Inflatable surfboards...it's true!! - Surfcore: Surf Forecasting and Community

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How many times have I had boards damaged when taking them on planes?! Fins snapped off (Has to be FCS these days), rail cracks, broken noses (surfboards, not the luggage handler!!) and I haven't had it - but I know mates who have had boards broken in half!

There seems to be a few wierd and wonderful 'travel boards' out there these days. Two that I've come across recently are inflatable boards and a two piece board.

Inflatable team rider.

The inflatable boards made no sense to me at all when I first saw them on the easyboard.co.uk website.

The first question is how can something that is inflatable be rigid? There are a couple of videos on the American site that shows a longboard model being ridden well, down a small point break wave. It looked like the board was light, and it did look rigid. But I still can't work out how? I mean in my fragile little mind an inflatable board has got to flex...!?

So the second question is; wouldn't the rails be too fat to carve well and hold a nice high line on the wave? Well the second video which shows some footage of a board being riden in Costa Rica again confounds me, as the board did seem to hold quite a good line on the wave? In the galleries there is even a choice clip of Peter Mel getting in a little barrel on one of these inflatable boards. Peter Mel is better known for chargeing 60ft Mavericks.

No flex there...?!

The final question is what about duck diving on of these little beasts? As they do make a 6'6" shorter boards and micro fish. Now there is no video footage of that so this remains unanswered.

I've always ridden custom short boards but can see these boards would be great fun to have in the back of the car so your mates who don't surf too often can still come to the beach and catch a few waves. I suppose that they would be alot lighter and less intimidating for kids, and encouraging kids to get into surfing is always a good thing. The downer is they seem pretty expensive and although I've tried to be positive, you can't really get an idea of what they're like until you've actually surfed one.

The other travel board concept - the two piece board. From reading the 'Bisect' website the concept has been around for ages but has resurfaced recently. The reason for the resurgence in interest is modern materials making it possible to construct a hollow board which is strong enough, to be joined in the middle by a set of pins and clamps. As I am not a long boarder, I really don't know what makes a good longboard but there is a good review here.

Hollow two piece board.

The main bonus seems to be that it is alot easier to transport...

At the end of the day longboards can be fun - but I'd only travel with a short board myself.

A Lilo?

That's mad - that inflatable board must have strengthing ribs or spines through it - or is it just pumped up until it's absolutley solid?
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Live and let surf!

Not sure....

I can't work it out Alfie - on the website it shows the boards being rolled up, and put in a bag, with no ribs/poles apparent? So I recon that it's just pumped up with loads of pressure until it is hard as a rock.

Even then I just can't quite understand, I can't imagine paddling it, or popping to my feet? Weird...

that is a mental

that is a mental concept...no way - i won't believe it

we had a snapped board courtesy of the airline on our last trip and it's such a pain in the ass...

maybe they could double as a mattress too.... Or maybe you could fill it with helium and clock up some insane airtime.... the possibilities are endless!!!!!!!!!!

Hows that insane little barrel of peter mel's - maybe they do work, although i reckon he could probably surf a lilo better than most of us surf our hardboards!!!!!!!!

Inflatable board bags...

How about using this inflatable technology to make board bags that you only inflate when you go on planes so that they become solid and protect your board...?

It might be a good compromise instead of one of those coffin type things?

Ace little bazza by Peter Mel in that vid...

Nah!

Look shit to me - how can that work?

Wish we could tell ya.

We sent www.easyboard.co.uk an email asking if we could review one - unfortunatley it proved difficult to arrange.

But they do organise demo days where you can go and try one out. Hopefully they'll let us know when the next demo day is - and the inflatable revolution can begin!

No review

What they got to hide?!!

Sounds dangerous

Wow that's crazy, what next? boards that have a waterproof TV attached???

two piece board

Oh i like the inflatable, but id be interested how they get the tapper in the rail.
I make a board previously under the title split bits, That seperates for travel. Now that im back in civilisation (have been skippering charter boat in indo) i will endevour to get my bumbledust site up. i dont want to crap on about it but it works, using over 10 years. Great for motorbikes, jealous girlfriends and jet setting.

Got any pics?

Sounds interesting bumbledust - I just came accross the inflatable surfboard thing on the web some where and really can't imagine how they get a good shape through the tail - it somehow doesn't really seem to make common sense. But the two piece board does make sense to me and I can't see it wouldn't work well.

So did you make these boards yourself, got any pics? Did you do any testing in Indo. By the way I'm very jealous of that skippering job!

split bits

yeh i made the board myself, ands whats worse is i really like to surf it. I shall dig up some photos buts it hard when your on the road. i dont want to sound like a wanker but my board has probably had more barrel time and foamball sliding in one year than most people get in their lives. i think it actually prevents it from breaking because it has a point of give.
The inflatable board would probably take a while to blow up i think, where as the split bit can be put together in less than a minurte.
Im going to be out of the loop for a while cos im delivering a boat from madagascar to australia. wont be in technology till jan.

safe voyage

Nice one bumbledust - looking forward to seeing some pics. Would love to know how you made it? So when you say that you recon it prevents the board from breaking - do you mean that when it does get caught under a lip which would normally break a board - a two piece just pops apart, then you swim grab it and slot it back together?

Anyway have a safe voyage - maybe hear from you in Jan...

pics

I put some images of the current board im riding on http://www.mysace.com/angushoney . incase you want to check it out.

On the inflatable thing, they do make some good r.i.b 's but they are usually hard bottom, the soft bottom ones tend to be a bit slow. I fibreglassed over an inflatable dingy once and it went much faster.