Hipster midlengthers despair: Your poster boy has jumped ship.

[ChaseTMP]

The running joke at my local is that I’ll be riding sub 6’ borts into my 60’s (eight years to go), but I was struggling yesterday on my 5’6 in pretty tiny quick little runners. A 5’8 Calypte (B rocker) or something similar by Tim Stumps definitely has my attention when the waves call for more glide. I hate when speed and a lil’ section presents itself and I feel hampered by too much bort to do what I instinctively know/feel I want to accomplish.

 

[Retropete]

Is this the first domino falling?

 

[ciscojaws]

Is this the first domino falling?
View attachment 167958

Everything in surfing is a cyclical fad.

 

[jkb]

That orange board looked really good on his backhand.

 

[One-Off]

The running joke at my local is that I’ll be riding sub 6’ borts into my 60’s (eight years to go), but I was struggling yesterday on my 5’6 in pretty tiny quick little runners. A 5’8 Calypte (B rocker) or something similar by Tim Stumps definitely has my attention when the waves call for more glide. I hate when speed and a lil’ section presents itself and I feel hampered by too much bort to do what I instinctively know/feel I want to accomplish.

How old are you? I was like that. I was convinced I would ride shortboards until my demise. Then at the end of a three day run of great surf (South Bay barrel fest winter wind swell) in 2019 my back cramped up and eventually sidelined me for 6 months and then 6 month of long boarding. I was 58. Never been quite the same. Now 62 and I have a new 6-1 that I haven't ridden yet but am wondering about it for this swell...

 

[stringcheese]

When this guy first came up here I pointed out that his "midlengths" were like 5'10-6'3
He has great style and I really like watching him surf. But he's not that 150lb dude riding 7'6s in head high beach break surf I think of when I think "hipster midlength".

 

[ChaseTMP]

How old are you? I was like that. I was convinced I would ride shortboards until my demise. Then at the end of a three day run of great surf (South Bay barrel fest winter wind swell) in 2019 my back cramped up and eventually sidelined me for 6 months and then 6 month of long boarding. I was 58. Never been quite the same. Now 62 and I have a new 6-1 that I haven't ridden yet but am wondering about it for this swell...

I’m 52. My daughter is a junior at RUHS (top choice for firearm carrying youth it seems) and is friends with a lot of the surf team. I still like being known as the dad that “rips”, but I also know my days of doing anything remotely resembling “ripping” are numbered.

Having your back go out is the worst. I’ve had 25 years of dealing with that. A daily routine of crisscross-applesauce and bending forward as far as I can for two minutes (and alternating legs) plus eight cat/cows has changed my life for the last two years.

 

[hugh shackman]

But he's not that 150lb dude riding 7'6s in head high beach break surf I think of when I think "hipster midlength".

Agree with this - He surfs mids where they should be surfed, overhead+ points. I have a 6'8 that only comes out in that kind of wave. It's an absolute blast. Long enough to get in early, but can still carve it if you lean into it. Only time it's fun in beach break is if it's overhead but high tide and fat. Otherwise I dont like it at all.

They are really fun boar's to have as a complementary piece, and I think learning how to push around a bigger board like that also improved my surfing on regular shorties quite a bit. But you can never go full mid all the time. That's just as bad as the guys stomping around on shortboards in 2 foot burgers. Square peg round hole.

 

[Mr J]

I’m 52. My daughter is a junior at RUHS (top choice for firearm carrying youth it seems) and is friends with a lot of the surf team. I still like being known as the dad that “rips”, but I also know my days of doing anything remotely resembling “ripping” are numbered.

Having your back go out is the worst. I’ve had 25 years of dealing with that. A daily routine of crisscross-applesauce and bending forward as far as I can for two minutes (and alternating legs) plus eight cat/cows has changed my life for the last two years.

I seem to remember you saying that you were a competitive surfer in your younger days? I don't think being comfortable on short boars is necessarily a good measure of surfing ability. I never ripped and I'm comfortable on my 4' 8" simmons foamie slab, but I can't do anything performance on it and I'm definitely getting worse at surfing. It took me a long time to get my comfort levels back after my shoulder injury - months of very frequent surfing, whereas in my younger days a month or so of weekends after a period out of the water would do it. I also lost my popup - I was doing planking and couldn't understand why it had gone to pieces. I've got it back now (lots of floor popup practise and really concentrating on the pop-up during takeoff was the answer) - I don't remember it being like this before after a lay off from surfing. I'm 62 now.

I've really got back into my Chilli Mini-Bird recently, but I've more or less given up trying to do the proper HP technique I was shown a couple of years ago when I took surfing lessons. Some of it is loss of confidence - I have defects in both shoulders and I don't know how stable they are. Earlier this week I did an over the white water floater on my mini-bird which felt great (I've never been advanced enough to do the over the lip/tube floater), but it was the first for a while and I don't know when the next one will be. It felt sort of safe because there is no need to wave the arms around much for them.

 

[ChaseTMP]

I seem to remember you saying that you were a competitive surfer in your younger days? I don't think being comfortable on short boars is necessarily a good measure of surfing ability. I never ripped and I'm comfortable on my 4' 8" simmons foamie slab, but I can't do anything performance on it and I'm definitely getting worse at surfing. It took me a long time to get my comfort levels back after my shoulder injury - months of very frequent surfing, whereas in my younger days a month or so of weekends after a period out of the water would do it. I also lost my popup - I was doing planking and couldn't understand why it had gone to pieces. I've got it back now (lots of floor popup practise and really concentrating on the pop-up during takeoff was the answer) - I don't remember it being like this before after a lay off from surfing. I'm 62 now.

I've really got back into my Chilli Mini-Bird recently, but I've more or less given up trying to do the proper HP technique I was shown a couple of years ago when I took surfing lessons. Some of it is loss of confidence - I have defects in both shoulders and I don't know how stable they are. Earlier this week I did an over the white water floater on my mini-bird which felt great (I've never been advanced enough to do the over the lip/tube floater), but it was the first for a while and I don't know when the next one will be. It felt sort of safe because there is no need to wave the arms around much for them.

I did a about five years of NSSA open men's mid-to-late 90's and a few pro-am events around the same time period. I've never seen a dollar from surfing, just some flow from a few companies over the years. I can appreciate good surfing on any craft, but my bellwether is HPSB surfing, but that's just what I appreciate.

I'm definitely biased based in my surfing preference and get a little eggy about people that can surf (many times very well) , but do on what I've deemed "wrongboarding" and ride softops and/or mid-lengths just to (what seems) up their wave-count. It's my own hangup, but I'd prefer to "compete" with surfers at my local with shorter crafts if the people on extended ones are just point-and-shooting.

On the medium sized days, nothing gets me more bent than someone stroking-in on a mid-length or softtop from ten yards out and just cruising (if they're a proficient surfer). It's my opinion, but if you're on a board > 8', I want to see some drop knee cutbacks and/or some nice cross step work and if the waves offer, some noseriding.

I'm a fan of good surfing no matter what the person is riding and am good friends with several top long-boarders, but HPSB is what I gravitate towards. I'll usually terms like "he/she rips" when discussing short-boarding, but will say something like "they're a solid surfer" if they surf really well, but don't surf the way I still aspire to.

 

[Mr J]

I did a about five years of NSSA open men's mid-to-late 90's and a few pro-am events around the same time period. I've never seen a dollar from surfing, just some flow from a few companies over the years. I can appreciate good surfing on any craft, but my bellwether is HPSB surfing, but that's just what I appreciate.

I'm definitely biased based in my surfing preference and get a little eggy about people that can surf (many times very well) , but do on what I've deemed "wrongboarding" and ride softops and/or mid-lengths just to (what seems) up their wave-count. It's my own hangup, but I'd prefer to "compete" with surfers at my local with shorter crafts if they people on extended crafts are just point-and-shooting.

On the medium sized days, nothing gets me more bent than someone stroking-in on a mid-length softtop from ten yards out and just cruising (if they're a proficient surfer). It's my opinion, but if you're on a board > 8', I want to see some drop knee cutbacks and/or some nice cross step work and if the waves offer, some noseriding.

I'm a fan of good surfing no matter what the person is riding and am good friends with several top long-boarders, but HPSB is what I gravitate towards and I'll usually terms like "he/she rips" when discussing short-boarding, but will say something like "they're a solid surfer" if they surf really well, but don't surf the way I still aspire to.

sounds like you are on track to still be ripping sub 6' hp shortboars in 10 yrs time. Health permitting, 60 won't seem so old! You know how to manage your back.

 

[kidfury]

52 is young. You're getting close to your cruising down the wave phase, simply stoked that you were able to get out of bed, suit up, paddle out, and catch a wave.

 

[INDTUBE]

Kinda of reminds me of this 6'1" I had GG make for me a number of years back - still my favorite summer board - easy entry and fast down the line - does not go off the top as well as other boards but the down the speed in so fun. If I could reproduce one of GG's boards (I'm 57 so not looking to crush the lip anymore) this would be it. I have beat the sh!t out of this board.