Soulcraft da honu

[Travism]

Hey guys,

Anyone else ridden this board ? My wife picked it up for me as a gift and I think it is to small for me. I am 6'2" 225-230lbs. I was able to spend some time on it this weekend and it seems like I am unable to recover with it or get much dive coming up the wave.

I wanted some opinions if it was the board or my lack of skill lol.

[luke]

I got one I'm 5'11" 220 I love it its got good pop I can spin 360 and recover no problem if you don't like it you could sell it to me I'd like to have Another mine is a 4'8" is yours same length I assume ?

[Carter13]

I have one also and it rides really well and no problem recovering either. If your wife told Jeff what your real weight is then it should be fine.

[Stingreye]

What do you normally ride? What's the fin setup on your old board vs new? I got to ride that board with Luke at polar bear. That board picked him!

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

[sandm]

have a soulcraft I replaced the fins in earlier this year with a set of the futures fc4 and what a night/day difference. board is sooo much faster. perhaps you should try different fins..
Jeff can hook you up with them.

[Travism]

Thanks for the replys. I am fairly new to wake surfing, last year was my first year and I was riding a ronix Cortez to learn. I am riding the soul craft with the fin setup that Jeff sent the board with. I believe it is a 4'8" but will have to check when I am at the lake next weekend. It sounds like I just need some more time with it. I am riding behind our z3 with the vx and wake 9 sacks so I cannot blame the boat either lol.

[Stingreye]

Thanks for the replys. I am fairly new to wake surfing, last year was my first year and I was riding a ronix Cortez to learn. I am riding the soul craft with the fin setup that Jeff sent the board with. I believe it is a 4'8" but will have to check when I am at the lake next weekend. It sounds like I just need some more time with it. I am riding behind our z3 with the vx and wake 9 sacks so I cannot blame the boat either lol.

The Cortex looks like it has three fins (Thruster) with the third fin being under your rear foot. Try moving your rear foot further forward to get on top of the fins.

The Soul Craft is custom, so try your fin setup could be almost anything. My guess is that it is a Twinzer (two big fins, two little fins next to it, most Soul Craft boards I have riden are Twinzers). Personally, I have found most Soul Craft's ride similar to The Walker Project Boards (signature and Bomb Pop) with subtle differences.

Before wakesurfing, I mainly rode thruster boards (3 fin), then when I started wakesurfing I felt most comfortable on quads and a tri fin setups. I then bought a TWP Bomb Pop. I just couldn't get comfortable on it to get it to accelerate how I wanted. The board felt like it would pivot when I pumped/pushed with my rear foot vs accelerate. By moving your rear foot forward closer to the fins, it will feel like it will lock down the board more. Also when you push with the rear foot while pumping, you should feel more resistance from the fins and get more drive vs the board pivoting.

Note, when you move the rear foot forward, it does change the weight distribution on the board and that alone might increase straight line speed. However, my complaint with the Bomb Pop was never in straight line speed but rather drive while pumping.

My Bomb Pop and I have a had a love hate relationship for months and my riding was inconsistent on it (there was an old thread I almost sold it on here taking a $300 bath but thankfully no one bought it). Since changing the foot placement, its my favorite board I own now. It gives me the drive I want.

I would be curious if Chaos, Jeff Walker or someone else with much more knowledge would chime in about foot placement on Twin/Twinzer boards vs quads/Thrusters in relation to where the fins are located on the bottom of the board.

[Timmy!]

Did you ever change the fins out to the Black Stix? I wasn't able to get the Bomb Pop to pump properly either until I went to those fins. Also, if the SC is a Twinzer, you can play with the position of the small fin a little bit. On my Bomb Pop, I think it has the most speed and drive all of the way at the front of the box. If my buddy puts the fins in the board, he puts them in at the back and I can immediately tell that they are in the wrong place for me.

What fins do you have in the Da Honu? Going from that Cortez to a "real" board is a huge difference. That Cortez is a just a big old flat piece of foam wrapped in fiberglass. I had that board and sold it. It has a lot of surface area and doesn't move around much. Give your new board a few outings and really stick to it and I think you will like it in the long run.

[Stingreye]

Did you ever change the fins out to the Black Stix?

Yes! It made a noticeable difference. After that change I would go from set to set with a "love it" or "frustrated with it". Moving the rear foot gave me the consistency I was lacking before. Before moving the rear foot I would take a set and it would ride awesome. Then I would fall and the next set when I dropped back and went to pump I would get nothing and get frustrated!

Tim, how far back is your rear foot. My traction is nearly all the way back, and then I had my foot up against the rear stomp pad. So maybe 2-3 inches from the tail. Now I am in the 5 inches or so from the rear. Basically, I just pump and slide my rear foot forward and back until I find the sweet spot that works for me.

I have to try messing with those small fins too! Still can't believe how small fin changes can make a fairly big impact.

[Timmy!]

I have my traction all of the way at the back. I'm 6'1" and 200 lbs and I feel like I ride with a wider stance than other's the same height(creates a lower center of gravity?). The reason I have the pad at the back is that is where it works best for me to do aerials. My board is no longer alive though, I snapped it in half last week (see the Black Stix/Fin thread that dmbisbest had going last week for pics and explanation).

Sorry for the thread hijack...

[Travism]

The board I have only has 2 fin slots on it. Not 2 large and 2 little as you describe. I left the board at the lake this week so I am unable to grab any pictures for you guys. We also just picked up a Phase 5 Danielo Diamond today and will be trying that over next weekend.

Thanks for all the in sight guys. I did try moving my rear foot forward as I was placing it at the very back on the pad and moving it forward slowly but didn't notice much of a difference.

[Travism]

Gents,

I found a short video of some of my terrible riding from last weekend. Can you guys have a look and let me know your thoughts.

[Stingreye]

I'll bite and hopefully it will get you a bump and more advice from others.

Give it time, you will progress quickly and I wouldn't give up on the Soul Craft yet. You wife did good matching the board to the boat

First - it appears and I can't tell for sure (someone else please correct me if I am wrong here), that you are not getting the inside rail engaged in the wave. Try moving your toes close to the wave a bit, get your weight on that inside rail, it will keep you going on a line toward the center of the boat and keep the board from wanting to slide out away from the boat. So you will end up with your shoulders more square to the wave (chest pointed more towards the wave and less towards the boat). There should be a path going from the back of the wave forward that has the most power that you will have to find on your wave. I think you are sliding through it a bit. With the 3 fin board vs Twin, the rail will be more important to engage. Wish I had been on the Cortez before so I could know how it rode. My hyperlight broadcast is much more forgiving for newbie's with regards to weight and foot placement, so the transition to a more responsive board begins with body position and foot position (its what makes these boards fun!)

Second -

Based on teaching a buddy of mine recently, this seemed to work to increase his learning curve but I would love to hear others chime in if you disagree as I haven't taught enough people this method to know how effective it really is.

My advice to start with would be lengthen your rope just a hair and work on pumping from the mush (holding rope so you don't lose the wave). Get to where you can't ride by just leaning forward and towards the boat but where you need to pump to get back into the wave. It will help you when you need to recover and it should improve your your pumping skills. Don't worry about getting too far forward on the wave just that back part so you can feel the accelleration you create vs what the wave is creating (why you start where you can't free ride without some work). Keep working that back part of the wave, accelerate drop back accelerate drop back with the line as a saftey net. Again you are going for speed you generate.


Take anything you see from me with a grain of salt about wakesurfing. There are guys on here with WAY MORE experience than me. I have only been wakesurfing a couple years. Still chasing riding out a 360 and my mini airs require slow mo from the go pro to verify

[Travism]

Stingreye,

Thanks for the advice. We're headed to the lake this evening for 3 days of surfing ! I will post back with better videos as well as a picture of the board.

The wife did a good job on the board no doubt she is a keeper !!!

My da honu only has 2 fins one on either side. As I mentioned I will get pictures.

Do you have any techniques on actual pumping ? We are teaching ourselves everything going through videos as we don't know anyone else with a boat and this being our first all our friends are learning with us.

thanks again.

[Stingreye]

I have found that different styles of boards and generate speed a little differently. When I was riding my quad fin alot, I could pump that thing as hard as I wanted and it would translate the pumping into speed. However, if I tried to pump my twinzer or twin fin board, it would slide out on me and I would use alot of energy and movement but it did not translate into speed. Twin and twinzer seem to want small quick rail to rail pumps it almost feels like I am tapping my front foot up and down quickly and pushing against the fins. With the quad I really push against the fins with my rear foot. I have just bought a skim style and my pumping when I need to recover stinks! There should be some kind of rhythm to it also.

Some info that you might find interesting. I used to ocean surf and for ocean surfing I think this is a good link - I think it translates to wakesurfing because you are trying to create drive.

I really like this explanation of pumping from surfline from the ocean side of things:
http://www.surfline.com/community/wh...ws.cfm?id=1014

Excerpt:
"WK believes the best speed generation technique of any surfer was demonstrated repeatedly by Tom Curren during the good ol' Op Pro at Huntington back in the '80s. Huntington's horrible gutter -- between the outer sandbars and the inside closeout -- was a torment for many surfers, who couldn't make it across all that dead water. Curren made it over on many occasions, not by jumping up and down or even "pumping", but by weaving and rolling subtle turns from rail to rail, a bit like a carving-style skateboard rider. This allowed him to keep consistent pressure on the fins and back rail edges, squeezing the drive out of even the least visible curves.

Try that: just rolling slight rail changing turns up and down the wave face. Use as little upper body movement as possible, instead rolling the turns out of your hips, knees and ankles. Imagine your board pressuring water against the inside fins and back third of the rail line."

I have surfed that break at Huntington and that gutter I would lose the wave. Simply, the wave doesn't have the power to get you through that part without the surfer creating some speed or drive.

here is a video of one of the comps they are talking about starting at 1:17 of Tom Curren. You are not going to be making huge turns like he is there but it exaggerates it some and shows that you can generate speed/drive. Do not try to emulate the exaggerated turns of Tom Curren to gain speed make little ones.
http://youtu.be/pZ-SLuN18Jg?t=1m13s

Alot of people have different techniques to generating speed/drive.

Here is a good video of different styles of pumping people use to gain speed. Try emulating them and see what works for the board you are on. Focus on the technique people use to generate speed vs the hopping done when trying to recover from the white wash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcjJ6G6S43s


Good luck and have fun this weekend!! I am dying to get back on the water!