Stokety-Stoke-Stick


Clean head-high surf early yesterday and some really fun rides on the Simster. More fun this morning too...

Random thoughts:

As you improve at surfing things take a shift in the search for that stokety-stoked feeling. I caught a sad wave – I didn't feel that excited after a ride that should have been. The realisation is that as you get better you've got to make your stoke by really riding the wave with style and ideas/moves. When you're beginning it all feels like a jumble and those stoke sparkling waves come along by chance and without warning. As you get better riding along a nice 3-4ft face becomes normal and then it's time to start making some moves.

Boards and rocks don't mix. Rob tried it on Sunday. Biggest ding I've ever seen right across the nose. Still, I saw him cutting some lovely lines across a nice wave just after so it was still working.

At the end of today's session I got furious with myself after about my fifth in a row kooked-up pop-up. It's no good to get in that state of mind. Waste of time and self-perpetuating, but sometimes when you've glanced along the wave and glimpsed the ride that's coming, only to plant your front foot all cock-eyed and dive into the face is sincerely infuriating!!!

My neck is killing me. Taking up surfing at forty has certainly meant a great spread of niggling pains and injuries over the last two years (mainly shoulders, arms, wrists and even fingers). Take it up earlier if you can.

Comments

  1. Glad you're liking the board- despite the hype and backlash and so on, it's a truly fun and functional design. Given a bit of time it's easy to get it dialed in amazingly, and as one who took up surfing a lot earlier but is now 40 (and a bit) I can say you still get the pains, some of them probably worse from the years of being thrashed.

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  2. Can you give us a long term road test now you've put some miles on the Simster?

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  3. The board has a beautiful feel as it drops/glides smoothly into waves, for me this is the winning aspect of it's character due to the hully nose and width. Once you've got some speed up if you get your foot placement right it gets a nice bite into the turn - if you don't dig the rail in enough I find it flattens/skips out (my bad!). For me I've never escaped the feeling that this 6'0 is too buoyant for me - but the flip side of that is that I get loads of waves on it, especially as I'm tiring after a couple of hours in the water. I've enjoyed it a lot but now mainly take it out if I'm feeling a bit tired and/or if it's a bit messy. It's gone well in overhead waves but I find it tougher to surf backhand. I have found that I prefer the feel of my 5'8 Bing Dharma and I also loved the Tyler Warren 'Bar of Soap' 5'2 that I had a go on - both of these gave me a playfulness and different feeling in the bottom turn that I like a lot. The Simster's a bit curious in the turn as it is what it is - a Simmons with a more stabilising aspect. At the momen it seems I'm preferring either a quad, a twin fin or a thruster. It's a board I'll keep as it is one of a kind - but it's not been my favourite... yet! I think it's day may come in a few years when I need a little more volume. We'll see... However, my opinion must be tempered, basically, by the two facts that (a.) I am a relatively inexperienced surfer and (b.) I'd probably have been better off going for a 5'6 Simster for it to feel more like I wanted it to. After saying all that, just writing this is making me want to take it out again!

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