Colas, I read one of your posts a while back about weight to litres ratios. If I'm looking at getting one of the older 2014 JP surfpro 8'0 models and am weighing in at 89 kgs...what will make them a lot of work to paddle around? I remember reading you say that once underwater they are more stable and don't have the corky feeling... but what makes them so hard to paddle around when the whole board is under water. Is it the strength you have to put into your strokes or just that you are stroking a lot more?
I am currently losing weight and will be down to 85 again now I'm back surfing after being in the sin bin with injuries. My rotators are ****ed so I'm wondering if the more work part is more endurance stuff of strength stuff that loads the shoulders up
I'm currently on the 8'2, 32 widebody I think its a 2014 model and it is a piece of piss, looking for something to cutback and go into foam climbs with.
On the JP, I would need to know the volume...
My experience:
- low volume boards are hard to paddle because they drag a lot of water when moving. It is like paddling a board with a floating anchor. They take off easily once you get the hang of "popping" the board into the wave like a cork, as on a prone shortboard, but paddling around is a workout.
- narrow-nosed boards (like the JP pro) are hard to paddle because the pull on your paddle will make the board nosedive easily and catch a rail. Thus you must paddle them with the nose out of the water, reducing even more the useful volume. This explains why you need more liters to feel the same balance on a pointy-nosed board compared to a wide-nosed one, especially the ones with parallel rails up front.
- low volume boards are easier in chop because there is less parasitic movement from the board deck going in and out the water and changing its balancing characteristics constantly. but they have no "stable zone", they are always rolling to the right or left. So it is easier to keep the balance, but it is more work, and it is tiring faster.
As for your case, I guess you should aim for narrow boards (to help in the fast rail-to-rail in cutbacks), but with enough volume to spare your shoulders the effort of moving a floating anchor. For my 100kg, 1m67 high, 56 years my limit is a 7'4"x28" x118 liters pointy nosed, which is still manageable and give me more rail-to-rail performance than I am capable of exploiting. So I guess this means for a narrow JP Pro shape, 15 to 25 liters more than your weight in kilos.
I have also the other option: a wide-nosed 7'5"x29"3/4 x 105 liters which is as stable to paddle around, but more tiring and less smooth but with more accelerations. I prefer the wide and low volume one by personal taste, but the narrower would be more suited to you I guess.
And of course, narrow AND low volume is not worth it for me: I do not have the level to go into surf powerful enough for these boards to bring advantages to offset the stability disadvantages.
The 2014 8.2 jp wide body is around 124 litres, the 8.0 surf is under 100...doable as I've seen it done but by elite riders. Will be a challenge I reckon.
FYI I had the 2014 8.2 widebody then went down to a 105 litre 8.2 x 29.5 custom and now on a 90 litre 7.10 x 27 custom... I am 70kg.....
Select to expand quoteLoz79 said..
doable as I've seen it done but by elite riders. Will be a challenge I reckon.
It is doable, but is it worth it?
For the record, I once switched boards with a guy that had a pointed nose Imagine Impact 7'10" x 27 3/4 x 84l
So 15 liters less than my weight, and a negative flotation of ~ -25 liters
I was able to stand up on it around 20 seconds max before losing my concentration and falling.
So I just paddled prone, and standup up just before the wave, to take off in the next 10 seconds.
It worked, I got 3 waves, didnt missed one, but:
- Once on the wave I was so mentally exhausted that I had no juice left to ride aggressively
- I felt that the board was much more capable of performance than I was able to do, in big part because I was not mentally prepared to know what to do, how to place my body and efforts with such quick turns.
So, I can ride a 84 liters pointy-nosed board. But I did not it feel worthwhile as it was too big a jump for my current abilities, going down in size but with more manageable steps were much more productive.
It is a good training from time to time however. Try to find an old prone longboard with enough volume and practice paddling around to boost your balance.
Note also that not all the pro are on sinking boards. Keahi uses mainly a 92 liters board for his 80kg...
Thanks for the replies
Another question,
What you blokes are saying about thinner rails is interesting. I used to ride a 7 foot gun shortboard and on that thing I felt like I could hit any section and it would always stick the landing. It kind of felt like the bigger the board the easier it was to stick end sections and foam climbs but...comparing to the widebody, it is the opposite. It feels way to big and sketchy to attack some of those sections because the board fees very unpredictable. Is this the width of the board and quad set up that is doing this though? Has anybody tried both these boards, and if so does the JP pro feel better for hitting foam end sections and power surfing because of the narrow width compared to the wide body that has big width and is pretty flat also?
The widebody is an epic board for fat small powerful waves with that thick sand you see down Sydney but around tweed it has its limitations when the waves get a little suckier and require a little more power
I've surfed both, the wide body at 32 wide with quad setup was more of a fun board for me. A great board but way too wide with too much volume for someone my weight to surf critically with it...Chalk and cheese comparing it to the 8.0 jp pro.it's a huge jump tho between the two, be careful not to bite off more than you can chew or you will not have much fun! I'd be looking more at the 8'6 jp pro at your weight...
Select to expand quoteLoz79 said..
I've surfed both, the wide body at 32 wide with quad setup was more of a fun board for me. A great board but way too wide with too much volume for someone my weight to surf critically with it...Chalk and cheese comparing it to the 8.0 jp pro.it's a huge jump tho between the two, be careful not to bite off more than you can chew or you will not have much fun! I'd be looking more at the 8'6 jp pro at your weight...
Was the 8'6 easier to surf more critically with compared to the Widebody?
Yep, it is much narrower than the wide body and around 110 litres from memory.. the 2015 Is a bit different to the 2014 model and they seem to have not changed much since.. much more of a "performance" board...Maybe try to pm Piros on here, he knows the JPs much better than me...
Select to expand quoteJosephBetts said..
It feels way to big and sketchy to attack some of those sections because the board fees very unpredictable.
Definitively, less of everything helps controlling the board in the foam (length, width, volume), but I am not expert enough to have more advice: I tend to avoid hitting the foam and the associated injury risks. In my limited experience, wide extremities seems to help, though.
In the JP line, maybe you should demo the slates?
Select to expand quotecolas said..JosephBetts said..
It feels way to big and sketchy to attack some of those sections because the board fees very unpredictable.
Definitively, less of everything helps controlling the board in the foam (length, width, volume), but I am not expert enough to have more advice: I tend to avoid hitting the foam and the associated injury risks. In my limited experience, wide extremities seems to help, though.
In the JP line, maybe you should demo the slates?
You reckon I could handle the 7'2, 28 slate being 95 litres and 10kgs above my weight...would the tomo shape give it enough buoyancy or you reckon that still would not be enough. I'd be looking at taking it out caba headland, fingal cause way and back beaches, hasto's...all these waves when there's a south/east swell on and nearly impossible to bottom turn on the widebody?
