5'0'' SP FCS Fin Advise Please

[cuttlefish]

Indo fins will give you the speed right from the paddle in when its smaller
SF4s when waves have more push.

[GLH_UK]

And so.....

Another south coast surf at Bantham in the UK this morning (6am) on the SP and another hate filled surf!!!!!

The waves were a super fun chest to shoulder high and glassy, running down the banks and you guessed it, another shocker.............

At times the SP felt like it was drawing a nice line off the bottom and as i was eyeing up a little lip to go at, the board lost its rail and i ended up going almost backwards. At times when i felt i should have been effortlessly gliding down the line, i was not and a couple of times out of no where, it felt like i was actually surfing!!!!

I am not always quick to judge boards but you can normally tell and for me, this thing has one more chance and then its gone!

I find this so frustrating after reading all the good feedback.

[prjwebb]

Make a conscious effort to stand right over your back foot. Weight on the tail and lean back a touch. Try and get a couple on your backhand too. I found I clicked faster backhand than frontside.

It's a very different board though and it's not going to suit everyone.

[cuttlefish]

You've said you have the stock fins in it.
What do you have in it since the board comes without fins?
I've used a stack of different fins and I found the SF4's to be good in waves with more power and have recently gotten some Indo "controller" copies which feel a lot freer and looser in the small stuff.
To be brutally honest though you need to look down at your feet next time you ride the board. If your back foot isn't right back just forward of the leash plug....it should be.
Then make sure you have a normal "width" stance and not a Poo man (stinkbug for those in the US) stance going on with your front foot way too far forward.
I see a lot of people surfing sweet potatoes in my area but most of them have no clue.
Anyone who's owned a mini-simmons or McCoy nugget (I've owned both) and worked them out will be able to jump on a sweet potato and click with it pretty quickly.
So it could well be a case of the archer not the arrow however looking down and noting your foot positioning and adjusting it accordingly will go a long way to getting it figured out.
One local guy I have seen on a sweet potato since Christmas actually has written "Foot back" with an arrow pointing towards the tail on the nose of his sweet potato. I saw it last week as he was getting out of the water and asked him about it.
Hope this helps.

[prjwebb]

Yeah good advice there Pete. Weight over the front doesn't work with those boards.
Saw on the Surfer forum that Stretch has his own take on the Controllers coming soon in FCS and Futures. A mix of the SF4 and the Controllers could be special!

[Rusty]

One simple way of getting your positioning back on the board on take off is when you are lying on the board paddling into the wave bring your body position slightly back on the board so when you get to your feet you are straight away further back in your stance with out the need to make the back foot adjustment once standing , when you are catching soft waves you tend to naturally move your body further forward to help plane into the wave this can be a mistake on the SP. I have made this little adjustment on the SP setting my back foot right back and the board just goes.Once in this stance you are set for the whole wave ,you do not need to bring your weight forward like on a conventional board. Not sure if you folks agree with the above but it has been a big help for me.

[Chris]

the truth is the 500 may be too small as well. If you are finding the board to be slow, it may be a factor of not having quite enough volume?

[GLH_UK]

Hi Guys, thanks again for all the feedback.

Surfed the SP again tonight with more success, at times the little thing was flying. Found it much easier to surf forehand as opposed to backhand, but then the rights were not really happening. I found that because i had written the board off and paid no attention to analyzing foot position etc i just enjoyed my surf a lot more and the board seemed to go better for me, just felt more natural tonight.

Chris, i have just weighed again after you decided to call me a fat b@st@rd (only joking) and currently tipping the scales at 159lbs. At this weight and 5'6'' what size SP would you put me on?? I have no problem with my 5'8'' FST Sub Scorcher at only 27.3L and the 5'2'' just feel to big from the good old, 'under the arm' test. Am a little surprised to think that the 5'0'' SP at 28.9L could be to little.

[GLH_UK]

Hi Guys, thanks again for all the feedback.

Surfed the SP again tonight with more success, at times the little thing was flying. Found it much easier to surf forehand as opposed to backhand, but then the rights were not really happening. I found that because i had written the board off and paid no attention to analyzing foot position etc i just enjoyed my surf a lot more and the board seemed to go better for me, just felt more natural tonight.

Chris, i have just weighed again after you decided to call me a fat b@st@rd (only joking) and currently tipping the scales at 159lbs. At this weight and 5'6'' what size SP would you put me on?? I have no problem with my 5'8'' FST Sub Scorcher at only 27.3L and the 5'2'' just feel to big from the good old, 'under the arm' test. Am a little surprised to think that the 5'0'' SP at 28.9L could be to little.

[GLH_UK]

Cuttlefish

in the UK all Firewires are supplied with fins and depending on where you get your board from will also depend on the quality of fin.

My 5'8'' FST Sub Scorcher came with a lovely set of performance core PC-5's thanks to boys that i always buy my boards from where as the spud, bought from a different supplier than normal, came with glass flex SF4's.