Swell has been smaller so I've been surfing an Infinity New deal 9x28 lately, instead of 8x28 blurr. Last time out the surf exceeded the forecast and we got some fast, chest to head high waves in the mix. I tried surfing the longboard the same way I would my Blurr. It was super fun to pump down the line and my dorky surf app thing said I went the fastest I've ever gone. Top turns awkward and caught nose on some steep sections, but did a couple of my best frontside cutbacks ever, the standard ones where you don't switch paddle but use it to drive the rail at beginning. So much fun. I felt like this style of cutback went better on the longboard than my shortboard. Maybe it's because I have to be more cognizant of footwork, but I thought maybe the longer rail line or something helps me carry more speed. Felt a little trickier on the ones that I tried to bounce of the whitewater at end.
I'm curious - if you're doing horizontal surfing where you are racing sections and then doing cutbacks - do folks prefer a performance longboard, or do you prefer a shortboard optimized for this kind of surfing, and why? The longboard was pretty amazing cause I could get back outside so fast with the glide (I got about 20% more waves than usual), and I could catch mushy waves that steepened up inside... and I could mess around with cross stepping when in the mood. cheers
Depends on conditions but the places I usually sup if I can't decide I'll opt for my go to board 7'6 L41 which is fast if pumped down the line and the waves meet an undefined amount of push and shape. In general it is easier to cutback as well. 9' longboard is a lot of nose for me to swing at my size and skill. Respect to those that can whip a longer board around.
I love the longboard speed in weaker and or walled conditions. I can also pump/drive it down the line pretty well. If instead I'm bogging on a smaller board everything including cutback is going to be tough. This is where my narrow longboard can be 10x more fun than the smaller board. Hmm, maybe I should use it more often.
Stoked your board is working!
thanks man! and haha I should note that about half the time on the LB I'm blowing it on the cutback, cause I bog rail or have foot too far forward, but when I get it right it feels awesome. So much easier to whip the 8' around, but when I do it right the 9' feels a little more powerful or something. On 8' I'm often doing the paddle switch or just no paddle cutback, leading with my head/shoulders rather than the layback/counter rotation thing when you drive with paddle.
For me, it depends on the room available on the wave: on small hollow waves, I will get the shortest possible SUP (around 7'), but with extra volume (guild number 1.2+) for short period waves to keep the tail from sinking at low speed.
Longer boards (8, 9) are Ok for me if the waves are bigger and/or flatter.
I like committing the rail in turns, and the longer the board, the more room you need. Plus longer boards have a higher hull speed, meaning they need more speed to stay fully planing, which ease carving through turns: if the board slow down mid-turn and loses planing, its behavior will change, causing wipeouts.
I just stumbled upon this demonstration of "performance longboard" (mostly) horizontal SUPing by Benoit Carpentier in the Basque country:
(His prototype seems featherlight :-) )
Select to expand quotecolas said..
I just stumbled upon this demonstration of "performance longboard" (mostly) horizontal SUPing by Benoit Carpentier in the Basque country:
(His prototype seems featherlight :-) )
Funny I was about to post the same video. Benoit just won the APP SUP contest in Grand Canaries, and this new video came up on my youtube. Incredible! Makes me want to get out my long board again.... Amazing how far back he is on his longboard when he turns.
That was cool, wonder dims on that board. Amazing he could ride the nose and still surf it in the pocket so well.
oops dunno what happened to the link but it's Supsurfing sessions on you tube-Dogman and co
That vid of BC is amazing! Makes me just wanna surf my longboard this week, but I'm going to hope back on my shorter SUP and see how that goes.
