What Quiver?
I currently have 4 boards in my garage. Is it a quiver, I guess so. The latest acquisition is my friend's old board that I have yet to surf on. It's a 7'3 slug, which fits quite nicely amongst the other boards I have.
Here's an intro to these boards that give me great rides in no particular order:
First up, the board that was purchased for the small days of summer and those days when I just feel like a slug, a 9'2 noserider. I bought it from a small shaper in Oceanside last summer, but didn't even get it till the very end of the summer season. The colors came out different than my imagination and description, although the color scheme is pretty damn nice, it hearkens back to the days of first polyurethane noseriders. The two-toned board looks like I'm a huge SC fan cause of the cardinal red and gold tints that were supposed to be rust orange and mustard yellow. Memorable rides include one last month that led to my embarassing nose drip in front of a girl. Even though it's a nose rider, and there's wax on the nose to further enforce that perception, I have yet to ride the nose on that board unless you count one step on the nose before diving for pearls shortly thereafter. There's a slight semblance of a dish under the nose, but nothing dramatic. Like many longboards these days, it's a squash tail with a 2+1 set up. There are some dings already on the bottom deck, mostly the result of wind trying to pry it off my little car while the straps strain to keep my board from flying off and leading to a sig alert. One of these days, I'll learn to cross step, nose ride, and do cutbacks with this log. Till then, it's great for just cruising the waves on small and semi-small days.
Next up, the 7'0 hybrid board with red trim on the edges. It has a sharp nose, but a very lean outline. It's super buoyant with a square tail. No problems catching waves on smaller days, but more of an effort on days that are well overhead for some reason. This board has the most amount of rocker out of the quiver, so I drop in later, thinking that the nose won't pearl. The board feels twitchy on turns, almost like I'm Automan in my car that makes 90 degree turns. This board is the one I don't have much experience on and it shows. I bought it with plans as a transition to the world of shorties. It hasn't happened and may never happen cause I like riding on waves rather than struggle to catch waves. I am a lazy bastard, what do you expect? (See first board.) I have gotten tubed on this board, short as it was. I've also been locked really tight in the curl that I crouched down through the whole ride. Can't say it was a tube cause it was more wrapping around my shoulders than a complete cover up. One last thing about this board, it scares me cause I've had the worst crashes. I should have known that it would be a challenge when it popped me in the chin on my very first ride. I am sure that once I finally feel completely comfortable on it, that the wild soul within will give me a shot in the head just to let me know that I always have to be on my toes.
We come up to the very last board that I ride consistently. It's a 7'11 funboard. It's a shortened version of a longboard. My very first board ever was an 8'2. 3 inches and a slight change in shape make a huge difference on the feel and performance of the board. The 7'11 doesn't feel like a huge log like the 8'2 did. This is the board I've had some of my best days. My most memorable day? October of 2003, Sunday. Sunny skies, waves from 2-4 ft, glassy, peaks all over, empty beaches. By 10 am, things completely clean up that you can take rides left or right. Most of the morning crew has left, so it's like surfing on a weekday at a normally crowded break. Every ride is smooth, I go left and make a few turns. I go right and make some more turns. The water is crystal clear that I could see the sand underneath as I'm zooming by. Only bad thing, I have to leave cause of a marketing class project This is the board I've caught my biggest waves and the board I bring out when I'm not sure if it's going to be big or small. It is the complete utilitarian board and has its battlescars. On the top deck, there's a patch where it started to delaminate and I had that repaired and you can tell when the wax is scraped off that the repair left it scarred. There are more pressure dings these days. There are other little imperfections like the stringer seems a little off center at the nose. I've been popped in the mouth with this board, too. I think it's me more than the boards. Has to be cause no one else I know has been hit as much as I have by my own boards. This board inspired a friend to buy the same exact board with the same specs. That board came out looking cleaner and more refined, but it also was more sluggish and felt heavy. Guess those little quirks are what makes this board special.
The latest acquisition is my friend's old board that I have yet to surf on. It's a 7'3 slug, which fits quite nicely amongst the other boards I have. One day, it will be transported to a friend's place so that I can just crash there without ever having to pack a board.
Those are it. My small arsenal of boards. Would I like to get something else? Sure, I'd like to try a retro single fin shortie, like the one Beau Young rides in Singlefin: Yellow. Will I? Probably not for a long while cause I don't even ride all the boards I have now on a regular basis.
Here's an intro to these boards that give me great rides in no particular order:
First up, the board that was purchased for the small days of summer and those days when I just feel like a slug, a 9'2 noserider. I bought it from a small shaper in Oceanside last summer, but didn't even get it till the very end of the summer season. The colors came out different than my imagination and description, although the color scheme is pretty damn nice, it hearkens back to the days of first polyurethane noseriders. The two-toned board looks like I'm a huge SC fan cause of the cardinal red and gold tints that were supposed to be rust orange and mustard yellow. Memorable rides include one last month that led to my embarassing nose drip in front of a girl. Even though it's a nose rider, and there's wax on the nose to further enforce that perception, I have yet to ride the nose on that board unless you count one step on the nose before diving for pearls shortly thereafter. There's a slight semblance of a dish under the nose, but nothing dramatic. Like many longboards these days, it's a squash tail with a 2+1 set up. There are some dings already on the bottom deck, mostly the result of wind trying to pry it off my little car while the straps strain to keep my board from flying off and leading to a sig alert. One of these days, I'll learn to cross step, nose ride, and do cutbacks with this log. Till then, it's great for just cruising the waves on small and semi-small days.
Next up, the 7'0 hybrid board with red trim on the edges. It has a sharp nose, but a very lean outline. It's super buoyant with a square tail. No problems catching waves on smaller days, but more of an effort on days that are well overhead for some reason. This board has the most amount of rocker out of the quiver, so I drop in later, thinking that the nose won't pearl. The board feels twitchy on turns, almost like I'm Automan in my car that makes 90 degree turns. This board is the one I don't have much experience on and it shows. I bought it with plans as a transition to the world of shorties. It hasn't happened and may never happen cause I like riding on waves rather than struggle to catch waves. I am a lazy bastard, what do you expect? (See first board.) I have gotten tubed on this board, short as it was. I've also been locked really tight in the curl that I crouched down through the whole ride. Can't say it was a tube cause it was more wrapping around my shoulders than a complete cover up. One last thing about this board, it scares me cause I've had the worst crashes. I should have known that it would be a challenge when it popped me in the chin on my very first ride. I am sure that once I finally feel completely comfortable on it, that the wild soul within will give me a shot in the head just to let me know that I always have to be on my toes.
We come up to the very last board that I ride consistently. It's a 7'11 funboard. It's a shortened version of a longboard. My very first board ever was an 8'2. 3 inches and a slight change in shape make a huge difference on the feel and performance of the board. The 7'11 doesn't feel like a huge log like the 8'2 did. This is the board I've had some of my best days. My most memorable day? October of 2003, Sunday. Sunny skies, waves from 2-4 ft, glassy, peaks all over, empty beaches. By 10 am, things completely clean up that you can take rides left or right. Most of the morning crew has left, so it's like surfing on a weekday at a normally crowded break. Every ride is smooth, I go left and make a few turns. I go right and make some more turns. The water is crystal clear that I could see the sand underneath as I'm zooming by. Only bad thing, I have to leave cause of a marketing class project This is the board I've caught my biggest waves and the board I bring out when I'm not sure if it's going to be big or small. It is the complete utilitarian board and has its battlescars. On the top deck, there's a patch where it started to delaminate and I had that repaired and you can tell when the wax is scraped off that the repair left it scarred. There are more pressure dings these days. There are other little imperfections like the stringer seems a little off center at the nose. I've been popped in the mouth with this board, too. I think it's me more than the boards. Has to be cause no one else I know has been hit as much as I have by my own boards. This board inspired a friend to buy the same exact board with the same specs. That board came out looking cleaner and more refined, but it also was more sluggish and felt heavy. Guess those little quirks are what makes this board special.
The latest acquisition is my friend's old board that I have yet to surf on. It's a 7'3 slug, which fits quite nicely amongst the other boards I have. One day, it will be transported to a friend's place so that I can just crash there without ever having to pack a board.
Those are it. My small arsenal of boards. Would I like to get something else? Sure, I'd like to try a retro single fin shortie, like the one Beau Young rides in Singlefin: Yellow. Will I? Probably not for a long while cause I don't even ride all the boards I have now on a regular basis.
posted by Dan at 11:54 AM
2 Comments:
Hallo I absolutely adore your site. You have beautiful graphics I have ever seen.
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What graphics?
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