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I think I am doing this in every one already? Are you not seeing a hyper link?

Thanks for this. Nice to hear from your own experience.

Heya! Thanks for your comment! It's very hard for me to answer these questions w/out actually seeing you in action. If you want to schedule a call or a consult go over to my website! www.conatussurfclub.com

Love this insightful comment. Indeed, there's always more context and nuance than knee-jerk click-bait comments will afford.

lol "hims" -- or go on a plant predominant diet to help with blood flow -- ED is a precursor to heart failure

Same for me, my favorite board is my 4'8 twin fin soft top.

Thanks for this! This adds more context and nuance to the discussion. Really appreciate it.

I don’t know why you care what someone else rides

I surf a balsa - am I a surfer or banned?

@@soulesperanza a pretender

Yew!!!!

Damn that's rad! What are some of your favorite shapes by him?

@@conatussurf of course his longboards are incredible as are his mid-lengths but by far my favorite boards have been ( we always do a shaping appointment and shape as a collaboration ) the Bonzer’s that we’ve worked together on have been absolutely amazing! Not so much the traditional 1970’s version but more modernized with wider tails, down rails, less cant with the side keels but still with really deep double concave out the tail between the keel fins! I’m a big dude at 6’4”, & 250lbs so typically 23”wide and 3 1/2 thick! Suuuper fast, loose but can hold in double overhead waves and rip waist to head high waves to pieces. I’m currently in Mexico for the summer but when I get home, I’m going to get together with Jose and shape a 12’ glider specifically for the small point breaks down here… cheers buddy 🏄🏼‍♂️🎣🤙🏻

It could be the difference between struggling and not struggling. It's always hard for me to give fool proof and solid advice if I've never seen you surf or paddle. But if you say you're struggling on the 6'8" that's a sure sign you need more foam. You should be able to surf a 7'6" as I'm doing in this video. After that step down.

This board was never made for me. I got it for a grom I work with to help her step down from a longboard. She didn't really take to it so I just used it for some larger days in NY. Took it on this trip to Barbados and had a few fun sessions, but ended up giving it to my boy Tyrone who is 6'6" and 165 lbs. Board works great for him! If you look across the channel overall I surf better on stuff that's either super small or mid sized. Strangely boards like this that are shortboards but just too big to be a good shortboard for me don't work well for me. I've been tubed on the thing for sure. I'm loving the 5'4" Tomo I've been riding recently. That's more in line with my ability level and my weight/fitness. Been updating insta with that recently!

7'6" x 21.75" x 2.5" -- it's a great board in smaller waves and you can see me surfing it in many videos on this channel. For example, it's the board I'm surfing in the "Millisecond Push Up" video and will feature heavily in the video I'm dropping tomorrow on Jose Barahona.

Hey dude! I'd need to see the board but it sounds like more of a "gunny" shape, but still 20" is pretty wide. Nevertheless it doesn't sound like it's the best all around board with the super pointy nose.

Haven’t made it yet but have tons of content as to why. As a preview of the basic reason is that the work should already be done. I always make these with future vids in mind. Thanks for watching and your patience 🤙🏽

Me personally? I would find a channel and try not to get caught inside 😝. I personally surf smallish boards in sizey surf. Newer surfers who require large boards are generally better off taking their time to figure out the sets and work as hard as possible not to get caught inside. This takes patience, but it totally pays off. It is a totally reasonable goal to get good enough to ride more duckdiveable sized boards in larger surf, but I wouldn’t do it if it means sacrificing style and progress.

thanks for clearing my doubts, if you were caught inside would you bail or try to turtle roll?

@@sweet-sinner I would actually try to duckdive and if I wasn't able I'd catch the next whitewater in to find the channel and get out of the impact zone. It's not worth spending time in the impact zone of large waves with a big board. Better to go in a bit, reset, and find a better way out. I try to avoid turtling and bailing in equal measure. I don't find either of them very effective.

@@conatussurf thanks a lot

First off, thanks for subscribing and commenting! I really appreciate it. Second, just so that you're clued into surf culture, we call soft tops "soft tops," but fiberglass boards we call "fiberglass," "PU," or "Epoxy," depending on the materials used. We rarely use the term "hard top." Essentially the whole board is "hard," not just the top. I have a bunch of views on the various materials used for boards, and used to think that it was best just to start with a fiberglass board from the beginning, but I've since changed my tune a little bit, but only for premium soft boards like those made by Mick Fanning, Surf Crime, and Surf Tech. The Liquid Shredders, Wave Storms, and Catch Surfs are absolute shit. So there's that. There's a lot that goes into a board that's "good for you." At the end of the day if you go way down the rabbit hole, you're gonna own like 10-30 boards lol. Same for fins. Sky is the limit. When you're worried about fins that are "too big" or "too small" you gotta think about what that would look like. Bigger fins create drag and make the board go a little slower. That can be a good thing. Smaller fins have less drag and can make the board go faster but have less control. That can also be a good thing, but bad if you don't like feeling out of control. So my take on your situation is to try out your fins. You want your board to feel stable and like it has a nice speed for you. If it feels too slow or "sticky" I'd put in a smaller back fin. If it's perfect, stick with what you got. If it's too fast, use a larger fin. If you want more info email me for a consult!

Thanks!!! Your surfing is coming far fast!!!

@@conatussurf That's because I have an amazing, incredibly detailed, coach! 🙌🤟

Thank you Shaun!!!

Thanks. Fundamentals are what I'm all about. Fun is a "fun"-damental. LOL

Please be trolling...

I'm going to post a video about big fishes next week! Stay tuned. But anywhere from 5'8"-6'0". You'll see that big-ish fish work well even for a small fry like myself.

@@conatussurf thanks specifically wondering how a bigger fish with a wider tail would work backside on these NY waves which usually are semi closed outs. You’re lucky being goofy on these waves and surfing mostly frontside

@@FluffyAlpaca81 Ah gotchu. In general I think the idea that fishes are harder to surf backside is a myth. Check the backside surfing I do on fishes in the new vids that drop! But I think 5'8" is a good size for a surfer like yourself. You can email me if you want a Barahona. My boy Franz got one and raves about it every time he sees me.

Thank you Shaun!!!

Tail is fine. Thanks. Had the board almost 2 years now.

@@conatussurf ok

@@dablyputs if it makes you feel better I realized I tied it too long two years ago but I've just been lazy. for whatever reason it's been fine, so I have had no impetus to change it. I think maybe I tried once and it was kinda set like that so I didn't bother taking more time with it. Funny enough I take a lot of care of my body but am a little laissez faire when it comes to the equipment. I don't fix dings, for example, unless they're huge gouges. I tend to let little cracks and such just go until there's a larger ding that merits cleaning up the whole board. I never rinse my boards, etc. But I do change the wax 1-2x a year. This may even be lax compared to some people.

@@conatussurf it doesn't make me feel better, it's your board. My favorite board is a fish and I had the string too long but shorter than yours. It was fine while I was in Rockaway. I took it to El Salvador and the tail got destroyed as soon as I got into high swell period waves. I didn't think to check it because it had been fine. I am in love with every surfboard I own right now and I'm not rich ergo I want to hold on to them forever so I'm very particular about taking care of them.

@@dablyputs I’m going to ride a shortboard in those kinds of conditions, so probably will continue to not have issues with my fish. Actually never in my life had a leash string rip through my rails. Surfing since I was toddler, so that’s a pretty great track record. I did hold onto my rail saver with my hand to pull my board through a wave when I was 12. That hurt. Never did that again.

Stay tuned Leo!

what i’ve seemed to realize abt my fish is that it isn’t smthg to be surfed as aggressively as a high perf. shortboard- it’s a board that requires you to sometimes be more in tune with the wave rather than just smashing sections. All this to say it’s a kinda board that is more flow orientated and therefore a tail pad isn’t needed. Plus often times fishes are very nice looking retro boards and it’s kinda a shame to put a tail pad haha a. To each his/her own tho.

Very interesting you point this out! I was in the surf shop the other day buying a grip for my new shortboard and noticed the Machado "Go Fish" grip by Firewire which is shaped for a fish board. My essential answer to your question can at least be partially answered by the video I posted on "Standing Out and Fitting In." It is an aesthetic and cultural decision to use grip on a fish (or any board) or not. Yes, there are practical concerns like slipping off the tail, but some people feel that more retro boards "look funny" with grip, so despite potential performance enhancements from using grip, we stick with the larger cultural norm. It's honestly just an aesthetic norm, so if you want to break it for your own potential performance enhancement, go for it. I personally don't like how it looks on fishes so I keep it off of my mind, obeying the cultural norm. But again, it's just a norm. You can decide to go with it or against it.

Do what feels good! I have a pro lite fish pad on my custom Lis style fish and so glad I do. Do not care what anyone says and more about how it feels!

Wow thank you. that means a lot.

@@conatussurf you’re welcome. I’m just calling it how I see it.

So true. I like to think of it in terms of an attitude of abundance. Waves are not limited resources. They'll never stop even though there are flat spells and lulls.

@@conatussurf I couldn't agree more 🙌

It sounds to me like you don't have enough positive connection with your tail when paddling. Would have to see video and/or do a consult to be sure. I'd check out my millisecond push up video to see about sinking the tail right before take off. Lmk if that's helpful. Otherwise I'm going to do more videos about tail control in the coming year. Thanks for your comment!

instagram.com/reel/CxSncf-uTEG/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Haha. This is last fall. It’s been dead flat in Ny for weeks. Finally we have some shit windchop to flop about in.

Thank you.

Interesting do you think it would help the video to include the tube I was spit out of this day? To better illlustrate why it's good to give away small closeouts when there are bigger, more open tubes on offer? Or just to use a smaller closeout day to show why going on waves that aren't worth your energy is a good idea . . .

Yes, the tube would help

@@enoksrd Noted, I'll make sure that next time I post a similar kind of video to include an example of the upshot for restraint or whatever lesson I'm trying to convey. Thanks for the feedback.

@@enoksrd instagram.com/reel/CxSncf-uTEG/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

​@@conatussurf🔥🔥🔥

funny you ask! I have a whole series of videos I'm going to release this summer about this board and other fishes I own. It's a 5'3" Jose Barahona classic fish.

Thanks! Would you like more philosophy content applied to surfing? I'm thinking of doing more of it.