consensus on the best coast/wave boards

endoshred · Since 22 May 2006 232 Posts HR Stoked

i'm ready to find a coast board. i am 150lbs and will ride goofy on the coast. i have always had a twin tip for all conditions. i was in ventana this winter and had fun with the twin on some of the bigger wave days, but i was often gettin swallowed by the waves on the twin. i then watched guys on the wave boards just killing it in the surf with the wave boards, just hitting the lips hard and floating over the white water for bottom turn after bottom turn. that looks like the shit for the waves and would open it up a whole new experience.

everyone seems to offer a wave board of different lengths and styles. i know this has been hashed out before on the forum, but seems like its the right time of year to bring it up again. i was hoping hein could chime in on his latest work and his views on the trends. is there a big difference from last years designs to this years? would a coast board work on a big rufus swell day?

Hein · Since 08 Mar 2005 1313 Posts Possessed

The consensus is pretty much anything will work.
And there are a lot of things worth trying.

I'm just finishing the 5-9 (12.5,19.5,15.75) shown
in my avatar and will be taking it back to Texas.
I'll be riding it without straps. I don't ride with
straps much but I do have a 5-1 set up with
an angled front strap and over center rear strap.
That feels more comfortable to me than along the
center line. I'm building a pair of the skis and if they
work in the flat water I'm going to give them a go
in the surf. They ended up being 122x23.5 with a
nicely rockered single to double side cut concave
and flipped tips. Surf skis?

boredbrain · Since 16 Feb 2006 352 Posts Hood River Obsessed

Surf Skis

lets see em Cool

Now on the front strap, being angled, is it still on centerline? or offset like the the 3 straps on mine, I am modifying my 5'1" and it is setiup like the windsurfing stance. If I have just one front strap, it needs to be in line for jibing.

but if it is comfortable enough to ride out on your toes and not have to jibe it may be worth trying.

BK

Ryan · Since 14 Jul 2005 536 Posts Oregon Addicted

Endo,

you have to answer 1 question first. are you going to 'surf' with a kite or are you going to kite with a surfboard?

if you want to surf and most of it will be in oregon, i would look for what you would normaly surf on w/wo straps. like a 6'0".

if you want to kite with a surfboard. i would look for something in the small 5 foot range with straps.

i weight 150 as well, ride the 5'11" SS SRT. its just large enough to surf but in anything smaller than shoulder high it needs some help from the kite to really go. it has alot of rocker and is really designed for larger more powerful waves that we get here in oregon. i also find the fins have a ton of drag...fine for riding waves but the board is very slow compared to a TT. I wonder if a 4 fin design would be better, ie less drag. i really notice my quads at the end of a long day on the SRT compared to a TT.

hope this helps

Ryan

gabe · Since 16 May 2005 475 Posts Obsessed

if i was goofy, i would invest time asap learning to ride switch so i could ride frontside on the west coast. hein actually makes backside look pretty good, but in general, i would not want to be stuck doing that for years...

by the way, kiteworld is such a superior magazine to "the kiteboarder" silliness. it actually contains some information you may not already know. sorry marina. it's too expensive for print copy, but the online version is actually worth it. clearly the british audience has driven them to higher standards.