Author Topic: Surfboards (Longboards)  (Read 61369 times)

Night Wing

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #120 on: July 24, 2021, 07:27:08 AM »
Sometimes the smallest detail makes the biggest difference. Continuing on.

I was told when I visited Surfside, before I got all my cork pieces to make my Parallax waxless, to visit a local surfer/shaper who owns a surf shop in Surfside, Texas and where he also has a CNC machine to make his customized boards.

When I visited him and let him look at the pictures of my 9.0 (9") Involvement fin installed in my Parallax, he told me concerning single fin surfboards, I was correct in thinking I should have one-third of the fin hanging over the edge of the rail.

But he told me when I installed the fin, I "eye balled" it and this is how I got my 1 1/2" distance from the front of the fin to the front of the long fin box. He told me, from looking at the pictures of my installed fin, my Parallax did not have one third of the fin overhanging the rail. I had "much less" than one third. This would make my Parallax very loose since there wasn't one third of the fin over the rail.

He told the first time I would try to turn my board left or right, the fin where I had it placed would would turn the board so tightly and combined with the very fast speed the Parallax generates by design, I would be thrown off the board because of the speed in the tight turn. He gave me detailed instructions.

He told me to get a ruler and measure where the fin would come out the fin box into thirds. In this case by laying the fin flat and where it would come out of the fin box and go straight up 6" and put a dot at the front of the fin, do the same thing with the back of the fin and also in the middle of the fin. Then draw a horizontal line (in pencil) through all three dots.

Then place the fin in the fin box and slide the back of the fin at the 6" line to where it met the edge of the rail. Then tighten the fin down since this would really give me 3" of the fin overhanging the rail instead of "eye balling it". I followed his instructions and found the 9.0 (9") fin had 3" of fin overhanging the rail.

Then I measured with a ruler, the front of the fin where it was tightened down to the front of the fin box and the distance was 3 3/16". A very big change from 1 1/2" from where I had "eye balled" it.

I did the same thing with my 9.5 (9 1/2") Involvement fin. But dividing a 9 1/2" fin into thirds, I had to improvise. The ruler I have is divided (english measurements, not metric) in one inch (1") segments by sixteenths of an inch, eighths of an inch, quarter of an inch and one half inch.

So 9 1/2" inches divided into thirds is 3 3/16" + 3 3/16" + 3 3/16" equals 9 9/16", but 9 8/16" is 9 1/2" so I would be off by 1/16". So I measured the fin, like I did with my first 9" fin and placed the dots at the front, back and middle of fin set at 6 5/16". So when the back of the fin met the horizontal line where it met the rail, this left me 3 3/16" of the fin overhanging the rail. In essence, one third of the fin overhanging the rail.

I then measured this distance; with a ruler and found where the 9.5 fin was tightened down in the fin box, to the front of the fin box, the distance was 2 1/2". This is a very good and detailed way to get a good starting point to place a fin in a single fin prone longboard if one wants to have one third of the fin overhanging the rail.

He also told me whatever Involvement fin (9.0 or 9.5) I had installed in my board, depending on the wave conditions I actually had at that time instead of what was "forecasted" to always take the second fin with me as a backup along a ruler and flat head screw driver and I would not run into any problems fin wise.





 
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

surfcowboy

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #121 on: July 24, 2021, 08:50:40 AM »
Enjoying watching your process. But be glad you’re not in a place like SoCal where there are dozens of shapers. Every shaper will tell you something different and you’d go crazy from the conflicting info lol. Even more fun? Get two, experienced shapers who disagree into a room and try to figure out what to do. haha.

Everyone remember to pay attention and do what feels good. Others can give you a starting point but in the end we do what’s right for us.


This thread shows that really well. Thanks for publicly laying out what you’ve learned and how your approach has morphed.

By the way, re: nose traction. You’re  not paddling lying on the nose so you can use cheaper and simpler (and lighter)  traction on the nose as was suggested. One of my mid lengths has the spray traction on the nose. It would chew my belly up but it’s where I don’t lie. Works great, cheap, and mostly invisible. Save the expeiand heavy stuff for where you lie down. I hate wax too. Glad to be foiling and done with it mostly.

Night Wing

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #122 on: July 24, 2021, 12:01:02 PM »
@ surfcowboy

I did make one mistake in my last post and it concerns this quote below:

"Then place the fin in the fin box and slide the back of the fin at the 6" line to where it met the edge of the rail."

What I should have said was not to place the fin in the fin box, but lay it flat on the board where the fin fits into the fin box and then slide the fin, while it is still laying flat on the board, until the 6" horizontal line at the back of the 9" fin meets the edge of the board's rail. I did the same thing with the 9 1/2" fin.

BTW, the reason why I chose the Flying Diamonds fin designs is because CJ Nelson who designed his Parallax surfboard and had it shaped by Ryan Engle, wanted a fin that went well with the Parallax. If I'm not mistaken, CJ designed his own fins for his boards. I'm not sure, but I think CJ Nelson is either a part owner or sole owner of the Flying Diamonds fin company.

I know some people like a looser board feeling and some of them use the Parallax fin which is a lot looser fin and CJ's fastest fin than the Involvement fin in their Parallax boards whereas I wanted more drive in my Parallax board and this is why I chose the Involvement fin.

The CJ Nelson designs of his fins are at the link below.

https://flyingdiamondsca.com/fin-collections/cj-nelson-fins/
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #123 on: August 25, 2021, 07:53:32 AM »
It's been a little over a month since my last post in this topic thread. I waited until I had three sessions down at Surfside, Texas which is my favorite place to prone surf a longboard.

I took both Involvement fins with me (9.0 & 9.5). The 9.0 fin was set 3 3/16" down from the front of the center fin box and the 9.5 fin was set at 2 1/2" down from the front of the center fin box. And I always take a screwdriver and a 12" ruler with me.

The Surfside Jetty is about 1/2 mile in length. I like to surf from about 1/4 mile from the beach which on this day let me ride the board all the way to the beach.

The first session was when the wind direction was from the south/southwest at about 15 mph. The wave direction that day was from the southeast with wave heights around 4'. The time between waves was around 10 seconds. The culmination of these factors produced some really nice uniform waves which stayed together and which I could ride all the way to the beach.

My 9'3" Parallax is a niche board since I can trim (steer) the board from the middle of the board if I wanted to go right or left just by shifting my weight from right to left instead of standing on the tail end of the board over the fin, doing the back drop with one foot and then shifting my weight to the right or left to go right or left direction wise.

The board is also a speed machine. I could easily outrun the wave so I had to take some big sweeping turns to stay in contact with the wave so I never made any fin adjustments placement wise for either of the 9.0 or 9.5 fins since the board was performing the way I wanted it to with both fins.

The next session I want to talk about was a day where the wind direction was coming from the south at about 22 mph. The wave direction that day was from the south also. The waves were about 5 1/2' - 6'. The time between each wave was around 5 seconds. These factors produced wind blown disorganized waves.

The Parallax again tried to outrun these waves. With the 9.0 fin set at 3 3/16" down from the front of the center fin box, with board really moving fast, the tail end of the board wanted to "skid out" sometimes. Too loose. So I moved the fin back to where it was 3 11/16" from the front of the center fin box to give the board better traction in a fast turn and the tail end of the board no longer wanted to skid out.

The 9.5 fin, I didn't have to change the setting since it performed well in these bigger wind and wave conditions with the initial setting of 2 1/2" down from the center of the fin box.

The last session was in small wave conditions. The wind direction was from the south at about 10 mph. The wave direction was from the south. The small disorganized waves were around 1.5' - 2' in height with the time between each wave around 3 seconds.

The 9.0 fin handles these small waves easily with the 3 3/16 placement setting down from the front of the center fin box. However, the 9.5 fin didn't really like these small waves. Too tracky and made it feel harder to turn from the middle of the board. I had to move this fin forward, to loosen up the board and the sweet spot fin placement wise was only 2" down from the front of the center fin box and the board was easy to turn from the middle of the board again.

As for the "cork grip", I'll review that in the next post because if I try and do it in this post, this post is going to turn into a "long manuscript".

Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #124 on: August 25, 2021, 08:33:39 AM »
Now for the "cork grip" review.

As stated previously, I really do not like to use wax on either of my surfboard or sups. Too messy since Texas is hot and when it gets hot here in Texas, it is hot. Melted wax gets all over everything when it is hot. Clothes, skin, seats, etc. This is why I wanted an alternative to "wax".

One cannot slide on the cork material. The grip is definitely there. One has to lift their feet to move around. The cork does not rub the bottoms of my feet raw when I'm moving around on top of the board. The cork does not rub my knees raw either when I do my popup from the prone position to catch a wave.

Basically, the only exposed skin on me when I was surfing my Parallax, it is from the knees on down to my feet since I wear a long sleeve t-shirt and a long billed hat which covers my face and nose. The hat also has ear flaps and a semi wrap around flap in the back of the hat which covers the entire back of my neck. The only sunblock I use is on my exposed skin which is from the knees on down to my feet.

I'm telling you this since I do not wear a wetsuit since I don't like cold water so I do not know if the cork material will damage the neoprene on a wetsuit due to rubbing. Once the water temperature goes below 66 degrees F, I place myself in dry dock so to speak. And when the water temperature reaches 66 degree F (and above), I'm back on the water.

Durability, is the unknown factor right now. I don't know how long the cork material will last. But right now, I really like not having to deal with applying a base coat of wax, then applying a different wax for the temperature of the water and finally, the melted wax mess.

BTW; as I type this post, the water temperature at Surfside Jetty Park is 88 degrees F.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

surfinJ

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #125 on: August 25, 2021, 10:18:15 AM »
Nice stories. A new board is always a treat. A perfect board for the summer too.

Night Wing

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #126 on: December 15, 2021, 05:39:04 AM »
After a few months, I thought I would resurrect this topic thread.

Looks like Surfside Jetty Park down at Surfside, Texas got a nice new streaming webcam. It is at the link below for their website.

Once on the page, scroll on down till you see the webcam. It might not be streaming, but after few seconds the webcam will detect your browser and it should turn on automatically.

If not, after a few seconds, click on "Skip Ad" and the cam should start streaming.

https://www.brazoriacountytx.gov/departments/parks-department/surfside-jetty

Surfside is my favorite place to sup and prone surf with my boards.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #127 on: December 17, 2021, 05:13:36 AM »
NW, how has the prone surfing been going for you?

As I recall you are older than me. I'm 64 and there is no way I could pop up on a prone board, at least not in time to catch a wave. ;D  I can't even paddle prone. One minute of prone paddling and I'm exhausted. Maybe if I practiced I could go a little longer and maybe catch a wave but it's hardly worth the time and effort. I can still SUP surf for two or three hours so no problem there but that is quickly being taken over by wing foiling which I am totally obsessed with. Now I only surf on windless days.
Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

Night Wing

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #128 on: December 18, 2021, 04:38:43 AM »
@ Badger

My late dad gave me some great advice when I was young. He told me if and when I reach retirement, don't rest. Because if you rest, you rust. When "Death" comes knocking at my door, Death won't find me sitting in a recliner. Death will most likely find me on a lake flat water paddling or down on the upper Texas coast sup or prone surfing.

My usual routine, whether prone surfing or sup surfing down surfing at Surfside, Texas is twice a month since I take both my Parallax and one of my sup boards with me, either my One World or one of my two Dukes . My flat water paddling is on our area lakes which are depending on my choice of the day (our subdivision lake, Lake Woodlands, Lake Conroe, Lake Livingston) two times a week. This outdoor regimen keeps me fit and limber. It also helps that I'm a lightweight of 148 pounds (at this time).

Prone surfing in 2021 was great for me. Ever since I bought my CJ Nelson 9'3" "Parallax" longboard, I've been going down to Surfside, Texas to catch lots of waves. From the time I got my Parallax until the water temperature went below 66 degrees F since I do not wear a wetsuit. Anything below 66 degrees F and I start to shiver.

Basically, from knee high waves to head high waves depending on wind speed, wind direction and wave conditions. And I've been going down to Surfside twice a month. When I prone (or sup surf) at Surfside, I surf for three hours since Surfside is over 100 miles from my home with a few 15 minute rests breaks thrown in because of my age. I have just recently quit prone surfing, since the water temperature is now at 63 degrees F so I'm now in self imposed "dry dock" until the middle of March of 2022 when the water temperature will climb back to 66 degrees F. Then do "rinse and repeat" for 2022. At least this is the plan.

In February of 2022, I'll be 72. Am I in perfect physical condition at my age? The answer is "hell no". I have a partial tear of the meniscus in my left knee. But the partial tear causes me no pain in the left knee. I have a pinched nerve in my lower right side of my back above my hip bone next to my lower spine. Can I do a pop-up like the young guys in their late teens, twenties and thirties? The answer is, "hell no" because of the pinched nerve that acts up every now and then.

But I don't let a pinched nerve in my lower back keep me from prone surfing. Since I can not do a pop-up like the younger prone surfers can do, I have learned to do a "work around" pop-up since there are four different methods to do a pop-up. The one I use is the one that beginners use which is the "chicken wing" and it is geared to a longboard of 9' in length and over. This technique is great and easy for us "old codgers" as well since it allows us to keep prone surfing in our "old age".

Below are two videos. The first video shows all four pop-up methods. The second video will show the "chicken wing" in much more detail. In the second video, the chicken wing method is in the second half of the video so watch the entire video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12iKcyYGvuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFhQ6kdDmfE

As for foiling, this doesn't appeal to me so I don't do it. When it comes to prone surfing, I'm a longboarder at heart.

Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #129 on: December 19, 2021, 06:13:27 AM »
Sheesh, 63 degrees is warm. Just wear a spring suit.

Have you ever heard of Wim Hof?  If you follow some of his basic teachings, you can easily adjust the level of your comfort zone. No need to get extreme or anything but you should be able to go a little beyond 63 degrees. His methods have great health benefits as well.

.

« Last Edit: December 19, 2021, 06:15:59 AM by Badger »
Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

oceanAddict

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #130 on: December 19, 2021, 10:03:24 AM »
 I'm pretty much sure that  temp tolerance varies with body weight. When you have layer of fat protecting your body organs you cas stay in coder water longer or wear thinner ws. And it works the same not only in water. Back in days when I was sailing my coworker was shivering wearing a hoody  in a light wind (August in Boston) when I was comfortable in tank top. He is cyclist and has very little body fat and I'm well far from it.

@ Night Wing - good for you for pursuing prone surfing. I switched to SUP, first flat water, then gradually moved to SUP surfing. Still have prone boards that I cannot part with, partially because of sentimental values, partially because of hoarding nature lol. Sometimes I telling to myself  - one day I will go back and surf.     
Infinity Blackfish, SIC Bullet Air Glide, Sunova Point Break #003, Sunova Soul

Night Wing

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #131 on: December 19, 2021, 01:16:53 PM »
@ oceanAddict

When I prone surf at Surfside, I'm the oldest person, age wise, surfing at Surfside. Is it because of "old age" or other ailments which is the reason why you do not prone surf anymore?

If it is because of "age", there is a person named Bob McTavish who is an Australian surfboard designer and he has been shaping surfboards probably for the last 50 years. He was born in 1944 which makes him, depending on the month of the year, 77 years old.

Bob still surfs and I have in my collection of prone surfing videos, an excellent video of him surfing one of the surfboards he designed. Most of the video is in "slow motion" so it is easy to see things in detail. Especially his pop-up. You'll see two of these pop-ups starting around the 50 second mark and then again at the 2 minute mark of the video.

So if age or other ailments are keeping you from prone surfing, maybe this video below will spark the interest in you to prone surf again. Nothing like getting re-acquainted with those surfboards you can't get rid of or which have that special sentimental value to you. And I'm sure; if all of your surfboards could actually talk, they would probably ask you, "How about another ride with us?" 8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWiP5T0QGnQ
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #132 on: December 20, 2021, 07:43:27 AM »
I'm pretty much sure that temp tolerance varies with body weight. 


Yes, bodyweight does play a part, but it's mostly conditioning. Wim Hof has proven that humans can withstand far colder temperatures than was considered possible and he has trained thousands of people to widen their temperature comfort range. The first thing he recommends is a cold shower every day. Start with a hot shower, then at the end, turn the water to cold for one minute. Over time you can extend it to two or three minutes without any discomfort.


« Last Edit: December 20, 2021, 07:50:10 AM by Badger »
Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

Night Wing

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #133 on: December 20, 2021, 09:34:04 AM »
Since I've been on this site for a few years, everyone knows my favorite place to surf (sup or prone) is at Surfside, Texas. The best place at Surfside, is at Surfside Jetty Park since the water is deep and produces nice waves most of the time.

The only drawback is, Surfside Jetty Park (SJP) opens up at 8:00 am. I like to be on the water in the summertime as the sun is rising which is usually between 6:30 am - 7:00 am.

So last month (November), I decided to find another place to surf where the waves are similar at Surfside. And I found it. It was very close by.

The Surfside Channel is separated by two jetties. Surfside Jetty and at the base of the jetty is where SJP is. The other jetty is the Quintana Jetty which has miles of free beach (no beach parking permits) and easy beach access.

The waves at Quintana Beach (QB for short) are basically a carbon copy of the waves at Surfside (SJP). Finding YouTube videos for Quintana Beach is "far and few inbetween".

I did find a few videos where there is sail boarding, foil boarding, prone and sup surfing. So I am going to post two YT videos below. These two video are best viewed in full screen mode. The first video should also be viewed in 1080p HD and the second video is best viewed in 1440p60 HD.

The first video is of some prone surfers surfing some waves with most of them using a longboard. The video was shot from a drone. The drone takes a 360 degree shot of the place so I recognized where it is. The surfers are surfing about 1/2 to 1 mile away from the Quintana Jetty.

The second video was taken with a hand held video camera close to the Quintana Jetty. The girl surfing a wave gets a nice long ride with her longboard and this is how I like to surf. A nice long gliding ride whether I'm using a prone surfboard or a sup.

And the guy surfing a shortboard is not doing too good. If someone is going to prone surf waves off of Texas beaches, the longboard is "king of the waves" especially if the waves for that day are not too good knee high waves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRQt46p5aC0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyYLtct49Kw
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

oceanAddict

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Re: Surfboards (Longboards)
« Reply #134 on: December 20, 2021, 08:57:31 PM »
@ oceanAddict

When I prone surf at Surfside, I'm the oldest person, age wise, surfing at Surfside. Is it because of "old age" or other ailments which is the reason why you do not prone surf anymore?

If it is because of "age", there is a person named Bob McTavish who is an Australian surfboard designer and he has been shaping surfboards probably for the last 50 years. He was born in 1944 which makes him, depending on the month of the year, 77 years old.

Bob still surfs and I have in my collection of prone surfing videos, an excellent video of him surfing one of the surfboards he designed. Most of the video is in "slow motion" so it is easy to see things in detail. Especially his pop-up. You'll see two of these pop-ups starting around the 50 second mark and then again at the 2 minute mark of the video.

So if age or other ailments are keeping you from prone surfing, maybe this video below will spark the interest in you to prone surf again. Nothing like getting re-acquainted with those surfboards you can't get rid of or which have that special sentimental value to you. And I'm sure; if all of your surfboards could actually talk, they would probably ask you, "How about another ride with us?" 8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWiP5T0QGnQ

@ Night Wing
 
 Very cool video and give me hope that everything (or almost everything) is possible.

To answer on you question  "why" .. Well. It's clearly not an age as I'm 52, although I had a shoulder injury (untreated  partial RC tear) in the past affecting my paddling abilities.  I stumbled onto surfing late in life like just before 40 and, even it was a love from the first sight, I never get into surfing consistently  as I lived relatively far away from the ocean and had of lot of family responsibilities back then. So slow progress as I was going out probably 10 times a year ? I tried to compensate lack of technique by brutal force and it didn't work well as was not super athletic. And board shopping of course. Then I  divorced and surfing faded away for a while. When I get my life back on track I moved close to water (Boston harbor). So water was at my door steps, but I developed some kind of hesitancy and convinced myself since I suck in surfing I should go back to  flat water SUP - "hey there is not much waves in harbor". So for a while I was cruising along the coast of flat days. One day I got caught it waves and realized I could try SUP surf. Since then I was surfing less and less. Then I found out that my old buddy switched to SUP from windsurfing and we became going out more often, pushing each other. Honestly I find in more advance and more fun. I  can be away from the crowd as I don't need to be competing for a peck with prone surfers. I score more waves, getting longer rides and definitely stay there longer - I don't remember if I ever was out longer than 1.5 hours - when prone. Now I'm pretty comfortable with 2.5 -3 hours session, totaling 6-7 miles.  And I realized that I like flat water paddling less now  :) 
  But my older kid is getting more into prone surfing  these days. Got his own longboard, he keeps it in my place so we usually going out together.  Perhaps one day I'm gonna join him with one of my longboards, just to check  if there is a way back :)
 
Infinity Blackfish, SIC Bullet Air Glide, Sunova Point Break #003, Sunova Soul

 


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