What Board Should I Ride?
1) The first board on the spectrum is a standard shortboard shaped by Move or Die’s Maurice Gyenes. This board is a high performance shortboard and is made for someone who is very experienced. They’re narrow, they have a lot of rocker designed to go rail to rail, turn sharply and go straight up and vertical.
The amount of rocker you have the tighter the board will turn. A draw back with a lot of rocker is that it’s harder to catch waves and loses speed on mushy waves.
2) This board is known as the Factory’s “Bottle Rocket.” We are seeing boards that have a little bit of a lower nose rocker and a little bit of a wider outline up front.
What that allows you to do is be able to catch the wave a lot easier. There is also a still a little more tail rocker like a shortboard, but overall a little bit less. So, basically you get the best of both worlds by being able to catch waves a little easier because of the front end and then when you lean back to do your turns you still get that short board feel (sharp turns and loose in the pocket). Typically these boards run shorter than what you would ride as your standard shortboard length, because they are wider and there’s more volume over all. You ride them maybe two to three inches shorter than your normal size shortboard. These boards work really good in weaker, mushy waves. {This board is} still a thruster, so you get that traditional thruster feel. The skill level recommended for this board is beginner to novice. For the beginner it’s recommended that you get something a little bigger so they have more volume and more width so the board is more stable and friendly to ride. For the more advanced rider you can get the board shorter for all-around performance in smaller surf.
This outline is recommended in size based on skill level. Normal shortboard noses are 11 inches wide and the nose on these boards are more like 13 inches. So you have a lot more volume up front (for catching waves). And for the width in standard shortboards are around 18 inches and the width for the “Bottle Rocket” ranges from 19 inches to 20. The tail dimensions are an inch wider than a normal shortboard as well. The reason for that is because when the waves are slow and mushy it gives you more float in the tail which keeps your board out of the water and helps you get through the flatter sections. This board is good for equalizing the crowd factory because you get a lot more paddle power, which helps you catch more waves.
This outline is recommended in size based on skill level. Normal shortboard noses are 11 inches wide and the nose on these boards are more like 13 inches. So you have a lot more volume up front (for catching waves). And for the width in standard shortboards are around 18 inches and the width for the “Bottle Rocket” ranges from 19 inches to 20. The tail dimensions are an inch wider than a normal shortboard as well. The reason for that is because when the waves are slow and mushy it gives you more float in the tail which keeps your board out of the water and helps you get through the flatter sections. This board is good for equalizing the crowd factory because you get a lot more paddle power, which helps you catch more waves.
3) This next board is a Rick Rock, it’s 5’5 in length, 19 ¼ wide and 2 5/16 thick. This is a quad ( four fins) is and has a swallow tail, which is different than a thruster (three fins). This board is right in the middle of the spectrum from shortboard to fish. It’s designed to have a wider nose for catching waves really easy. The back end pulls into a tight swallow. This design is made for a more advanced surfer who is going to want to lean back and turn sharply. The quads a good for smaller waves because the water is able to move quickly through the middle of the board and that enables it to get going quickly. The quads tend to have a more positive feeling than a twin fin because the rear fins can leverage against the front fins giving it that extra drive. It’s more similar to a thruster than a twin giving it that stability, yet the quad fin set up also offers a loose feeling like a twin. Having a “loose” board means that the tail can shift under your feet more easily and it’s more sensitive to weight distribution. So, when your in a steeper or more hollow wave, you can’t just lean in and push on your tail like you would on a shortboard, you need to watch how much you push into the wave, otherwise the board can get away from you. Some people move the fins around to offset that effect. This board is different than the “Bottle Rocket” (the second boar discussed) because this board is going past the half way point and is leaning more towards the fish side where boards get flatter, wider and thicker.
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