Surfboard suggestions?

I've started shopping for a surfboard upgrade, and am currently looking at the Razors and HP4's. Are there any other ones I should try before I buy? Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

I might be able to forward you some info on this in world, but if you don't hear from me it's because I'm not able to. (that makes me sound like a jerk)

Hi Dekka, feel free to forward the info and thank you. I am heading over to HP to check out their boards but by no means have I made a final decision yet. If I am overlooking any must see makers, please let me know.

I bet you don't get any more answers to this until the West Coast gets online. Then you'll have to answer questions like "would you prefer a short fat one that gives you a long comfortable ride or a long thin one that is potentially more exciting but sometimes drops out early?"

Pep (Or maybe the Aussies might have a suggestion or two? )

I have heard about you Pep and seen you in action on the forums. That may have been one of the most appropriate, albeit unhelpful, answers I have ever seen you post.

Please, no short fat ones, I'm not looking for a bodyboard or any Hawaiian backdoors, thanks in advance.

Lol, wow Pep, your reputation precedes you

West Coast representin' here...

The biggest overall factor is the board's size; for instance a longboard is a very, very easy surfboard to ride, though you won't be doing 360's on it without a tsunami to match.

Which can be found around here with regularity, if you are crazy enough and have a deathwish:

http://kottke.org/08/01/big-wave-surfing-at-cortes-bank

The delightful thing about a good longboard is that you can ride a six inch wave with ease, too, if you know what you are doing. With some care, you can put a swim~trained five year old on a longboard in shallow calm surf, and they will grow up not realising that some people *can't* surf. By the time they are 10 they will surf circles around you (literally) and wonder what your problem is.

Longboards are perfect for those all too calm days where it's beach bonfire time with the stereotypical sunsets, the palm trees, the girls and the alcohol. When loved (dinged up) enough, it doubles as the bar, a place to sit, serve barbeque, or place put relatively sand~free towels.

One thing you do NOT do with longboards is stick them 'straight up' into sand, or someone sitting nearby going to get brutally smacked by it the moment there's even a tiny bit of wind, unless you dug the placement hole with an excavator. That sorta nonsense is for the movies.

Also note that a cooled off, waxed longboard may not be the most ideal surface for any kind of body hair. It's also most decidedly *not* a sound deadening device, or serve as any sort of privacy creating mechanism no matter how seemingly tempting it might be at the moment. Give up the romantic fire and get back to the van. If you were really worried about discretion then you should have jacked the van up off its shocks. But as a surfer you probably don't care anyway.

* * * * *

Short boards... okay, these are for kids, rather good amateurs, the pro's, posers who can't surf (usually found in their garages) and are usually extremely difficult for anyone of normal height who isn't a fairly dedicated surfer.

Most of the people who tried, but still couldn't surf bought a board that 'looked about right' but sinks when they get on it. Which makes too short boards (for your body height / overall size) about as useful as a rubber duckie when they try to actually surf it. Or at best, serves as a sort of body board.

A good surfing talent can sorta get around this, just as a bus makes a good four wheel drive assault vehicle... just get momentum up high enough and you could probably surf a skateboard, wheels and all. But for the vast majority, a longboard is your ticket to happiness. Well, so long as you don't wipe out and get skegged by it; there's some common sense still involved.

Hawaiian backdoors?

Pep (wonders whether that is PG )

Doesn't it just! And before you ask, he's not another of my alts.

Pep (Why would I waste an alt asking a question about surfing in sl? Although it does seem to be proving too difficult for the participants here. )

You may be right, but as a West Coaster who rides rl life waves (on a body board) I have to say I couldn't care less about sl surfing.

Haha, I believe you
Just how many do you truthfully have?

About the same as 3Ring I expect.

Pep (I never tell the truth in the forums though )

Spongers feel a bit safer surfing with long boarders. They are less likely to drop in on you and don't have sharp points. And old timers like me like the nostalgia of hanging ten etc. But I'm so jealous of how easy it is for them to catch those big mushy waves...

I had until a coupla years ago a beat to death Chevy van that could literally carry a 9' 5" longboard inside just slid up the middle, no worries about too much sand, no passenger door handle... 4 miles to the gallon... laughs... now this season I gotta get soft racks for a 'typical' modern van. Bleah. I hate climbing up onto burning metal and trying to lash down a slippery longboard~airplane wing wannabee.

2007 was red tide/jellyfish *everywhere* in So Cal, 2008 was one of those off years that was dead calm everytime I was gonna bring a board, 2009... the water is calling to me real loud now.

I quit winter surfing even down here in the 80's, it simply got waaay too cold. That dangerously comfy 'second numbness' when you aren't cold any more and just sorta don't care but you can feel yourself shivering uncontrollably... Too bad I guess as some of the most beautiful surfing experiences I ever had was under grey skies in silver~white water. It wasn't the water so much as the getting out.

I wish people *didn't* feel so safe around me, I've got about as much hope of turning my longboard as I do turning the jetty once it's going good. Forget about the water for a sec, imagine a ten foot spear with skegs on it being thrown at ya from across a room, surfer attached...

Just throwing something in the trunk is a lot easier.

I've just realized I haven't been in the ocean for a couple of years. My wet suit is a bit thin for winter now and there is no surf in the summer, except at places where there are too many surfers for me to compete with.

I love going out on gray days and in the rain. Fog is really cool too. I just love being in the ocean. Also nice in the sun. I think I might go right now.

I'm very cautious when I'm around hardboarders even if they are my friends. I did crash with one once. I was just taking a nice long ride and all of a sudden I was tangled up with a long board that came from nowhere (this was a place where we're segregated). The ride continued until we were in shallow water, even though I and the other board we're going broadside first. I'm not sure where the other guy was but he was with me when we stopped. I was still breathing the whole way and no one was hurt.

oh dear, replies!

@ Des: I surf RL, but not so much anymore, it's more to teach the little 'uns, Cool descrip though Thanks for the link. I am finding 2L boards and manuals way harder than learning RL. Not quite ready for deathwish yet, but maybe eventually. Btw, how far north were you? If we ever surfed together in the 80's, I was the girl that was good but kind of...crazy: wearing a hood but no booties in Nov

to Ashe: doesn't it though, lol, scared the beejesus out of me to see Pep in my question!

Pep: it's just a way out of a wave to save paddling. Nothing nefarious. And of course I'm not your alt...that leaves like a...metallic taste in my mouth, just the thought of it.

Kaimi, I am a Caian through adulthood. NorCal. I now live on a very flat and rainy east coast of a totally different continent and latitude though so don't begrudge my sad old amusements I have a hilarious fog/not actually a shark story, but I'd have to know you better to tell it.

Anyhow, thanks for the replies. I know how I feel about the Crab boards, but has anyone ridden a Razor?

Oh no, Laurin, I certainly don't begrudge your desire to try it in SL. Might even try it myself eventually. I just meant that doing it in rl might not make one an expert on SL surfing. But maybe a lot of rl surfers are also sl surfers and maybe I *should* try it.

I was anywhere from Bolsa to San Clemente, but generally near Blackie's or (I am embarrassed to say) Corona Del Mar, because let's face it nobody was out there in the winter to stop me... grin surfing there in summer would make a surfboard~kebab out of tourists... If you were anywhere between those two points between 82~87 I was prolly staring when you weren't lookin

I was the skinny guy sporting a scar prominently on my right center forehead from about 85 onward (it cleared up maybe by '90 or so, I was amazed) due to one bad accident; the board got buried in a wave, went deep, shot skyward due to buoyancy... and then I surfaced just as it was coming back down. Like most good water injuries it just felt like a hard bump, I tasted the blood before I fully realised what happened.

And before you ask, in spite of the proximity I have *never* surfed the Wedge because me and rocks seem to have this magnetic attraction. If they are there, I'll find 'em. So no Wedge for Des, period! Woulda killed me.

Ah, and I don't swim too well either... strange but true for someone who surfs. Dumb? Yeah... but somehow I get by. Out by say, Anderson street you can walk out forever and it just doesn't matter; I don't like deep water surfing much because if the waves are out that far I can't handle 'em. Double overhead's about the biggest I've ever (intentionally) taken.

September's actually my favourite for surfing; the kiddies are back at school, it's still burning hot, and the cyclones from the Southern Ocean are kicking up massive swells. Well except when they come in with 14 footers at which point I stay waaaay out of it and just watch. Any time the waves go boom~hissssss (the hiss from the curl splashing back straight up) I'm out.

Okay I am just going crazy now; off to find out what happened to my surf wax...

Hi Kaimi, sorry about the misunderstanding. Let's just say the Crab boards...well, I never had to remember all those key combos in real life O.o

Des, you are much further south than was. I did surf Huntington, and seem to remember being awed by the shorebreak. I surfed Zuma too, but mostly out of boredom...it was small and crowded with bodies that weren't doing a whole lot. SB would generally have been about as far south as I would have gone, and I never could get used to that seaweed tickling my toes...it tended to make me think the 'S' word.

I had my share of accidents too, a piece of knee left at Ft Point, a broken finger at Stinson of all places on a piddly 4'er of all things, a ring that went into my finger and had to be removed with pliers by lifeguards so I could get out of my wetsuit...and lots of bloody lips/fat lips that first summer while getting the hang of duck diving. That's one thing I can say about the 2L boards, much easier to learn to duck, lol. Oh yeah, and never was I hurt by anyone else's board, but I did push up of the bottom directly under someone once and smacked my head into his knee...that was a crumpler

I used to live and surf with a sort of surf report idiot savant. He would call up the condition reports, do his voodoo, and knew exactly where to go for the best surf that day. You've almost certainly never heard of my favorite place, Drake's, which was usually small and nothing at all special, but when it was good it was sooooo good. Perfect 8's that held their shape for a ride that just kept going, glassy, sunny, knowing everyone in the water and when more of your friends showed up not having to say, "shoulda been here an hour ago..." Of course, those days only came once every other year, but luckily our savant would get us there. (He was a funny one too, I remember him breaking his collarbone in Santa Cruz and trying to get the ER doctors to get him out of his new springsuit without cutting it)

I had to google Drake's, waaaay outta my territory. Wow that's cold up thataway! And in the winter!? Madness!

Yeah the injuries are all part of it, but so long as no spine or head injuries (or bites) are involved it's good times.

I agree, Zuma's way too crowded and pointless (and way past too many good spots for me to ever bother with). Huntington's too crowded too; surfing's more of a crowd control thing down here when half the inland decides to put their splashing three year olds in front of an army of casual surfers. Not fun. Nearby Bolsa Chica is way better if you are ever down this way. And winter here is better for surfing in a lot of ways, just that I was never quite the type to pee in a wetsuit to stay warm (everyone has hangups, that's one of mine though i did try it once... bleah)

I think everyone new a surf nut who could time everything magically... and with that, came the skill of finding good places to chow afterward. Something about expending that kinda energy, food is somehow better. Everything was better. If there was a way to go back to all that... but all my loser friends got PhD's, medical degrees and run companies now. Dammit! laughs

I'm squarely in the 'casual longboarder' category; looking at where you have been, I am in awe

Lol, Des, if you had seen me with my HP4 last night at Quan Li switching between paddling and the manual you would have been less than impressed (pssst...HP makes proper longboards....just sayin'...now I'm trying to find a break I like....)

Zuma, yeah, do I have vague memories of lots of yellow and people with wearing wetsuits with the zippers on their bellies? We must have hit it lucky the day we were at HB, because I don't remember it being bad. Or maybe it was just a bunch of guys sitting on their boards sunning themselves and no one actually paddling for the waves. LOL!

I'm starting to feel a bit embarrassed joining in a conversation with real surfers...
And starting to think maybe the real reason I haven't tried virtual surfing is that it's too difficult. I don't catch air or do 360's or anything fancy on my body board but catching waves and hanging on for the ride comes pretty naturally. I'm not that good at computer action.

The farthest north I've ever rode waves is Oceanside, south of the pier. My favorite place *would* be Garbage, off of Sunset Cliffs just south of here. There's a perfect channel for paddling out and really nice waves break pretty consistently on either side for nice long rides. But way too much competition from hardboarders.

Oooh Sunset Cliffs area is *nice*... just never had my board when I was down that far.

...as for 'real surfers', well that's just silly! Borrow any longboard for 20 minutes, and you'll surf as well as I do. It's not hard especially for someone with bodyboard experience; there's nothing more to do than wax up the board and say than 'just try it' to a bodyboarder. Even midwesterners can surf a longboard in the first few attempts so long as the waves aren't crazy. I would not call myself good at it by any stretch of the imagination, except in the one thing that matters: actually enjoying the water. I firmly believe the best soul surfers may appear to totally suck to onlookers, but inside is what counts.

Sure I do admire people with the cool skills, but it's not about 'all that' with anyone that matters.

Thanks. I think if I could get into position I could catch a wave on any kind of board. But getting outside with a big board is probably more than I could manage - I have enough trouble with fins and webbed gloves. Then I have to sit on my board and rest awhile while all the 14 year old boys around me take 3 or 4 rides.

Also there's that standing up thing... I have done it on a long board... in tiny shore break, 40 years ago.

Aw Kaimi, I agree 100% with Des, of course you are a real surfer. Anyhow, an 8' on your belly is a lot bigger than an 8' on your feet so who really has the brass ones in bigger surf, 'eh?

I find the controls really fiddly too, especially on a laptop and not being a video game player either. One thing I have noticed that translates on the HP board: I tend to set myself up for the wave just as I would rl, and then drop and turn just as I would...and that's where the keyboard starts wrecking the experience. Maybe with practice it'll improve, but it was cool to see that being in the right spot to catch the wave (I'll be trying different waves now to see if they are similar) actually picked you up at the right time. It'll be nice to get the hang of carving, never mind floaters or whatever.

I think the 3 of us should sit down and watch a vintage Tommy Curran vid, as we seem to have similar taste despite it all. What a styler....