The Difference Between High-Performance Longboards and Logs While longboards are generally pretty easy to identify—they are wide, high in volume, and typically around 8'6" or longer—there are subcategories of longboards that are harder for the uninitiated to identify, ranging from high-performance longboards and noseriders to gliders and oversized fish. For the most part, however, longboards can be broken into two main groups: high-pro and logs.     High-performance longboards use modern concepts such as relatively thin rails, hard edges, lightweight foam and glass, relatively low volume, rocker, and thruster or 2+1 fin setups to facilitate aggressive, shortboard style ripping, but on longer boards that can also technically support noserides. These longboards were quite popular in the 1990s, and up until a couple of years ago dominated the competitive circuit and the longboard world tour. Adept surfers put high-pro longboards through the paces, doing vertical snaps, 360s, spinners, airs, and even barrel rides on them, while also sneaking up to the front of the board for the occasional noseride. But the lightweight, highly rockered boards come at a price—they lack the classic glide and the ability to support extended noserides that logs provide. Modern versions of high-performance longboards include Harley Ingleby’s...

Fin Options for Longboards   Six decades ago, there was no such thing as “longboarding”—there was just surfing, and people did it on boards we would now consider “longboards.” Then the Shortboard Revolution came along and completely changed surfing. Suddenly there were shortboards and longboards—and for a while, longboards sort of fell out of favor.   Photo Credit: Ellis In the 1990s, longboarding made a resurgence—but it looked very different than it had in the 1960s. Instead of heavy, single-fin boards, the longboards that were surfed on the world tour were lightweight, high-performance boards with modern design elements that allowed them to be surfed like oversized shortboards. These boards dominated longboarding for a decade, but then around the year 2000 traditional logging came back into fashion—and suddenly longboarding involved a huge spectrum of boards and riding styles, from modern, high-pro longboards to traditional logs and noseriders, and everything in between.  Today, longboarding can no longer be categorized as a single sub-genre of surfing. Instead, it has its own sub-genres, including esoteric shapes like gliders and oversized keel-fin fish, in addition to traditional noseriders, involvement logs, and the ubiquitous high-pro longboard. And as you’d expect, each of these different types of boards uses different types of fins....

Traditional Noseriders vs. Involvement Logs Written By: Matt Rott When most people think of traditional noseriders, the board that comes to mind is quite similar to the Bing Nuuhiwa Noserider—and rightly so. After all, that surfboard was considered to be one of the greatest noseriders of all time. Surfboards of this style are typically shaped sort of like a popsicle stick. They have a wide nose and relatively wide tail that is abruptly cut off in a square tail, with a pretty straight outline and a lot of width and volume. They often feature reverse rocker (with a lot of kick in the tail but not much curve in the nose) as well as soft, 50/50 or 60/40 rails throughout and concave under the nose. These surfboards are built to be stable, slow down in the pocket, and lift when being ridden from the front—pretty much exactly what you’d want from a noserider. For this reason, they have become the standard by which other noseriders are measured. The various design elements that make these traditional noseriders so good for noseriding also come with a few sacrifices. They are typically slow and unwieldy, making them difficult to turn and position in...

While longboarding can be a highly specialized and technical approach to riding waves, many people often think of it as a pursuit for beginner surfers, since longboards are easier to catch waves with and many people learn on them. While expert loggers and even intermediate longboarders likely don’t need any instruction on how to paddle their boards and navigate the lineup, those who are riding longboards to help them learn might find the following tips useful.         PHOTO CREDIT: SWELL SURF CAMP Paddling Your Longboard Longboards have a lot of volume and length and not much rocker, which makes them quite fast and easy to paddle. That being said, you don’t want to get into the habit of using your longboard as a crutch. Try to avoid double-arm paddling and make a habit of paddling fast on your longboard, even when you aren’t catching waves. This will give you a good workout and make you more comfortable on a board. Situate yourself as far forward on the board as possible without letting the nose go under, as this will help the board paddle faster. However, it is important to note that if you lie too far forward, the nose will “pearl” (go under the surface)...

With so many options available to you, choosing the right longboard can be a confusing and complicated matter. And to make things even more confusing, you have to choose the right fin, too. Depending on the longboard you are riding and the style of longboarding you do, you could be using anything from a high-performance quad setup or a 2+1 fin setup to any number of different styles of single fins, such as pivot fins, hatchet fins, flex fins, and traditional D fins. And then, just when you think you have things figured out, you also have to decide on what size of fins you need for your surfboard!   Fortunately, we can help you figure out what you need when it comes to maneuvering your longboard. While everyone has their own specific preferences, there are some pretty universal standards when it comes to the size of your longboard fins. So here’s a general outline to follow when shopping for new skegs! Generally speaking, longer fins give you more hold, but less maneuverability. Because 2+1 fin setups have the added hold of the side fins, you don’t need as long of a center fin to maintain control. For that reason, on high-performance longboards, you should be looking for center fins around 7” for boards around the 8'6"...

  Randy Rarick is a surfing legend—both in Hawaii and around the world. He moved to Honolulu at the age of five, and by the time he was 10 he was being mentored by Waikiki beach boy Rabbit Kekai. Since then, he has been involved in virtually every aspect of the sport and industry, from ding repair and owning a surf shop to helping form the ISP and running the Triple Crown. He is widely considered to have surfed in more countries than anyone else in history, represented Hawaii in the 1970 World Contest, and received invites to The Eddie. Today, Randy continues to influence surf culture both on Oahu and abroad. At 70 years of age, he continues to paddle out on the North Shore on legit days, and is an innovator in a variety of forums. He recently decided to bring his self-designed Black Tip fin to market. Here at Hawaiian South Shore we are pretty excited about anything that Randy does, so we decided to carry his fin, and sat down recently to get the skinny on it. What inspired you to develop your own model of fin? I have been getting fins from Fiberglass Fin Company...