James casey currently in the water.

So is the Paris-Roubaix..

www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/

Is music outlawed in Abu Dahbi?
Kinda boring without some good tunes.

They cannot even stand up on their boards... in a pool...

Now this is becoming ridiculous...

Yep with you colas on that, they should just ride a shortboard and it's the same turns on their 2nd wave boring!!

I've got to admit the balancing all looks too hard to me. Or am I missing something Casso?

Would be good if the commentators gave out the board dimensions during the heats.

Pretty sure Mo Freitas's board didn't have a hand grip hole. He carried like a shortboard.

J

Most board are from 7'3 to 7'6 and 23 to 26 wide if that helps!! Haha didn't help me surf any better, I'm still waiting for the 8ft barrel I was promised!!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and so on

No laughing at me either! Im like where is my 12'6 board :)

Im frekin hilarious on this 7'6! but it will be fun.

The girls are ripping

x angie

I liked it

That was so very average ..........crap camera angle and why bother really ..... Let's just stick to the ocean.

What happened to the "competitors must paddle standing up at all times" rule? These guys are mostly just proning it.

I'm sure this format is much preferable logistically for the organisers, to an ocean wave contest. But as a spectacle it is weak. It is also hard to relate to: most of us will never be able to afford to surf one of these facilities.

Its a little like cricket, fun when you are in at bat but boring as hell to watch!! I said after last year I would probably never surf here again as its just not for me but somehow I ended up back here again and while it might not be that much fun to watch its pretty fun and something that is just a bit different.

I have a pic I will put up later which might b3 a giid talking point!!

There are alot of $$$$ over there. Someone needs to put the money men in contact with Weber wave pool co. The potential is there, just not there yet.

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DavidJohn said..

So is the Paris-Roubaix..

www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/

Yep now that is a top event to watch !!!! Cobble stones ahhhhhhhhhh.

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Jaime said..

Would be good if the commentators gave out the board dimensions during the heats.

Pretty sure Mo Freitas's board didn't have a hand grip hole. He carried like a shortboard.

J

I have read a Ian Vaz interview where he said that Mo was down to 6'10' x 22"...
Ian says that currently he is on a 7'4"x25", 72l and he thinks that is the minimum dimension for him, after 30mn he is too tired to perform.

I think it's a pretty cool spectacle - amazing to see some of the guys grovel in the first round until they start getting the wave dialed. Just watched Mo Freitas generating speed and going near vert on every turn, I find it impressive. But the balancing defies anything I'd want to be part of so either we get SUPAA in with some minimum volume per rider rules or I'll just have to accept that getting old sucks.....

I thought it was good the other night, Tristan always a good commentator, I enjoyed the concept, just not a lot of variety. The skating was good the other day as well.

Laughed at Big Wave Dave forgetting where he was!

Thats up there as one of the ****test things I have ever seen....

I agree, I think it looks pretty lame, but hey, with every new sport, the boundaries need to be explored, then common sense prevails and we return to a happy medium. A bit like the new rules for race boards.

At the wave pool, I think it makes SUP look rather sad, would have been better to ditch the paddle and just surf it.

I'm sure it will all go full circle back to boards you can stand on again, but in the mean time ..... yawn!

DM

I could clearly surf well on a couple of those boards; without a paddle. Especially like Mo's Rawson Battail. What are the dimensions on that thing?

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colas said..I have read a Ian Vaz interview where he said that Mo was down to 6'10' x 22"...
Ian says that currently he is on a 7'4"x25", 72l and he thinks that is the minimum dimension for him, after 30mn he is too tired to perform.

I believe that some of the Brazilian customs have a flat deck. With doming you can get that up to the high 70's easy without compromising performance (my uninformed amateur opinion).

I personally ride a 7'6x25 84L as well as a 7'5x26 75L and can be on either one for hours...

Additionally, it is possible that some of the low volume boards measure only the foam - the board will pick up some displacement in glassing. So some "72L" boards are really more like 76L or so. Don't know if that's the case or not with his board, but it's conceivable. Alternatively, it may simply be that it's very thin.

Note that Starboard claims 72L for their 7'1x24.

Point being that I think the boards will continue to shrink.

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JeanG said..

colas said..I have read a Ian Vaz interview where he said that Mo was down to 6'10' x 22"...
Ian says that currently he is on a 7'4"x25", 72l and he thinks that is the minimum dimension for him, after 30mn he is too tired to perform.

I believe that some of the Brazilian customs have a flat deck. With doming you can get that up to the high 70's easy without compromising performance (my uninformed amateur opinion).

I personally ride a 7'6x25 84L as well as a 7'5x26 75L and can be on either one for hours...

Additionally, it is possible that some of the low volume boards measure only the foam - the board will pick up some displacement in glassing. So some "72L" boards are really more like 76L or so. Don't know if that's the case or not with his board, but it's conceivable. Alternatively, it may simply be that it's very thin.

Note that Starboard claims 72L for their 7'1x24.

Point being that I think the boards will continue to shrink.

how much do you weigh?

71kg, same as most of the competitors. 1.8m tall, also same as most competitors.

My skill level, unfortunately, is not in the same planet as most competitors. :)

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PeterP said..
But the balancing defies anything I'd want to be part of so either we get SUPAA in with some minimum volume per rider rules or I'll just have to accept that getting old sucks.....

Actually, you should try!
Not the pro boards, of course, but you will be surprized how you can manage boards with just some inches and liters more than the pro boards, with training.
getting vertical, or manoeuvering in the tube may need the reflexes of a young fit body, but short boards grant also the simple pleasures of pumping, dropping in, accelerating, whipping turns, in everyday waves, even with a medium surfing level... and a lot of years under the hood :-)

PS: by looking at the video, the conditions may not have been easy, there could be a lot of backwash bouncing off the walls under the surface...

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colas said..PS: by looking at the video, the conditions may not have been easy, there could be a lot of backwash bouncing off the walls under the surface...

Colas!

I want to get your opinion on this. Let's break it down.

So at Sunset in slightly/moderately rough conditions, the typical board was in the mid 7' range and 25-26" wide. Generally (as in, other than Mo and a couple of others), the volumes didn't seem absurd - people didn't seem to be sinking to their calves. This last detail is hard to be certain of, however, as at Sunset the cameras are hundreds of yards from the surfers and the water isn't even - whether someone is knee deep or ankle deep is difficult to spot. As a spectator viewing from the beach, the paddler could be waist deep and you wouldn't be able to tell.

At Abu Dhabi: Pretty much everyone seems to be calf-knee deep and barely able to stand. Now backwash or not, my gut instinct is that it's still going to be a far sight easier to stand than at Sunset. But I could be wrong.

Point being, it looks to me like a lot of these boards are in the low 7' range...or less. That's in contrast to the average rider's board in the mid 7' range at Sunset. And it seems quite a bit less volume as well.

Now I know that you watched some of the Sunset vids too, so I'm curious about your opinion. Feel free to vociferously disagree and tear everything I said apart, I've got thick skin and it's all speculative anyways.

Let me rephrase it: I'd love to be part of it - but I'm physically unable to be part of it. I weigh 85kg and have caught one wave on the 8'3 2012 Hokua (90liters)...but it was such hard work that I took that wave straight back in. I tried the 8'0 - 80 liter Hokua - no chance, can't even get to my feet. I'm now riding the 8'10 Hokua LE which is 107 liters and 27 3/4" wide. It's still some work but it's doable for me. I guess everyone just have to find what they are comfortable with. I have as yet not had wider boards underfoot that I preferred over the narrower, longer ones, but we'll be receiving the LE X32's shortly and I'll give them a bash.

I still found the pool event quite entertaining, it must be great to know that the element of chance is eliminated as you are guaranteed the same waves as your competitor. Having said that, surfing belongs in the ocean and will never be replaced by pools - but as a once a year spectacle I find it cool.

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PeterP said..

Let me rephrase it: I'd love to be part of it - but I'm physically unable to be part of it. I weigh 85kg and have caught one wave on the 8'3 2012 Hokua (90liters)...but it was such hard work that I took that wave straight back in. I tried the 8'0 - 80 liter Hokua - no chance, can't even get to my feet. I'm now riding the 8'10 Hokua LE which is 107 liters and 27 3/4" wide. It's still some work but it's doable for me. I guess everyone just have to find what they are comfortable with. I have as yet not had wider boards underfoot that I preferred over the narrower, longer ones, but we'll be receiving the LE X32's shortly and I'll give them a bash.

I still found the pool event quite entertaining, it must be great to know that the element of chance is eliminated as you are guaranteed the same waves as your competitor. Having said that, surfing belongs in the ocean and will never be replaced by pools - but as a once a year spectacle I find it cool.

Peter,

Please forgive my quick series of posts, but hey what they heck.

At 85kg, a 90kg board is WAY to low.

1. Going low in volume is just the wrong way to increase performance. There are all sorts of tricks a shaper can use to keep volume high whilst delivering great performance. Reducing volume is the last thing one should do.

2. My small board, at 7'6x25, is 84L. I weight 72kg. That's a 1.16:1 ratio.

3. That means that if I weighed 85kg, I'd be on a 99L board.

I've spent a lot of time falling on my face to be able to ride little boards. Play it safe and stick around 105L! Or heck why not 110L? This is supposed to be fun after all. Even a lot of the pros are not pushing the volume to ridiculous levels - even when competing (in the ocean not a pool).

Looking at the very top few pros and aiming for their level of stability is not the way to do things in my opinion. Colas and I like to break down what they're riding as more of an academic exercise and to look for design ideas, but not to chase exactly what their dimensions. (That said... I would love to have a ridiculous board in the 7'x23 range just for messing around - but I'd expect to be falling on my face the whole time!).

Ultimately: Goodness, talk to a shaper who knows how to make high performance boards. There's no reason that you need to look at a 32" wide board - that's as crazy as trying to ride an 80L board when weighing 85kg. Get something in the 7'10 to 8'10 range, 27-29 wide, and 105L-115L. That's my prescription, knowing nothing about you, knowing nothing about your conditions, and knowing nothing about your ability :)

A

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JeanG said..

PeterP said..

Let me rephrase it: I'd love to be part of it - but I'm physically unable to be part of it. I weigh 85kg and have caught one wave on the 8'3 2012 Hokua (90liters)...but it was such hard work that I took that wave straight back in. I tried the 8'0 - 80 liter Hokua - no chance, can't even get to my feet. I'm now riding the 8'10 Hokua LE which is 107 liters and 27 3/4" wide. It's still some work but it's doable for me. I guess everyone just have to find what they are comfortable with. I have as yet not had wider boards underfoot that I preferred over the narrower, longer ones, but we'll be receiving the LE X32's shortly and I'll give them a bash.

I still found the pool event quite entertaining, it must be great to know that the element of chance is eliminated as you are guaranteed the same waves as your competitor. Having said that, surfing belongs in the ocean and will never be replaced by pools - but as a once a year spectacle I find it cool.

Peter,

Please forgive my quick series of posts, but hey what they heck.

At 85kg, a 90kg board is WAY to low.

1. Going low in volume is just the wrong way to increase performance. There are all sorts of tricks a shaper can use to keep volume high whilst delivering great performance. Reducing volume is the last thing one should do.

2. My small board, at 7'6x25, is 84L. I weight 72kg. That's a 1.16:1 ratio.

3. That means that if I weighed 85kg, I'd be on a 99L board.

I've spent a lot of time falling on my face to be able to ride little boards. Play it safe and stick around 105L! Or heck why not 110L? This is supposed to be fun after all. Even a lot of the pros are not pushing the volume to ridiculous levels - even when competing (in the ocean not a pool).

Looking at the very top few pros and aiming for their level of stability is not the way to do things in my opinion. Colas and I like to break down what they're riding as more of an academic exercise and to look for design ideas, but not to chase exactly what their dimensions. (That said... I would love to have a ridiculous board in the 7'x23 range just for messing around - but I'd expect to be falling on my face the whole time!).

Ultimately: Goodness, talk to a shaper who knows how to make high performance boards. There's no reason that you need to look at a 32" wide board - that's as crazy as trying to ride an 80L board when weighing 85kg. Get something in the 7'10 to 8'10 range, 27-29 wide, and 105L-115L. That's my prescription, knowing nothing about you, knowing nothing about your conditions, and knowing nothing about your ability :)

Agreed on all points - that's why my go-to board is the 8'10 LE at 107 liters.....I can ride the 100 liter 8'3 LE Hokua - but it has to be clean conditions and then it's still tiring.

The other thing you need to remember about these low volume boards is yes they do sink (only a few inches) but not to the bottom , once you drown one they become alot more stable. It's a whole new skill set to stand on but it is possible. What makes it look worse in the wave pool is the rebound from the side and back walls would make it super hard to stand on these boards.