Pearling issues on Flyboy Board

[ragboyjr]

Hey Surfdad, I just got my new flyboy from you guys like a week or two ago, and I've been having the hardest time adjusting to the new board. I constantly pearl the board...waaaaay more than normal. It's especially bad when I try to get speed for aerials. I gain speed for airs like James does (or at least I try to gain speed like James does) where I go to the top of the wave and then ride down to gain speed and then shoot up for the air. When I come down the wave, I am always front foot heavy to an extent to try and gain as much speed as possible. On my old Walker Project JWSM, there was never a problem, but on the flyboy, I can barely put any weight on the front. In fact, I have to be so back foot heavy when I come down the wave to get air that I don't have any speed which is a pain in the butt. I also have problems with bottom turning because I go to the top of the wave then ride down to gain speed for a big ol bottom turn, but when I put my front foot down to gain speed and go out into the flats, I pearl. Anyways, I WAS having that problem for like two weeks until today. I was riding the flyboy and having serious problem with the pearling like normal, and I was just getting sick of the board because it had TONS of speed, but I just wasn't able to use it due to the pearling. So I was just about down with the my session, and I come in the boat and kind of talk about my pearling problem with my dad. As I was talking my dad recalled that someone told him that when your foot is in front of the rocker apex it tends to pearl a lot more. So I have a pretty wide stance on that board, and we found out that my front foot is about 2-3 inches in front of the apex of the rocker (I'm pretty sure it's called the rocker apex, but basically I'm referring to where the rocker starts.) Now, I went out again for a little test run, and I moved my foot about 2-3 inches in which really narrowed my stance, but my front foot at least was like on or maybe a little bit behind the rocker apex. This completely fixed my pearling problem. I was able to shoot down the wave, and enjoy the psycho fast board you designed. In fact, I started to absolutely love it.

Anyways, with all of that to say, I was only able to ride your board with a real narrow stance, and that hinders my riding a bit in the since where I'm real "scrunched." And I also find it hard to bring my back leg up with such a narrow stance. Now I know the board is plenty big for me, but I was wondering because you are making a 4'7" or 4'8", would the rocker apex be a few inches forward, and would that allow me to have a normal stance like I had, yet be on or behind the rocker apex to not cause an insane amount of pearling? I hope that all that I wrote makes sense, and if you have any additional questions that may help you to answer my question, I'd love to answer them. Thank-you very much Surfdad.

Oh, and we have pictures of my foot placement and stuff if you need them.

-Ragboyjr

[ragboy]

Well, once he corrected his stance, he definitely got the hang of it. He was getting airs higher than I have ever seen. That board is light, and wicked fast, just that issue with front foot placement. Once he choked up his stance, he started surfing naturally again, and didn't have issues pearling at all. I would say even shovelled less than he did on his JWSM, but his stance was a bit awkward, here are a couple pics.

Def got boosting, for RJ.



This was an average one, I got much better video.



Here is his first session, having issues, you can see his front foot placement here in these 2 pics.





Here is his second session, no more pearling. You can see how he has his front foot back. He may have over compensated a bit, but you can see the difference.

[Surfdad]

I'm sorry you're getting frustrated RJ. I can only see one picture and it would be helpful to see them all in commenting. I believe that RJ was riding the same length JWSM as the FlyBoy and if that is the case, the apex on the FlyBoy is actually about 3 inches forward of the JWSM. My guess, because I can't see RJ riding, is that he is leaning forward, which he would have needed to do, to overcome the wide stance and apex on the JWSM to develop adequate speed for airs. NOW RJ has become used to being unbalanced. You know how when we teach wakeboarders to ride that first time and they are always leaning back? I think RJ is doing that, only in reverse. The FlyBoy doesn't need that "front foot heavy" to develop speed. Because of that extra speed capability, it can throw your timing off, especially if you're accoustomed to a slower board. The longer board would only exascerbate that speed issue for RJ, so No I wouldn't recommend that. My recommendation would be to leave your stance as is comfortable, but don't lean forward, keep your weight more evenly distributed - which at the beginning may feel like leaning back. You'll get the same effect as narrowing your stance. What will happen is that "rocket ship" speed will be subdued some, your timing will feel more natural and the pearling should stop. If that doesn't work, it could be that RJ is just more comfortable with a slower board. His airs won't be able to match what he can achieve with a more neutral stance (leaning forward will automatically subdue your height) but it's better than getting frustrated! Keep me posted and I hope that helped. If you can get a second Robert, I'd love to see the pictures, please.

[ragboyjr]

Thank you very much for that advice Surfdad. I got a picture of me gaining speed about to shoot up the wave to go and get air.



Now this entry to the wave was like a one out 5. Usually I'd be closer to wave, and when I'd go up the wave to get air, I'd be like in the wave as I go up, and once I try to launch I just shove tons of water up. Or, I'd just dive under.
I think I understand what you are saying to me. So pretty much I just have to kind of relearn my way of riding to try and get used to the faster board. I am used to the "wrong" way, and no I just need to learn how to do it right. And I have tried having a more neutral stance, and it does take care of the pearling issue, but it just feels weird, but I guess it's supposed to feel like that at first because I'm not used to that stance. Well, next time I'll go out I'll keep practicing, Thank-you very much for all of the advice Surfdad.

-Ragboyjr

[ragboyjr]

Hey Surfdad, I want to make it very clear that I wasn't trying to diss your board at all. I just re-read my first post, and it read really harsh. I wrote it late last night, and I didn't really think much about it, but re-reading, it sounds like I hate your board. I just want to make it clear that I was more frustrated at the fact that I couldn't adjust to the board and harness the awesome qualities of it. Everyone I know that has that board is able to adjust and then boost, and I just wasn't able to adjust and keep diving. I am just saying that I was more frustrated in my lack of skill to adjust to the incredible board (and I know it is because I visit your site frequently and see all of the picture of James cranking on the board). I also want to say sorry if I offended you at all. I didn't mean to come off really mean towards you and the board.
Anyways, I want thank-you very much for all the advice you gave, and I really hope that helps me out with the board adjustment.

-Ragboyjr

[Surfdad]

Yeah, in looking at that picture, I can see your rear heel is off the kick pad, while your front foot looks pretty flat, so you're transferring weight forward. The net effect will be pushing the nose down. I'd bet that if you keep your rear heel down, that will keep your weight distributed fairly evenly and manage the problem for you.

If you can work on getting that weight back, you'll also improve the height of your aerials and my guess is that you won't have to push that rear foot down so hard to get the nose up. I've seen this habit before, where folks actually lean forward, in anticipation of an air, so that they can really stomp the tail down. They wind up making the air even harder, because you have to overcome the forward lean, as well as, push the tail down. The height of an aerial is determined almost entirely by how high you can lift your front up, the back foot should aid in rolling the board up to follow the front foot. If you're front foot heavy going into your air, it's exceptionally hard to get any height. When your front foot is OFF the board, as you're pulling it up, the effort to bring the nose up, but pushing down on your rear foot is much less.

If you have a skateboard available, practicing ollies will help you with airs, tremendously, the action is almost indentical.

Keep me posted RJ, please.

[ragboyjr]

Alrighty, thank-you very much for the advice Surfdad. I'll keep you posted, and I have a skateboard in the garage. I guess I'll start getting that out again. Thank-you very much.

[sixx352]

If RJ doesn't like it anymore I will buy it LOL that board is sweet FLYBOYS!

[ragboy]

LOL, no, he loves the board. It just is taking him a while to adjust his surfing to such a performance board, and is less forgiving. But you aren't TOO far away, feel free to come up some time and ride it all you want.

[madmuffin]

Anyone know what the recommended weight range is for the Flyboy? And is true that different lengths are possible and if so, what length for someone at 185#? Appreciate it -