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too short?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 9:03 pm
by rland12
I recently started kneeboarding after picking up a 5'6" glen horn quad fish on a whim. it's so fantastic to ride that it has superseded all stand up surfboards that I own when the surf gets good… I’m not really a standup surfer anymore because of this board :)

I decided to pick up another kneeboard so I got a 4’6” twin fin that floats me alright and paddles fine, but I cannot seem to ride it. I always spin out on turns, it feels too loose, seems like I don’t have enough of a rail for a proper bottom turn, I’m concerned about taking it out in large or good surf because of the aforementioned issues. Too short? bad technique? It’s a proper kneeboard for sure but it’s much thicker than my magic 5’6” and a bit narrower.

I’m not a large person. Do kneeboarders ride boards this short? I figured it’d be alright because of the lower center of gravity.

Re: too short?

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 6:07 am
by Smush
when I was a ute,
5'2" was my beginner board

somewhere under that and you have a 'paipo' board.

Re: too short?

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 9:32 pm
by Scott
Hi Rland,

Glad you're having such a great experience in kneeboarding now. You're so right--when you get on a great board, the sensations and speed are amazing and it can completely reorient your surfing!

It sounds like the Glen Horn board is working well for you but you are right to ask about what is the best size for you. For those of us who've been doing this for decades, most all of our kneeboards used to be 5'6" and under. They generally worked great on barrelly waves, but had difficulty on flat spots on a wave, and struggled zip around on any surf that was somewhat smaller and mushier; and then there was the difficulty paddling into waves on these smaller boards when it got double OH. Credit the Aussies with exploring how to make bigger boards and moving up the fin placement resulting in boards that paddle much better, handle big surf, but can also be tweaked to really fly around on all sorts of smaller surf. So most guys I see are riding from 5'7" or so up to about 6'3" in "normal surf." I don't know your height and weight, so I can't comment further for you.

Since you're in the San Diego area, you might PM Southpeakbrad on this site. He lives in your area, is a great guy, and you might be able to meet up with him and try one of his boards that are really state of the art (he loves his Flashpoint boards). And he's not a very big guy. Also consider connecting with Bill Lerner, who Brad knows and also lives local to you, is a smaller guy with a great quiver of the best boards, and able to charge from 2' to triple overhead. And there are other rippers in your area, but some of the boards they use are indeed a bit smaller and "unusual"--Brad can fill you in on these...

Re: too short?

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:04 pm
by rland12
Hey, thanks for all of the knowledge!

I can't imagine the Glen Horn is anything other than perfect for me. It's just one of those magic boards. It's a quad, 5'6, ~24.5" wide, and pretty thin throughout, with a fat fish tail. The other board is a basically a 4"6 classic lis fish shape. I'm 5"11 tall and weigh 150lbs. Sounds like I could go a little bigger still.

Re: too short?

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:45 am
by Smush
Kneeboarding more or less took off in 1969-72, according to the article.
These sub 5 ft boards were never really kneeboards, or at least werent once everyone figured out what worked.

http://mypaipoboards.org/interviews/Ron ... 1008.shtml