Strait Trippn' Wakesurf Board Demoed Today

Some Midwestern home made wakesurf boards are better than others. I made Surf This and Skim That. Today Jim Gillam came down from Detroit Michigan to ride in our Mini Gathering in Columbus Ohio. He brought two homemade “Strait Trippn’” boards, we put the larger board in the boat. Jim said that over the last few years that he has made several boards. He said that this Strait Trippn’ board is a more recent one and much better than some of his previous efforts. He did compete with this board at the Scioto Wakefest.

Everyone that rode today (the girls didn’t ride) really liked this board. OK, Surf This and Skim That were joke boards, but I feel absolutely outclassed, this winter I’ll have to step up my game and see if I can make a better homemade board, I don’t know how I’ll do, Jim set the bar pretty high!




A Little Skim That

Give us some detail on the board Ed. Length, width, nose rocker etc. It looks to be a 4'6" pin, similar outline to a Phase_5/Vic/Calibrated/Walzer What is the double set of traction? It looks like the kick pad in the back is overlaid with an X-Track and then another X-track kickpad in the front? With longboard traction under it all?

Jeff, I've learned a lot about wakesurfing this year, though I'm still a relative newbie. I don't know the various board classes, I've read about pin tail boards, and I think the a fish is also a class of board. So forgive a little ignorance, I'll do my best.

Other than the Victoria board that Jim also brought today I haven't seen a skim board up close. Jim said that he was trying to make a cross between a skim and a surf style board. The board had a single shallow fin, maybe a 1.4 inch rainbow. Jim does a lot of lip sliding on this board and can get the rotation for a 3, but he has the same problem I have, he ends his 3 on the other side of the wake.

The bottom of the board is fairly flat and has fairly crisp edges. It has good speed but it wasn't the fastest board on the boat today. Even though his board only had one small fin it was pretty stable, we had a first time surfer on the board, he had no stability problems.

I'm about 6'2", Jim and I are about the same size, I'd say this board is about 5 feet long, but I didn't ask Jim what the length was.

Jim puts two stomp pads on his boards, including his Striat Trippn' board, his Phase 5, and his Victoria board. The stomp pads are placed serially, one in front of the other, not on top of each other. Most everyone rode with their back feet on the front pad. The front pad has a center hump, it was nice to know just by the feel of the pad where your feet were. One rider wanted the pad on his Victoria board moved a half pad width either forward or back, but not where it was located. I think if your adding your own stomp pads to a board you should ride it a few times first then decide where you want it. I love the Smiley face on the stomp pad

It was a thrill to see everybody ride the 'Strait Trippin'. Only a few have rode it until today and folks with different styles and backgrounds were all having a good time on it.

My thoughts on shaping the board was a hybrid, hopefully the best quality of a surfboard, such as speed and being able to hang back 15-20 feet behind the boat and generate speed for aerials. I did that with length 58" and a relatively straight mid-section, kind of thick for float and a very flat bottom.

Then I wanted a skim feel to it, be able to release the fin and spin it with ease. So I chose a boxy style rail throughout, put a 1.4" fin on it and shaped the outline profile of a skimboard.

The board needs some refinement, I need to incorporate some concave elements to it. I was pretty impressed with the Inland Surfer yellow-loogie. A short board but very fast. Very subtle concave in the center area and a large section near the nose.

Winter is upon us so I will be back in the shaping room. I want to try working with different materials, since Clark Foam went out of business. I want to shape a Victoria style board, really thin and light.

I'm still confused about the rear set kick pads, that blue and black X-track kick pad is ON TOP of the yellow smiley, unless the yellow smiley has a cut out at the front, it most definately is NOT serially inline. I'm presuming the longboad traction is cut away to fit between the front and rear traction? Would it not be easier to just add EVA foam to the cover the entire surface? Thereby allowing folks to scoot up and hang five and still have traction at the nose?

Clever idea to have the two pads at the rear to allow different folks to ride with different stances.

So it's a 4'10" What are the nose and tail rocker measurements?

I think Jim cut out the simley to accommodate the other stomp pad. These are off the shelf materials, right? Is there an online catalog of these traction materials?

That makes sense Ed, it looks like the longboard traction that fills in between the two inside kick pads has been cut to fit also.

The two inside kick pads (front and first rear) are X-track pads, as evidenced by the white X at the front) the folks at X Track made a ton of different pads with different color combinations:

http://www.xtrak.com/index.html

I've seen that smiley pad before, but it escpaes me who manufactures it. There are a several companies that manufacture traction and a boatload of companies that retail them.

I think it could be Sticky Bumps

Just searched on line, looks like the simley is a Sticky Bumps.

Yeah, I used Sticky Bumps kicktail pads at both ends. I feel for rotational tricks it is good to have the front foot jammed against the kicker to help the rotation so the front foot does not slide or move. I get them through Rainbow Fin company.
The traction is a two-step process for me. First I put longboard traction over the areas I think my feet will be and once I get my stance dialed in and I know where my front and back foot are located, I then cut in the kicker tail and kicker nose pad.
Like Jeff Walker said, I should probably just cover the deck with longboard pads and an arch bar pad in the front. I really like the new arch bar pads they are starting to sell (very good for locking in the front foot)these pads are 12-18"long by 3" wide and applied along the stringer or the center of the board. I have it on my Victoria and I am impressed with them.

jim,
I agree, a good arch bar is key with tricks like airs and IMO work better than straps because you can still roll your front foot on the ollie.

BTW Jim, I know where you can get 21"x3" and 28"x3" arch bars