Small pocket board - looking for recommendation/advice

[max]

I started on 4'6"DC, went to 3'6" DC then to a homemade 37" (94cm) I loved its less swing weight. I bought a 42" Micro. I liked micro but don't need extra length and sold it.
Now I have 2 37" boards. One homemade 37" and a Kanaha Shapes 37"
Strapless and as said smaller board makes you ride foil not board. I ride Moses 683s
Love it

TomW has strong feeling regarding board size but I have to agree with you. I have not found the need to go bigger than my 94 cm board for any of my riding. It must come down to personal preference and riding style. I also ride the 683S/679 (same wing)

The racing guys around my area feel that the shortest they need to go is around 140cm

[tkaraszewski]

One thing I think is interesting is that Tarifa Foil Boards' new Pro model race board is only 134cm. Everything's getting smaller, 130cm was a bigger "pocket board" last year, but now it's a full race board. I think this proves that you don't need *more* than 134cm for any discipline.

Here's the overview of the new TFB race boards:

[max]

One thing I think is interesting is that Tarifa Foil Boards' new Pro model race board is only 134cm. Everything's getting smaller, 130cm was a bigger "pocket board" last year, but now it's a full race board. I think this proves that you don't need *more* than 134cm for any discipline.

Here's the overview of the new TFB race boards:

Actually one of the good race guys here has an unheard of before 135 that he calls tiny but most others are still 140/145

[trod27]

I started on 4'6"DC, went to 3'6" DC then to a homemade 37" (94cm) I loved its less swing weight. I bought a 42" Micro. I liked micro but don't need extra length and sold it.
Now I have 2 37" boards. One homemade 37" and a Kanaha Shapes 37"
Strapless and as said smaller board makes you ride foil not board. I ride Moses 683s
Love it

TomW has strong feeling regarding board size but I have to agree with you. I have not found the need to go bigger than my 94 cm board for any of my riding. It must come down to personal preference and riding style. I also ride the 683S/679 (same wing)

Yes I agree. What I was trying to say is I went down to 37" (94cm) and rode it for a while and liked it. I wanted to try the new Micro as I already rode the old micro before 37". I rode new Micro and I just missed the agile feel of a shorter board. Same thing when I went from 4'6" to 3'6". I tried the 4"6"again and sold it right away. Once you get to the level of riding/starting on the wing then you ride the wing (foil). The board is just a platform.
I don't see riding anything smaller than 37", but I said that about 42". I got a friend riding a 33" all the time and loves it. I will probably try it next year.

[junebug]

@at all the short board users (<100cm)

How did the lack of swing weight progressed your riding style?
Can you actually carve harder, jump higher (strapless), spin around more 360 --> 720 in the water/air, ride a wave more aggressive...? Or is it more about the feel that you enjoy?

How do you handle swim in situations with a short board? (in case that happens while using such a short board)
In my experience paddle in surfboard style (kicking with legs) doesn't work with these, since the board just goes submarining when you try to put your hands on them and do the leg kicking. Anyone came up with a technique?

My stance is quite wide with my current foil setup --> 107cm is the smallest board I can use otherwise I am doing a permanent hang five , so I am curious what your experiences are.

merci,
lebast

I can carve harder with my 85cm than my 106cm. It is just much more responsive, particularly with my narrow stance. I don’t buy into the thinking that you have to have a wide stance to carve hard. Obviously, there is a point at which a stance is too narrow to be stable, but we aren’t talking about 30cm boards. As long as you can do a controlled lean, you can carve. Plus, smaller boards can turn a tighter radius, so the carve is faster, which helps getting tacks, 180s, 360s, completed. It’s sort of like the difference in a short (normal) skateboard and a long skateboard. The shorter board is just more responsive.

I don’t recall swim situations with a short board being especially difficult. If I drop the kite in the low end of the range, I just sit on the board and wait for a gust. I only go out in onshore/side-on conditions, so if I can’t relaunch, I drift in. I can’t recall a situation where I literally had to swim. Maybe that would be more of a challenge with the 85cm vs the 106cm, I don’t know.

To me, the downsides of a short board are (1) you need a little more wind to get started because you can’t ride the surface very well and (2) if you are trying something new, you are going to fall. A lot. I didn’t start riding a my short board until I could do all the standard maneuvers with a fairly high success rate.

[elguapo]

You are rigth Oldman_Dave, short flat boards one can get used to of course.

Its just, my level isnt sufficiently high, and besides this, I see no advantages whatsoever when going shorter than say 110 cm or something, for the average sized, so not my preference.
In short, WHY?

Personal as said, what one prefers.

Peter

Totally agree, I've tried 90, 105 110,120, 135.
No benefit to going under 110 unless you have travel or space requirements.

i think travel is the big reason...
under 100cm (maybe closer to 95cm) and i should be able be pack it in my suitcase..

i used splitboards originallyfor the ease of travel...until i found something that was easier easy to pack and also fun to ride (and got rid of splitboard)

imo, any difference i see in ride on a board wider than your stance is psychological.. for example, it can be a bit unnerving to stomp that front foot down to pick up speed when you see nothing but an impact zone under you toes.
but is still riding the foil.. and the characteristics of the ride is still determined by that foil.
big wings still hop on foil immediately...so no difference there.
so.. i just want something i cant stick in the bag and go.

[Peter_Frank]

Travelling with plane could definitely be an issue, if you do it very often, or live very far from the sea, no doubt.

As otherwise it is easy to have in a surf board bag, where you are allowed 2 to 3 meter boards either for free, or low cost at least.

They are very friendly against us surfers, nice

We are so lucky here in Denmark, that we got the longest shoreline in the world, compared to our size, and also closed fjords and other "inland" areas with flat water - got big atlantic swell coastlines, as well as safe protected coastlines on the other sides, sometimes as bays with totally flat water and clean wind, and can ride in all places, in fact only a few hours drive even to the farthest spot, and usually in all wind directions we have between a few minuttes to max 45 minutes if living in the center of Denmark, in fact no matter where you live, we got water all around us - meaning we dont have to travel, so mostly it is with surfboards we go in the winther, to get rid of darkness and winter depression ha haa.
We are spoiled, I know

So travelling "inland" is not an issue when so short to good water everywhere, and only rarely overseas, mostly racers for competitions, but they have 110-115 masts and longer boards anyways so just use the std "surf" luggage.

Could explain why none of us here seek shorter boards for THIS purpose at least


For me it is not psychological avoiding super short boards, but extremely practical and physical.

Just like lebast says, with a quite wide stance, if you have to stand on the nose of the board, no problem mentally, but you need a board that is flat with no nose-scoop for a balanced stance, and its angle will have to be so when touching down or starting, the nose will often catch to a crash

If you got straps and jumps, yes you can learn to ride without a nose, but you will have it a lot easier with a scoop nose just in front of the foot - almost same goes for waves and whitewater, it is a "saver" and everything gets easier, only gain with this.

I am not as good a rider as many of you it seems, so that could be the reason - but when I only see downsides for boards close to or shorter than 100 cm, and loads of gain for just a tad longer (not big, but having a tad of sccop in front of your foot), I choose this mostly.
Supershort boards on occasion in the summer for the fun of doing it, but t.ex never in the cold winther as only downsides with these IMO, so 110-120 the best small size for me.

Peter

[Tony]

Lots of good information on this thread.

I'm thinking of going a bit smaller and weighing the benefits. I don't have flying foot switches yet but am working on them.

Maybe I'm the exception but travel is not an issue for me with my current 130cm board. For the few annual trips I take the airlines don't penalize me for luggage size as long as you keep the weight to 50#. There is no way I could not check a bag or two when you factor in board, foil, kites bars, harness etc. The board itself is not an issue. What would be more of an issue is if I had to take two boards because of the additional weight (and space that other gear could use) so I'd definitely want a board for travel to do it all. For me at this point I'm pretty sure that would not be a 100cm board, probably 120cm plus or minus.

Tony

[fun2kite]

With all the good info on short boards, I would like to ask what is a good travel bag for 100 cm , 11 or 120 cm small boards? I searched everywhere and I found NO bags specifically designed for pocket boards. The smallest bags major Brand’s make are like 140cm. And they are not wide enough for many boards.

I think there is a market now for kite travel bag (with wheels and also carry as backpack ). Would love to be able to buy 100 cm or 120cm bag designed for short foil board and mast of around same size as a board, one two kites and impact vest and harness.

Does anyone know any brand that makes such travel bag? If nobody does, this maybe a business opportunity for companies who already make small foil boards.

I think the key is to have both wheels for rolling and backpack straps, so you can carry it as backpack.

How do you travel with your dwarf boards?

-D.

[bigwave]

With all the good info on short boards, I would like to ask what is a good travel bag for 100 cm , 11 or 120 cm small boards? I searched everywhere and I found NO bags specifically designed for pocket boards. The smallest bags major Brand’s make are like 140cm. And they are not wide enough for many boards.

I think there is a market now for kite travel bag (with wheels and also carry as backpack ). Would love to be able to buy 100 cm or 120cm bag designed for short foil board and mast of around same size as a board, one two kites and impact vest and harness.

Does anyone know any brand that makes such travel bag? If nobody does, this maybe a business opportunity for companies who already make small foil boards.

I think the key is to have both wheels for rolling and backpack straps, so you can carry it as backpack.

How do you travel with your dwarf boards?

-D.

Check out this Mystic Bag.

https://www.mysticboarding.com/products ... bag#000000

I have one and it holds 2 boards no problem.