weight works

[mightyrime]

Do any of you find your back leg knee gets sore riding heavier boards. I have a 9’8” Byzak that I have never weighed but it is heavier than my other logs. I love the weight for speed , glide , and chop.

But I find after a longer session with lots of fade take offs my back knee starts to hurt. Might be technique problems but I only seem to notice this on the heavy board. It’s also my only wide point back board.

Just something I noticed recently that I dont like about my heavy board. When I had it out yesterday I took more of a straight line take off and skipped the fade to give the knee a rest.

 

[Twinfindestroyer]

Heavy board a blessing and curse in big waves…

Love it when charging through big old chops up the face….

Not so much when you’re being dragged behind it

 

[Basenji703]

I’m in the opposite camp. The older I get, the lighter I like.

Yes!!! I had a 10'2" custom WRV by my friend Mike Doyle (East Coast Mike ) that I had to sell. It was 33 pounds, glassed very heavy. It was just too heavy for my bad arm to carry. Loved the board, hated how hard it was to get to the beach from the car.

 

[Speak]

You all must be blessed with healthy backs.

 

[Zufeldt]

I’m a fan of the heavier boards. They clock in on the fun side of the scale for me.

I drove to see a 10.6 Hobie 60s reverse D one day and to my chagrin turned down the purchase sadly on account of it being too heavy, which was weird because of my preferences for a hefty ride. There was something wrong with it though. You had to pry it up from the ground like a slab of sidewalk.

Anchors away!

 

[Old Dude]

My 9‘4 HWS weighs about 6kg (12-13 lbs) dry and due to the lightly water absorbing cork deck, it weighs about 1lbs more during and after surf. But the 14-15lbs is all I need

 

[Bruce Fowler]

Some surfboard designs surf better with more weight.
Years ago, when Beatty was still here and had taken over the old Yater factory, he was
glassing Cooperfish. Those boards were extremely heavy, but that made complete sense as the design had a LOT of roll in the bottom with the pinched rails. The design needs the weight to sit in the water if they were super light, the ride would be seriously compromised. Cooperfish are not "bobbers".

A flat bottomed down railer is much less dependent on its overall hull weight. It will plane up early and ride consistent to its design regardless of much differences in weight.

Most of the comments here have been in reference to longboards, but weight does factor into how easily a surfboard responds whether long or short. Added weight can also contribute to misconceptions: a rider might feel a short heavy surfboard has more drive when actually what they are experiencing is mass inertia or momentum (Mass x Velocity). Since everything has mass, weight & volume, the relationship in how a surfboard feels propelled by a wave is individual to the given criteria.

The old adage that if an object is heavy, it is (therefore) expensive or of great value, doesn't really apply to surfboards. As always, one man's Magic can be another man's Poison depending upon whose feet it is under.

 

[Surfertom]

My 10'6" Hobie Terry Martin custom weighs in at about 30 lbs on the button. I do find myself passing on bringing it along when the beach break is Wally or a bit too low tide. It is amazing how nice it flows with that weight in appropriately shaped waves.

ST

 

[Justino]

I’m in the opposite camp. The older I get, the lighter I like.

Same

 

[Sax-son]

One could argue that with the price of surfboards today, a heavier glassed could add to its longevity. However, Bruce has a good point as to how the bottom is shaped and the performance of such a board.