Topic: more on board dimensions and weight
Today I tryed a 11 feet long, 30 (!) inches wide Jimmy Lewis epoxy stand up board. Superwide tail. Nice pads over two thirds of the board (what about nose riding?).
Very easy balance (compared to my 12.6x26 one), a good board for beginner standuppers, i'd say.
Somehow, it was more difficult to catch waves, though.
Here's a couple of reasons:
- when I paddled hard to catch the wave, the board tended to turn to the opposite side of the paddling instead of going straight in the line I put it. That's because of the combination of the lenght and width. To get this, imagine two extremes. A completely round board would only spin around when you paddle. A mile long narrow board will only go straight. Also, the fact that it was lighter made it turn easier because of the less grip of the board itself in the water.
- more against the lightness: a light board doesn't keep the momentum. I was paddling like crazy, accellerating while the paddle was in the water and decellerating while the paddle was out of the water. The speed was going up and down as I paddled. My heavier board takes longer to get started, but then it keeps going while I paddle.
Let's talk about the behavior on the wave.
The board felt "clumsy". The huge tail didn't help, but, sorry if I insist, the stiffness and the lightness of the epoxy board gave me the feeling that I was riding something TOO floaty and bouncy.
Later in the day, a perfect 8-10 knots wind picked up and I had one my best longboard sailling session ever. In particular, I remember a super steep left on which I reached a speed the I had never experienced going upwind on the longboard. Being pretty deep, I could make the whole upwind bowl, a section that is hard to make even on a shortboard. And you know why? Because of the weight that kept the board stick to the steep face of the upper third of that wave and made so that the board could continuosly get the push and the energy of it.
The epoxy board I tried this morning (assuming somebody put a mast track, of course), would have skipped over the surface too much and got out of control at the first chop. And I would probably be dead now...
Sorry this took so long. Sometime it's not easy to put in words things that your body feels. That's when poetry comes in handy...
Heavy polyester boards forever.