for Front footed Surfers

[Dekerwild]

What type of bottom contours/concaves should someone who surfs off their front foot be looking for?

Any top OTR models you’d recommend that specialize in this? Specifically ROBERTS or Mayhem but others very welcome.....

Any type fins help?

Thanks in advance

 

[Havoc]

Low entry rocker with some tail lift. Try ss2 sws or qk. Both have great ff drive. Stay away from the drivers

 

[retodd]

The round nose fish set up with the T1 set

For roberts , the OG white diamond with the reactors or YU fins

 

[Brrr]

What Havoc4k and Retodd said, add the V3 Rocket to that list. Very front foot friendly .

 

[manbearpig]

The round nose fish set up with the T1 set

For roberts , the OG white diamond with the reactors or YU fins

Was going to say the OG WD. I'm not even a front footed surfer but that design definitely likes that style surfing.

 

[delmartian]

I'm always putting too much weight on my front foot due to years of snowboarding...

Pyzel seems to make a few boards that seem pretty front foot friendly. I've been enjoying the Stubby Bastard.

And there's the whole Ghost/Phantom/Gremlin lineup that all feature wide point and extra foam front of center. I think that sort of thing suits my bad habit of weighting the front foot too much, but I've yet to try one of them out.

But your question was about bottom contours and concave? I have no idea how that might affect front foot vs back foot surfing...

 

[casa_mugrienta]

What type of bottom contours/concaves should someone who surfs off their front foot be looking for?

Any top OTR models you’d recommend that specialize in this? Specifically ROBERTS or Mayhem but others very welcome.....

Any type fins help?

Thanks in advance

You should be looking for anything other than a performance surfboard.

MR explains why.

<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/65029409">MR&#039;s Surfing Tips #1: Back Foot Pressure</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/nathanrichards1">Nathan Richards</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

[Havoc]

What Havoc4k and Retodd said, add the V3 Rocket to that list. Very front foot friendly .

yo Brrr! what up, long time no post meng. glad to see u still digging v3 rocket. i have a qk that i love. ss sws 2!

 

[oeste858]

You should be looking for anything other than a performance surfboard.
MR explains why.

+1 Good vid.
I realize after a few years of trying different alt boards, mid lengths, fishes, I surf much more off my front foot and tend to scoot up on the board to go down the line until I go to crank a turn. I have two of the same model board and found I preferred one- turns out the side fins are slightly further forward, so I don't have to slide my rear foot all the way back to the tail.
So, take a good look at where the fin boxes are placed and try to compare on the different boards you are interested in, if possible.

 

[Havoc]

You should be looking for anything other than a performance surfboard.
MR explains why.

+1 Good vid.
I realize after a few years of trying different alt boards, mid lengths, fishes, I surf much more off my front foot and tend to scoot up on the board to go down the line until I go to crank a turn. I have two of the same model board and found I preferred one- turns out the side fins are slightly further forward, so I don't have to slide my rear foot all the way back to the tail.
So, take a good look at where the fin boxes are placed and try to compare on the different boards you are interested in, if possible.

good catch! I noticed that board had a lot of drive. fins forward ftw! (sorry griff)

 

[jkb]

My OG GMM2 has fins at 10" and 3". Looks closer to the board on the right. I love that fin position.

Haven't measured my new GMM2's fins yet, but it feels the same as the OG.

 

[mach113]

I find the CI Sampler to be a great board for front-footed surfers. I went Team Light glassing and love it.

 

[cjs2002]

Lost short round. ride it as a quad. i grew up snowboarding competitively. this board makes me very happy

 

[Badger_Badger]

I’m a front footed and goofy footed to boot- the boards I like best have:
Lower nose rocker
Slightly wider nose and tail
Smooth continuous rocker, not drastically flipped in the tail
A little more volume distributed under the chest/front foot or flat decks
Softer or slightly boxy rail even to where my front foot is
Single to double concave or double inside of single- the single up front gives the front of the board a feeling of lift while the double through the back goes rail to rail easily with some squirt. A little vee in the last bit of the tail is nice too. When it’s right it feels like power steering, but not out of control.
Channel bottoms also give that feeling of being on a cushion of air while still having control
Quads set ups help since the fin cluster is basically further up or thrusters with a slightly smaller trailing fin.
More upright fins like the Slater 2.1 fin or FCS II reactor in small/ average waves
Swallow tails
Wing swallow gives a really defined pivot point just behind the front fins.
Shorter boards help as there’s less board overall and I tend to get my foot farther back and or have more leverage directly over the board.

Example of a board that works really well for me is a 5’8 x 19.5 x 2 5/16 Dart 2 from Russ Hoyte that pretty much has all of the above and is one of my favorite boards to ride from belly to overhead waves. I’m 5’11” 155-160
I hope I can get a clone of it some day soon.

JS Hippee is a OTR board that I really clicked with also. I’m on my second one this time with a swallow tail.
I also like bonzers but just have to get the center fin dialed and concentrate a little bit more on the hind leg.

 

[Bman76]

I’m a front footed and goofy footed to boot- the boards I like best have:
Lower nose rocker
Slightly wider nose and tail
Smooth continuous rocker, not drastically flipped in the tail
A little more volume distributed under the chest/front foot or flat decks
Softer or slightly boxy rail even to where my front foot is
Single to double concave or double inside of single- the single up front gives the front of the board a feeling of lift while the double through the back goes rail to rail easily with some squirt. A little vee in the last bit of the tail is nice too. When it’s right it feels like power steering, but not out of control.
Channel bottoms also give that feeling of being on a cushion of air while still having control
Quads set ups help since the fin cluster is basically further up or thrusters with a slightly smaller trailing fin.
More upright fins like the Slater 2.1 fin or FCS II reactor in small/ average waves
Swallow tails
Wing swallow gives a really defined pivot point just behind the front fins.
Shorter boards help as there’s less board overall and I tend to get my foot farther back and or have more leverage directly over the board.

Example of a board that works really well for me is a 5’8 x 19.5 x 2 5/16 Dart 2 from Russ Hoyte that pretty much has all of the above and is one of my favorite boards to ride from belly to overhead waves. I’m 5’11” 155-160
I hope I can get a clone of it some day soon.

JS Hippee is a OTR board that I really clicked with also. I’m on my second one this time with a swallow tail.
I also like bonzers but just have to get the center fin dialed and concentrate a little bit more on the hind leg.

You read my mind. All of this is - me.

 

[paunch23]

Thats me. Front footed goofy

Stretch skate
Lost dbl wing swallow sub scorcher 2 i think
Pyzel stubby bastard

 

[ChaseTMP]

What's a SWS from Lost? I'm running into the same issue trying to find a new board that works with driving off my front foot. I've recently lost money on buying two new OTR boards: Chilli Churro roundtail twin tech and a JS Air 17X Hyfi. Both boards were complete dogs for me. I was considering a Haydenshapes Holy Grail, since their Psychedelic Germ was one of my favorite boards in the last 10 years. Luckily, Haydenshapes is partnered with Awayco and I rented one (a 5'8 PE) the past three days. The Holy Grail IMO, did not have any get-up-and-go in the quick mostly crummy beach break out front of my place I surf everyday. I'm glad I'm only out $55 for the rental and didn't get taken to the cleaners trying getting rid of a new board.

I'm not going to relearn how to drive down the line after 35+ years of surfing. I'm embarrassed that I haven't really figured out what to actually look for. Looking at my boards yesterday that work (a scan off of of one of Medina's boards) or kinda worked (Chilli Nevada non-HP), it appears that I like a flat section of rocker under my front foot (36-37" up from the tail), forward wide point and some moderate single concave in that same area.

I was surfing so bad on the Churro and Air17X that some acquaintances in the water were commenting that something looked really off. I know I can surf decent (made it through heats in the NSSA Open Men's back in 96-98, had some major brand hook-ups) on the right board. I'm just getting super frustrated that I can't demo a bunch of boards and have to worry about selling for a loss again.

I'm going to molest some boards at E.T. Surf this afternoon and will check out the V3 Rocket, Quiver Killer (would the Psycho Killer be good as well?), SS2, whatever the SWS is and maybe a CI Sampler (never loved CI's full feeling rails though). Any others to feel up? E.T. carries: Lost, Firewire/Slater/Tomo, JS, CI, Chilli, Rusty, Haydenshapes.

 

[jkb]

What's a SWS from Lost? I'm running into the same issue trying to find a new board that works with driving off my front foot. I've recently lost money on buying two new OTR boards: Chilli Churro roundtail twin tech and a JS Air 17X Hyfi. Both boards were complete dogs for me. I was considering a Haydenshapes Holy Grail, since their Psychedelic Germ was one of my favorite boards in the last 10 years. Luckily, Haydenshapes is partnered with Awayco and I rented one (a 5'8 PE) the past three days. The Holy Grail IMO, did not have any get-up-and-go in the quick mostly crummy beach break out front of my place I surf everyday. I'm glad I'm only out $55 for the rental and didn't get taken to the cleaners trying getting rid of a new board.

I'm not going to relearn how to drive down the line after 35+ years of surfing. I'm embarrassed that I haven't really figured out what to actually look for. Looking at my boards yesterday that work (a scan off of of one of Medina's boards) or kinda worked (Chilli Nevada non-HP), it appears that I like a flat section of rocker under my front foot (36-37" up from the tail), forward wide point and some moderate single concave in that same area.

I was surfing so bad on the Churro and Air17X that some acquaintances in the water were commenting that something looked really off. I know I can surf decent (made it through heats in the NSSA Open Men's back in 96-98, had some major brand hook-ups) on the right board. I'm just getting super frustrated that I can't demo a bunch of boards and have to worry about selling for a loss again.

I'm going to molest some boards at E.T. Surf this afternoon and will check out the V3 Rocket, Quiver Killer (would the Psycho Killer be good as well?), SS2, whatever the SWS is and maybe a CI Sampler (never loved CI's full feeling rails though). Any others to feel up? E.T. carries: Lost, Firewire/Slater/Tomo, JS, CI, Chilli, Rusty, Haydenshapes.

Try the Haydenshapes Untitled if you're part of Awayco. I'm a front footed surfer for the most part and got along really well with that shape.

As far as Lost goes, try anything that is derived from the Rocket rocker (there's probably a thousand by now).

 

[Havoc]

Sws is single wing swallow. Quiver killer is pretty front footed. Tomo sp2 also. Im more naturally front footed. Anything lile the rocket rocker from lost like jkb said is the call. Or go custo, with someone like stamps etc and explain your needs.

 

[MathDebater]

I second the Stamps custom idea. Tim is super easy to work with and the price is great.