Tell me about a surfboard based on these stats, please!
September 29, 2012 6:18 PM Subscribe
Help me buy a surfboard!
I've already looked at this surfboard, but based on these measurements, what would you (a surfer or shaper) expect this to surf like? Ideal waves, speed, maneuverability, performance level, skill level, areas of excellence or weakness, etc. I'm not familiar w/ the squash tail or future fins - is anyone else? What are these like? I was original going for dumpster diver shape if that helps.
Length: 6' 0
Width: 18 1/4
Thickness: 2 1/4
Tail: Squash
Fin: Future
Color: Yes
Model:JP Model
Price: $570.00
I've already looked at this surfboard, but based on these measurements, what would you (a surfer or shaper) expect this to surf like? Ideal waves, speed, maneuverability, performance level, skill level, areas of excellence or weakness, etc. I'm not familiar w/ the squash tail or future fins - is anyone else? What are these like? I was original going for dumpster diver shape if that helps.
Length: 6' 0
Width: 18 1/4
Thickness: 2 1/4
Tail: Squash
Fin: Future
Color: Yes
Model:JP Model
Price: $570.00
I've been surfing nearly my entire life - and as a sponsored team member riding for several big name brands. Those days are gone, but I can still probably offer some advice about board buying.
There are SO many variables - including some you're not even considering here (shape of the rails, channels, shape of the bottom, type of material the board is made from, and the list goes on...) that will impact how a board will ride.
Honestly, if you're going to buy your first board, buy something lightly used and save money. You'll feel less bad about beating the crap out of it.
Find a good surfshop that's been in business for YEARS in your area and ask for advice. Don't buy the first time you go in. Get advice from the 18 year old kid who'd rather be out riding than working and also get advice from the guy who owns the place.
Consider where you will be surfing - beach break, reef, point break?
Do you have any experience?
How much do you weigh? How tall are you? - the trend is towards shorter boards these days, but its gotta float you.
Read up on some of the performance characteristics of fin setups (thruster vs twin vs single vs quad, etc) as well as how tail shape affects the turning performance of a board. A pin tail will, in general promote longer, drawn out turns and the broader the tail (squared or squash) will allow a tighter more radical turn (see Tom Curren's boards from the '80s) but there are SO many variations now... not to mention the resurgence of 70's influences like vee and swallowtail designs.
And subscribe to Surfer Magazine, asap.
Hope that helps a bit, but feel free to email if you'd like!
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:05 PM on September 29, 2012 [3 favorites]
There are SO many variables - including some you're not even considering here (shape of the rails, channels, shape of the bottom, type of material the board is made from, and the list goes on...) that will impact how a board will ride.
Honestly, if you're going to buy your first board, buy something lightly used and save money. You'll feel less bad about beating the crap out of it.
Find a good surfshop that's been in business for YEARS in your area and ask for advice. Don't buy the first time you go in. Get advice from the 18 year old kid who'd rather be out riding than working and also get advice from the guy who owns the place.
Consider where you will be surfing - beach break, reef, point break?
Do you have any experience?
How much do you weigh? How tall are you? - the trend is towards shorter boards these days, but its gotta float you.
Read up on some of the performance characteristics of fin setups (thruster vs twin vs single vs quad, etc) as well as how tail shape affects the turning performance of a board. A pin tail will, in general promote longer, drawn out turns and the broader the tail (squared or squash) will allow a tighter more radical turn (see Tom Curren's boards from the '80s) but there are SO many variations now... not to mention the resurgence of 70's influences like vee and swallowtail designs.
And subscribe to Surfer Magazine, asap.
Hope that helps a bit, but feel free to email if you'd like!
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:05 PM on September 29, 2012 [3 favorites]
What others have said. And to add, if that is to be your first board you will hate it and hate surfing. Unless youre an experienced surfer (which i assume not by this question) your board needs to be forgiving...of the waves, weather conditions and most of all, you. That's both in and out of the water.
Spend some more time researching the variables until you really understand why you don't want that board. Find the used one that you will love to its end. Good luck!
posted by iamkimiam at 4:05 AM on September 30, 2012
Spend some more time researching the variables until you really understand why you don't want that board. Find the used one that you will love to its end. Good luck!
posted by iamkimiam at 4:05 AM on September 30, 2012
Two questions:
(1) What are you riding right now? Or whoever this is for - a gift? Why are you looking to switch?
(2) Why did you want a Dumpster Diver, exactly?
Channel Island has this handy tool that lets you see what kinds of dimensions they reccommend in various models for various body weights and experience levels.
The board you are looking at is less 'specific' than the Dumpster Diver, which initially was made for a pretty specific set of objectives (fast! airs!) in specific conditions (smallish summer waves).
Short-boards for learners = maneuverability vs. stability. Although surfing is about learning a skill, it's also about having fun while you're doing it so you should alter what you're surfing incrementally while you're learning to keep having fun. There's no point in upgrading quickly to a lot of features that make a board super maneuverable if you don't have the speed or stability to take advantage of them - it's just going to make the board hard and frustrating to ride in various ways. But... don't let guys who have been surfing for a long time continually steer you to longboards or NSPs (especially if you're a lady buying a board for herself, just sayin'). In fact, I reccommend getting with surfy friends who are good but either teach surfing or learned to surf after their early teens as learning to surf when you are a wee kid is totally different from progressing as a late teen or adult.
I've been lucky to test out a lot of boards second-hand from my husband's uber surfy family. I've found I* need: a little more volume and length (because I'm a slower, less powerful paddler), narrower width around where I paddle (because I have really narrow shoulders) and I love a good pin-tail. Part of this I know because I have shaper/instructor/surfy friends who have seen me surf and are board addicts that direct me to what I should try next... and part of it you figure out by trial and error. I've owned boards I hated where I felt like I could never get what I wanted, and boards I almost cried over losing that I still think of fondly.
So this is probably my nice, hopefully encouraging, way of agreeing with everyone that you are going about this the wrong way.
*hobby surfer who can ride a shortboard but still loves herself some mini-mal days, married to a lifelong surf addict/part fish.
posted by skermunkil at 1:10 PM on September 30, 2012
(1) What are you riding right now? Or whoever this is for - a gift? Why are you looking to switch?
(2) Why did you want a Dumpster Diver, exactly?
Channel Island has this handy tool that lets you see what kinds of dimensions they reccommend in various models for various body weights and experience levels.
The board you are looking at is less 'specific' than the Dumpster Diver, which initially was made for a pretty specific set of objectives (fast! airs!) in specific conditions (smallish summer waves).
Short-boards for learners = maneuverability vs. stability. Although surfing is about learning a skill, it's also about having fun while you're doing it so you should alter what you're surfing incrementally while you're learning to keep having fun. There's no point in upgrading quickly to a lot of features that make a board super maneuverable if you don't have the speed or stability to take advantage of them - it's just going to make the board hard and frustrating to ride in various ways. But... don't let guys who have been surfing for a long time continually steer you to longboards or NSPs (especially if you're a lady buying a board for herself, just sayin'). In fact, I reccommend getting with surfy friends who are good but either teach surfing or learned to surf after their early teens as learning to surf when you are a wee kid is totally different from progressing as a late teen or adult.
I've been lucky to test out a lot of boards second-hand from my husband's uber surfy family. I've found I* need: a little more volume and length (because I'm a slower, less powerful paddler), narrower width around where I paddle (because I have really narrow shoulders) and I love a good pin-tail. Part of this I know because I have shaper/instructor/surfy friends who have seen me surf and are board addicts that direct me to what I should try next... and part of it you figure out by trial and error. I've owned boards I hated where I felt like I could never get what I wanted, and boards I almost cried over losing that I still think of fondly.
So this is probably my nice, hopefully encouraging, way of agreeing with everyone that you are going about this the wrong way.
*hobby surfer who can ride a shortboard but still loves herself some mini-mal days, married to a lifelong surf addict/part fish.
posted by skermunkil at 1:10 PM on September 30, 2012
Response by poster: Ok I guess I worded my question super wrong:
I'm an experienced surfer but inexperienced as far as knowing about different boardshapes, etc. I know ocean, waves, surfing, etc, but I don't know much about picking out a board. I intuitively liked this board but wanted to know how I could expect it to surf. This isn't my first board. The reason I'm "switching" is because both my boards, a 6'7" Stewart and a 5"8" dumpster diver were stolen in a break-in. I want a dumpster diver because my exboyfriend was a great surfer and he listened to what I wanted, looked at my size and stuff, talked to a shaper and decided I should have a dumpster diver, got one shaped for me, and I loved it 'til the day it was stolen.
Hopefully people can have a different take on this question with this info.
posted by jitterbug perfume at 3:08 PM on September 30, 2012 [1 favorite]
I'm an experienced surfer but inexperienced as far as knowing about different boardshapes, etc. I know ocean, waves, surfing, etc, but I don't know much about picking out a board. I intuitively liked this board but wanted to know how I could expect it to surf. This isn't my first board. The reason I'm "switching" is because both my boards, a 6'7" Stewart and a 5"8" dumpster diver were stolen in a break-in. I want a dumpster diver because my exboyfriend was a great surfer and he listened to what I wanted, looked at my size and stuff, talked to a shaper and decided I should have a dumpster diver, got one shaped for me, and I loved it 'til the day it was stolen.
Hopefully people can have a different take on this question with this info.
posted by jitterbug perfume at 3:08 PM on September 30, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Any chance someone can try to answer this now that it (hopefully) makes sense as the question it was meant to be...?
posted by jitterbug perfume at 8:22 AM on October 7, 2012
posted by jitterbug perfume at 8:22 AM on October 7, 2012
Can you try out some friends' board for a wave or two (or three or eight) and see how they ride? If so, pay attention to the width, thickness, rocker and nose of those boards, trying to get a feel for how they ride. With the JP you described above it's hard to tell...it seems to me that the narrowness of the board will make it a bit squirrely (but responsive), yet the thickness might give you some stability (is the thickness spread throughout or concentrated in the center, left-right or front-back).
What is the rocker and nose like on it? If it's got a filled out nose with gradual rocker spread out over the front of the board you're going to get more stability out of it than if it's pointy/narrow at the nose with an extreme curve more towards the tip. If it's the latter, you'll have a harder time catching waves, duckdiving and staying steady, but the board will be twisty, responsive and super duper fast.
The other aspect that's analogous to the nose/rocker will be the shape of the rails. If they are rounded with a gradual slope the board will be more forgiving, especially on turns. If there's a hard edge at the bottom with less filled out rail roundy-ness preceding it, one slight lean too much and the whole board will sink underwater fast. If you are very good, this will be an advantage in speed and manueverability.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:18 AM on October 8, 2012
What is the rocker and nose like on it? If it's got a filled out nose with gradual rocker spread out over the front of the board you're going to get more stability out of it than if it's pointy/narrow at the nose with an extreme curve more towards the tip. If it's the latter, you'll have a harder time catching waves, duckdiving and staying steady, but the board will be twisty, responsive and super duper fast.
The other aspect that's analogous to the nose/rocker will be the shape of the rails. If they are rounded with a gradual slope the board will be more forgiving, especially on turns. If there's a hard edge at the bottom with less filled out rail roundy-ness preceding it, one slight lean too much and the whole board will sink underwater fast. If you are very good, this will be an advantage in speed and manueverability.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:18 AM on October 8, 2012
« Older What does radical clothing communicate? Seeking... | What are a man's options for a signature flourish? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
The squash tail is the standard shortboard tail shape: square with rounded corners. Future is a manufacturer of fin boxes and the fins that fit them, they're a competitor to FCS, and their fins are performance-wise, essentially identical.
By your question, I assume you're fairly inexperienced. This is a board best surfed in fast 4-6ft waves by an experienced surfer. Is that you, and are those the sorts of waves you tend to surf?
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 7:39 PM on September 29, 2012