Just by paddling out ... Which begs the question ... are these particular SUP boards weak in the middle ... or do paddlers stop standing feet astride when popping over 1 -2 foot waves ... both boards are less than 6 months old and awaiting outcome of manufacturers Warrantys ...

Unlucky...

Yes , Id be interested to know what they were. Good luck with warrantees!

About 3-4ft both times ... one Starboard Whoppa belonged to Gizzie and one Laguna custom built board

KevinDudson said...

LouD said...
Gizzie, how did your friend snap your Whopper?
He being quite solid & probably a powerful paddler was probably paddling forcefully out through the surf. The whopper is a very stable paddling platform & it would seem that at some point with the waves knocking up the front of the board while he was paddling out the front of the board just folded up.
Personally after one time nearly getting the whopper slapped into the front of my face I tended to abandon ship once the white water got to a certain size ...
Perhaps in such a situation while paddling through white water it is better if possible to space your feet some distance apart in a surfing stance rather than side by side to distribute your bodyweight over a larger area & perhaps avoiding a sharply defined fold up point

Yes, I would recommend that you always try pop over waves, if possible, by going into your surfing stance. It is possible to break any board if you allow the wave to land on top of it. If this is not possible (ie its too big or hollow) I would even recommend that you try to kick your board forward through/over the wave

I think you're half onto something....

IMO (In My Opinion - not International Maritime Organisation, which is the top google response... ) ;
Standing in the middle must stress the boards out structurally. Plus big boards, and waves... waves have a heap of power which the human can quite easily absorb, by bending with the power / with the waves, but the rigid boards just have to prey and hope (like us when the waves get really big!). But I think big boards are preying and hoping on medium sized days.... Big boards, create big leverage for waves....

Good luck with the warranty though. Without reading the fine print, I'd give you odds of up to 1:2..... Seriously, I wish you sincere good luck !

If only I could break mine then I have a good excuse for the missus to allow me to get a newie!

How exactly can I do it (other than inbetween two rocks with the back wheels of a car)

Ted the Kiwi said...
Maybe try STOLEN and give it to some one less fortunate than yourself to use! Like the people who were getting boards together for Cuba or PNG. Kill two birds with one stone!!!!

Appealing to ones altruistic nature - with a pang of guilt - noice!!

mikeman said...

KevinDudson said...

LouD said...
Gizzie, how did your friend snap your Whopper?
He being quite solid & probably a powerful paddler was probably paddling forcefully out through the surf. The whopper is a very stable paddling platform & it would seem that at some point with the waves knocking up the front of the board while he was paddling out the front of the board just folded up.
Personally after one time nearly getting the whopper slapped into the front of my face I tended to abandon ship once the white water got to a certain size ...
Perhaps in such a situation while paddling through white water it is better if possible to space your feet some distance apart in a surfing stance rather than side by side to distribute your bodyweight over a larger area & perhaps avoiding a sharply defined fold up point

Yes, I would recommend that you always try pop over waves, if possible, by going into your surfing stance. It is possible to break any board if you allow the wave to land on top of it. If this is not possible (ie its too big or hollow) I would even recommend that you try to kick your board forward through/over the wave

i have 2 ways of getting over. first is to treat the wave like bump when skiing- fully compressing the knees while the wave runs through you and the board just slips/sucks down the back face as you extend out again. really good for getting over a wave that is steep or just about to break. second is the surf stance- try to pop it over. even if you come off, nine times out of ten the board is on the right side of the wave just sitting there rather than dragging you backwards
cheers

Maybe your riding too big a board if you can do big paddle jumps?

In my opinion the board should not snap paddling out through whitewater no matter how you are standing on it. I guess it wouldn't help with the huge nose width of the whopper but geez you must have been hit by a bigarst wall of water. I have personally seen 3 sups broken (all the same brand) and heard of a couple more but you must be bloody unlucky.

i snapped a whopper within seven days of buying on sucky reef break at rotto attempting floater. have had similar stacks on my 11.2 on bigger waves and never had issue. Surprised they don't have stringers not sure if this would help.

SwellSC said...

I had a 11'6'' broken within 5 times usage, got taken by chest high bit of white water and ended up in 2 pieces.

Manufacturer said: rider error.

Yeah-but aren't they DESIGNED to be ridden in waves? They should withstand a lot of stress-we're not talking about a 600 x 2 1/8 x 18 poly potato chip.

GizzieNZ said...

Here is the link to the starboard site discussing this topic. At the very moment there is one post I have made yet to be approved by the moderator but that is just a reference to this seabreeze thread
http://www.star-board-sup.com/forum/showthread.php?p=35333#post35333

O Dear....starboard forum does not seem to want to accept any reference to this thread....either that or the moderator is on holiday lol

Ho Hum even I am "over" this topic....find it a little sad that the starboard forum will not publish any more of my comments re my topic "board snap warning" however....http://www.star-board-sup.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6840
I think that board purchasers especially here in NZ where boards cost over $2000 should be aware that there may be some stuctural issues with the boards they are paying thousands of dollars for.
Am not even singling out starboard in particular......but just wondering where in the warranty/guarantee department a customer can have some reasonable confidence that the board they are paying big bucks for will have a reasonable lifespan.
Can't they or shouldn't they chuck some stringers into boards if it will make them more durable????
But who knows....maybe sups are luxury sporting devices that may or may not snap.....Part of the excitement.....

Been through this one with fair trading Froggo. Surfboards are not covered by warranty as the environment in which they asked to perform is as far from controlled or predictable as any product can be used in. It is more a case of customer relations as to how a company deals with situations like this.

There was an interesting test case with full enquiry and mediation proceedings in WA about 2 or so years ago.

Board purchased in Margaret river and snapped the same day. 6 feet of swell. Buyer very unhappy, said that board must have been faulty, it wasnt his fault, bla, bla, bla.

The result: Very much likened to a car dealer being responsible for a buyer taking a car and crashing it into a brick wall on the 2nd day that it is owned. Hardly the car dealer or manufacturers fault providing the car was roadworthy etc. Not the retailer or manufacturers fault. This guy had even refused a replacement at cost of materials in the first place.