Jim Banks’ boards are dope.
What is the perfect travel board?
- Thread starter Proper_Mode
- Start date
icecreamheadache
Well-Known Member
- Jan 14, 2006
- 496
- 582
damn. That looks rad. Does it work better than those Pope Bisects used to? Any flop?
Pulled from Kirks Instagram from a year ago. It’s been stuck in my craw.
icecreamheadache
Well-Known Member
- Jan 14, 2006
- 496
- 582
I travel a ton in weird places with surfboards and went from coffin bags full of surfboards to a more streamlined travel scene. Nothing over 6' is a good travel board if you're going places without good infrastructure and the shorter and lighter you go from there the better. Much of the post-colonial world won't allow you to rent cars and most drivers aren't going to have roof racks on their tiny ass little Asian cars so it's been my experience that the better a board fits in a hatchback/passenger seat the better. If you're flying outside of the 20 places surfers tend to go in the world, airlines get weird fast. I spent two hours negotiating with an Air Burkina Faso agent in French (both of our third languages I reckon given we were basically talking like two toddlers negotiating tariffs in CFA) to get a 6' board on because they had never seen a surfboard before and were certain it wouldn't fit in a Cold War era 707's baggage hold. If you have an overnight layover somewhere like Addis or Abidjan where you have to get your luggage in and out of a crowded series of queues, something that isn't wretched to handle is more helpful than you'd ever dream... 'specially when there's a bunch of tense Somali jihadis on their way to Sana'a behind you in line who think you are either hilarious or dangerous or stunningly attractive for a broken old white fucker with 48 hour stubble and old stout on your breath because they won't stop staring at you and touching your bag over and over no matter how many times you tell them praise be to allah the merciful and thank you with your kindest smile because those are the only Arabic phrases I knew and I don't trust google translate to not get me assassinated by the NSA for me making small talk in line like I do everywhere I go.
For weird ass places like Asian "seas" I have a 5'4" Brom EPS quad (basically a fish with the tail lopped off" that comes in at under 5 kilos in the bag) that no one has ever charged me extra for except on Wizz and Ryan Air who nickel and dime you for everything. For places with good surf but shitty infrastructure I travel with a surfmat, 5'10" EPS Brom fish and 6' Stuart minigun (in poly 'cuz EPS just doesn't feel good on sketch big hollow shit). That covers everything from ankle high to double overhead with a sweetspot in the thigh high to a few feet OH zone. I do think on balance unless you're going somewhere with heaving reefs and beachies, a sub-6' EPS fish covers more varied conditions better than anything else I've ever ridden were you to only have one board... My 5'10" EPS Brom has been around the world 30-odd times and has been the most surfed board on almost every one of those trips, including lower latitude stuff in the Indian Ocean where one would think a chippy thruster would be the best option.
I just emailed that Carbon Compact place to see if they can "treat" a 5'10" EPS Brom blank for me 'cuz a fish that fits in a backpack is the most dreamy thing I can think of short of world peace... and maybe even better than that.
For weird ass places like Asian "seas" I have a 5'4" Brom EPS quad (basically a fish with the tail lopped off" that comes in at under 5 kilos in the bag) that no one has ever charged me extra for except on Wizz and Ryan Air who nickel and dime you for everything. For places with good surf but shitty infrastructure I travel with a surfmat, 5'10" EPS Brom fish and 6' Stuart minigun (in poly 'cuz EPS just doesn't feel good on sketch big hollow shit). That covers everything from ankle high to double overhead with a sweetspot in the thigh high to a few feet OH zone. I do think on balance unless you're going somewhere with heaving reefs and beachies, a sub-6' EPS fish covers more varied conditions better than anything else I've ever ridden were you to only have one board... My 5'10" EPS Brom has been around the world 30-odd times and has been the most surfed board on almost every one of those trips, including lower latitude stuff in the Indian Ocean where one would think a chippy thruster would be the best option.
I just emailed that Carbon Compact place to see if they can "treat" a 5'10" EPS Brom blank for me 'cuz a fish that fits in a backpack is the most dreamy thing I can think of short of world peace... and maybe even better than that.
DJR
Well-Known Member
Jesus louesus!
JMJackFish
Well-Known Member
I will be struck with a red badge for saying it but the Firewire Dan Mann - Machado Mashup is your ticket to ride... that helium construction is light as a feather and bullet proof.