Addicted to buying new surfboards
Im a bit like that at times, but generally secondhand boards that are in mint condition that are just too good buys to go past, i have boards I've only ridden two times but had for over a year as i just get stuck ridding my favourite board most of the time anyway.
For a while i was buying boards every six months but now I've got my habit in control.
Problem is these days there is just too many different designs, once you jump off the high performance short board mentality, you tend to want to try everything and anything.
I too suffer this affliction but I'm only obsessed with the feel when riding. You know very quickly if it's got that alive spark/energy/feedback or not and once you've had a couple of boards that gell with your style and flow, like an extension of your body, you'll always be chasing another magic weapon for a different wave size or surface condition. I've managed to get my small to medium boards totally sorted but still working on step-up and gun. Sure is an expensive quest though.
I'd say that's more like an investment in fun and happiness... 2 boards a year, $2000pa, that's doable for me, ROI is way up there.
I mean a standard 2 weeks away from home Ments trip cost A$4-5,000, Maldives?
Why are we having this conversation?
Who had the temerity to label a perfectly normal process as a "problem" ?
Shame on them.
Next thing they'll be trying to prescribe some sort of medication.
There is only one statement to be made with respect to surfboards...
"The More the Merrier" !!!
Yip. Had 8 at one point. At times the resell value just makes it impossible to give up, so they become a back up or for that one time a friend needs a board... Personally I mostly surf only one or 2. I have a short fat beachie board and a standard shorty for the better days/points. These 2 get ridden all the time so need replacement almost yearly:) The 1 x step up and 1 x gun and 5'5" x 40L quad(I'm 6'2) will last for years. I do agree you have to find what works for you, especially those first 2 core boards. The rest are for travel/fun/mess about. Enjoy the journey
Ps. Use the same spray and the wife will never know its a different board
1: I know a fella that only gets red boards. You all would know to whom I’m referring
2: crg is correct in asking “ why are we having this conversation”
3: support Your local shapers
Hey Doublems are you really sure? One of my Buddies had the same board cover for years thinking he was getting all his new boards on the sly . . . . that was until one day after getting yet another new stick his wife comes home with a nice new board cover mutter something like "for god's sake can't you at least buy a decent board cover for your new boards LOL".
I have about 7 boards that all get ridden regularly. I find you get stale riding the same board all the time, and our local conditions can switch from requiring a super groveler to a full gun in a day.
I buy 1 or 2 a year, and sell 1 or 2 a year, so incl a new wettie and some fins and whatever, I might spend $1000-1500 a year.
Peanuts. So worth it.
This is like therapy ...feel so much better now....thanks ,im not alone ..yea
A statistical breakdown of my quiver in ascending order:
5'8 twin for small, short waves or longer points with a little push
5'10 standard hi-perf thruster square tail
5'11 thruster swallow for hollower waves and reefs
6'3 step up rounded pin for Aus
6'8 step up for Indo
7'2 mid length single for small weak waves
7'6 solid Indo gun
8'4 big wave gun
I mean seriously I couldn't possibly reduce it down any further...
And don't get me started on vintage collectables, I just had a serious hard core cull 6 months ago and reduced down to 17 but have bought 2 since so there's another 19, which is nothing in the collecting world.
@morg. Hahahaha. Yes there should be a disclaimer on these suggestions. You will be alone when you get made.
Well, all the responses above were enough for me to get me back on the horse.....again! I Sold a 5 fin bonzer and a very new thruster to dabble with a nice looking fish. First new board of 2019 and it's only the start of Feb....
G'day freeride, it was a CI Shelter, went really well on the backhand as I'm more back-footed backside but I didn't like it forehand as I'm too front footed after riding twinnies for so long. I think the flat faced nature of the waves I usually surf probably didn't help either?? If you surf it heavily of the back foot it had so much drive and projection down the line and out of turns, was fun to try something new but ultimately wasn't getting ridden much.
Just wait until you take up shaping...
I started out with one old single fin and now, seven years later, I've got 12 boards in the shed, plus another three on the racks in various states of completion. There's always another style, another set of conditions, another tweak of a certain model that you want to try. It's also much cheaper than buying them new.
x2 on the comment by Fuhrious - if you're going to feed your addiction, fuck buying another mass produced generic pop-out - support your local shaper/s!
If you've got the space why not fill it up? There's way worse addictions to have, and anyway, the day of the one board quiver has long passed. Buy different designs, figure out why they do what they do, and build your knowledge bank. I can't say it will make you a better surfer but it does make Surfing - deliberate capital 'S' - a far richer experience.
The corollary to that is as my wise but old mate Fuhrious says, support our shapers. Yeah, they're a breed worth saving, we'll miss them when they're gone etc etc...but really it's us, the mug punters, that are enriched by them.
Musicians call it GAS - gear acquisition syndrome. Just embrace it and buy another one.
Stunet im all for supporting local shapers etc god knows ive been supporting my local surf shop for the last 2 years and for years prior to my forced “retirement”. The boards ive been purchasing are reportedly made in Australia. So the question is, does this count as supporting local shapers or does it need to be a small 1 man band type set up to be supporting local?
And as far as a quiver. Its not so much the room its that my better half seems to know when the quiver is increasing...
mmmmm they always know...try same colour......one in the car one in the corner or stuff it, own up and tell her it could be worse,go and buy herself another pair of shoes...at least boards are worth something.
Ha. If only.
I thought i was doing well after putting a fourth in the rack.
She passes by the rack “oh you’ve got 4 now” haha
Ordered a 5’11” Rusty Heckler as i just sold my Sharpeye Sole.
Be probably looking for a performance shortboard come winter but will see how the 6’2” Rusty SD holds up heading into winter.
The Rusty SD is my go to board now. Its mad...
Based on the SN interview I ordered a Weiner from DVS. He's 75 now. Board number 7 in current quiver.
I've only started surfing in November last year. Just the 7 foot softie for me so far, did ride a 7'2 epoxy the other day. Too many bills ATM and a $4000 op on my dog this week. Could be awhile before I upgrade!
Cautiously sent Mitchell Rae a message a few days ago about a Flextail. Unsurprisingly, he thinks it is a great idea and about time I took the plunge. Giving him a call next week. Given that people think they really fire up in bigger, more powerful surf, I am thinking a 7' or 7'2" to match.
dandandan from 10 years ago would be slapping me around the face for thinking about spending this much money on one surfboard, but I've got a whole powerpoint presentation in my mind about why it is a good investment. Happy to take more advice on the matter by those in the know.
I do know people who buy Rae's Outer Islands surfboards as investments, if that helps.
I’ve got a beautiful Outer Islands that I’ll only surf in worthy conditions.
No point taking such a board out in sub par waves just to have some gronk on a wonky point break bus drive clean through the middle of it.
I started shaping my own boards in 2011 and now I have a 12-board quiver. Only one of them was shaped by someone else - a 6'7" Watercooled single fin built around the same year I was born. I'd love to ride a Mitchell Rae or a DVS or any one of a dozen or more other shapers, but having prioritised lifestyle over wealth, I doubt I'll ever have the cash to stump up for a custom from any of them.
My boards aren't the best - far from it - but they float and with enough persuasion they turn in all the right parts of the wave. The good thing is that if I'm curious about a certain style or size of board, I can do a bit of research, squirrel away my pennies and for about $250 I can come up with a fairly serviceable replica of just about any board out there and give it a burl.
I've found that the journey from raw materials to sliding across the face of the wave on a finished board is just as satisfying, if not more-so, than handing over a lump sum for someone else to do all the hard work. There's something really gratifying about using your hands to transform an idea into a solid, useable piece of equipment. I recommend that every surfer try it at least once in their life.
How'd you learn to do it, Surfstarved?
And do you glass them yourself too?
I just got some tools off eBay, bought the materials off the internet and had a crack at it. There's a website called Swaylock's that has a shaping forum where you can get a whole of information and guidance (and abuse, insults and petty squabbling, just like most forums). But basically I read and taught myself.
And yes, I do all the glassing and sanding myself too. To be honest, I'm pretty shit at glassing but each time I do it I get a little better.
I'm now working on boards 16, 17 and 18, but am a bit hampered by an injured finger (stuck it in the planer blade while it was spinning - not advisable), so the glassing will have to wait until I can put a glove on my left hand again - about 3 weeks.
Go surf starved.
Spend less and live more. Ride the craft that your own skills provide. Extremely satisfying.
But I’ve got to have a professionally made weapon on hand for when you want to surf your best. Which ain’t an amazing level , but it’s still good to surprise yourself and raise its ceiling every now and again.
I love the idea of shaping at least one board in my life time.
I have a couple of questions though.
How do you contain the mess of sanding/shaping etc
What type of board would you shape?
Fish, all rounder, step up etc
The options are endless.
I rigged up a home-made dust collection unit with a second-hand shop vac, some parts from a hard rubbish vacuum cleaner and hose from Clark Rubber. I do all my sanding outside and let it sail off over the fence into the neighbour's cow paddock.
So far: Fish - yep, all-rounder - yep x2, step up - yep, single fin - yep, agave stub - yep, standard thruster - yep x 3, grom board for my kids - yep x 2. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
If you don't have your own space, you can always rent a shaping bay like the ones that John at Sanded on the NSW Central Coast has available. He's a decent bloke and will probably give you a few tips along the way. There are also places that run courses. I know of one place in Melbourne and another in WA.
You bet Simba, I've been a member of that group for years. Some awesome stuff coming out of backyards all over the world.
But enough about me - this is Twitchy's thread.
Yer this thread made me feel better..even though I shape a few of my own I swore I wasn't buying any new boards last october...since then I've bought 3 new boards
So after getting back into surfing 2 years ago after a 10 yr hiatus (kids, wife, major injury) i have become increasingly addicted to buying new surfboards.
What started out as a massive learning curve and realisation of how much things had changed since id hit the water 10 years ago (boards, wetties etc) has now become a full on addiction.
Is there some kind of help group like surfboards anonymous?
My quiver is not large by any means compared to others with only 4 in the rack however if i had kept all purchased other than trade in id have 6. In just 2 years!
Part of it is still dialing in my preferred board size and needing different boards for different conditions, you know how it is, but part of it is just the stoke of buying a new board.
Next thing you know i’ll be ordering customs, but could i wait that long for a board??
Does anybody else suffer this affliction?
Maybe a self help is required.....