Striker or Destroyer for the wife?

8'11 Striker. Done. :)

Flatter rocker and straighter rail line much better for flat water. Single fin for flatwater. On waves, the tail surfs like most higher performance wave sups. Thruster for waves.

Ideally it's still on the big side for her, but for small waves it'd be fine. For you, waves upto 1.5oh easy, provided they are not hollow.

Hoppo and Freogeezer. Does the 8'11'' have enough glide for early entry into waves? There is a break that requires a 1/2 mile paddle. It takes forever to get there on my Super Frank. I'm looking for a board that has more glide so I can get there easier and have an earlier takeoff but, don't want to lug around a 10 footer. I'm 75 Kgs. Also, I've heard that the Strikers don't have a lot of nose flip. Any strategies you two use to prevent the nose pearling on takeoff?

8"5" Striker for us. Taught the misses surf sup on it (fit 70kg 5'10). Just told he to start hybrid stance and move back when she felt momentum to stop the nose dive - viola (she has since moved on to a Hipster). I use it a lot too... equal but different fun to my super frank, waaaaay more glide

Reddo
Stoked you are happy with the construction and weight of your Jimmy boards.
If I am going away with the family I always take an 8'11 Striker as its the board my wife and daughter love.
About the only time my wife surfs is on our family holiday to Fingal each year. The Striker allows her to paddle on to the small waves in the bay and surf through to the beach. It is then light enough for me to carry back, along with the beach umbrella, 2 seats, esky cricket set etc.
The Destroyer has a rounder outline and more rocker which means the board yawls more with paddle stroke meaning she is out of position to catch the wave more often.
I would look at the 9'5 or 8'11 Striker for sure.
Thanks
Rod
Jimmy Lewis Boards Australia

Thanks everyone. I'm startling to think that the 9'5 striker is the go or maybe even the 10 ft. I should have made it clear that the board will only be surfed by her 25% of the time, the rest of the time it'll be my board for flat water. Longer always feels better on the flat to me.


Owning more boards is another option but that doesn't seem to be getting much traction!


I guess the best scenario will be to trial the 9'5 (I'll give you a tingle shortly Rod) and compare to the 10 ft.


One other question, how does the 10 ft destroyer compare to the 10 ft striker? It appears totally different to the other destroyers with its straight lines and lower volume, I can imagine it would be a joy on the flat water but any good for someone to learn to surf?

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Jimmy Lewis Boards said..
Reddo
Stoked you are happy with the construction and weight of your Jimmy boards.
If I am going away with the family I always take an 8'11 Striker as its the board my wife and daughter love.
About the only time my wife surfs is on our family holiday to Fingal each year. The Striker allows her to paddle on to the small waves in the bay and surf through to the beach. It is then light enough for me to carry back, along with the beach umbrella, 2 seats, esky cricket set etc.
The Destroyer has a rounder outline and more rocker which means the board yawls more with paddle stroke meaning she is out of position to catch the wave more often.
I would look at the 9'5 or 8'11 Striker for sure.
Thanks
Rod
Jimmy Lewis Boards Australia

So when would you recommend the Destroyer?

For me ,the 10 ft Destroyer was a break through board in the surf,it really surfed exceptionally well in solid surf,and went very well in small/marginal conditions,it has lots of rocker,but still paddles ok ( remembering it is 10 ft long )!I had it for 18 months the longest ever for a sup!my typical sup week is @69 yo,surf daily if it's ok,other than that,flat water training ,and it paddles well enough for that,my wife really enjoyed flat water paddling on it as well ,and she only paddles stable comfortable boards .Probably THE board I should not have sold on .

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Reddo said..
G'day Gurus,

I'd like to get a board for the better half to entice her to do more surfing. At the moment she's on a Naish 10ft Mana which is of course way too big at 190 litres. She's 5'8 and 57 kilos. Mid forties. She's done a couple of years flat water paddling and about twenty surf sessions where she can go straight down the occasional wave.
I'd like to stick to either a Destroyer or Striker. I love the construction of the Jimmys and the weight would give her confidence. Where it's gets difficult is I'd like to use the board to paddle flat water myself (80kgs) when we're away..does that mean a Destroyer is out of the question due to its extra rocker? We tend to paddle flat water half the time so I'd like to nail this part.

Also, which of the two would be the best for her to learn to surf on? I've heard the Destroyer is super stable but maybe the Striker would have to be better on the flat? Finally what size?

Thanks

Hi, I don't know either board but I was about 50 years old, weighed over 60 kgs and had surfed (knee board and short board since early 20's), which makes a difference for wave knowledge. After a couple of larger inflatables (worked remote and couldn't carry board on small planes) I went to a Jimmy Lewis quad about 8'7" from memory. I think big, heavy boards (that are also good for you and for flat water) will make the transition to surfing near impossible. The board needs to be light to carry down the beach, feel good under arm, and feel good to ride. If at all possible let her ride some demo boards or borrow friends. I am now nearly 64 and ride an 8'5" Fanatic Pro (have had quite a few others) and have just tried the Starboard (limited edition) 9' (by 28, 101 l but stable at this volume) and 10 ' (by 31 but comes as 28 & 29 & over 140 L- can't remember) longboards. Both light compared to larger surfing SUPs, look great and easy to catch any small wave on. If not used to catching large powerful waves on prone boards I think a long board is best. The new Limited Editions are a lighter construction, need rail tape, but at a used price for new board price mark a great buy. (And by the way I was attracted to your post because I was annoyed at your title - I can't stand men using the term 'the wife'!). I say let her decide because if she is doing it to please you it won't work.