High Summer is here ! To keep you sliding for the next few months and into winter of course, we have a few thoughts that could help steer you in the right direction for your next Longboard purchase. While views and opinions will vary, the most imortant aspect is having fun of course. But sometimes frustration and stagnation can arise; the right board will be essential for your on-going surfing-life and a longboard can have many forms.
LENGTH
This can depend on your height and your surfing aspirations, style wise.
If you want turning, hitting the lip, and cutbacks get your self a 9'0 to 9'4.
If you want nose-riding, trim, glide, and style choose 9'4 to 10'.
When it comes to learning to nose-ride, we found the longer the better. We have a 'How to: Noseride' Journal coming soon! But from personal experience, found that once cross stepping and basics had been learnt, the 10' log with a D-fin really helped to start the ball rolling (just like the 60's) on the extended noserides; then progessing back down in size, that said, the Skindog 'Cherry Picker' or CJ Nelson 'Sprout 2' in Thunderbolt Technology will give you all the hacks in one board on a 9'6 !
As a rough guide you could aim for a board around 4ft longer than your height for ultimate nose-riding. If you wanted a compromise to bring other manouvres in you could drop that size by a few inches. i.e if you are 5'10, a 9'10 would be ultimate noserider, but if you want to do a few more performance turns, a 9'6 could be the best middle ground. But it's all about your intent.
WIDTH
For many years 23" wide has been the standard width for your 9’4 to 9’6 length board. It can dip narrower than this for shorter longboards around 22 3/4 or often wider than 23" for boards over 9'6. 23 to 23 1/2 will suffice dependent on your own arm length and ability to carry the board to the surf. It’s always worth trying boards under you arm to see how they feel.
THICKNESS and VOLUME
This will give you your final variable to give that literage volume, which really does help to give you an overall feel of a boards flotation. 69 litres vs 79 litres vs 98 litres will all give a very different buoyancy and compromise in different wave types. If you're unsure, 3" is a good starting point for thickness.
GLOSS or MATT FINISH
Contrary to popular thought, you're shiny gloss board is slower than a matt finish board. That is good for nose-riding where you want any additional control, hold and stickiness to the wave face you can get; and of course sliding back to the pocket helps bury the tail and rail, giving you that locked in hold while on the nose. If you think about edge in the tail giving a faster water release, on a microscopic level, matt finish allows faster water release, with lots of edges to propell off and lots of tiny air pockets to create compression and glide. If you don't believe us .. have a think about golf balls !
FIN SET UP
For a more traditional feel, go up right pivot fin.
(think upright stance, steer with your ankles, lean and walk the board)
For a 'performance' set up it'l be 2+1
(think bent knee, full body torque)
For somewhere in between, go for a raked back single fin.
ROUNDED PINTAIL OR SQUARE TAIL
For a more tradtional feel, and smaller waves, pick the square tail.
(think upright stance, steer with your ankles)
For a more 'performance', or bigger waves, pick the pin-tail.
WHAT SIZE FINS
For a single fin - lay it on it's side so a third of your fin hangs over the tail width.
For 2+1 set up - 3.75" - 4" sidebites & a 7" to 8.5" centre should suffice adjusting according to your size, wave type, and tail width.
If you're model of board is from a particular surfer / designer, talk to them and ask what they think.
WHAT SIZE LEASH & BOARDBAG
the same length as your board or a bit longer, but never shorter.
WHAT WAX
Use base coat or tropical to provide a solid adhesive wax layer, then each session add a layer of cool or cold water wax for a stickier top coat.
EPOXY OR PU
Epoxy will be lighter, stronger, livelier, and often more expensive.
PU will have a more traditional weight of board & faster natural trim.