Transitioning

There were a couple of good reasons that I felt the need to change things up.  The beach break here is very tide sensitive.  The best rides are usually when it hits the middle sandbar with a flood tide.  It's fairly fast and it walls up nicely if you know the right spots.  Of course the wind is usually a factor and swell direction also comes into play.  When you have all these variables it makes having a variety of boards necessary.  There are those rare times when a longboard is the best choice.

Those days tend to be the exception and not the rule.  Most of the time a shorter board works better for the conditions.  I say that because it can get a little dumpy and ugly when you got more board than you need.

My goals in surfing have been to ride shorter boards and surf as much as possible.  It sounds simple enough.  When I was young man most of my boards were 5'6" to 6'8".  I started by getting a couple of boards in the 7'2" to 7'4" range.  For me a width of 21" was good with a thruster set-up.  Both boards are 2 5/8" thick.

It didn't take long and these seemed like old friends again.  There were a couple of things that I really liked about riding them.  It was easy to duck dive, a lot more speed and they turn much quicker.  I was stoked to be getting ahead of the sections and having some open face to play on.

Most of local surfers ride much shorter boards than 7'.  It wasn't my intention to compete with my peers, but I did want to have a go at something smaller.  My next step down was a well used 7' fish.  I've always loved fishes.  They are fast and wide.  This one has 3 fin set-up and it works great.

I've ridden this board (on right) for about 6 months and it's been a lot of fun.  I'm getting more wave and it's gotten me in good shape.  It's my go to board.  Recently, I picked up a 6'8" stepped deck Super Fish.  I love this board.  It's fast and turns unreal.  It's fun when the waves are larger and I want something shorter and faster.  That might seem ass backward to some of you.  Yeah, I want a shorter board when it's bigger because it's much easier to manage.

This summer I got a 7' soft top for days when it's small.  I know that some of you are laughing.  Well, it's a good board for low tide when you don't wanna stick your good board in a sandbar.  They are super floaty and catch about anything.  I use it a lot.  It's just a matter of  finding the right sandbar at the right tide.  It's fun.

Anyways, I'm surfing a lot more because of shorter boards.  I'm enjoying my surfing more too.  Feelin' like a young man again.