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Step-up recommendations

oeste858

oeste858

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2017
7,001
17,425
113
San Diego, CA
agree with all of what Aruba said. Thicker ghost would be more versatile. BB is a great design for OH+, for all the reasons others have said, but it's not going to be surfed as HP as ghost.

Also, I can only speak for myself, but when I say DOH in SD, that happens less than 3-5 days a year... and that's when the 6'8" feels perfect- really much below that, it feels slightly big. Yes, I could ride it when it's smaller but still OH, but I'm also used to riding pretty small boards, so it's a bigger jump up for me than for some. I mean, a 5'11 feels noticeably long to me, so another 9" feels like trying to turn a cruise ship when I get a big open face. LOL.
And waves bigger than my BB can handle, I want no part of.
 
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oeste858

oeste858

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2017
7,001
17,425
113
San Diego, CA
urchined said:
Don’t discount the skills developed by learning how to turn a bigger board properly. not huge. 6’6”ish
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Oh I CAN do it, I'm exaggerating to mean it just "feels" like that because I am used to shorter fishier boards. And let's be honest, its just not OH+ here often enough so I want to minimize that "adjustment" when it finally does.

Havoc said:
is doc flavenoid doc renneker?
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Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time
 
M

Mr J

Michael Peterson status
Aug 18, 2003
2,260
1,467
113
Regional Vic, Australia
feralseppo said:
Looking for recommendations for a step-up for my kid. He's about 6'0/6'1 165 lbs. Current board is a 6'0" 1/2 x 18.82 x 2.34 (28.1 or 4L) Lost Driver, which is a little under stock dims. I watched him take off on a set wave this week that was about double over Duffy and wipeout trying to control his board making the bottom turn. He said the board was going way too fast to turn it. I tried to get him to try a bigger board on our trip, but he was sticking with the Driver as his one board quiver.

What say the ErBB braintrust? Ghost or Blackbird? Probably look around for a used; hesitant to go custom because he's still a growing kid, but may bite the bullet.
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I don't know exactly what the Driver is, but a short single concave, particularly if it is has moderate width or more will feel like it is skittering over the surface in juice. I have been in situations where I have made the bottom turn, but been able to do nothing other than nurse the board in a straight line until the end of the wave.

I am not much of a consumer so don't have any board recommendations. However extra length is going to help, can stay at the same width as your son's board as it is not really wide at 18.82 (Rusty said step ups should typically go slightly narrower in one of his instagram live broadcasts, so that could be considered too). I think rails can stay the same sort of thickness to daily HPSB, but tail must be narrower. Double concave sent well up the length of the board is more stable than single concave. Double concave in a V even more stable. No concave and rolled/panel V is stable too, but that's old fashioned for step ups :roflmao:
 
feralseppo

feralseppo

Billy Hamilton status
Feb 28, 2006
1,469
1,126
113
Mr J said:
I don't know exactly what the Driver is, but a short single concave, particularly if it is has moderate width or more will feel like it is skittering over the surface in juice. I have been in situations where I have made the bottom turn, but been able to do nothing other than nurse the board in a straight line until the end of the wave.

I am not much of a consumer so don't have any board recommendations. However extra length is going to help, can stay at the same width as your son's board as it is not really wide at 18.82 (Rusty said step ups should typically go slightly narrower in one of his instagram live broadcasts, so that could be considered too). I think rails can stay the same sort of thickness to daily HPSB, but tail must be narrower. Double concave sent well up the length of the board is more stable than single concave. Double concave in a V even more stable. No concave and rolled/panel V is stable too, but that's old fashioned for step ups :roflmao:
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I've been wondering about the single concave on step-ups/bigger boards (excluding Maurice Cole's design). I listened to a video today forthe Rusty Slayer or Slayer 2 and Clint Preisendorfer made a claim about being able to ride a very short Slayer in TOH Blacks.
 
M

Mr J

Michael Peterson status
Aug 18, 2003
2,260
1,467
113
Regional Vic, Australia
feralseppo said:
I've been wondering about the single concave on step-ups/bigger boards (excluding Maurice Cole's design). I listened to a video today forthe Rusty Slayer or Slayer 2 and Clint Preisendorfer made a claim about being able to ride a very short Slayer in TOH Blacks.
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I am not familiar with the Rusty range of surfboards, so just had a look. They are rounded pin, so the narrow tail when used with extra length (in the case of the Slayer 2) is going to keep it stable even if it has a normal depth single concave - is that the situation, how does the tail end - in flat or V? Rusty's website description did not say, although both Slayer 1 and 2 are clearly designed as bigger wave boards - I would be trusting those 2 of Rusty's designs in step up conditions rather than worrying about which exact bottom contours they have.

From listening to Rusty's instagram live he has this concept of a "step down" - short step up board with wider nose. That looks like Slayer 1. I have only had long step up with wider nose, so don't have experience of that sort of board.
 
R

rowjimmytour

Tom Curren status
Feb 7, 2009
11,534
5,831
113
54
Stretch 2x4 paddles like semi gun surfs like hpsb with quad speed or if you must go 5 box to fall back on thruster but must get FU #2 custom fins.
 
waxfoot

waxfoot

Michael Peterson status
Apr 21, 2018
2,088
4,022
113
Mr J said:
From listening to Rusty's instagram live he has this concept of a "step down" - short step up board with wider nose. That looks like Slayer 1. I have only had long step up with wider nose, so don't have experience of that sort of board.
Click to expand...
I find the design you're referring to quite appealing, especially for someone like me who doesn't actually ride big open water waves. Been eyeing up this "Wacko" model, which is similar to what you describe;

www.webstersurfboards.com.au

Step Up Surfboards - Webster Surfboards

Step Up Surfboards Desert Storm SU Wacko Napalm
www.webstersurfboards.com.au www.webstersurfboards.com.au
 
M

Mr J

Michael Peterson status
Aug 18, 2003
2,260
1,467
113
Regional Vic, Australia
waxfoot, I have not heard of Webster surfboards, nor FCD mentioned above, but I used to own a 6' 9" x 19 (I think) with an outline similar to those. I don't do slabs and like waves to be powerful but slopey. My 6' 9" was a nice story - custom board made for a slopey reef break in Santa Cruz, that could be quite difficult to catch on a shortboard, due to the way the peaks would start to form then shift sideways unpredictably. Any fog exacerbated the difficulty. So I went to Strive surfboards SC and told the shaper I didn't want a concave for stability reasons and he said "how about a double concave?" and told me that some of the Mavericks guns had double concaves. I was shaped a light double set flat, to light panel V in the tail.

The description doesn't say what the Webster Wacko has, but I bet it features some sort of V in at least the rear end.

A couple of evenings ago was the sort of waves I am in my element in nowadays, overhead, but nothing big with a slopey shoulder. The open ocean so good power. Comfortably in the range of my daily HPSB. Brisk cross offshore wind blowing into the shoulder. Due to the way the wave was forming I had to remain prone for longer than usual after catching it, by which time I was travelling quite fast and the texture/chop from the cross offshore was buffeting the board and I had to delay removing my hands from the deck during the popup to stop the front from flapping. Its a light concave, but fairly narrow. Meant to be 18 3/8", but I measured it and it is not that wide! Perfectly happy with it though. Anyway once up and running it was stable, but I am going to test the theory that running a light double up the board will stablise that sort of design when I build my toy step up which will be just an inch longer than the daily driver.

So what length are you after?
 
tedshred5

tedshred5

Michael Peterson status
Aug 5, 2015
2,766
6,505
113
oeste858 said:
The more I really look at the reefs I surf when it's OH the past couple weeks, the more I like the idea of the FCD F-Rocket that @waxurDyl and @Duffy LaCoronilla have mentioned.

F-Rocket — FCD Surfboards

www.fcdsurfboards.com www.fcdsurfboards.com
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Think I surf the same zone as you, and I second that. I'm thinking a 6'4 Blackbird and 6'2 F-Rocket would cover the bases in SD winter. I'm getting a lot of use out of the secondhand 6'3 Blackbird I recently got in the this run of swell, but the volume forward of the F-Rocket might help with getting into some of the high tide/slopey spots.
 
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noise

noise

May 10, 2018
144
186
43
GromsDad said:
Staying within the Lost brand the OP might want to look at the Driver 2.0 with a pulled in tail or the Sabo-Taj or Round Up. Go an inch or two taller than his height.
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I found the Sabo-Taj super boaty. The rails are thick. No way I could go longer than my height. Either get a custom and thin it out or go smaller.
 
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