WQS pros' comp boards size

[Maz]

I was watching a few heats of the 6000 QS currently on in Newcastle, OZ. Most of the comp has been held in pretty dismal looking conditions, but not total dog sh!t.

After each heat they'd interview the winner, and it struck me that they all seemed to ride normal HPSBs an inch or more longer than they were tall. And it's not like they were doing meaningful rail gouges - it was all about super quick snaps and hacks. I would definitely not pick my 6'3 Ghost for those conditions, possibly not even my 6'0 Pyzalien.

What does the collective think? Are we all riding boards too short for us and the conditions?

 

[retodd]

They are fit and have more skill than us , plus are surfing to a certain criteria

I am not , plus am surfing for more than 20 minutes with way more than 3 others out

Foam is my friend in crappy waves

 

[Maz]

Absolutely - and my friend too. I was just wondering why they aren't on thin 3"-below-your-height x 19" step downs.

Same thing caught my eye at the women's Honolua Bay comp. Carissa M was on a 6'1 in waist high waves - albeit delicious looking waist high waves.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

Todd is right. They can ride less due to ability and can surf better because they're on more refined equipment. FOr us, the forgiving stubs allow us to surf better.

Is it me or do most of the pro girls look like they're on boards that are too big?

 

[Maz]

Yep, I get the "less" bit, but not the "an inch or two above your height" bit.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

wish I watched the same waves you did so I could comment

 

[griffinsurfboard]

Its a circle of marketing they are locked into , just like everyone else .

Boards that enable , enable everyone .

 

[Maz]

I was probably not making myself very clear - happens all the time, and more so as I enter senility proper. I just thought they seemed overgunned.

And SBD, picture waist to shoulder high, 5-10kt onshore, crumbly.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

waist to shoulder is big enough for that IMO and in chop, longer rail line and thinner rails eats it up better. But like I said without seeing it it's not fair for me to comment. I could agree with you.

 

[DroppingOnYou]

I like riding boards like that in shitty waves. Not sure why.. maybe I just ride HPSBs too much. Probably not a good habit. With even half decent skill and a bit of an effort you can make them work well it any sort of waves with push from waist high. That said just got an electralite Pyzalien that I am loving and I've been riding it heaps. Super fun from thigh to overhead.

I do think stubs can make surfing look weird if the waves are reasonable. This video is Stabs summer ride review and I think that it proves the point that really good surfers can look decidedly worse on stubs rather than HP boards. There's some great surfing in there don't get me wrong but you can see why someone would get scored worse in a comp ...

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/196378852[/vimeo]

 

[Maz]

DroppingOn, those are high quality waves compared to those in the Newcastle comp But I agree with your sentiments.

Maybe it's just a question of the QS guys being fast and agile enough to push those longer boards through tiny turns in sh!tty waves, and in the process looking "normal" to the judges.

I'm in no way trying to be right - just thought it was interesting, and a bit of a conundrum.

 

[manbearpig]

It's weird to me. Some guys were riding sub 18" boards at the Ny comp on the small shitty days. Even pros look better when they surf a better board for the conditions.

 

[racer1]

I've seen QS quivers, it's usually the same dimensions and volume but they all have different rockers. Even if it says the same model on it. They'll have a couple really flat ones for comps like this one.

 

[000]

i reckon they like to ride the board they are most used to

 

[bobwarren]

Well I'm just a kook but I like my everyday board here in FL to be an inch longer than I am tall. 5'9x19x2.25 and I'm 5'8 160-165. I don't like real short stubby boards. I ride it knee to as big as it gets (a bit overhead). It's probably wider than they are riding though.

 

[bobwarren]

Also look up on YouTube the Birds Surf Shed episode where the gudauskas bros ride one of Kelly's old 17 inch wide glass slippers at crappy lowers and tell me it didn't look good under their feet.

 

[Mr J]

If Parker Coffin's quiver is representative of the WQS approach then they do have specialised grovel boards, its just that their grovel boards resemble their decent wave boards in length and nose outline shape. Maybe vary materials and glass weight too.

This is a nice quiver description which covers his grovel to decent range. A bit of a contradiction at about 5 mn in as a normal HPSB gets picked up with a "team light" glassing decal on it and it's described as being "glassed a little heavier". So I suppose we can't trust all the pro decals!

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[Mr J]

Well I'm just a kook but I like my everyday board here in FL to be an inch longer than I am tall. 5'9x19x2.25 and I'm 5'8 160-165. I don't like real short stubby boards. I ride it knee to as big as it gets (a bit overhead). It's probably wider than they are riding though.

The pros seem to ride boards about the same length as they are high give or take an inch or so. The taller they are the more likely they are to ride a board slightly shorter than their height, the smaller they are the more likely they are to ride a board slightly longer than their height. At the height of her career, the tiny Silvana Lima was beating much of her competition on a board several inches longer than her height.

 

[Mr J]

I do think stubs can make surfing look weird if the waves are reasonable. This video is Stabs summer ride review and I think that it proves the point that really good surfers can look decidedly worse on stubs rather than HP boards. There's some great surfing in there don't get me wrong but you can see why someone would get scored worse in a comp ...

...

I also think that's a large part of the reason - a lot of the visual aspect of spectating surfing is determined by what the nose of the board is doing - whipping an arc off the top or cutback and emphasising their rotational airs. So the boards need to have a reasonable amount of pointy nose in front of them to give that effect. I guess many pros would be worried that they might lose points on anything which visually deviated from the standard. Plus as has been mentioned before they don't have any problem making a HPSB style plan shape grovel.

 

[emmohl80]

Rockers man. Rockers.