What I'm Riding - Sam
Like most surfers, I do my best to have a variety of boards I can use in pretty much any conditions. I also love trying out new types of boards, so my quiver is always shifting around. These are the boards I am currently riding along with what I like and dislike about them.
6’2” Fish Ride - Culture Supply Co - @culturesupplyco (6’2” x 20 1/2 x 2 1/2 - 38.33L)
I’ve been riding my Fish Ride for about a year and a half now and it’s a fun board. With a fairly low amount of rocker and a fuller nose, it’s an easy paddler and cruises into waves very early. The wide tail is cool, because it adds a lot of stability once you’re on the wave but is still maneuverable. This board is ok at going vertical, but on steeper waves and closeout sections, the nose tends to poke under the water.
The 5 fin boxes offer a good amount of versatility and I’ve experimented a little with it. I ran it as a quad for a while, but I really felt a lack in maneuverability. I switched down to a thruster setup and have been enjoying it much more. I would still like to try it as a twin + trailer, but that is mainly out of curiosity but I doubt it will be better than my current setup.
This board is great for most of the waves we get here in Southern California and it’s the board I ride the most. The one complaint I have with this board is that the glass job seems really light. I try to take really good care of my boards, but every time I put this board back on the rack, I feel like there is a new ding on the tail.
5’8” Twin Keel Fish - Sam Hoynacki
This ugly, orange, monstrosity of a fish is my first hand-shaped board. I personally did everything on this board, including making the fins. This board holds a special place in my heart since it was my first. As for how it rides, that’s a different story. I wanted to make sure this board would float, so I left a lot of foam throughout. This, along with almost no rocker, allows the board to paddle well and catch a lot of waves. This also means that the rails are really fat which makes it hard to turn. When I treat it like a longboard, I have a really good time on it.
As I mentioned, I made the fins myself and they are too small. Once the waves get a little more critical, or the board gets going fast, they start to lose traction. I have considered grinding off the fins and re-glasing on some new, larger ones. While this remains an option, I don’t love the idea of messing with my first board.
Overall, I have a fun time surfing this board, both because of the board itself, and the satisfaction of knowing that I created it. Eventually I’ll shape another fish for myself and I won’t ride this one as much, but It will always hold sentimental value to me.
5’6” Single Fin Nugget - Sam Hoynacki
This is my second shaped board and first under the Swell Set name (hence the early version of the logo). I wrote an entire post about this board so I’ll be quick. You can find that post here. This is a fun board that I reshaped from an old Gordon and Smith mid length. It has quite a bit of belly to it and is really loose on the wave. It took a little while to get used to my positioning on the board but now that I have, I cruise into waves fairly easily.
My biggest complaint with this board is going back side. Front side, this board is really loose and skate-y, but back side it feels so locked in and hard to turn. I probably need to play around with the fin a little more. Overall, it’s a fun board and if you haven’t tried a short single fin, you should.
10’0” Killer Dana Noserider - Ellis Surfboards (10’0” x 23 1/2 x 3 1/8)
This is my obligatory log that everyone should have in their quiver. I enjoy long boarding, but mostly when the conditions call for it. This is the board I surf when the waves are too small for anything else or when I'm looking for a chill session. This is a solid board that’s a breeze to walk the nose. It carries a lot of width throughout the board making it super stable once you’re hanging some toes.
The down side to carrying that much width throughout the board is how hard it is to turn. This board wants to go in a straight line and that's it. There is a lot of technique required to maneuver a longboard and this board would do no favors to those learning that skill set. This board serves its purpose perfectly, but when I get around to shaping a new longboard for myself, I will go a few inches shorter and a little thinner too.