Oneula talks sense about riding the Future Primitive
Oneula from Hawaii, quoted from Swaylocks surfboard design forum:"I think a black or white crayon circle to mark the specific "sweet spot" the designer says one must ride the board from would be a big help maybe even putting a "SUP" deck pad on that specific location would be a big help for riders with no experience with something that big and unusual in shape. I know after riding a "longboard" too long and switching to my shorties I have a habit of stepping my back foot right off the tail until I re-adjust.The other problem is that from what I've been told is that it requires a totally different technique than just the typical swinging from the tail, digging in the tail/fin or digging in a rail.By jamming down in this so called sweet spot the boards turning arc changes cause its flexible allowing it to adapt into a tighter arc that what couldn't be supported by a stiffer panel that length. I think this is also why the widepoint is set back to max right at this sweet spot because that's the pivot point upon compression of this giant wooden spring he's created. I think giant slalom skiers would best understand this technique of decambering and them recambering the panel as you weight and unweight in and out of each turn. This is really different than surfing and weighting off your edges and why surfers have such difficulty when they first try and learn to ski(as I've taught many over the years) cause the weighting and technique is almost opposite of what you would do on a surfboard.Watch Roy surf and you can see some of this.Think of a mono or deep powder skier with their feet shoulder width apart pressing down then knees coming up and shoulders out like a high wire act with arms acting as steering rudders and you can see that roys is moving the board in a similar fashion. Completely opposite from the skateboard mentality that's now infused into what we call surfing.Normally when we thing of surfing we think of rails, edges and fins we don't envision the panel flexing as the driver in the turn cause most boards just don't have that amount of flex cause they are too short, narrow and stiff. The closest comparison to something this size, length and flex would be a GS ski on ice in my opinion so the technique is way different. Kind of like how you have to get used to these new firewire, resinX or resin8 flex patterns to make use of the rebound. That's why alot of guys have a hard time with those baords because they can't get the timing down.I'm hoping this somehow helps the next riders of this unique board figure the board out faster.I believe to turn you actually push down and use your arms facing forward(not sideways) shoulder width apart to "steer" the board into the turn. Release and initiate the next at the apex of the release from the previous turn. This is going to feel and seem foreign to almost every surfer..Maybe someone should try this next time and report back..Now free falling a 15' pitching face is another issue. Gonna take ball sof steel to stand in the middle of the board pushing down versus try in jam the tail in or cling for you life to the face for support.. At leats SUP'rs havs a paddle to leverage off of,Thanks Oneula, your comments are spot on. . . in fact I picked up skiing very quickly, like the proverbial duck to water, but had trouble with surfing until my style adapted to the forward facing skiing stance and the weighting and unweighting movements which skiers use. . . it always felt better facing where I'm goingHere's a small sample of the technique. . . in bigger waves the effect of the flex is amplified and the board becomes looserBy the way Oneula I marked the position of the sweet spot on the board bag. Finding that spot comes naturally after a little while, but it's helpful to know where it is.R.S..
Watch Roy surf and you can see some of this.Think of a mono or deep powder skier with their feet shoulder width apart pressing down then knees coming up and shoulders out like a high wire act with arms acting as steering rudders and you can see that roys is moving the board in a similar fashion. Completely opposite from the skateboard mentality that's now infused into what we call surfing.
Normally when we thing of surfing we think of rails, edges and fins we don't envision the panel flexing as the driver in the turn cause most boards just don't have that amount of flex cause they are too short, narrow and stiff. The closest comparison to something this size, length and flex would be a GS ski on ice in my opinion so the technique is way different. Kind of like how you have to get used to these new firewire, resinX or resin8 flex patterns to make use of the rebound. That's why alot of guys have a hard time with those baords because they can't get the timing down.I'm hoping this somehow helps the next riders of this unique board figure the board out faster.I believe to turn you actually push down and use your arms facing forward(not sideways) shoulder width apart to "steer" the board into the turn. Release and initiate the next at the apex of the release from the previous turn. This is going to feel and seem foreign to almost every surfer..Maybe someone should try this next time and report back..Now free falling a 15' pitching face is another issue. Gonna take ball sof steel to stand in the middle of the board pushing down versus try in jam the tail in or cling for you life to the face for support.. At leats SUP'rs havs a paddle to leverage off of,Thanks Oneula, your comments are spot on. . . in fact I picked up skiing very quickly, like the proverbial duck to water, but had trouble with surfing until my style adapted to the forward facing skiing stance and the weighting and unweighting movements which skiers use. . . it always felt better facing where I'm goingHere's a small sample of the technique. . . in bigger waves the effect of the flex is amplified and the board becomes looserBy the way Oneula I marked the position of the sweet spot on the board bag. Finding that spot comes naturally after a little while, but it's helpful to know where it is.R.S..
