Board shapes for good small waves
Simon 5 Spark set up as a quad fits the bill for me. Super fast, maybe a bit too loose through the top but it doesn't take long to learn when to power it and when to take it easy.
Thanks will look both up.
Im down in Vic in the surf coast area. Wondering what shapes people are riding up at places like snapper etc when its tiny but still running down the point with shape?
I believe the most popular model is the Yamaha FX HO Waverunner.
Dare I say a 5'10 Hypto 34 litres. I'm more intermediate than advanced and similar height but 10kgs heavier. I hear you on fitting into the wave, if it's chest high, shapely and clean Hypto goes really well for me. Any smaller or fat and I'm back to my 6'2 37 litre fish which has more width.
Tried a Hypto, the pulled in tail and wide nose made it too straight down the line i think.
I'm on a DHD mini twin, 5'6" with Rasta Jute Keel fins, super fun.
Check out the lost uber driver. Looks like a hybrid on the performance side. Nose and tail pulled in with some width. A 5’10 is 19 1/2 wide but they have some rocker still which is what you need when your trying to get up and down as opposed to down the line.
Theres a guy on youtube noel salas he does really good reviews of all the major brands and explains the different features of the models really well.
Ive bought customs mostly but was pretty keen onthe uber driver after checking it out in the shop enough to have me considering one of the big brands. Also check out Js monstabox pretty similiar to uber driver except tiny bit more narrow for same length.
Good feedback @Ron Hypto comment - that's probably why I can't turn :-)
Was still fun in the right waves but was best with a face to get out on.
watching the surf ranch contest and the 2 big guys on tour have both scaled down boards. Jordy looks to be on a sci fi or similar. Owen is on 5'11 after trying wilkos boards. Be interested to learn more.
Pretty simple they don't need to paddle and duck dive and keep in position etc like in the ocean.
Just catch the wave an easy takeoff and then ride, if surfing was only about once up and riding, which a wave pool is, you could greatly reduce volume, once up on a plane volume is not that important unless wave is slow fat and gutless.
I'll throw my hat in the ring, I use a DHD Double Shot (swallow tail). I absolutely love it. I'm a weekend warrior, and it serves me well at Maroubra when conditions aren't ideal, especially around the summer.
Have a look at Gary McNeils boards. I have a 6 foot Torus channel twin and it is a beauty
Hot Buttered SoCal Twinzer, sloppy or hollow good from 1-4ft and I have tried lots of small wave boards. Very good in the barrel also
I'm on the larger end of the scale too (6ft 90kegs) and the MC Dirty Dingo ticks all the boxes for me.
Channel Is. Biscuit if they still make them is a really fun board in small waves. Having said all that, currently enjoying my twin keel swallow-tail fish (5'10" x 21" x 3") Japanese shaped, probs similar to what Michael Mackie would put out. Really funin small clean surf.
@Travis86
Can you tell me please your approximate height/weight and what kind of waves your 6' Torus Twin goes well in? Thanks
cheers Udo, it's a little rocket and a ton of fun to surf. Had a fun little sesh on it this morning.
Thanks for all the suggestions. After some more thinking, reading and surfing im leaning towards something in a hi po shorty thruster shape with some meat but not too flat like a fish. The days i want it for is clean with a good pocket but only 1-2 foot. Speed isnt the problem its fitting the board into the wave. I notice younger kids on these days rip as their boards would be similar to mine if you scaled it up to a 3-4 foot day.
At the moment im thinking of trying a dumpster diver or something along those lines. Bit of volume to get you into them and get moving but also with plenty of curve in the outline and rocker to fit in the tight transitions. Anyone out there got one? Im thinking about 5'11 in stock dims which is 33.6 litres.
Don't know if this is too outside your new parameters (not a hi performance shape), but I just got a FireWire Evo for similar conditions. I'm in the same area and since I got it I haven't surfed any 1-2 foot days, only bigger, but it goes great. At 33 litres you'd be on a 5'8.
I went down 8 inches and 9 litres from my previous board and I reckon I'm getting more waves. Its a lot of fun.
9 litres less foam..thats a huge amount.....have you dropped a heap of body weight as well ?
Not yet!
My previous board was 55 litres and I'm 102 ish kilos. New board is 46 litres but most of those litres are in the water - no pointy nose sticking out of the water.
yeah you have to be careful when just thinking of volume cause sometimes a lower volume board can catch waves a lot easier than a thick railed board.Also rocker plays a big part,its a fine balance so sometimes less is more.
I'm on a tommo evo 5'8 @ 35.6 ltres . i'm 6 ft and have a fluctuating weight issue of around 87- 92 kgs . Loving the responsiveness of this board.
The evo does interest me, if i can find one used cheap id have a gamble on it.
I looked for a long while second hand but couldn't find one in my size.
I bit the bullet and saved for a while to get one new. It was a big gamble but seems to have paid off so far.
yeah goofy. i’ve been looking at a lot of mini simmons (and similar, somewhat fishy) shapes recently, and stacks of videos of guys riding them. they look like heaps of fun
**@Travis86
Can you tell me please your approximate height/weight and what kind of waves your 6' Torus Twin goes well in? Thanks**
@Ralph the board is 6 foot, 21 inches wide, 3 inches thick. I am 184cm and 84kgs I think the volume is around 37 litres. Goes well in any cleanish conditions. Two foot to four foot.
I rode it in Samoa this winter. Lots of drive off the bottom with speed to burn down the line. I’ll try to post a photo
Here is a photo of the above board. Its the far left. The other photo is one of the better waves of the trip I caught on the Torus Twin. I pretty much rode it exclusively on all tides except for one day that was too large.
https://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e128/TravisAUS86/1F8E650B-087F-4EB8-8…
https://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e128/TravisAUS86/64C63B39-D7B3-4972-B…
Ever tried a Scifi? I rented one recently in Portugal and now I want to save up and buy one. I'm only a little guy, however it was a couple of litres more than my normal board and the same length at 5'9" and the thing was a wave hog being so easy to paddle and catch waves, fast, loose and didn't spin out. I was surfing small waves and often a bit mushy and it loved everything.
Hey Ron, im in vicco (melb) and have a 5'9 evo - helium - futures boxes up on gumtree as of this morning.
Noel Salas just dropped his new vid testing the Sci Fi 2
2 different lengths and lots of Fin changes going on .
Has any one got any feed back on the CI Pod Mod?
I’m looking for a small wave/groveller board
Can pick one up very cheaply at present
Cheers
Just curious about peoples opinions on boards for small waves but with good shape?
I find myself surfing 1-3 foot offshore days around here fairly often. Usually these days are decent quality in terms of shape, not super sucky but not fat. Sometimes you need a bit of paddle power to get them in the 1-2 foot range but once surfing there's no problem with speed like fat mushy waves.
I usually find the wide small wave shapes are designed more for getting speed in fat surf. The wider boards tend to feel too slow rail to rail and i have to nurse them down the face to not catch the outside rail, by the time i start to turn it too late to get up into the lip. My normal short boards are a little hard to paddle at 1-2 foot and feel a bit long to turn tight enough. Im 6'4 86kg.
Something short to fit in the transition but not too wide makes sense, wide point back to create allot of curve. What models are out there that fit this or am i on the wrong track?