Board test for the every day surfer

ReForest

Michael Peterson status
Oct 7, 2020
3,071
4,555
113
The board length issue is so personal.

Preference, surf zone, stance width, ability level, ect..... Some people like a board to push back hard, some like extremely responsive boards.

I absolutely see the value of riding longer boards in certain waves and conditions, but I can make the exact same argument for shorter boards too.

I ride whatever feels best to me. I give zero fvcks how it looks to anyone else.

Who are you surfing for?
Soul surfer!
 

oeste858

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2017
6,931
17,276
113
San Diego, CA
erBB not happy with Mr Salas's style either. Their heights of 5'7 and 5' 8" are considered dwarf size compared to the median erBB. Thus making their board tests unsuitable reference points for us, the well built elite stylemasters.
What?? 5’8 would be a friggin giant on erBB! Duus talking about 25L boars... and all I can think is: elf shoes!
 

HSY

OTF status
Aug 15, 2011
210
188
43
Really articulate, honest and thoughtful shaper. I read an interview with him and it was the same way. Said he personally doesn't try to make or design everything. He has specialist shapers in-house that build their alternative shapes because he knows his specialty is sensitive shortboards (and that's how he's always wanted to surf). His take on alternative shapes is that they have to make them in order to sell boards in shops because the level of the average surfer is lower than it was in the 80s and 90s. (which would mean me since i love my fish. ha!)
 

Maz

Michael Peterson status
May 18, 2004
3,041
4,551
113
Innzid
Do you really think we're headed back to '90s-style thinner/longer boards? Seems like a step backwards to me. Kale was riding steeper/punchier waves in that video and his turns were more vertical but his surfing seemed - i dunno - choppier, kind of like the surfing you'd see from that era in SoCal/Newps videos. He seemed to struggle off the bottom though the board forced him to stay back in the pocket where he could hit the lip with a more vertical angle of attack rather than plane out towards the face like his widerboards.

Compare this to Dane's surfing on wider/stubbier boards versus his turns in the '90s/Early Aughts as a grom when he was riding longerboards. His surfing looks so much smoother later. Obviously he improved a lot as he grew but the boards seemed to reflect his surfing as well. Archer? Bow? IDK.
I think there's a resurgence of slimmer, racier boards. Of 90s/00s powersurfing. Young Aussies leading the charge, e.g Creed Mc Taggart, Shaun Manners, Noa. They obviously don't work everywhere or all the time, but they force you to not surf 'flicky'.

The LSD Hammer is a fine example: https://www.lsdsurfboards.com/boards/the-hammer

My 6'6 Bourton step up is a lot more foiled than anything else I surf, but whenever I get back on it after a few months collecting dust, it feels insane. Bigger turns, drawn-out carves. For a few seconds I feel like I can surf like a man - not just an old man.
 

Sharkbiscuit

Duke status
Aug 6, 2003
26,274
19,102
113
Jacksonville Beach
erBB not happy with Mr Salas's style either. Their heights of 5'7 and 5' 8" are considered dwarf size compared to the median erBB. Thus making their board tests unsuitable reference points for us, the well built elite stylemasters.
No complaints about either's surfing but I'm half a foot taller than both of them and in far worse waves. I would change "well built" to "corn fed" when referring to myself. I get it that to produce the content and make the channel viable, Salad uses Lowers as a go-to, and it's good for shortboard reviews.
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,515
8,551
113
I think one of the shapers I use fills orders for this guy (Zouvi) and some other big brands and he said I couldn't ride a board with Felipe Toledo's rocker :ROFLMAO: He shaped me a simple thruster and every "problem" I've found with it turned out to be a problem with my surfing.
 

Swallow Tail

Billy Hamilton status
Oct 6, 2017
1,679
2,938
113
Your Mom’s House
Dig the Broccoli. Really like the Sharpeye guy too. You have to respect a guy that plays to his own strengths n doesn’t just make a bunch of boards he doesn’t dig just to make more $$


For me, trestles is such a awfully boring wave to watch unless someone is absolutely ripping the bag out of it. Don’t have any interest in ever surfing it either.
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,515
8,551
113
I think there's a resurgence of slimmer, racier boards. Of 90s/00s powersurfing. Young Aussies leading the charge, e.g Creed Mc Taggart, Shaun Manners, Noa. They obviously don't work everywhere or all the time, but they force you to not surf 'flicky'.

The LSD Hammer is a fine example: https://www.lsdsurfboards.com/boards/the-hammer

My 6'6 Bourton step up is a lot more foiled than anything else I surf, but whenever I get back on it after a few months collecting dust, it feels insane. Bigger turns, drawn-out carves. For a few seconds I feel like I can surf like a man - not just an old man.
He made it look great but those waves had a lot of power. I could definitely see those working at Newps/RJs. I think I'd flail on one.

By "force you to not surf 'flicky', you mean, "It makes you stay on rail both off the bottom turn and off the top?"

Really articulate, honest and thoughtful shaper. I read an interview with him and it was the same way. Said he personally doesn't try to make or design everything. He has specialist shapers in-house that build their alternative shapes because he knows his specialty is sensitive shortboards (and that's how he's always wanted to surf). His take on alternative shapes is that they have to make them in order to sell boards in shops because the level of the average surfer is lower than it was in the 80s and 90s. (which would mean me since i love my fish. ha!)
That was an interesting interview. He got best at the boards he shaped for his team riders who are smaller, lighter guys. It seems to me that shapers hone their skills this way but there is no written-down set of design principles that new guys can follow to get a head-start and to make boards for surfers of different sizes. It's mostly trial and error. Seems like someone smart *cough* (GG) could formalize these design principles and maybe even write a set of equations like John Boyd did with aircraft design after he figured out what worked being a fighter pilot and fighter weapons school instructor.
 
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Maz

Michael Peterson status
May 18, 2004
3,041
4,551
113
Innzid
@PRCD - Yep, I meant turning off the rail, properly banking the board over, as opposed to doing quick little flat squirts. Those can be fun in some conditions, but if you come to rely on them for your dopamine hits, then your surfing will suffer. IMHO.

I like taking a much too big board out in normal conditions, because there's no way in hell you can cheat on those. Have to get your foot all the way back and craaank them around; have to find the power source on the wave.
 

GromsDad

Duke status
Jan 21, 2014
54,176
16,182
113
West of the Atlantic. East of the ICW.
That was cool (interview with Zouvi).
I've purchase quite a few custom boards from him and what has always impressed me was his communication in the ordering process. He's a shaper who works with some of the best surfers in the world yet he'll take the time to work with an unknown to dial in the right boards. Hopefully its always that way.