Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

During the World Contest at The Lane, Baden Smith told John Mel of Freeline Design: "just keep going longer and keep moving the fins farther up."

I am currently watching Simon ride his long Black board at Grajagan in one of his early movies.

The question came to me, has anyone found a length that is too long?
Did we find the upper limit?
I heard of 7'6" s being ridden on the North Shore.

Any discussion?

Kinda interested...

Hey "Bob",

Baden's longest board was an 8'2"
But his short board was ab 6'6", so its all relative.

I think this discussion of length dovetails nicely from the volume Thread.

MaxB said he's 6ft and over 200lbs and rides a 5'8"... and that sounds about right, but only because his boards are flat. If he ordered a board over 6'0 i doubt he'd even be able to turn it. No way to get leverage on all that flat surface area.

Guys like baden and simon and all the others on "Aussie" style boards are riding something completely different. Boards with FULL rocker. With these boards, you gotta throw preconceived notions about length out the window.
Big Tony said in the "volume thread" that "Most guys ridng aussie style boards aren't riding the right board and aren't riding them right"

I totally agree with this.

Guys are tentative to jump in with both feet, so they end up with boards that are too short and too thin for them. They are in a no man's land between sticking with a traditional shorter flat boards and a full rocker design.
If they want the performance aspects they see those guys getting, they have to be riding a comprable sized board.

A long time ago RED was talking about a perfect 2 board quiver said something to the effect "get two boards that are your height, one with a fuller tail and one with a pin tail, and you should be able to ride anything".
I think thats a great jumping off point.
(I now have a quiver of 6'4"s, Tri's and quads )

My longest is a 6.9"x17.5"x24.5"x14.5"x3.23' pin tail. Ive had it for a few years, but only ridden it a few times in MASSIVE waves. It worked insane... paddled great, stable, fast, and i could turn it.
[albumimg]33195[/albumimg]
[albumimg]33194[/albumimg]

This summer, however, ive taken it out in waves that were not life threatening.
Overhead point breaks that were kind of soft, big messy windswell days, and you know what... it worked! It was fun! Sure, i wasnt doing any snappy little turns, but id catch waves with ease and bludgeon any lip or foam ball that got in my way.
And that's happened with a lot of my boards. Boards that I thought were Guns became All-Arounders as i moved my stance back and wider and got my center of gravity lower... and other boards became "too small" and too loose, so i let them go.

And guys who saw me ride it couldnt believe it was 6'9". "Looks like a normal kneeboard underneath you" Again, all relative.

Now I'm thinking something in the 7'2" range that isn't so gunny. Like a "fun shape".

Again, the key to length, just like volume, is a properly shaped board.
A big long board that plows water, or more often "doesn't turn", is just as useless as a small board that doesn't float you.

See you Friday?

Good stuff
Maybe on Friday

Well, the way I see it (some may agree, others may not) do you like what you ride? Do you like the way you surf? Do you enjoy your water time?
do you care what others think of the board you ride?

Then do what you want, and don't get caught up in trends.
WE ARE KNEEBOARDERS AFTER ALL
Max

Bob,
I built a 7'0" a while back. Ridden it a few times. Length gets you out of trouble when you are dodging big sets, and it gets you in. When the waves get up to the size that the gun comes out, I'm not looking to snap off the top.

The 7'0" is not too long but it takes a bit of getting used to after the sub-6'0"s
Fins are at 19" or so. If I did it again I'd move them forward a bit more.



A 6'6" Flashpoint at Sunset on a decent sized day.

Max. I agree.

Well, the way I see it (some may agree, others may not) do you like what you ride? Do you like the way you surf? Do you enjoy your water time?
do you care what others think of the board you ride?

Then do what you want, and don't get caught up in trends.
WE ARE KNEEBOARDERS AFTER ALL
Max

Not sure what you mean by this, Max.

This is a discussion of board length... Not a "trend". (It's been a design evolution for decades.)
Why are you bringing "do you like what you ride" into this thread? "Do you care what other's think"?
Does this discussion make you uncomfortable?

And

"We are Kneeboarders after all"?!

Maybe you are. I'm a surfer.

It's a design discussion. Relax.

What every man want's!

Actually it's like a lego kit, there's no definitive length you should or shouldn't be using. It's what feels right given the surf and conditions you are looking for.

I'm a firm believer of the step up principle and the KISS principle. I usually move my boards up in 2" increments and really only ride two shapes, though a third is a modified version of the two.
My bigger boards are 6-5" to 6-7" and usually pin tails for their ability to hold a line, drive through a solid bottom turn and ride in the barrel really well.
My mid-range boards are 6-3" to 6-5" and usually chop tails. These boards work well up to the OH to a few feet OH before you hit the DOH range.

For small waves I have always been successful with a Stub Vector outline which is the modified version of a square tail I was talking about. I do pull the tail in slightly more than normal on these as I have found this allows it to hold better in a little larger surf without sliding out.

In reality I like EQ have ridden my larger boards in smaller surf and they worked, but it really depends on the conditions. I can ride my 6-5" chop tail in peaky, hollow waves that are only HH+. If I tried to ride that same board in HH+ mushy beach break surf it wouldn't go for s*&^!

For me it's all about what the wave is doing and dictates as to what I'm gonna ride rather than if it's TOH I better have a 7-0" etc, etc.

Damn it, I got sucked in to another thread. Thanks EQ!

Hey Red,
How wide is that board? How thick? How many fins?
And how far would you place the fins up?

Ed,this wasnt meant to be a pissing match,but just a continuation of the last thread. Sorry if it ruffled some feathers,but its just my opinion.
I think i'm done with this,gonna go get some barrels now. 56 looks good and i am on the beach

I've done 2 x 6'7 pins and am currently doing 2 x 6'10 swallows. The pin tails didn't feel long enough to me. Hense the step up. I've put photos of my 6'7" s on here before. Will put photo's of the swallow up soon. I've also found that they def surf better as quads.

I also did a 6'8 big arsed d/f/swallow for a big guy more of a fun board for him for over 5' surf.

Red nice wave you look really comfortable and ready to crank that bottom turn

forgotten how to post photos directly to a thread……..

All I can say is my son Chris keeps telling me "go smaller Dad". Less volume and shorter. I'm resisting taking him shorter than 5'6" and 31 sq liters. Meanwhile, his stand up friend paddles out on a 5'3" , 19 " wide twig. Both of these guys get more waves than me at overhead Jalama a few weeks ago. Neither wears fins.