Time Away...




As you may or may not know, I am fortunate enough to have the month of February off from work, and even more fortunate to spend it all in Morocco. Having done my time in the 'hub' of moroccan surfing, Taghazoute, I am heading down south.A much more adventurous place, and a much quieter one at that...

Hopefully i will do 1 or 2 blogs a week, waves depending, tackling important issues like 'what board for what day?' 'is short and wide best?' and anything else I can think of.....But to start with, what board to take?

As you can see i have main boards 4 to choose from (starting from the left) -

6'3'' Pintail - 6'3'' x 18 3/8'' x 2 3/8'' - not a board i have ridden much. Probably only 6 times in the year i have owned it. I have ridden it in big onshores, and have always enjoyed it, but never really had that moment when you fall in love with a board. When ever i take it to the beach i end up using a normal shortboard instead as for fear of being over gunned. However by chance i rode it a few days ago in 2-3ft low tide croyde, and it was amazing. Wave catching was effortless, fat sections were cruised over, cutbacks and top turns where smooth and flowing, and being able to get into waves that little bit earlier meant i could set different lines and approach the wave in a different manner.

5'8'' Fastback - 5'8'' x 19'' x 2 1/4'' - A brand new board, Not had a chance to ride it yet. Had it made with 2-4ft punchy waves in mind. I really enjoy the length of my stickleback, but wanted something that was based more around a shortboard, and this is what julian suggested....

6'0 Shortboard - 6'0'' x 18 1/4'' x 2 1/4'', a straight off the rack board. Over the last few years Julian has made slight adjustments to his stock shortboards, the main one being the nose has about an 1/8'' more width at the 6'' mark than the previous models. Might not seem a lot but does give you that little bit more without compromising it of its thorough-bred roots.This goes well for me in anything from 2ft to 6ft, and for the past year has been my day to day choice.Being a standard shortboard its, fast, responsive and prefers to be ridden in mid range good shaped waves.

5'8'' Stickleback MK1 - 5'8'' x 19 3/4'' x 2 1/4'', again a straight off the rack board, 5 lokboxes allow this board to be ridden as a quad or thruster. I always ride it as a quad. I first used it in small mushy waves, a bad wave shortboard if you will. On a few rare occasions i have rode it in good size, hollow waves, and i have to say, it absolutely flew. Thewidth in the nose allowed me to paddle in early, even when competing with strong offshores and the quad set up meant it could hold its line well and carry its speed effortlessly through sections.

Which to take with me though?, I only want to take 3 as I know that even with that many choices one won't get surfed at all...

I have decided to take my 5'8'' fastback, 6'0 shortboard and 6'3'' pintail. This should have all my bases covered.... Oh and obviously i'm taking my wooden belly board too...one should never leave home with out it...