Hi guys : )

[WaterLogged]

Logged, maybe you should fill in some details. How tall are you and how long is your board? If your board is about as long as you are tall, give or take a couple inches, when your trying to catch a wave from the forward position on your board you should be able to still make good use of your flippers for extra push to catch the wave and be able to get up without any fiddling around with your position.

I'm 5'10 and my board is 6'0.

I am so disappointed. I really wanted to go out today, and as the storm system passed, some 29 kt West winds picked up. Not good for South facing beaches!

[WaterLogged]

Logged, maybe you should fill in some details. How tall are you and how long is your board? If your board is about as long as you are tall, give or take a couple inches, when your trying to catch a wave from the forward position on your board you should be able to still make good use of your flippers for extra push to catch the wave and be able to get up without any fiddling around with your position.

I'm 5'10 and my board is 6'0.

I am so disappointed. I really wanted to go out today, and as the storm system passed, some 29 kt West winds picked up. Not good for South facing beaches!

[willli]

Hi waterlogged, I surf much further east than you, but long island just the same. you are experiencing the same frustration any bodyboarder would have transitioning to a surfboard, and you're trying to do it in winter to boot. for starters, board out in front hanging off the back kicking ala BB, forget it. we have too many short period windwave events, you need to learn to be nimble. That means paddle in in trim, nose down. sitting on the board you need to learn to drop the tail and pivot, then roll forward in trim. time the wave, we don't get to watch it for 100 yards, they pop on us. Arm paddle! some deep strong strokes and the tail will lift, fins are gold at this point cos you can grab the rails while kicking like mad and all the water you need for those kicks is rising behind you. use those arms on the rails to snap to your knees and you're off. surfing predominantly short-period windsurf can be frustrating but after awhile you'll learn not to bother with the kneeboard when the buoy is pinging 2 foot.

The KBs that Mike shaped were for guys that were arm paddlers - stand ups that wanted kneeboards, so the design is for arm paddling - a longer board, great for paddling, fins back. Mike has incredible prices for hand shaped boards (I paid under $500), so I wouldn't mind working with him again.

I took a good look around our local some 7 years ago before deciding none of these home shapers really understood kneeboarding. the fact that any of them are even looking toward kneeling now has everything to do with the resurrection of the fish in the stand-up world. think it through. all the key statements are in your own words... shaped for arm paddlers (so learn that).. fins back is going to give you trouble cos a stand-up uses his back foot to control this engine. Learning in windwave, those back skegs are going to be frustrating. incredible prices... i'm a big fan of local support, and for 30+ years as a stand-up I threw a lot of money at local shapers, but when I transitioned to kneeboarding i wanted performance right out of the gate, so I wrote to Mr Alan McCray and he delivered one sweet round pin quad KNEEBOARD. 7 years ago that board had stand-ups begging for a go, most had never seen a quad, couldn't believe the turns it was capable of (fins forward) and not one questioned WHY I kneeboarded. the general comment was 'some day I'm getting one of those'.

I couldn't let a post from NY go unanswereed. hope this helps. I surf Westhampton to Montauk, when I can. the days of dropping everything to surf every swell ended when I turned 55. riding a kneeboard is the most enlightened thing I've done as a surfer, so glad i saved the best for last.

[KenM]

WL, at 5'10" a 6'0"" board is not too long by any means. Willlli has given you a perfect template for catching waves on a kneeboard. Follow that and practice it till it becomes second nature and you'll get plenty of waves. Have fun.

[WaterLogged]

Hi waterlogged, I surf much further east than you, but long island just the same. you are experiencing the same frustration any bodyboarder would have transitioning to a surfboard, and you're trying to do it in winter to boot. for starters, board out in front hanging off the back kicking ala BB, forget it. we have too many short period windwave events, you need to learn to be nimble. That means paddle in in trim, nose down. sitting on the board you need to learn to drop the tail and pivot, then roll forward in trim. time the wave, we don't get to watch it for 100 yards, they pop on us. Arm paddle! some deep strong strokes and the tail will lift, fins are gold at this point cos you can grab the rails while kicking like mad and all the water you need for those kicks is rising behind you. use those arms on the rails to snap to your knees and you're off. surfing predominantly short-period windsurf can be frustrating but after awhile you'll learn not to bother with the kneeboard when the buoy is pinging 2 foot.

The KBs that Mike shaped were for guys that were arm paddlers - stand ups that wanted kneeboards, so the design is for arm paddling - a longer board, great for paddling, fins back. Mike has incredible prices for hand shaped boards (I paid under $500), so I wouldn't mind working with him again.

I took a good look around our local some 7 years ago before deciding none of these home shapers really understood kneeboarding. the fact that any of them are even looking toward kneeling now has everything to do with the resurrection of the fish in the stand-up world. think it through. all the key statements are in your own words... shaped for arm paddlers (so learn that).. fins back is going to give you trouble cos a stand-up uses his back foot to control this engine. Learning in windwave, those back skegs are going to be frustrating. incredible prices... i'm a big fan of local support, and for 30+ years as a stand-up I threw a lot of money at local shapers, but when I transitioned to kneeboarding i wanted performance right out of the gate, so I wrote to Mr Alan McCray and he delivered one sweet round pin quad KNEEBOARD. 7 years ago that board had stand-ups begging for a go, most had never seen a quad, couldn't believe the turns it was capable of (fins forward) and not one questioned WHY I kneeboarded. the general comment was 'some day I'm getting one of those'.

I couldn't let a post from NY go unanswereed. hope this helps. I surf Westhampton to Montauk, when I can. the days of dropping everything to surf every swell ended when I turned 55. riding a kneeboard is the most enlightened thing I've done as a surfer, so glad i saved the best for last.

Well, before I was a bodyboarder, I was a standup surfer, and I rode short, funshape and longboards. I've been surfing for 15 years. Bodyboarding allowed me to go out during ankle slappers to double OH and catch everything in sight, from sitting deep in the lineup with everyone else to sitting in the inside catching cleanup sets that were already jacking up. What I'm not used to is having to use fins while using a surfboard. It doesn't feel natural although I know it's necessary. For me, my brain says while lying on a surfboard, you paddle with arms. It's a matter of retraining. As far as surfing/learning in winter, I surf year round. As long as I have a 6/5/4 and 7mm boots and gloves, I'm fine. If I don't, I'll miss out on months of surfing, and I don't want to do that. I try to go out for most Nor'easters to get a piece of longer period swell, but Long Island subsists on short and medium period windswell from the passage of low pressure systems and I'm used to it. The only thing I won't do with the KB is take it out in chop, I wait for the cleanup just to make things easier for myself.

I have a neurological disorder and standup surfing just wasn't an option anymore. BB is fun, and I love it, but I wanted something different.

I'm a competent arm paddler, being that I arm paddle to give my legs a break when BB, but it's more difficult to get a BB going by sheer arm power. Also considering it's size - my board is 43.25. I haven't been on a surfboard in quite sometime - but the memory is there. There were no issues paddling out to the break, but once I started paddling for swells, I instinctively started kicking my legs. It's a habit that's going to need to be broken.

The shaper that I used *did* speak to KB shapers, and he's also one of the best shapers we have here. The shape of the board is a Dean Cleary model for small, mushy surf (typical Long Island). Unfortunately, I didn't have the funds to order a custom from out of the country from one of the better known KB shapers or for board plus shipping (almost a grand) from a domestic shaper, so I needed to work with what I have. Mike is a great shaper who was stoked to make a KB, who had made other KBs and was willing to talk to other shapers. Right now I am planning on having fun and learning.

Maybe I'll see you out at Montauk. I've been out to Ditch and Trailer Park on good swells - great places.

[willli]

waterlogged, since you know surfboards this should be a walk in the park to shake the rust off. you don't HAVE to wear fins to KB, its an option, a good one in my opinion. with your background as stand-up leave the fins on the beach, figure where the board is in wave catching trim, surprise yourself with what you already know. then fit the fins to your surfing. I use em to cruise the line-up, hold against currents. my comment about winter had more to do with the 6mils than the weather. Mike is a good shaper and the net has opened up the information world, sounds like he did his best to do you solid, hope it works, but I'm skeptical about fins back. We'd have a better shot of chance meeting up at Turtles or AFB, I don't make the trip to MTK unless its chest or better. Last time I surfed Ditch all these logs kept following me around, I wrote the place off for KB..I think its fantastic you're on this KB path, the rewards are sublime. all the best.

[WaterLogged]

waterlogged, since you know surfboards this should be a walk in the park to shake the rust off. you don't HAVE to wear fins to KB, its an option, a good one in my opinion. with your background as stand-up leave the fins on the beach, figure where the board is in wave catching trim, surprise yourself with what you already know. then fit the fins to your surfing. I use em to cruise the line-up, hold against currents. my comment about winter had more to do with the 6mils than the weather. Mike is a good shaper and the net has opened up the information world, sounds like he did his best to do you solid, hope it works, but I'm skeptical about fins back. We'd have a better shot of chance meeting up at Turtles or AFB, I don't make the trip to MTK unless its chest or better. Last time I surfed Ditch all these logs kept following me around, I wrote the place off for KB..I think its fantastic you're on this KB path, the rewards are sublime. all the best.

Ever since I started BB, I discovered how useful those damn fins are.

Especially a day when there is East or West in the winds, forget it, there's a sideshore rip here, a sideshore rip there, here a rip, there a rip, everywhere a rip rip. I've had too many days of me meeting the jetty getting caught up in the drift. Having those fins on - forget it - they've kept my butt out of a lot of hairy situations. They grow on you.

I was going to make a comment about Ditch like great place, tough crowd, but I didn't know how attached you were to any of the beaches at MTK, and I didn't want to insult your home break. I've seen Ditch locals break people's boards over some minor indiscretion. Turtles and AFB are great places, too - really challenging places to surf, and considerably less morons.

I was thinking about old surfboards today. I sold my log to get the cash to buy my KB. It was the last board I had. In the end, I mostly had eggs, logs and funshapes. As my balance got worse, I stuck to longer boards. But then I got to thinking about my Pavel Speed Dialer, and how I used to dropknee that thing squeezing into little toobage. Damn. I should have saved that one. I'm sure it would have been a little too stiff for KB, but it would have been fun to try. That was a fun board.

I'm thinking of heading down to Belmar or out to MTK to meet up with some of my BB friends. Looks like West winds/small swell is going to be the surf du jour for a bit and NJ and points super East hold up well on West winds.

I get so pissed that I live in LONG BEACH and I have to go to Jerz or the end of the Island to get some clean, decent surf.

[Kev]

...and Dave Parkes has shaped me a new smaller faster one, that is to be sprayed and laminated next week
details and pictures soon

yep, I have now picked up the new board


-
and this one is a real FatBoy
or FatGirl if you like that

http://www.diyfactory.com/surf/Kev01.htm

not surfed yet
and will leave it a couple of days while it cures a little longer
and use that time to make the knee pads and get them glued etc

[WaterLogged]

KEV!!!

That's a SICK board. I really like it!!!!

[Scott]

I love all the fin placement options on what is truly a fun looking shape!

[Kev]

the thread seems to be temporarily highjacked
sorry


the two current boards are both based on Dave's Square Tail ALL Rounder
... the second shape on Dave's Shapes page
http://www.parkesaustralia.com/KneeBoards.htm

yes it's a Quad and I'm not sure I'm into Quads ... but I like my old twinnie

yeah I'm confused too

so I went to visit Dave for the first time and we discussed a board to help me RE-learn to surf
a forgiving all-rounder with lots of choice ... for wide conditions in Victoria

this was the result

-

I was having trouble on larger waves
and waves requiring a deep bottom turn

so while it was being repaired for the loss of an MR-TX fin
I had the extra centre positions added

I wanted the NEW board to have the multi centre
... I seemed to have got one extra
6 plugs in total for 4 positions

[WaterLogged]

hi kev,

i love talking shapes! when i went to my shaper, i told him that i needed a wide/thick, forgiving board that would be good in the east coast's frequent mushy windswell conditions and wouldn't be impossible for me to paddle. we really don't get a lot of OH conditions here, and i tend to stick to head high and under. OH and above around here are an absolute zoo.

so, my shape is so similar to yours, plus i have the 5 fin option. i can also take the fins out to make it a quad, tri-fin etc. my tail is from the dean cleary quest shape.

i am going to take some pics and post them here.

bummer, bro, i wish that you lived here so that we could swap fatty boards and ride.

chris

[Kev]

... my tail is from the dean cleary quest shape.
... i wish that you lived here so that we could swap fatty boards and ride. ...

I've spent some time looking at the DC site and read the descriptions
the Quest has an older look and feel to it.
I've never had a diamond tail but a shaper here believe in them
A round tail Quest would be similar to my old late 80's twin fin.

If your surf is very flat and wide then the big planning area and pivot turns of a Quad would make lots of sense.
You have the multi fin positions so you can try it all.

The RPM model looks very typical of the current aussie shapes and does look like the colourful board that Gigs is using in the latest Simon video.
A FatBoy version of this might make sense for those days when you have a wall to work with.

I would definately be into a board swap durring a session. Stan K is kind enough to do the BoardSwap with me ... often ... it's a good learning experience.