Anyone know a good starter finless board?

[tylo255]

I've been surfing about a year and a half now and love the idea of spinning down the face. I'm curious what the opinions are on whats the best board to learn to go finless on though?

I began on a homemade alaia, which just wasn't going to happen. I've taken the fins off a wavestorm, where I can catch anything, but it doesn't seem to have any elements to keep it inline. I do have a small Wegener Albacore that does seem to stay on the line a but better, but at 4'11" catching waves is a struggle. I've seen people on those Catch surf foam creations ride finless, but do they have any ridges or channels to help, anyone else have any good ideas, or do I just have to take my beatings until I figure it out?

[oldmansurfer]

I don't do spins but if I wanted to I would start with taking off on a regular longboard backward (fin forward) then letting the fin engage and spin around. You could also try to board transfer as in put small finless board on top of wavestorm and paddle stand up pick up the finless board and jump off onto it. or just work on learning to paddle better and use a shorter finless board

[waikikikichan]

I've been surfing about a year and a half now and love the idea of spinning down the face.
do I just have to take my beatings until I figure it out?

Stand up ? Fin less ? Spins ? Then you got to watch this guy.

Question: Why do you want to go spinning down the face ? Can you already do a strong bottom turn and hold a trim line on the face with your other boards ?

The board Kalani is riding is 45 inches long and doesn't have channels.

[oldmansurfer]

Wow! great videos. That Zancudo guy is awesome so is Kalani but did you notice (of course you did) the foot positions of the two riders. Zancudo has one foot on each side of the board but Kalani has front foot more in the middle.

[IB_Surfer]

Seen this one used, just leave out the fins: https://www.amazon.com/Catch-Surf-Beate ... 24&sr=8-27

[tylo255]

Stand up ? Fin less ? Spins ? Then you got to watch this guy.

That "body"boarder is amazing, rail game is on point how quickly he regains control to go straight, most I've seen use a lot more hands to get back go getting down the line.

Question: Why do you want to go spinning down the face ? Can you already do a strong bottom turn and hold a trim line on the face with your other boards

And I watch videos and see people going hella fast, spinning and sliding all over that it just looks like too much fun. I originally got the board to mess around with, but the more videos I watch the more I wanna figure it out. To answer your other question, I wouldn't say I have a strong bottom turn, it's more of an iffy bottom turn. I can trim ok and mostly stay on the face, but that's about it, a bit of speed generation on a good day. I think what needs to happen is I need to get better surfing on rail, which I think is where you're going with this.

[waikikikichan]

I wouldn't say I have a strong bottom turn, it's more of an iffy bottom turn. I can trim ok and mostly stay on the face, but that's about it, a bit of speed generation on a good day. I think what needs to happen is I need to get better surfing on rail, which I think is where you're going with this.

Correct. Look at all the stand up bodyboarders and notice how they place their back foot over the tail on the inside rail.

Just like someone one who wants to learn to Drift a car or a Motorcyclist wanting to back in the rear wheel into a turn, those are all advanced techniques after one can already do the basics. If you can't trim and engage your rail, then you can't disengage and let the rail slide away from the face to spin.

[waikikikichan]

To stoke you out and get you thinking about the possibilities:

danny-kim.jpg (74.71 KiB) Viewed 1477 times

Danny Kim bottom turning hard....... no fins.

Ryan Burch riding a 4'10" block of foam ( I think it was the inside of a softtop ? )

[tylo255]

Correct. Look at all the stand up bodyboarders and notice how they place their back foot over the tail on the inside rail.

Just like someone one who wants to learn to Drift a car or a Motorcyclist wanting to back in the rear wheel into a turn, those are all advanced techniques after one can already do the basics. If you can't trim and engage your rail, then you can't disengage and let the rail slide away from the face to spin.

Yeah, that makes sense, I guess my question was a bit of an oxymoron then, starter/finless. I'll probably go back to trying to shortboard then for a bit and revisit, maybe get a twin fin to get use to a bit less control.

And I've seen a few videos of Ryan Burch on that thing, I always assumed it was like some Tyvek home insulation foam.

[waikikikichan]

I've seen a few videos of Ryan Burch on that thing, I always assumed it was like some tyvek home insulation foam.