Shortboards

To give you an example, on the World Tour Kelly Slater is 5’8 and has won events on his 5’8 long, 18 5/8″ wide and 2 3/16″ thick board. In comparison, Owen Wright is 6’3 and his event winning JS board is 6’4 1/2″ long, nearly 19 1/2″ wide and 2 1/2″ thick. The surfers and their board are both different body types. Both these surfers though have won events at the most elite level. So their High Performance Shortboards, the dimensions, volume, bottom shape and outline, are matched to their body Type and preference.

Where to Use Your HP Shortboard?

HP Shortboards are the only boards used on the World Tour. They don’t use Fishes, Twin Fins, Hybrids or Mid Lengths. This would  indicate that to surf at your highest level like the Pros surf you need a HP Shortboard. Note also the World Tour events are only held at locations where perfect waves are known. There’s also waiting periods to ensure the Pros only use their HP Shortboards in as perfect conditions as possible. So HP Shortboard performance does have a preference to surf its best for you in good waves

Did you know that on the World Tour, where HP Shortboards are the only boards ridden, they only have events at locations where the waves are known to be great. They also have waiting periods so they don’t surf on days when the conditions are sub-optimal. So your HP Shortboard is designed to give you your best surfing in good waves. It can give you good surfing in sub-optimal conditions however it’s designed to surf in good waves. It’s not an all-round board.

There are other board types made for other conditions. A Fish is a board with more area and flatter rocker, to work best in full smaller waves allowing you to still do drawn out bottom and top turns where you otherwise would bog. Longboards tend to be for easier, longer running waves, getting you into the wave with their length, then giving you slow turns and cruising surfing.  You can get high performance versions of these boards, like a HP Longboard. These HP versions can be made with high performance materials and be super light. However it’s the design of a HP Shortboard that makes it the ultimate high performance board. It’s that design and style of board that will  to give you your highest performance surfing.

HP Shortboard Characteristics

HP Shortboards have specific design characteristics- drawn in nose and tail. There’s also material characteristics to make them as light as possible and give them special flex characteristics. The ECS Cloud 9 above uses EPS foam that is lighter and gives more buoyancy. So your board can be thinner with less volume. This means the rails also can be thinner and your whole board more responsive while still giving you the same floatation. The glassing specifies only a 4oz deck while most stock boards have 4oz + 4oz deck, some have a 6oz + 4oz deck. So the board has more flex

Thickness and rails normally also match the Pro’s preference. Their boards are thin and light, so the rails are generally fine and the board has little thickness. There’s less volume so whatever energy goes in, in terms of paddling and pumping, the board will maximise. Whatever power the wave has, the board will maximise. The board isn’t thick and bulky- which normally equates to sluggish performance.

A thin board means there’s not much under your feet so your smallest weight shifts will be directly transmitted into your board’s response. For example shifting forward will give you more speed, weighting and moving your back foot back powers you into turns. Pushing on the rail you get the board doing radical carving changes of direction. A thin board though has trade offs.

The HP Shortboards are fine tuned. This means less volume, less floatation and harder paddling. They could also be described as twitchy, over responsive. Some feel slow as they require constant pumping. So the Pros have many boards that are fine tuned to their body Type and the conditions they will surf. So they may go a slightly wider board for smaller, slower waves. Or a board with more rocker for a steeper wave. A longer board to give more paddling to get into bigger waves. However they’re all still with a drawn in nose and tail and having the HP Shortboard charateristics.

A HP Shortboard is a challenge. It’s not fun and easy. The Pro’s surf all day everyday and train in terms of fitness, diet and mental approach. All this is behind their performance on their HP Shortboard.

If you go for a pure Pro-Style HP Shortboard it will be hard to surf. First up it will be hard to paddle on, hard to catch waves on. Your timing will be completely different. You’ll have to change the way you catch waves to be right on the critical part of the wave to catch it.

On the wave you have to continually keep your board moving as if you slow down it will sink under you. You have to ride in the critical part of the wave where the wall is steepest and where there’s the most power. The slightest over balance and your board will catch and wipeout.

However once you start to get the hang of it, your HP Shortboard will deliver you incredible performance progressing you towards Pro-style surfing.

Incremental steps means making small steps in your board design to move towards ultimate high performance. For example you can get a board that has a wider nose with narrower tail and still has a bit of volume. This will give you easier paddling and wave catching, then once on the wave you’ll be able to put your weight back and to power carving turns on the tail that is very close to that of a HP Shortboard. This way you’ll be having fun surfing, will see results in your effort, and be moving closer to higher performance surfing.

The design described above, with a wider nose and narrow tail, is one that Kelly Slater used on the Pro tour. Taking a drawn in tail proven to give performance, Kelly added a wider Fish-style nose. This provided easier paddling so he could get into waves more easily. Once on the wave could still hold in the super sucky barrels and carve in critical sections.

Another option is to get a board with more rocker. Most boards sold have been ‘dumbed down’ for consumers. They’re flatter so they give you a feeling of going fast. The tradeoff is that they are hard to turn, or will most of the time push you into a straight line surfing on the wave. The more power in the wave the faster you go and the harder it is to do a turn. A board with rocker allows you to do more turns and this is what high performance surfing is all about.

A rockered board will, when compared to a flatter board, allow you to go to the bottom then carve straight to the lip. Smack the lip and repeat. This type of board will be harder to paddle and harder to keep going on the wave so will need a little more volume and more effort from you to compensate.

Another step you can take is to get your board with super light glassing. This means your board will not last as long. It will dent, maybe break. However while riding you’ll find it responsive and feeling super lively. It will be easier to throw into bigger turns, float across close out sections and help you go harder.

These are a few options to progress to high performance and still having fun.

Come in-store and see and feel our board range and the differences in the board types. A HP Shortboard is so fine tuned it’s good to have an expert guide you around the slight differences in the boards.

Your HP Shortboard is matched to you. Your body Type and your ability. We’ll take the time to work with you to get the optimal board for your surfing right now and to take you into your surfing future.