What I'm Riding - Grant
If you’re wondering, the answer is yes, Grant had a tiki head carved into a palm tree in his back yard. What a kook - Sam
Like most surfers I have a variety of boards in my quiver. While I am always experimenting with new things, I thought I would go through my boards and share what I like and dislike about each one. Hopefully you can learn and save money from some of the lessons I’ve had.
5’9” 1904 Fish - @74surfboards
5’9”x 21 x 2 3/4
First off is my 74 Surfboards Twin Fin Fish. I’ve had this board for a year and a half now and it is definitely one of those ‘magic boards’. The shaper is located in San Clemente and he’s really talented. He makes great boards and they’re very reasonably priced. This is my current favorite board for a few reasons. With a shallow rocker and a fuller nose, it has a lot of paddle power. With twin, glass-on keel fins, its loose in the turns but really flies down the line. It is the perfect board for pretty much any of the waves we get here in San Diego. It performs best when the waves are clean, 4-6 feet and slope-y, however, it does just fine when the waves are a little more peaky; you just have to be careful that the fins don’t slide out.
6’0” Puntstick - @quiverboards
6’0” x 21 x 2.68
Now this next board is my 6’0” Puntstick by Quiver Surfboards out of Oceanside. I love this board so much that when my first one needed to be replaced, I ordered the same exact one again. It’s 6’ and rips. It’s fast, maneuverable and has been my replacement for a standard shortboard for sometime now. It has a wider nose than a standard shortboard, which allows me to paddle faster and have some more bite in the wave at take off. As all of us Southern Californian surfers know, it doesn’t get good-epic that often but when it does, we need to have a board that can take advantage of it. When the waves are actually firing and I’m looking for performance, I look no further than my PuntStick.
8’6” Mid Length - Gary Hanel
8’6” x 22 x 2 7/8
The final board in my quiver is my mid length from Gary Hanel Surfboards and glassed at Moonlight Glassing. I bought this board used a few years back and, unfortunately, the previous owner didn’t take the best care of it, as evidenced by the yellowing and dings. The yellow foam doesn’t take anything out of this board’s performance though. It paddles well and can get into anything from ankle breakers to 6 foot bombs. It’s 8’6” with a thruster set up and I’m running the basic plastic FCS1 fins with it. What I really enjoy about this board is that it glides into waves effortlessly like a longboard, but still haves the maneuverability of a board much shorter. I’d recommend a mid length to anyone looking for a cruising session but doesn’t want to haul around a full-sized longboard.