Heavyweights Waveboard

Originally Posted by matt12

I guess the disadvantage of a custom board is that you only get one shot at getting a decent shape. Fingers crossed.

Even the best shapers in the world still need to refine & polish designs to continuously improve before being blessed as a production boards.

Fingers crossed your custom boards turns out to be a good shape otherwise it could be an expensive mistake. Probably 50-50 I reckon.

I believe when it comes to wave boards especially for very heavy or very light people custom is definitely the way to go.

A wave board is a very personal board type that is heavily influenced by the riders' style, his skill and the type of waves he is going out in as well as his weight.

Just look at the number of different surf board designs and the majority of them are custom.

How many PWA wave sailors use a production board ?

I feel it is rather harsh to suggest that a custom wave board has only a 50-50 chance of being a success.

[WILDWINDSCA]

Originally Posted by matt12

I guess the disadvantage of a custom board is that you only get one shot at getting a decent shape. Fingers crossed.

Even the best shapers in the world still need to refine & polish designs to continuously improve before being blessed as a production boards.

Fingers crossed your custom boards turns out to be a good shape otherwise it could be an expensive mistake. Probably 50-50 I reckon.

I guess the best thing is get the board you think you need after much deliberation and advice and try to adapt to it.
The relevancy of board tests, however questionable, can give good advice IMHO. Case and point , i tried the naish global wave 87 and i hated, but then tried the acid 86 loved it. Windsurfing magazine tested the global and while not testing the acid, for me hit the global on the head of the nail.( i read the review AFTER i had sailed it for three days and couldnt dial it in ) It stated among other things , the global was best suited to very good wavesailors that could tweak the performance of this board, a "very good" wave sailor i'd say, I am not.

The naish is some cool looking kit and would i have listened to this review if i could not have ridden it and had wanted to buy it , i think i would have taken note.
( To add i also sailed the JP freestyle wave , the Starboard kombat actual same sizes tested in windsurf mag , a few day each . i read the reviews after and again they seemed very close!!)
I think we all look at new kit and drool and fantasize about the sessions we are going to have it on it . Its what i call the "bowflex mental buy in" ( for all non north americans, bowflex is a home gym you can buy , with infomercials all over the tele and damn good looking uber fit people using it ) we see pictures, videos of the uber "pros" using stuff: we buy in as we see ourselves in their place.
Real world situtaions without the hype arent as fantastic, but for all the psychology and i agree: talking kit , researching and getting the new kit is still DAMN exciting.

Originally Posted by WILDWINDSCA

The relevancy of board tests, however questionable, can give good advice IMHO.

The guy weighs over 100 kgs.

There are no wave board tests that cater for that weight of sailor.

That’s when a custom board really comes into it’s own.

Tell the shaper your weight, skill, style, wave location, etc and you will get a board tailored for your own unique sailing.