Hey everyone, just got myself a 5'8" SP with Controller fins on it a couple of months ago and really having a good time on it. I surf this board at Doheny, which is a real slow moving, thick, longboard wave. I'm about 5'7" tall and weight around 175 lbs, skill level is beginner and fitness level is probably average. As I've gotten to know the board better I started developing some questions which I was hoping some of the more experienced surfers could help me answer.
1. In several of the threads on this forum, people had said the important thing about getting this board going is driving off the back feet with the feet over the fins. I've tried this a few time, where I start to do my bottom turn on my backside, shift my weight to my back feet over the tail pad, and the back of the board just sinks and comes to a stop. Is there something I am missing or should be doing? I find this especially happens more when trying to surf my backside. Keeping my weight forward seems to get the board going better and then pumping, turning etc is no problem.
2. How big a deal are fins? The controllers seems to do well for me, but I always had this feeling they were a little big in ways I don't really know how to explain (my last board, a 6'2" fish had smaller fins), but would changing to a medium size fin make a big difference to the way the board feels?
3. I read on the forum that it's possible to sit as far out as the longboarders do (most of the people are riding 9ft+ boards where I surf), however I find I need to take off and get up far later than them in a portion of the wave where there is still some drop to it, even with my weight way forward and an intense amount of paddling. Is there a secret trick to getting the board gliding early and getting waves as far out as the longboarders?
4. What is the trick to paddling the SP into waves shoulder high and above? I find that i have a hard time getting the board up to speed to match the speed of the wave in the bigger shoulder high sets.
5. Everyone here seems to recommend the smallest SP possible. I bought a bigger SP because I wanted to make it easier to catch waves and was willing to trade the turns in exchange for wave catching ability. However, I was wondering, could a SP that is too big possibly make it harder to catch waves because it is so corky? could a bigger SP limit the wave range I can surf in as a bigger board gets harder to handle in shoulder high waves?
Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance
1. In several of the threads on this forum, people had said the important thing about getting this board going is driving off the back feet with the feet over the fins. I've tried this a few time, where I start to do my bottom turn on my backside, shift my weight to my back feet over the tail pad, and the back of the board just sinks and comes to a stop. Is there something I am missing or should be doing? I find this especially happens more when trying to surf my backside. Keeping my weight forward seems to get the board going better and then pumping, turning etc is no problem.
2. How big a deal are fins? The controllers seems to do well for me, but I always had this feeling they were a little big in ways I don't really know how to explain (my last board, a 6'2" fish had smaller fins), but would changing to a medium size fin make a big difference to the way the board feels?
3. I read on the forum that it's possible to sit as far out as the longboarders do (most of the people are riding 9ft+ boards where I surf), however I find I need to take off and get up far later than them in a portion of the wave where there is still some drop to it, even with my weight way forward and an intense amount of paddling. Is there a secret trick to getting the board gliding early and getting waves as far out as the longboarders?
4. What is the trick to paddling the SP into waves shoulder high and above? I find that i have a hard time getting the board up to speed to match the speed of the wave in the bigger shoulder high sets.
5. Everyone here seems to recommend the smallest SP possible. I bought a bigger SP because I wanted to make it easier to catch waves and was willing to trade the turns in exchange for wave catching ability. However, I was wondering, could a SP that is too big possibly make it harder to catch waves because it is so corky? could a bigger SP limit the wave range I can surf in as a bigger board gets harder to handle in shoulder high waves?
Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance
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