Because I'm one of those people who likes to tick things off lists, I took out my friends 7-foot something Mobley surfboard (I think it's 7'4", but he's not sure and I didn't care enough to get out the tape measure). He gave it to me to repair a ding he made (on dry land, in his room when another unused surfboard of his fell on it). I told him I'd repair it if I got to take the board out. Of course, I have a hard time taking anything else but my Cooperfish out in the water because I can't bear the thought of not surfing it. But, like I said, I like to tick things off lists, so I took the Mobley out this morning.
I haven't surfed anything shorter than 9-feet in six months. And that was only for a couple of weeks. Since November, I've really only surfed 9'7". First impression paddling out on 7-something? "Man, why do shortboarders subject themselves to this?! There is absolutely no reason to waste energy paddling out. I miss my longboard!"
Anyway, I caught a right straight-away and was sort of surprised I didn't doink. WOW is it easy to turn a short(er)board! Whip whip whip. Blam on the lip. I don't know if it's easy because longboarding requires some finesse in turning or if it's easy because it's just EASY.
Hardest part for me was knowing when I caught the wave and subsequently popping up fast enough to catch the shoulder. I found myself staring at the nose of the board a lot, which slowed my pop-up. Bad bad bad. I never do this on the Cooperfish (sometimes I don't even look at the board at all, which can create a whole slew of other problems).
Conversely, I found popping to my feet going left was fine. My bad habit of backside railgrabs were not a problem. So I'm locating my fear and bad habits and I'll be on this board for a while so I can break the railgrab habit and get back on the Cooperfish with better style.
I swear I must be the only person who gets on a short(er)board so she can get better on the longboard.
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3 comments:
you are not the only one grasshopper... I've found that shortboarding will improve longboarding, but not the other way around.
I'm with that too, my sister. I've now moved down to the 9'0". I'm dying to get on my 7'0" but I don't think the waves on the second shift are conducive to riding that board. But, yes, I'm going shorter too in an effort to get better on the log.
Shorter to go longer! I love it. I'm really itchin' to get back to the longboard after only two days on the short(er)board, but now I'm just being stubborn.
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