Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

Today I started the order process with Bruce Hart from Flashpoint! A friend of mine, Dan aka IRCGuard here on ksusa, and I are both getting a board shaped and splitting the shipping. Last week I got to ride Scoop's old Flashpoint, the one with a man-o-war jellyfish on it. That board had a really nice feel to it and convinced me that this was the right shaper to go with for my next tri fin.
Any feedback as to what you folks think would work best in Florida's beach/shorebreak waves would be appreciated. My Blast tri is a 5'11" and I'm thinking of going 2" bigger.

having lived in Florida for a while, and now living in Australia I can tell you that the tail will probably be the most important detail in your order.

Nowadays I ride fairly pinny boards, however when I lived in Florida I tried to stay as far away from that style of tail as possible. I would ask shapers to make rounded tail boards, essentially imagine a large protractor on the tail of the board and draw the lines from there.

Fin selection is also going to be critical, in Australia I use AMs, most people get custom fins that are bigger than anything else in the market. In Florida I used YUs and nothing else, sometimes even having a G-3 as the trailer.

Hope this helps.
Albert

Albert,

How goes it? Hey can you tell us a little about what shapes you are riding now?

Are you riding Flashpoints?

What type of waves are you mostly surfing?

Sorry I'll miss you at the WT's... Perhaps Bonnie and I will catch up w/ you in Aus next year.

Cheers,

D

When I thought through this same question I focused on the most common wave I came across that always got me really stoked to go in.. but presented problems for the boards I already had. Tho mush is very common on the east coast, I don't design or resign myself to riding it. The wave shape I focused on was A frames with stiff off shore winds. When the buoy crosses 4 feet and starts heading toward 6 and 8, and the period starts getting above 9 seconds most eastcoast surfers start looking at wind direction maps and logging into directional buoys to see which breaks are favored. In my case some very good peaks start firing at the 5-6foot mark. Hurricane swells are quite a different beast, distorting the same peaks to closeout walls, so different spots are favored for them, generally more of a point type break.
The board Bruce shaped for me, a double bump swallow thruster, is amazing. I've had it out in "design" conditions twice so far and I'm going to say something that might sound strange, it "vanishes" underneath you. You forget its there cos every place you think of going on the wave just "happens", with an unusual slippery feeling acompanied with a rush of air around your face, and its not till you start paddling back out that you realize how far you've traveled. I've put a straight edge to the bottom to deduce what he's done, far beyond my skill to explain, but I'll say this .. gentle is the way to go .. subtle things make us smile.

willli wrote: ... You forget its there cos every place you think of going on the wave just "happens", with an unusual slippery feeling acompanied with a rush of air around your face, and its not till you start paddling back out that you realize how far you've traveled. I've put a straight edge to the bottom to deduce what he's done, far beyond my skill to explain, but I'll say this .. gentle is the way to go .. subtle things make us smile.

Willli,

I'd say the above is poetry in motion...

Although we haven't met I'd say you're some combo of the following:

A) a sales rep for Flashpoint
B) a Dartmouth grad (or Berekely )
C) live on the East Coast and truly appreciate any swell above head high
D) have found a magic board!

Multiple choices are acceptable!

Great description in your post .... ever think about writing articles for a kneeboard website?

Albert's comments are of interest..comparing Florida type tails with what he's now riding in OZ..and his smaller choice of fins also for Florida compared with our waves.

In essence, I think that Albert is saying that tail area holds an important key..and that despite this area..smaller based fins are also advantageous.

To take this further, sometimes you can look to intentionally 'break' your outline to suit small wave conditions and allow the surfer to dictate the radius of their turn..even when they may be half-way thru it..like, the initial length of your cut-back may want to change once you come around and notice where the pocket actually is..it may be closer or further away than you initially figured.

Maybe a fully rounded area pintail is a good place to start..and a tail dimension that is WIDER than your nose would be essential..keep the surfer tail-oriented.

Once the outline is put down..introduce a 'direction-change' by ADDING a small wing, somewhere forward of your feet..and take a relatively straighter line up to the wide point.

Your planshape will then have a slightly parallel appearance between your knees and feet..which will assist with trim and keeping a higher aspect than normal..(really important in small waves to maintain speed).

The tail however will also have a pronounced point-of-release..to help adjust to the radius of your 'rounder' manoeuvres..like cutties and bottom type turns..letting the Surfer control their own destiny..rather than vice-versa.

And Eric..after viewing your photo gallery, yes I do think that you need more length..and a touch more width..and the concave thru your nose area could be reduced a little..so much water is moving forward out of your turns that its looking counterproductive..looks like Florida style waves dont have the push to compensate for the water induction of a large, forward concave..water (read bottom) entry isn't really happening.

And Don..no willli isn't on salary..but he is, now, part of the staff!!


Regards from OZ

Bruce,
Just got back from Portugal. Unfortunately only had 2' max while there. Had my 6' 23" 16.5" tail, so was overgunned. Board went like a dream and got some good feedback from local surfers.
Think my 6' 23.5 18" tail would have been the kicker - it's just as you descibe in the post above. The flyer plus the lines to bring 18" width to a rounded pin gives some nice curves for full turns in small surf and the tail width helps maintain speed in small surf through countering stall.

Red,

You've mentioned this on another thread..and I'm sure it has been overlooked by many surfers..that is, the element of 'stall'.

I so often see kneeboarders stall.

It can happen when your fins are too far forward..and you over turn them and end up going sideways. It can happen when your fins are too far back..and you have to put EVERY INCH of energy into a bottom turn that when you ultimately end up square of the bottom..your turn itself will stall half way up the face.

Particularly in Florida, the balance of your equipment is essential..fin position, rail foil, overall dimensions..nothing new here..except..

There is a Surfer who has established himself as one of the most gifted ever..and while he currently lives in OZ..he was born and bred in Florida.

He had to refine his style and equipment to such a point..given the small, sometimes powerless conditions..that he learned to surf in the 'purest' of senses.

To me, it comes as no surprise that Kelly Slater is the kind of surfer that he is.

He had to focus his surfing on the most basic of elements..like maintaining speed..balance..momentum.

Or you could say (from the other side of the coin) he did this by minimising stall..or, in fact, eliminating it altogether.

And once he learnt this..and took it all over the World..including all the power and size of the North Shore..it became yet another arrow in his quiver of unbeleivable surfing talent.

And I am certain that it was one small increment that wouldn't have been there..in such a specific way..if he had, for example, been born on the North Shore to begin with.

The simplest of approaches..whether you are a surfer or shaper..in the smallest of waves, will reward you exponentially, when the size and power turns on.

Slater is just one case in point..and Florida is another.

Regards, from OZ.

hart

The best athletes don't always come from areas where the best conditions occur. Case in point, the reigning world and World Cup giant slalom champion Bode Miller is from Franconia, New Hampshire. His local mountain doesn't have nearly the vertical drop of western mountains and he has to deal with big time icy conditions.
Florida continues to produce world class surfers, with the Hobgood & Lopez brothers, along with a slew of up and coming groms poised to break into the WQS.
Now if we could just get some young riders here on kneeboards!

Eric Carson wrote:...Now if we could just get some young riders here on kneeboards!

Or some/many of the southern California surfers (especially longboarders) to Florida. Maybe the Florida tourist bureau should base a marketing campaign on how frequently Florida surfers become world class surfers

MT

Hey Don,
Sorry I didnt reply to that earlier posts of yours...

I will be able to give you a little better description (with photos) of what I am currently riding in a couple of weeks. I currently have no boards that I can say truly represent what I am riding now. I have a small wave board (5'6" 22.5" 2.5") that I use for waves under chest high.

Then I have this crazy retro board that Dave shaped for me that is just so loose its crazy. I got it just for that, the fact that something is so off the wall you just cant quite ride is something I felt my surfing needed. For the last couple of years I have been focused on getting an ideal shape for all around fun waves. Never, throughout this time did I ever think that making it harder for me to ride waves would provide benefit. After having ridden that thing for a couple of weeks I have realized the importance of being able to quickly adjust to something super different.

The other day I was thinking that I should really stop being stingy when it comes to my surfing. I am stingy when it comes to everything else in my life, might as well treat myself to something that I will truly appreciate. So I decided to order a full three board quiver, all at once from Dave. So I could have fresh boards that work for Tahiti.

Anyway. I should be able to post some pics of the boards as soon as I get them.

Thanks
Albert

Hey Albert,

What sort of tails did you and David decide upon..Matty Gallagher, Red and Mat Nov are doing specific pintail type stuff for the World's..interested to know what you were doing?

Is Steen getting newies too?

hart

For what I have heard. The contest venue is supposed to be this not-too-great beachbreak that does get good at times. However as far as I can tell there is not going to be much need for something to handle real heavy waves.

I am definately taking this 5'6 I have that works really good in small waves. It has a rounded tail, nothing too wide or thick, just a tail with more surface area than normal and real sharp rails.

As far as the rest of the boards I am taking, I figure the other board I could use in the comp will have to be the regular boards I ride, which have a slight (very slight) pin to them. Tucked under edges and fairly thin. As far as the rest goes, I will probably have Dave do his thing on it.

This is an example of about as pinny as my boards get. Cant see it too well but you get the idea, I will have better pics as soon as my traveling friends with digital cameras come back.
album_showpage.php?pic_id=1678
Hope this helps.
Albert

I think Steen is getting a new one or two, dont know for sure.

Steen would probably get things on his boards that are completely different to mine, seeing as he is twice my size.

2 chiko, lets killl da hill this weekend