Kindly lent to me by Inkawaves writer Terry. Following on from 4 months of non-surfing, my Chiropractor instructed me to surf a longboard to test the back. Awesome! I was back.
It was ridden on a mushy beach break a few times and then at a left hand reef. Not being a longboarder I was surprised how good this board felt. I was thinking it would be too narrow but with that bit more juice you get in Peru it motored a long nicely and a bit of walking took place, sadly no cross stepping but something to work on for the future. If I was in England it would probably need a bit more width, but the thickness meant it could be surfed not just lodged in a wave and then trimmed until the wave died. I liked the feeling of the single fin, that looseness, that moment of pivot at the bottom turn and then fixing a line. I appreciated the experience and the loan greatly.
Here in Peru many longboards have thruster set ups which I’m told are more progressive than having a 2 + 1 set up (big centre fin and two stabilisers) but for me, you gotta have that big fin, which lets you walk up and down with more freedom (It´d be wrong not to). I rode it with just the centre fin and found it just super fun. I’d stick the side fins on for big fat surf.....mmm the G- spot with those rolling rights.
Anyway definitely the thumbs up from me. I listened to Motown, wore a silly hat and sunglasses and just smiled a lot, great fun. Biggest drawback....carrying the thing around and putting it on the roof rack...How do longboarders go on trips?
Longboards aren’t very common here as performance waves are just everywhere but I have noticed that for 550 bucks which is like 300 English at the moment you can have one custom made at any shaper, that’s amazing value...I’d love to but worry about how I’d get three shortboards a long board and my things for the last year home, so sadly not.
I do look forward to owning one though and can’t help but think they make a lot more sense in blighty.
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