A longboarding design question

slipslide wrote: Hi After a bit of advice. I am looking to either shape or buy a new longboard and i am looking for something that i can use and my wife can use. The arrival of an heir to my kingdom has resulted in the inability to travel with more than 2 boards and quite often 1. So i am after something that is very easy to paddle, catch waves and is stable. Right thats the wifes bit done, although that is the most important and comes 1st. I however would like something that just glides and can find a bit of speed. Something kinda old school, I personally like the classic California logs. So my question is what do i need to look for/any examples of boards you would recomend? I have shaped 4 boards so no profesional. The board will be used in small beach break waves. Thanks for your help as a happy surfing wife means more surfing for meRoy Stewart wroteHi Slipslide,It depends upon what you really want.If you want a California log then that's what you'll get.If you want a board which is going to be rewarding as a wave riding vehicle and easy for your wife to ride then don't get a California log.The California log is a noseriding type, and you'll be sacrificing a lot of good surfboard qualities if you get one.Countless times I have seen beginner surfers really stoked to just surf on a longboard, then comes the social tuning process from the 'accomplished' surfers. .. . it goes like this: " To ride a longboard properly one has to use the whole board" . .. . or " To ride a longboard properly one has to cross step and nose ride ". The cretins who do this form of brainwashing frequently ridicule those who ride longboards without noseriding as if it is wrong or ugly , while demanding that for social acceptance a bunch of ridiculous and useless antics are learnt as some kind of entry to the club requirement. The newbie surfer then stops enjoying themselves to a large degree, they becomne contrite, and earnestly try to noseride so that they can be a proper longboarder.In my opinion, it's a sad thing to destroy a surfer's innocence by applying social pressure in this way. .. . . the pure joy of waveriding is replaced by a grotesque, difficult, pretentious and choreographed stage act kind of surfing which is not the real thing, it's just an act, and a 'put on'. . . the surfer becomes led by social demands and acceptance rather than by the feeling of wave, surfboard, and rider in a natural synergy.So the basta*rds have a lot to answer for in my opinion.We'll look at the pure surfing longboard design possibilities next, forunately it's easier to design a good pure surfing longboard than it is to design a bad noserider . . ... .. ..