Author Topic: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?  (Read 7771 times)

tautologies

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Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« on: March 19, 2010, 01:37:21 AM »
Aloha, so I went a little crazy and bought a gun, more accurately a 11'6'' Naish Gun, designed by Iggy.

I've had it out only once in the worst condition possible. waist high super on shore ultra sloppy, and the wind was between 15 and 20 mph (on shore), and had some thoughts about advantages and disadvantages of riding guns.

A lot of it is just things I'm thinking of and some of it is just brief experience from paddling a gun twice (borrowed another gun earlier)...

I know they are supposed to be only for big waves, but my contention is that they can work in a variety of conditions...also for beginners because what makes them work in big waves are qualities that also make them work in smaller waves and in flat water (they have to have good glide since you need a lot of speed to paddle into big waves). I hope and believe that the gun is much more versatile than it has been credited.

Firstly even at 28in wide is was stable to paddle, and it felt like it had better glide than my old 11'4''. It was a little less stable in the onshore sloppy bumpy conditions.
Paddling into waves, even knee high got me planing.

The one thing the gun cannot do as well as more regular shaped boards is turning and doing hits on the wave, BUT the board will turn if you use your paddle more..so it sort of forces you to use the paddle a bit more.

In any case, I don't really pretend to know these things..is more conjecture and thoughts....but one thing is a fact..it is a beautiful shape. :-)

I'd appreciate if you guys have experience or thoughts around the different shapes and want to share...

1tuberider

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2010, 04:55:11 AM »
Aloha, so I went a little crazy and bought a gun, more accurately a 11'6'' Naish Gun, designed by Iggy.


I know they are supposed to be only for big waves, but my contention is that they can work in a variety of conditions...also for beginners because what makes them work in big waves are qualities that also make them work in smaller waves and in flat water (they have to have good glide since you need a lot of speed to paddle into big waves). I hope and believe that the gun is much more versatile than it has been credited.



The one thing the gun cannot do as well as more regular shaped boards is turning and doing hits on the wave, BUT the board will turn if you use your paddle more..so it sort of forces you to use the paddle a bit more.



Its about performance.  You can ride any shape anytime but if your a performance minded surfer you would choose the best board to perform on in the existing conditions that you surf.  The gun shape works well in bigger surf because the narrow tail design allows the board to sink into the face for better control where a wider tail would be skipping.  In smaller surf the wider tail will perform better allowing cutbacks and quicker directional changes.

diesel

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2010, 12:18:31 PM »
I know that Blane and the guys at PSH love to ride thier 12' gun in a lot of different conditions so it must be pretty fun.  My thoughts are that a gun would be more rockered than a typical board.  The narrow tail might make it a bit more sticky when trying to turn at lower speeds.  It cannot noseride as well if that is the kind of surfing you like to do.  If you ride from the tail predominantly then the gun is probably a pretty good all arounder.  I would love to have one to use for everything.  It looks like they have awesome glide.

tautologies

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2010, 12:55:58 PM »


yes I agree with the tail shape, but I think / believe it hold more true for a regular surfboard. If you use your paddle to turn and position yourself a little further forward it didn't seem to hold back while turning.

My point is that in small surf, it is hard to turn big boards anyways. I guess you can ride the small wide boards, and their low weight makes it fun to ride and turn, but compared to a bigger board...

I guess I will find out now though :-) I think the gun will force me to get better at using the paddle....:-)

Reid SUP'd

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2010, 04:59:03 PM »
I know they are not meant for flat water/distance/touring but have you tried your gun out in those conditions?  I always thought that a gun could serve as both a big wave surfing and distance board seems like the shapes are very similar to distance boards.
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Pureadrenalin

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2010, 05:36:59 PM »
I know they are not meant for flat water/distance/touring but have you tried your gun out in those conditions?  I always thought that a gun could serve as both a big wave surfing and distance board seems like the shapes are very similar to distance boards.

It does'nt have enough volume for distance.You will fatigue faster and it would take alot more effort and energy to reach your destination. Its just not practical or should I say efficient.

tautologies

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2010, 10:36:53 PM »
I know they are not meant for flat water/distance/touring but have you tried your gun out in those conditions?  I always thought that a gun could serve as both a big wave surfing and distance board seems like the shapes are very similar to distance boards.

that was one of my thoughts too. I'd agree with Pure that it isn't a distance board per se, but I think it does glide well. I am not a distance paddler...I still just think it'll work for the kind of paddling I am thinking of. I have done some flat water down wind runs, and it does glide well. I have not tried it in ocean swell, but I think it might be hard to make it work on those. I think more volume is required. However I think for the volume it does have it works phenomenally well.

noa

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2010, 11:58:37 PM »
 not sure which post it was in, but a picture of the Naish gun showed it to have very big rocker throughout the whole board. I guess that would be a good indicator of poor glide and someone who had paddled it was saying it pushed a lot of water due to it's heavy rocker. 
I always thought guns need to have very good glide to be able and get to speed and catch larger faster moving swells ?

tautologies

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2010, 09:06:13 PM »


Noa: I have the same perception, it needs good glide to paddle into big swell.

Yes it has quite a bit of rocker, and when you get speed it does seem to push some water, but if I compare it to the other boards I've paddled it still glides. I've had it out a few times now, and I love how it rides. Much easier to set a rail. It is more sensitive to moving back which is natural, but I still think these boards are good for both paddling and smaller surf..so far.

On another note. South Shore is getting pummeled by huge surf. So so so NICE!!

DavidJohn

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2010, 10:41:48 PM »
Just wondering.. How heavy are you?.. I'm 200lbs and found it hard work to paddle and that it had a very small sweet spot to stand.

DJ

tautologies

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2010, 01:18:25 PM »
Just wondering.. How heavy are you?.. I'm 200lbs and found it hard work to paddle and that it had a very small sweet spot to stand.

DJ

Good point.
I'm a little over 200 lb. I am usually paddling a 9'6'', also just got a 7'9'' The 'big' board I had before the gun was the 11'4'', which I really liked..but I just wanted to try something new.

I'm not doing a lot of downwinders, right now and if I do it'll be for the exercise (considering trying more real DW's, but that would require a proper dw board).

The drawback of the gun is if you move back too soon on the wave, you'll probably fall off or lose the wave, but I find the board stable and nice, haven't noticed a problem with the sweetspot. I think the guns require you to stand a little more forward than regular boards.

hmm, maybe it's just me. Oh well. 

marc

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #11 on: March 23, 2010, 09:08:00 AM »
Does anybody tried the 12'gun PSH with a quad set fins?
Any advantages or disadvantages ?
Witch set of quad u use? Futures GL?

Bob from Brazil

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #12 on: March 23, 2010, 10:17:45 AM »
A while ago I was considering a gun for very small & mushy surf... And had those same thoughts regarding it could serve me as a long distance sup board.

Well, I ended up buying the 14'  Bark Expedition and those last two days been surfing with that board. I can honestly say that it probably paddles faster and better than any gun type board and I'm having tons of fun in the super small surf...

It made me realize that a gun is meant for BIG waves... BTW I have a 9'8 semi gun that I love to take when things get bigger: fast as hell yet capable of doing turns and cutbacks at easy...

tautologies

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2010, 12:09:38 PM »
A while ago I was considering a gun for very small & mushy surf... And had those same thoughts regarding it could serve me as a long distance sup board.

Well, I ended up buying the 14'  Bark Expedition and those last two days been surfing with that board. I can honestly say that it probably paddles faster and better than any gun type board and I'm having tons of fun in the super small surf...

It made me realize that a gun is meant for BIG waves... BTW I have a 9'8 semi gun that I love to take when things get bigger: fast as hell yet capable of doing turns and cutbacks at easy...

Yes for sure a distance paddleboard would paddle better. I am definitely not trying to say it doesn't but what I am saying is that I don;t think a gun only can be used in big waves. I think it works well in small waves, and it has good glide, but it definitly works very well in bigger surf. My point was simple, it is much more versatile than I think it's reputation gives it credit.

I have not tried the PSH. It comes with a quad? Thats is nice. I am considering putting two more boxes in the gun...

Bob from Brazil

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Re: Gun - Advantages and Disadvantages?
« Reply #14 on: March 24, 2010, 08:03:09 AM »
Aloha Tautologies,

I think you'll have a blast time with you gun... Didn't mean to take your stoke away (quite the opposit). What I meant to say is: It's really nice to catch small waves with a gun but there are better boards for that; It's really nice to cruise on a gun, but there are better boards for that; It's really nice to surf a bomb with a gun, but... no "buts", there aren't  better boards for that...

Guns can get a good glide because the are big. But at this same size you get better glider boards... But that doesn't mean you won't have a great time surfing smaller waves or just paddling around. Just enjoy what you've got!!

 


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