Wax v. Pads

[HALFMANRIPS/MIKE GARRETT]

DECK PAD'S NEVER TURNED ME ON !
IT'S LIKE TRYING TO WRITE WITH A GLOVE ON, NO CONNECTION,LESS FEEL. I FOUND OUT EARLY IN MY DAY THAT CUTTING THE LEGS FROM OLD FULL SUITS WORKED GREAT FOR KNEE PAD'S. NOW I JUST BUY THEM AT MOST ANY STORE IN THE PHARMACY. BODY GLOVE KNEE SUPPORTS. LIKE ANYTHING IN LIFE ( DO WHAT WORKS BEST FOR U )

JUST RIP IT !

[Steeno]

I probably wouldnt ride a kneelo without kneepads. There responsive, they have feeling for the wave and most of all I think I may still be walking when I am 70. I have been doing aerials since the early eighties, kneepads make that possible. The 13 pints of black beer I just consumed make it possible for me to write this. please excuse me. Burp! spin Burp!



its 3:30am

[hart]

steeno,

After 13 pints you happen to be on this site? Hope that's all you 'googled'..and I agree with you, I've been off carpet burns for years.

Where's the rubber?

[kripchik]

Regarding pads,

Pads do protect the surface of the board, but then you’re loosing contact with the board and along with that some sensitivity as well. Also some pads lift you almost an inch or so off the surface of the board, so you may lose some of the advantage of a lower center of gravity.

I really think you are starting to split atoms there.

I use deck pads and don't find any problems with my centre of gravity.

[farnzilla]

My new board has a set of pads on it, and I don't even notice them there - they just work.
Wax was a pain after sitting in the car/oven for a couple of hours in 40c+, although I still like a touch where my hands make contact with the board.
MF

[doc]

Wax in the car, and on the inside and outside of the board bag, and clumps of sand and seaweed and generic crud stuck in it. Having no wax when ya needed it and having cold water wax on the board when the water got warm so when you tried to put more on all you'd do is scrape the stuff into lumps.

Sand in the wax eating those lovely little holes in the old carcass, or wax stuck to the wetsuit. Or wax on your clean dry clothes smeared in and you'll never get it out. Or your sleeping bag - loved to wake up with that ol' Crayola feeling.

Yeah, I miss wax. Just as I miss that other memory from my youth; acne

[Beeline2.0]

..

[geetee]

I remember the days of no knee pads and you can have them. I'd prefer to have a pad stuck to the board rather than a piece of wetsuit on my knee anyday. I agree with anyone who still thinks they might need their knees when one gets older.

[surfhorn]

I've been riding a new 6'0" with wax and have been busy working on various fin set ups. After this winter I'm moving to trying various pads after I dent my board enough to know where to lay the pads.

There is one thing that I have tried -and found it to work. I have one 9'0" longboard that I ride w/out wax. I have long, 1" strips of padded traction tape running about 3/4 the length of the board. It works really well with or w/out a wetsuit. My one problem was my hands slipping when pushing up to the standing position. I thought that I would have to use wax on those rail areas until..........

360 grit wet n dry sand paper. I just rough up those rail areas every once in a while and -viola- no slipping.

[Eric Carson]

Pads are the only way to go for me. After two days on a waxed only board w/o a wetsuit, my knees are shot. I wax the rails and between the pad and the tail.

[willli]

tail waxing... brings up something posted in the last year about the single 1-2 inch wide strip, about a foot long, sitting right on top of the stringer, behind the main padding. I imagined its use was so the lower leg had a place to push on without sliding off, so you could put more body pressure on the tail?

[DavidW]

If I did not have a padded deck I would not be kneeboarding at all. Wetsuits made it tollerable, barely.
The riser on the tail is most likely used by the flipperless crew in Aus. I would assume that the bar on the tail would allow you to apply more leverage/pressure to your turns.
I have been playing around w/o flippers and I do notice a loss of leverage and more pressure placed on my knees when turning. The benefit is that you do notice less drag and greater performance in small waves.

[Jack Beresford]

I ride with pads and wax - can't get enough traction! And I'll even wax my knees if I'm not wearing a wetsuit - before you laugh - try it!

[stemple]

I'm with jack. I use both wax and pads. I wax every where I might place a hand on the board. I also wax up the nose bit so when duck diving or popping through a set I have a good grip on the board. You can't get enough traction.

[hart]

David W,

Good observation..I used to always use Gorilla grip 103 as a tail pad..it's a 3 piece grip that I would position solely so that my booties would lock into the bit between the arch and the kick. Felt insane.

And it did work.

Stemple and Jack are like me..couldn't dream of surfing without EITHER grip..or wax.

Oh, me and a mate have made a plaster mould and knelt into it..just to see tha ACTUAL shape of your knee in relation to the deck.

Quite amazing to see the shape it makes..much more curve (think shin bone) that you would imagine.

Moulded grip is the thing to be thinking about..if only there were more hours (and waves) in any given day!