Great vid..

Yeah the board thing is interesting.. I wouldn't want to paddle onto those waves on a 10' mana.. These guys know the drill.. and they have their quivers.

DJ

I agree Jacko and I reckon it has to do with the curvier rocker he would have on that SUP of his.

Personally I can't understand why some of the guys are riding what look like blown up longboards on waves like Sunset and Chopes. I also don't get the flatter rockers on some of the designs either.

Hey Hilly, the 8 8 would be crap in surf like that, have tried it at 2nd Bombie Long Reef, which is not dissimilar to Sunset in some ways.

I have surfed Sunset at a similar size (not on a SUP) and it is a damn tricky wave to surf, hard to bottom turn on out the back.

The theory behind guns though is that they should have slightly more rocker and it seems to me that with a lot of SUP design, the emphasis is on paddle speed and glide to the detriment of performance.

Anyways I am no expert in SUP design just throwing it out there for discussion.

goatman said...

Hey Hilly, the 8 8 would be crap in surf like that, have tried it at 2nd Bombie Long Reef, which is not dissimilar to Sunset in some ways.

I have surfed Sunset at a similar size (not on a SUP) and it is a damn tricky wave to surf, hard to bottom turn on out the back.

The theory behind guns though is that they should have slightly more rocker and it seems to me that with a lot of SUP design, the emphasis is on paddle speed and glide to the detriment of performance.

Anyways I am no expert in SUP design just throwing it out there for discussion.

My 10er has more rocker than my 12er and it feels like it gets to a hull speed due to the rocker and width way sooner than the 12er and is way harder to paddle into anything over 2x head due to the water/wind coming up the face.

Narrower would be the go that is why the light weights like Kai will do well.

Sunset looks tough.

hilly said...


My 10er has more rocker than my 12er and it feels like it gets to a hull speed due to the rocker and width way sooner than the 12er and is way harder to paddle into anything over 2x head due to the water/wind coming up the face.

Narrower would be the go that is why the light weights like Kai will do well.

Sunset looks tough.

Narrower is definately the go, I want 27" for my semi gun (lucky I am a light weight 82 kg)

Yeah the strong offshore would be a big factor in getting in to them - something we don't get a whole lot of over here. You wouldn't want it too light either!

allrounder said...

i think its bonga..

I think he is on a PSH

PT SUP said...

Judging from the footage ,Bongo was the only one doing critical snaps and rail turns.
Any one agree??
Great vid.
PT

I agree. I am a new member chiming in from Oahu. Bonga was ripping and made SUP look like it belonged at Sunset. Some of the other guys, not so much. Some guys looked happy to just make the drop as I would be if I was there. We have to be patient. Sunset is one of the toughest waves on the planet and makes a lot of good surfers look not so good. Bottom line, the guys were charging so everyone will get better by the month. This sport is still a baby.

Rocker and steep sections are fine. Have a look at the vid it is not always steep lots of pretty flat sections to negotiate. Fine balancing act the shaper is following.

Daneli said...

I agree it's an interesting discussion.

I'm only new but I'm getting confused over 2 different consenses so I'm hoping someone can put this straight.

1) Boards with more rocker (assuming same width & tail shape) can surf/turn better in the steeper more critical part of the wave. I can agree with this.

2) Boards with more rocker won't be as fast as flatter boards (assuming same width) on a steeper section of the wave. Not sure about this.

Thanks

My understanding is this: Bigger wave means you need to control the incredible speed generated by the large drops you will be taking when turning, plus you have to be able to paddle in to them.

Characteristics common in big wave surfboards include longer, thicker, narrower, slightly more rocker, pulled in nose and tail, often V bottoms combined with double concaves.

Sunset is a tricky wave to surf because it has a very sloping bottom shape in lots of sections - this makes bottom turning more difficult, then it will hit the inside and suck up like crazy. To be honest I wouldn't have thought speed was an issue unless the board had a crazy amount of rocker or was too short, the bigger problem is being able to crank a powerful enough bottom turn to generate the drive required to make the next section.

The way I see it, this is the design problem for SUP shapers - to be able to make a craft that has a large surface area (ie wide and long) - that is able to be turned hard off the bottom of a very 'sloping' surface at high speed. This has to be balanced with enough volume to be able to paddle the thing into a 20 foot face with a 20 knot offshore blowing at ya.

Pardon my crapping on - I am mucking around with shaping software and have been thinking about it for months now (making a gun that is) - its all just theory of course till ya get out amongst it.

very interesting thread dudes

and some great points on design

keep em rolling

I am pretty sure nobody surfs SUP at sunset except for a few of the local boys like Kala and those guys. Those guys surf where they want and back it up with skills. As far as I know, only Ikaika, Kianoa Mcgee and Kala surf Pipe on SUP. These spots are heavily localized and sort themselves out pretty well from what I have seen.

Back to judging criteria,was Bongo scoring the highest wave scores??
Not detracting from the place getters in any way.Just a question.

It looked like Bonga was on a PSH ripper but I can't be sure. Someone from the shop said he came in before the contest but not sure.