Quiver
Variety is the spice of life and there is no shame in owning a range of boards to cover all options, just as a keen cyclist has frames and wheels to cover all terrains and surfers extoll the virtues of their fishes, single fins and trusty longboard to compliment their main stay of short boards of varying lengths. My own armada incorporates all of the board types listed earlier, but keeping in mind budget and a reasonable level of ‘boys and their toys!’, a good starting point for a quiver is to spread your selection to allow you to ride uninhibited for the good and not so good days that a normal calendar year provides. Chop and onshore is the most frequently encountered division to cover. It’s a tricky design brief because narrow boards actually help you cut through bumps on the face but also are more unstable at rest. Width helps stability but on a good day, width can slow you down and make it harder to stay on the face and keep pace with a perfectly peeling wave. So narrowing down to a two board quiver I will still favour on windy, onshore days some width and stability for ease of paddling and wave catching ability and partner this with a ‘Pro’ range type board for the primo days and when there is still some face to work with on the mediocre days. Again there will always be a compromise, it’s just a case of being realistic about where you want the blend of performance and stability to lie and making the most of the conditions you are given with the tools you are using.
