Does the TJ Pro Model have enough volume for me?

[TTWAVES]

I am tempted to just buy the TJ Pro Model at the local store. I really like the shape and bottom contours on the TJ Pro Model, but I am doubting if it has enough volume to float me. I weigh about 185lbs and am 6'0 tall and am an advanced longboarder (high performance longboarding) who has surfed for over 10 years (I am 43 years old - in excellent shape). I see that the Taylor Jensen is a big guy, but he also is a professional surfer who surfs that board like a shortboard. I have surfed low volume longboards with heavy rocker before and found that they were so hard to paddle. I had to catch waves in shortboard territory for them to work - it made me wonder why I was even surfing a longboard. Those were PU boards though, and I was thinking that the EPS foam on the Firewire could be more buoyant and maybe that I could surf such a low volume longboard as the TJ Pro model. I plan to surf this in chest to well overhead waves - point break/reef break conditions (not on beach breaks) - so I need to paddle.

My last high performance board was 9'0 x 22 x 2 7/8 - EPS. I just snapped that board and need a new HP Longboard. I already have a couple of noseriders, so this is more for riding off the tail in better waves.

I could just order the Flexflight 9'R 3 (3" thick) - But maybe that is too much volume for me. (10 extra CC than the TJ Pro)

Also - I surf a 4/3 mm wetsuit year round, so that needs to be factored into my weight. I am 185 pound without the suit.

There are no Firewire Longboard demos in my area.

What do you think?

Thanks -

TTWAVES

[Slowman]

I think this "extra buoyancy" over PU is a little exaggerated. Certainly in the shortboard arena it is. An average PU may weigh around 3-3.5kg and the same board in EPS, FST, RF would be perhaps 0.5 to 1kg lighter. When you combine it with the total weight of surfer and board it is in the region of 1-2% lighter not that much difference. Perhaps there is more weight differential in the longboard arena, but it's total combined weight of board and surfer, so you can afford to drop volume proportionally only by as much as the total weight is reduced, all other things being equal.

[Chris]

Hey ttwaves,
yeah i think there is enough volume in the TJ Pro, its has 59.7L which is ample.

The question you want to try to answer is whether or not the style of the board is what you want. Notice in has a narrower nose and tail, is thinned out a little more and carries a bit more curve.

This means you are going to get ultra high performance characteristics out of this longboard, but the result is that it won't pick up waves quite as easily as your noseriders. I am sure you are aware of these things, but its worth saying.