Why do you ride what you ride?

nice rant. I got started on a long board via advice from a friend. Since then, I've started to reduce length & volume. But, there are still many days when I catch more waves with more foam. And, since I like to catch waves, this makes the transition a tough one. Plus, its expensive to try out new boards - it would be nice if there were more opportunities to demo.

I ride a 7'4" shortboard shape because I'm 25lbs. heavier than I was when I was 19 and probably have less paddling power. If I could go shorter I would.

The 6'4" thruster sits in its bag in the vain possibility that someday I'll be fit enough to use it again and actually catch waves, but there is almost no likelihood that day will ever come.

I kook, therefore I am.

@friscohio: there's a really nice guy on the San Diego board (I can't recall the name of the site) who has a large quiver and regularly meets up with people to swap boards. He rides yours, you ride his. A lotta people have taken him up on the offer.

I've been riding the same shape since I was a teenage grom (6'2 x 18 1/2 x 2 1/4, give or take), but that was 20 years and about 20 pounds ago. I still use that as my all-rounder if I'm in warm water, or those really clean OB days.

If it gets overhead+, and/or the water temp necessitates a 4/3, then I'm on a step-up 6'6. Then there's a 7, a 7'2 and 7'6.

Haven't really dabbled much in anything else. I rode a sponge when I was 12 years old before my oldies bought me a beater twinnie. I also borrow a longboard or use my fish if it's 1-2 foot or smaller

My go to board is my 9'4. It's about 3 1/4 thick and 23 wide. Yeah, it has a limit to what I can take it out in, but for average conditions it's a lot of fun. I enjoy riding it more mellow style and am working on my traditional longboarding moves. (Slowly but surely working from extra cheating my fives to cheating my fives with the hope to stop cheating my noserides) I like the whole wave sliding gliding angle on things more than going for big hacks. I still love watching other folks spray a big rooster tail of water over the lineup, but I'm shooting for something different myself.

I spent a little bit of time trying to work my way down to shorter boards and fishes and things but I just don't really dig it. A big part of not digging it is sucking at it, but the other part is I just like mellower waves and not having to sit right in the impact zone in order to pull off a ride.

I keep saying I want to get out and bodysurf more (at all) but it's hard for me to go to the beach and leave my board behind. I do love hooting for cats rocking the handplanes. I've seen @blam screaming by me on a few "over his head" barrels that made it look pretty damn fun.

Stream of consciousness follows....

I mostly ride a 10' stewart.. mainly cause I'm heavy and need the foam and cause I totally suck at the "critical" takeoff which mainly means I get launched more often than not. (funny every time for me and the lineup) I kinda need a sensei to get to that next level...

Anyway I also ride a big ol 7s fish now and then and I have a big boy(8') Anacapa Bandit that I use to get out in bigger stuff and get pounded but have not yet successfully ridden more than once or twice (totally by accident) but would like to get better on..

My only reason for pursuing shorter boards is that I'd like to be able to surf in more conditions than I really can with 10' of Stewart.. Yeah I know there are long boarders who can do it (shout out to angry guy) but the duck dive is so much easier than the long heavy slog on a longboard and I gotta say at my age that caught inside thing is sooooo much less fun that it seems....

Standing up on a kneeboard is pretty fun... make sure there's wax up front!

As a grom growing up, my spot was shallow and hollow. I'd mix it up with craft until I tried kneeboarding. Speed and tubes... but lots of injuries getting used to getting away from the board.

Tubes and low-center-of-gravity turning are my draws. The lack of lower leg extension can be a setback. The compensating factor is drawing out lines a bit differently.

Ironically, the lower leg extension actually DOES get used when some extra stalling is needed.

I've never liked thrusters. The first boards ('74-81) were twins in the 5'2 - 5'6" range. The 80's & 90's were 'US-style' fins-back quads in the 5'7"-5'10" range. At the end of the 90's, I switched to Aussie-style fins-forward quads in the 5'8-5'10" range.

My current every-day is a carbon-fiber 5'11". My biggest is a 6'7" quad.

IMHO, the best dabbling for kneeboarding is shoulder-high or so tubes... big enough to fit into, and hopefully not merciless with the beatings learning to get away from your board.

First of all I'm totally down with board swaps/loans. I've gone through stages of buying all types of surfboards and I'm down to share (btw never tried kneeboarding but it seems really fun). I have this funny 6'0 thick wide and flat thruster with a crazy airbrush job looking for a new home.
I've been interested in all types of waves with all different ways of riding with equipment suited for conditions. It keeps it super exciting even after surfing 5-7 times a week 10 years plus.
I'm definitely not a one board/one wave kinda guy and I like it that way. It makes me better and happier...
My 3 favorites are my 6'1 stretch quad that seems unbreakable so I take it in the hollow stuff, My 9'0 pretty blue that my buddy made me that nose rides and flies, and my 7'0 flowy round nose that is magic on the in-between days.
I'm still looking for more ... suited to conditions around here.

It really helps to have different styles and lengths to match conditions. Once it gets below chest high, given the way wave back off it really helps to have extra foam. For OB at size I like the biggest board I can get through the whitewater.

@kneelo... re: standup kneeboarding: recently acquired a 5'8 liddle that my friend worked w/greg on taken from greenough's velo template - specifically for standup surfing... been riding it mostly upright, but have gotten into some fun ones kneeling too... really addictive!

Money is the prohibitive factor for me. Plus, I found one that does everything pretty well and stuck with it. I've got a 6'5" 20.5"x2.75" squash tail that works in pretty much everything I can handle (I'm 6' ~185lbs). It's got enough float to paddle quickly on small days (previous owner's San Diego summer board), and enough rocker to take some decent drops.

I started on a 6'10" of similar dimensions. If I had more $, I'd experiment, but I can't say I need anything else right now. I do like the idea of sharing a quiver, but I doubt anyone's dying to try my little porker...(insert girlfriend quip here)

Same here, 6'4" 20 x 2 5/8" Proctor, got one of them custom boards with power windows and stuff haha. It's all I need to have fun. I did try just about them all when younger and shortboards were just more fun to me. The sticks of today have all kinds of cool extras.
I learned on a 5'9" single fin.

6'3 Rusty bat tail quad's been my go to lately
6'4 RPL pintail if it's more than hh 1/2
6'1 Neptune thruster's my has been go to that's now in the backup bullpen

Obviously, I should get something bigger for a couple reasons: Surfed the beach last winter at 10ft+ on the pintail - knife to a gun fight. Furthermore, now being 31 and 160, I tend to sink the real short ones. I tried out a super floaty and wide Taylor fish hybrid this summer and ended up hating it... Gonna look for something in the 6'6 - 6'8 range next time I have some spare funds.

Oh, and I learned on lender/beater shortboards. I sponged as a very little kid and my penchant for skating and snowboarding made the curve a bit mellower. I've actually only tried a huge longboard once and I hated it (this is probably criminal). I couldn't keep the nose out of the water. I'd like to try again, but alas, money comes into play once more.

@hasbro... that's the 2nd board recently I've heard about from a greenough template. A kneelo friend that lives well North of here showed my one that was built from the actual template. Wonder if this traces back to the same? I'd have to ask my friend again about the shaper. Very nice board! Kinda cool looking at that next to mine.

6'1 epoxy shortboard that paddled well for its size because it was so light. that snapped, so now i'm back to a 6'6 short board that weights 2x its original weight because of repairs (snapped stringer that is now doubly reinforced with 6 layers of glass : ), but that weight seems to help a fair bit on bigger days. i'm on the lookout for something unbreakable around 7' or 7'2--hit me up if you might be selling such a board. (i'm 6'1 ~180.)

I grew up riding anything I could borrow. My first solid board was a Haut 10' spoon nose and glassed on speed fin with a serious twist in it. Rode it for years and loved it! Rode a number of other boards during my first 10 years: 6'6" Lopez lightening bolt, Stewart 9'6", a couple of 5' twinzers, a homemade 7' thruster, and a variety of hand me down thrusters all in the 6' to 6'6" range. Now that I'm 6' and 185 (not counting Thanksgiving dinner), my go to boards are: Junod 9'6" single fin for point breaks, Junod 9'3" tri-fin for beach breaks, a 7S Super Fish XL, a PSH 10'3" SUP. I need to shave 10lbs and beef up the biceps so I can start hitting Overhead OB again. I also want to pick up a Junod Pumpkin Seed and some other smaller fish shapes in the 6' range. Toss in an Alaia to round things out. All said and done, I'm a longboarder at heart and don't see myself letting that go any time soon. I like to change things up once in a while, I think it improves my surfing overall.

i started doing body surfing it was fun,and that was when i began to like the ocean and the wave riding... then i did bodyboarding for long time, liked the moves, airs, and specially the barrils..nowdays i getting into surfing. it is the best and i do not think i will change it, however, i started with a longboard round nose but my goal is to switch to a shortboard for tube riding and sick airs.. it will come with time...it will be nice to swap boards..

started longboarding as most people do. quiver has changed dramatically over the years. right now 5'10 x 20 x 2,1/2 is the small dumpster diver type thing but made by Firewire and its fun. Then 6'3, 6'8 step up, 7'2 small gun... I've gotten rid of all my big guns for the moment but those have been 7'10, 8'4, and 10'0 (rhino). I don't own a fish anymore or a longboard, but when it's really tiny - knee high - I gasp.... SUP far away from any surfers. One quiver nuance is where I'm riding - temperature-wise... a 4mill wetsuit and booties add 20 lbs to your body weight. if OB, standard SB is 2 1/2 thick, but if in Indo or warm water, I go 2 3/8 and 1/2 inch less wide. Everything's going shorter and wider right now. People are SUPing on 7'2's.

Agree with @huricanewe that if you learned on a shortie it kinda skews your preference that way. I have a 9-6 longboard-but half the time I take it out I end up wishing I was on a shortie, but still want to learn to noseride someday. Learned on the fat thrusters of the late 80's as a 13 year old. Wasted about 10 years from 92-01 riding potato chip thrusters. Got turned on to 2+1 little fin Fish hybrids after that and stoked out on the speed and catching more waves. Then moved to quads. Current favorite for sub HH is a 6-0 X 20.5 X 2.5 Coffey round tail that can go as a quad or thruster, though it feels a bit slower as a thruster unless the waves are perfect. So many shapes so little time........

wondering if any of you all surfing Firewire boards have anything in particular to say about them? was thinking about purchasing one to check them out... you notice a difference in the ride/feel/performance between it and your regular poly board? curious. i dont like the feeling of epoxy boards (i know, im a bad person), so wondering if i should skip it if the feel is similar.

As for a board swap-I've often wonder why there's no "Fish Fry" type thing going on up here as in others parts????

@cyclona-there's a big difference between a "surftech pop-out" style epoxy and a custom hand shaped eps board like Stretch and Ward Coffey make...... If you've only tried the surftech and boardwork's ones. And once a year of so Firewire does demo days at OB.

@quad -- fair enough. i'll look for demo days for sure too.

I have a couple of boards that I ride depending on the conditions. I still have my bodyboard and churchill fins but haven't used that for about 3 years when I had knee surgery and I couldn't surf.

7'6" Michel Junod hybrid - I use this most of the time. Easy to paddle with and can catch small and big waves. My overall go to board.
5'11" Mandala 2 + 1 stubby - I've only used this board a few times. Waves have to be good to ride this board. I like to use this for SH-HH waves.
5'10" Mandala quad. - Use to use this board a lot. But since my daughter was born I haven't surfed as much and gained some weight and now sticking to my 7'6". Fast board for going up and down and doing cut backs on waves. Easy to paddle with with the wider nose.
9'0" Walden Magic - I only use this board when the waves are ankle to waist high or if the waves are weak and mushy.

I'd like to try SUP's but after coming back from HI last week and those guys get every wave I'd pass. I work in Foster City so it would probably be good to paddle around the lagoon in. :)

I had a couple short board shapes but wasn't really into it. Not into getting airs or doing those fancy WCT moves. For the shorter boards I like boards with more width in the nose. :)

Great rant.

I started on a 10'2", progressed down to a 5'8" keel fish, and now hover in limbo between both worlds. I'll either jump on a 9'6" Junod pig, my fish, a 7'6" Walden Mini Magic, or the 7' single fin I just shaped. I've been borrowing a Pavel Speed Dialer I LOVE lately, so might have to acquire one of those someday soon. For me, the surf dictates the board, and I think I have boards to cover all conditions...except for DOH OB, but I'm ok with that :)

I surf 90% of the time at OB, and I have 4 boards that all get a lot of usage, depending on conditions, yeah, but also on my mood....
- 9'2" Strive longboard: Primarily a small wave summer board, but if the waves aren't too steep, and I'm feeling zen, I'll take it out in surf up to head high. But I'm really terrible at riding a longboard & totally respect guys that can rip on them (hence my fanboidom of Angry Guy). To this kook, it feels like a very different skill set than riding a short board. When my mood is right, I absolutely love riding the longie... I exit the water in a completely different mood than when I'm on my other boards.
- 7'2" Rusty minigun: Obviously only when it gets bigger than head high. But I'll also take it out in really high period head high waves b/c it catches waves so easy and it rides so damn well. Love this board, however, I'm completely undergunned when it gets much above 1.5x. Think I need a 7'6", which would let me get in to DOH waves, but not present the moral hazard of being able to get in to much bigger than that.
- 6'6" FireWire thruster: This is my main board, and I ride it most days at OB. Absolutely love the FireWire's responsiveness & feel. I've said ever since I bought it that I think it has APT--Anti-Pearl Technology. And, it's indestructible. Have had it for a long time now.
- 5'10" John Schultze SF Surf quad fish: I think this guy is glassed too heavily & doesn't have enough rocker for me (read: Pearl City), but I do have fun in the smaller shore pound days of summer or when the anti-zen feeling takes aholt of me, and I don't want to ride the longie, even when conditions would suggest it. But, alas, it seems to have all the negative qualities of a short board (tough to get in to small waves) and all the negative qualities of a longboard (not very maneuverable), but in reality, it's probably just that I don't know how to ride it.

So, if you've been following along, here's my Christmas list: a 7'6" minigun (semigun?) and a 5'10"-6'0" fish.

I bodyboard exclusively. I started in high school because it was the cheapest way for me to start surfing. I thought I'd transition to surfing, but when I went to college on the central coast (Cal Poly) I met up with a lot of other bodyboarders in the area, saw what they were doing with their riding, both dropknee and prone, and thought it was intriguing. I thought a lot of bodyboarders were actually more skilled than a lot of the shortboarders I saw up and down the coast. Along the way, I was lucky to hook up with a company making boards down there (Toobs) for gear and I guess I just never left the sponge.

People ask me if I dropknee, why not just stand up...but why switch up when what you're doing is so much fun, plus there's something about how close you are to the wave when you bodyboard, how much speed you can get that translates into airs, flips, and spins. Bodyboarding to me just feels more adaptable to all conditions than any other board and I've shortboarded, longboarded, and SUP'd (own one, in fact).

I just gotta say, I love the sponge- I feel like I'm pretty adept at it, it makes me feel good to DK a good wave, and I get plenty of barrels. I've even taken to making a alaia (paipo style), but I'd love to shortboard more...maybe next year...

The answer I would love to give is very carefully, but it would not be the truth. Unlike the pros who get given boards like candy myself and all the other surfers I know have to acquire our gear the hard way. Buying it.

My quiver has pretty been created by luck and craigslist.

I scored my 9’4″ Jeff Hakman surftech wood board off craigslist. For over a year this was my go to board and I had most of my major firsts on it, very fast and a very stable ride, for a long time it was the only board I rode. I still take it out on small days or at cowells or capitola when I feel like logging it up. I recently changed up the fin setup to a Big Single fin HP Harbour fin, which I have taken out in mushy OH-1/2OH surf and had great rides with it.

The next board I acquired was my 7ft Strive in November 2008 as a gift from a relative. It’s an odd board, and I don’t take it out much but it’s and interesting ride. Now that I am riding shorter boards I might get better at this one. This biggest issue I have with it, is that it is 3″ thick while great when I was 250 LBS it’s a lot of unneeded foam for the current things I want to do. I can't duck dive it at my current weight of ~200 lbs.

My everyday ride is a 8'0 Harbour Custom I got in July, this was my first custom board, I had it made to replace the 8'0 Harbour that was my first board (http://stokereport.com/report/6133) Its setup as a HP longboard with a thruster back, and I can get it out and ride it in almost anything that is not super hollow. I have caught my biggest rides so far on this board, but It is great at Linda Mar or the Jetty on the crap days.

The last board in my main quiver is a Ward Coffey 7’0″ x 20″ x 2 5/8″ squashtail Thruster. I picked this board up about a month ago for under $100 bucks from a guy in SC that was the original owner. Been riding it on a bunch of stuff and have had some great rides, this is going to be my big day winter board this year.

The other thing in my Quiver is a 8'6" Ward Coffey Gun, I picked it up of CL for a song and had my ding guy in Princeton restore it. Its not the best looking board but its strong and is good for the big stuff. I am just starting to use it on a wave next to Mavs and a few other places around. I can duck dive it so I might come up to OB on one of these mornings I feel like a run on the treadmill. This board excites and scares me.

One advantage of having a large truck with an 8ft bed as your surf vehicle is that I normally have my full quiver with me so I pick the right tool for the job or mood and go have a great time.

I have a handful of boards that get used depending on the conditions at the beach. I'm 6'4" and 200lbs, so my boards are a bit on the meaty side. My current setup:
* Ward Coffey 6'4" (12 1/2 x 20 1/4 x 15 1/2 swallow) - I bought this board for warm water trips but with a new 3/4 wetsuit not springing leaks everywhere, I've been taking it out at OB on fast breaking, get up and go before the lip throws out days. The shape is like a fish but thin and skinny.
* M10 7'0" (19 1/4 x 2 5/8 pintail) - Custom for HH - OH OB days. This is the board that I primarily surf at the beach. The board has been a mighty warrior but it's time to put it to the fields of Valhalla and get a replacement. And now that I'm older budweiser, I can use a smaller, wider board for my daily fiber.
* M10 7'8" (19 1/2 x 2 3/4 pin) - Custom for the +OH days. I always get a big-ass grin when I take this board out because the board only gets wet on big swells. It's a fun, fast board for big winter days.
* Indian Surfboard 8'0" (pintail) - It's a strange board. It has a tri-fin setup with a thin pintail but the body gets really thick. If you get over the fins and have some speed, the board can be cranked around. I bought this board off a guy in San Diego that couldn't surf it because it was "too small". I use it on soft OB days up to HH.
* Alekai Surfboards (???wtf) 8'8" - A beater single fin board that I bought used for my wife to learn to surf. It has a bright yellow top straight from the 80's. It was in sorry shape when I bought it at a sale, but after some love, it's surfable again. I take it out on small OB days and the infrequent days I make my way to Lindy.

I ride (or paddle around cursing my ineptitude on) a 6'2" Vernor thruster "Shaper's Choice" (somewhat wider, fishier than the standard shortboard) most days, and a beefy 7'4" Coffey semi-gun for bigger waves I need to paddle fast to get into. The Vernor rides like a skateboard and the Coffey like a Volvo. I had a board between those, but I never ended up using it because I like the Vernor so much. http://www.vernorsurfboards.com/surfboards.html#

9'2" South Point expoy long board
9'2" Cobalt epoxy fusion
8'6" NSP (new from wise this year)
6'2" Channel islands pod (swallow tail quad fin)

I use the big logs on small days <HH.
I've had the 8'6" out in well over head days at a spot with a good rip in san mateo.
Its also good for <HH days.
I had the 6'2" quad pod out 3 times in HH conditions before my knee injury and LOVED every ride I had on it..

Now that I'm recovering, I get to start all over with the logs again since they are stable (in 2 more weeks).

Hope to be back slashing on the pod by jan/feb.

@cyclone FYI FireWire demo Sunday 11/14 at OB

excellent... thanks much!

This is what StokeReport was like a year ago. No negative comments on what size board you rode, or a specific named board. Simply on topic, and easy to participate in.

Sad that it's not like that anymore