Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

Hi All,
My name is Darrin from Cape Town, South Africa. I am a newbie to kneeboarding, having spent many years waveskiing and surfing. Unfortunately due to major hip surgery, those are now out of the picture.
I have been offered a board to try out and after trawling through the forum thought I would ask if it is even a kneeboard or just a wide surfboard with pads! Board is made by "Wedge" Shaped by Gary Maisch.
It is a 5.2 x 20 1/16 x 2 1/4 tri-fin with adjustable center fin.
I am vertically challenged with a height in my socks of 5.6 and a weight of 69kgs.
Is this a suitable board to begin on?
Have taken a few pics of it but have no idea on how to upload them.

Darrin are the fins on the Wedge forward or back like a conventional board ?
Wedge have made Kneeboards in the past , have not seen anything lately.
All of the Maisches (Wedge) are vertically challenged so it could be one of theirs
Go to the album pages to upload , choose new boards and follow the prompts.

Most guys are riding longer boards but there is no reason a smaller board could not work for you , in fact i think most boards look too long , but it is a current trend and they might be right.

Regards
Terence

Hey Darrin, howzit! Welcome to the brotherhood

You will probably realise quickly that the answer to your question aint so simple ! Some of the many variables to ponder include where you surf/wave type/your style & ability/etc etc. From the dimensions you gave I would venture to say the following:
Typical average board dimensions 5.10 to 6.0 x 22.5-23.5 x 2.5. Of course there will be a thousand other opinions on this site - watch this space!
But for your size/weight maybe your board will be ok, smaller board ie less volume probably loosely relates into harder to paddle & take-off, easier to duckdive, possibly higher performance in more powerful surf (the flipside of which is less forgiving!)
Of course reading all this stuff will only get you so far Get into the surf and give it a go. Try and find some other kneelos (yes there are a few around) and scrounge some of their boards.

Posting photos is quite easy, I will PM you with the info,

If you are ever up the west coast way, give me a PM,

cheers

Andy

Quick guide to Photo upoad:
1 login
2 click Album (on the top menu)
3 scroll down to "boards" and click
4 click "Upload pic" button
5 enter name, description etc
6 click browse and search your PC for photo(s)
7 check that size etc is ok
8 click "submit"
9 cross fingers!

Andy

Hey Andy

See theres some GOOD swell hitting the West Coast the weekend. Heading up that side tomorrow, not sure where we will end up but very keen to hit the icy waters of the West Coast.

later.

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the input. Popped into SurfZone to pick their brains as well. It seems that all is good just need to be on the right waves. Surfed Tableview on Saturday and sunday, had some good rides but them also seemed to get my tail stuck and the wave overtook me, thus my concern.
Tableview, Big Bay and Kamers appear to have sweel coming this weekend.
Gonna see how it goes this time.
Cheers

Hi Bramo,

Yeah Im up there bru ! Will be in E Bay from Fri. PM, where are you staying ? pop in to no. 188 if you are in the vicinity. Should be pumping Friday & Sat

Im on it !

cheers

Andy

Cool Andy, will look you up if in E Bay! We'll end up staying where we find some waves and not so many crowds.

later[/quote]

Bramo if you do not like crowds Durban New Pier with a good swell running is not the place for you

Hi Terence,

I am used to surfing with a crowd, just every now and again I dream of surfing crowdless waves.

Heard many stories of New Pier and the crowds. Sure when its pumping it must be the spot, hey?

Yes Bramo it is really a good wave , but all of the Pros and wannabees are all over it especially when the cameras are out , drop ins all over the place , i tend to surf on the edges and at Wedge , i am not up for the hustle any more.
The pics in the mags tend to hide the crowds somehow.
Going to be really good again tomorrow and the weekend warriors are going to be all over it.
Have a good one.

Regards
Terence

Sunday night, just dragged myself in from the w.end...got some fair surf Friday & Sat.

Anyway, on topic - Darrin how did your board go & did you post your board photos ?

cheers

Andy

Hi Andy,

Nope never managed to upload photo's. Got PO'd when it told me photos were too big or had a virus so gave up on that. Surfed yesterday morning at Big Bay, besides being the coldest I can remember for a while it was OK. Kinda come to the conclusion that the board is a little too short and narrow for me. No matter how far up the board I managed to get, ass kept on dragging. If I had control with skegs in the water I was dragging and if I got forward skegs didnt have any grip.
I am looking at a board that Haydn has (Not sure if he is a memeber here but the name sounded familiar)
5.9 x 22.7/8 x 2.3/8.
Hopefully that is better suited for the conditions out here.
Will keep you updated.
Cheers
Darrin

Hi Darrin. I reckon your board is too short, but I wouldn't go to 5'9". I'm about 1" shorter than you & 12kg lighter. In 2008 Bruce Hart shaped me a 5'5" thruster. (can't find the rest of the dimensions, don't have a non-metric tape measure. can you help me here, Bruce?). That board is magic!!! (I'll order another, Bruce, when I've finished loving this one to death.) Try something closer to your height.