old faithful

Even though i have a few different longboards to choose from, some from the hands (or is that computer mouse) of some of the worlds foremost longboard shapers, over the last couple of days i was in the mood for something old and familiar. Like putting on an old comfortable pair of slippers, stepping onto my 9'4 Gulfstream log is just like coming home. This shape is pretty much what is now their saunton foil model but was a board i custom ordered 5 years ago, drawing on a few boards i'd had and liked before.

Its a magic board that requires almost no mental effort for me to get the best from and for small saunton this goes as well as anything else i own. I think anyone who's ever ridden it has loved it (eh thos?)

hai - Ya!!!

Something about doing these feels super fun

suction, self promotion and the art of noseriding...

Issue 11 of corduroy lines is out now, click here to check it out. I wrote them a piece on the art of noseriding but (as i type this) the mag version has half the text missing (but not in an edited way) and the article makes less sense as a result. I'm sure it's an oversight on their behalf but the full text is below just in case......

The Art Of Noseriding


Magazines like this one are filled with pictures of surfers nonchalantly perched on the tips of their longboards. Yet to many intermediate surfers, standing on the front 18 inches of their boards can seem a daunting, almost impossible prospect.

In truth, noseriding isn't THAT difficult and is within the grasp of most people once you understand how it works. Like many things in surfing, it's difficult to teach people how to noseride, there's a lot of feel and experience involved and this isn't intended as an exhaustive "how to", more a list of tips from someone already in the know.

- Learn to cross step

This isn't a specific noseriding tip, more a general longboarding one. Learning to cross step fluently is a major step to good longboarding. Not only does it look better but it is more functional too, allowing you to move up and down the board quickly and make use of the noseriding sections of the wave as they appear and disappear. If your water time is limited, learning to cross step on a long skateboard or an indo board can help a massive amount
You will notice that some surfers take two steps to the nose while some take four. This is dictated by the length of your legs and the length of your board, to begin with just go with whichever feels "right" to you.

-Pick your waves

Small clean waves are the ideal learning conditions. Although it's possible to hang five in almost any conditions, the bigger and messier the waves get, the more difficult it is. `Ideally  you want a lined up wave that has a long tapering shoulder- there's a reason the worlds two best noseriding waves (Noosa & Malibu) are sandbottomed points.

- YOUR Longboard WILL noseride

Sure some shapes make it easier to stay up there for longer but any board over 9 feet will let you noseride if you get the board in the right place on the wave.

- Practice, practice, practice

Don't be afraid to fall off, just make sure you understand enough to only try and go to the nose when the time is right. Try and analyse your waves and note the differences between the waves where it worked and it didn't so you can concentrate on replicating the successes.

- Positioning

This is the biggest part of getting your toes on the nose!
In simple terms, when you stand on the nose, your weight is counterbalanced by two things

1) The upwards force exerted by the water rushing up the face of the wave and across the underside of the nose of the board. Wider noses and nose concave increase the amount of lift available

2) The counterweighting force of the wave breaking over the tail of the board. Look at some pictures of people noseriding and you will see that at least the back third of the board is sunk inside the wave. Having soft "50-50" rails and a convex "bellied" bottom in the tail encourage the water to do this. Tail kick also helps here as well as acting to slow the board down and hold it in the wave.

For a really solid noseride, no. 2 is the most important thing. You will see pictures of people perched on the tip where the suction is so great that the whole front third of the board is lifted out of the water. These things only happen if you position yourself in the fastest part of the wave, about two thirds up the face and as close to the breaking part of the wave as possible. The further away from this position you are, the more likely you are to nosedive or stall out of the back of the wave. Straight off your take off you can get in the right spot by fading towards the peak as you paddle in before standing and swinging back the right way. Once riding you can either stall the board and wait for the wave to steepen in front of you or cut back far enough so that the wave is already steep ahead of you as you bottom turn again. Obviously in a sectiony beach break style wave, the wave might steepen ahead of you naturally.
Once the wave is steep ahead of you, dont hesitate, go straight to the nose, the moment can be gone in a split second. Too many people wait too long and let the board trim too far in front of the pocket before they start to move. The board outruns the section and then nosedives as they reach the nose.
It helps to think of starting to walk forward as the board begins to climb the face after you bottom turn so that you arrive on the nose as the board reaches trim, rather than trying to move forward once at the top of the wave with the board already starting to head down the face. Weighting your inside rail helps too. In fact when on your backhand it often helps to have your heel quite a long way across the stringer towards the inside rail.
Unfortunately, knowing exactly when is the right time is one of those "feel" things that takes experience to fully master but trying to heighten your awareness of what is happening on each wave you ride as mentioned earlier speeds up this process.

- Stretch those toes

Don't worry too much about where your back foot is to begin with, just make sure your front toes are properly dangling over the tip. Anything else is just forward trim.

- Don't be greedy

Once you're up there, it's easy to freeze then fall as the wave breaks or stall out of the wave. Often the section will only support you for a short time. Once you sense the board start to slow down or drop down the face, step back, cut back and set up again.

- Watch some videos

There are lots of good logging films and plenty of clips on you tube. When you watch them, analyse what the surfers and waves are doing. Watch waves that show the surfer setting up the noseride. Pause the action just before they go to the nose and look at where they are and what the wave is doing around them. Try and visualise how the wave looks at that moment from the surfers point of view.

Once you become adept at hanging five you'll notice that there are some times where the board feels much more stable and "locked in" compared to others. This might only be for a split second, especially in beach break style waves. These are the moments when the time is right to move the back foot up to hang ten or kick it out into the wave face or hang heels or lift it up and hold it while you stand on one leg! Only feel and experience can help you judge the moments it will work but you can practice the balance needed for the moves over an over again on a long skateboard. Then when you're in the water, you're only learning how to get set up properly not trying to improve your balance as well. This is something i found really useful when learning to hang heels.

- Most of all, have fun with your surfing, after all thats why we all started in the first place isn't it?

I should also mention that Tom Wegener had an article in an issue of pacific longboarder about 8 years ago that greatly contributed to my understanding and influenced what you see here. I think it's still available to read on tomwegener.com

Pic is from Woolacombe a couple of August's ago, shame it isn't this warm all year round!

GS go blogtacular....

Gulfstream surfboards have a new blog up and running featuring the ramblings of shop monkey Will. Check them out here

Picture of Skelton ducking for cover to prevent passersby being blinded by his wetsuit courtesey of Rob Tibbles. Moral of the story is never let someone else have free reign over the colour of your custom wetsuit!

pitted

Though he's far too modest to claim it, this is the local legend that is Mr Skelton owning the point last week. In his usual understated manner he snuck the wave of the day from under the noses of the local pro's & photogs before disappearing back to continue rennovating his kitchen.
Photos & questionable tv border via Rob Tibbles.

on wings of a gul

The ever creative and ever so slightly eccentric John Isaac is now blogging for Gul wetsuits who have been quiet in UK surfing recently but years ago were one of the most visible homegrown brands. No doubt he'll be shaking things up in his usual style. Check his musings out here

gotta love rubber

My 9'4 gulfstream log demonstrating it's suction when on the nose pretty well!

Shamelessly self promoting frame grab courtesy of Andy Haworth, currently hard at work on his film "Devon Lanes and Longboards"

man on a mission

Not even snow and sheet ice can keep an addict from his fix! Short cold hike in was rewarded with a fun clean chest high session where the nasal passage was well and truly explored. Haven't ridden this log for months, pretty light by my standards (still heavy by most peoples!) but really fun to surf it for a change, even if i only chose it cos it was the lightest one to carry!

Go Jools!

So not my pic but stolen in a good cause. (i think it's from wavedreamer but i'm not sure) Some of you will already have heard me bang on about the quality of Gulfstream's boards, well now it is official, shaper Jools Matthews was voted best fish shaper in the UK in Carve Magazine's shaper's poll. Votes were cast by 35 different UK shapers and by a couple of thousand people online.
So congrats to Jools, it's well deserved and anyone in the market for a new fish (or log or anything else) would do well to give him a call!

support your local shaper!

hand crafted goodness

Ironically positioned opposite the aforementioned Tiki shop is Gulfstream surfboards, a true old fashioned surfboard manufacturer where every board is 100% handshaped and finished locally and can be tailored to your exact needs at no extra cost. Over the last five years they have broadened from a focus mainly on shortboards (some of the best around) into an outfit that produce some of the best riding & finished traditional logs in the country, some superb two & four fin fish and plenty of other stuff, all tinted & glassed to californian standards. I know this will come off sounding like an advert for them but the boards speak for themselves, Jools, Skelly, Ellis & co are super nice people, great surfers and they are an example of how good true homegrown board building can be. Companies like Gulfstream are an important part of surfing & deserve your support.

Support your local shaper!

help the homeless

Looking for a loving home, 9'6 Christenson Slider, recently imported from Cali, had about a weeks use at a pointbreak so virtually pristine, would be mine if i had the cash but i don't so it's available to one of you lucky people. Truly a gorgeous log! These are £900 new if you can find one £600 or near offer to you!call the gulfstream shop on 01271 815490 & ask for Simon

the skelton

He'll probably hate me for posting this but......

Skelly, a true local underground legend, surfs better than you, rips on everything from a vintage 60's bilbo to a modern thruster, has one of the largest collections of vintage boards in the country, learnt to play the concertina (really well) for a bet, ex world bellyboard champion, Gulfstream shop manager, spear fisherman, true friend and someone I respect a huge amount. His name would have been all over the mags if he was interested in the recognition but he prefers a simple life with as much water time as possible.

The pic is from midtide, midmorning Saunton, the board is a 5'8 twin keel, shaped by Rich Pavel in exchange for a fish and chip supper when he visited here a couple of years ago. Legend has it that this board and it's 5'4 successor are virtually the only boards Rich has completely handshaped in recent years. Either way they both fly under his feet.

shameless self promotion pt.2

head over keels

Over the last four years i've been nursing a serious obsession with fish, particularly those of the keel variety, there's just something about the feel and rhythm they produce as they move down the line, drawing lateral rather than vertical lines. This beauty was my now departed 5'10 gulfstream, copied from a fish shaped by jimmy blears just after he won the 72 world contest, complete with glue on rubber leash disk. My current fave is a magic 5'8 Larry Mabile classic keel replete with double foiled ply keels and a glass job to die for, definately a keeper and a board that i can honestly say i have never had a bad surf on.

Weirdly fishing does nothing for me, probably something to do with my inability to sit still!

cp drop knee

You can't beat the feeling of a well timed drop knee cutback on a heavy single fin on a waist high wave. It's one of my favorite things about traditional style logging (as well as noseriding obviously) yet I recently developed a real mental block about doing them. 

Like many things in surfing (and life), if you stop overthinking it and just do it, things usually work out.

Normal service is now resumed.

Photo from woolacombe last summer courtesy of wavedreamer

one for tommy...