Surf A Big Board. Don't Just Ride it. By Len Barrow

Most people just “ride” their SUP or long board. Ben Aipa, the famous coach, always told me to “surf” a big board and not to ride it. Well what does this mean, you may ask? Most surfers just half turn and don’t think much of truly engaging the rail. Engaging the rail means holding a cutback on your SUP for more than just a second, to fully sweep the board in a 180 degree arc toward the white wash. This is Surfing, not riding. This is what looks good.








Yet this is easier said than done as a SUP or long board has so much rail and thickness compared to short-boards. On a short-board, it is easy to make mistakes as you can recover easily as the rail is so short (less rail to dig) and the board is so rockered. On a SUP or longboard there is no room for error due to the sheer volume of the board. This is how you do it.








The Sweeping “20%” turn:





Most people turn their big board using too much rail. This means that they engage about 40-60% of the rail in the wave while they pivot into turn. The end result is a turn that is slow, sluggish and a “Half turn” due to loss of speed. This is called bogging, or weak surfing in surfing terminology. That is why most expert surfers are horrified to see sup surfers ride. Most Sup -surfers don’t surf with speed power and flow because they are engaging to much rail in the water and rapidly bleeding off to much speed.








The solution to this is literally what I call “wheelie” surfing. When you pivot on your tail to cutback, the rear 20-30% of the tail should be in the water and engaged. This is where the sharp “edge” of the rail is (chime) and the most lift of the board comes from. As your board is designed with sharp, chimed rails in the rear, use it! This allows you to keep speed through the turn. If you pivot on the forward rounded rail you lose too much speed as the water wraps around the full, non-chimed rail. That is why experienced shapers keep a high edge in the tail of the boards rail.









More importantly, as you engage so little rail friction becomes your ally not your enemy. More specifically; the rail that is designed to lift is on your tail-block. Due the sharp chimed tail edge of your tail-block, your board loses no speed and you are allowed to “surf” a 180 degree turn. This allows you to surf with speed power and flow. Use the least amount of rail when you pivot a big board.







Pop release the board







After conducting a longs sustained turn simply Pop the board by literally jumping lightly of your board like a skateboard “olly jump”. When a skateboarder olly’s his board literally gets off the ground as he is lifting his weight off the board briefly. You see, after conducting a long sweeping turn, you lose speed. To counter this, you must unweight the board to regain momentum again. This maintains speed power and flow. This sounds weird, yet any good surfing coach knows the value of “surfing Light” by popping the board.







The above techniques center around small to moderate waves. My next will address utilizing the full length of the rail as a type of fin to power surf. Stay tuned. This is a another story!









In the end, do you want your surfing to look weak and soft? Professional Coaches call this “limp wrist surfing (yes with all of the obvious connotations)”. Or, do you want to be a “Carvin Marvin with a Pocket Pistol?” The choice is yours. It’s not as hard as it seems if you follow these tips. Surf your Board, don’t just ride it. It’s all good! See you in the water!

The Tale of the Tail, by Len Barrow

Have you ever wondered about how your surfboard or SUP works?  The terminology requires a minor encyclopedia and each design element interacts with another element.  It can be an incredibly complex issue but if you understand a few basics you should be able to figure out what’s going on.  All in all, part of the fun of surfing and SUP is paying attention to your equipment.  In this manner, it is truly is akin to a type of meditation.

For the purpose of this article we shall start with the tail or “tailblock”.  The tailblock is the portion of the approximately two feet from the tip of the tail.  It is an extremely important design element.  Much of your pivoting while surfing is done on the tail therefore its “design lines”, volume, and rocker (bottom curve) is crucial.  I know this is a mouthful but don’t worry.  I will break down each topic point by point.

Tail Design Lines

The Square or Squash tail

Basically there exist three basic outlines of tail and many variations in-between.  The first is a square or squash tail.  As the name implies, the tail is squarish.  A square tail can have rounded off edges or hard boxy angles.  These types of tails are used for smaller waves and even slower waves.   They are excellent as the square shape retains a wider outline as compared to other tails.  A wider tail quite simply has more foam in the tail blocks volume.  This equates to flotation and lift which are your absolute allies if the waves are small and slow.  If the waves are barreling and huge like Pipeline, excess flotation and lift  are actually your enemy as the tail wants to “lift” itself out off the water due to the power and curve of the wave.  This is called spinning out.  The actual “over-lifting” of the tail causes the fins to disengage from the water and one’s board control is lost.  On the other hand, if you are on a small slow wave like Daimond Head or Sanonofre,  lift is your ally.  When the wave is slow the wider outline of the square or squash tail with its additional foam allows you to keep the boards speed.  This translates into velocity that can be used in off the lips, cutbacks and zig zagging (weaving) across flat sections.

The Round tail or Pin Tail

The round tail is as the names implies, a tail that has its end rounded off.  This tail can be curvy and look like the end of your thumb.  A pin tail is similar yet has different angles.  In a pin tail, the lines of the tailblock will usually be be straighter and end in a single defined point. 

The round or pin tail have advantageous and disadvantages depending on the type of surf that you wish to ride.   This is due to the fact that outline of a round or pin tail has less area than a squash hence less foam.  This equates into a tail that settles down into the water more.  This extra hold can manifest in two ways.  If you are surfing slow rolling waves, the round and especially the pin tail tends to settle in the wave too much and you slow down due to increased friction.  Remember that there is usually less surface area in the pin or round tail in the tail block hence less flotation.  On the other hand if you are surfing a wave like Pipeline or Jocko’s, you want the tail to settle into the water.  If you have a wide squash tail in these waves the excess surface area and foam would lift your fins out of the water and you would lose control (spin out).  A pin however anchors your bottom turn, engaging the fins.  This then translates in to drive or velocity which can allow you to do big off the lips and other gouges.  Pin tails can have a great amount of what surfers call “drive” .  Drive can be translated into “force direction” in surfer lingo.  Quite literally a “drivey” board responds to the amount of force you put in and goes exactly where you want to go.

The Middle Path:  The Swallow

What if you want the best of both worlds?  You want the Zip of a squash for the small stuff but the drive of a Pin for the more powerful waves.  If you don’t have enough money to buy five boards, each for a specific condition, what do you do? 

Ben Aipa figured this out in the mid 70’s along with a few other shapers.  God bless them for their solution.   Imagine taking a square tail.  In your mind place a small triangle in the dead center of the square tail with the point facing the nose.  Cut out that triangular piece of foam and you get a swallow tail.  What is so ingenious about this you may ask?  Firstly you have the surface area of a squash tail which allows your board to be maneuverable in small mushy waves.  Secondly you have just created two pin tails.  A swallow tail is literally two pin tails!  When you put the board on the rail, as in a bottom turn you engage one pin  (let us say the right pin).  Remember the pin settles into the water and creates drive.  Then you come rocketing off the top and tip the board on to the other pin (now the left pin).  As there is less foam in a pin, the tail holds in the critical section for your off the lip.  If the wave slows down your tail block still has enough surface area to fly across the flat sections.   This is my opinion but the swallow manages to engage in all types of surf.

I am always amazed at the capabilities of a swallow tail.  I have seen Ben Aipa taking off on 12 foot (24 foot faces) Laniakea on a swallow and absolutely destroying the waves.  On the other hand, I won the US Championships in 1 foot Huntington mush on a swallow tail. 

It is important to understand that the above are just rough generalizations.  I have not even taken into account rocker, board length, hips or templates.  Yet this is what makes surfing or SUP surfing great fun.  There is an infinite variety of equipment types to ride and you cannot possibly ride all the variations in a lifetime.  Better yet, equipment forces you to pay attention and in this manner it is a type of meditation.  Let me leave you with this question.  What kind of tail do you prefer and why?