Kook Friday: Waves

Although many people don’t realize it there are two different ideal wave types. One is a wave for shortboards and the other is a wave for longboards. I am not talking about reef breaks or beach breaks. I am talking about the shape and forms of waves.

Shortboard waves are very steep hollow. I would consider these waves high performance. Most of the time the drop is steep and the wave is very fast. One example of this is pipeline. These waves tend to be big and powerful.

Longboard waves are often laid back and not so fast. They often are reef or point breaks. The take off is not to steep and the wave tends to be very walled and lined up. One example of a longboarding wave is San Onofre.

Please realize that some longboards are designed for high performance waves and vice versa for shortboards. I have just describe the characteristics of the two different wave categories.

Better for a longboard