mags guys like Josh Kerr are inventing their own airs and other futuristic moves (Kerr invented his own Kerr-upt Flip, an air double grab where the left hand grabs the right rail with the opposite for the right hand). Could a kneelo on a spoon do something like that? Only if the waves are perfectly suited to a spoon. Kids look to those standup guys and see that they are the ones going foward and doing those turns, they want to be part of that movement, spoons won't do the turns they are looking to do in average surf.
I bet you could carve on a spoon in huge perfect waves but for us groms who are stuck surfing average waves everyday spoons aren't really a realistic option, modern designs suit much better with better float and planing ability.
I'd love to have a go of one next time Northy's 6-8ft and peeling off...
looks like they really tear when it's good.