My three Vaqueros
9'2" - 8'3" - 7'9"
After diving into the world of displacement hull surfboards about 4 years ago, I found myself both excited and frustrated all at the same time. While I had fallen in love with a long hull from Scott Anderson, I was still looking to grow in my hull experience by trying out boards from other guys on the same trip. So while I was having fun on my 9'2" Anderson, I wasn't able to find that same stoke on smaller boards. The talk by many in the know was that these boards only performed well in long lined up point waves inherent to southern California and that they just wouldn't work in our east coast beach breaks. But having found a taste of how well this type of board design did perform in the waves in our area, I felt that people just hadn't really put in the time or effort to see that these boards do work over here. Taking the advice of someone whom I consider both a talented and knowledgable boardrider, I began my search for a board from the planer of Marc Andreini. After a bit of research, it was quickly apparent that other than a small surfshop in Brooklyn, Marc's boards weren't readily available on the east coast. So after a few months of craigslist searching, a 7'9" was up for sale in LBI. I jumped at the chance and a few days later it was mine. Right away, I knew I had found what I was looking for. Easy entry into the wave and then so fast down the line with little to minumal effort on my part. Frontside, backside, just a, "sit back and enjoy the ride" type of feeling. Or, pump it a little and shift into 5th gear and let it run. The board seemed to want to ride the wave as much as I did. So as time went by, I rode my longboard when it was small and my Vaquero was in the water for everything else. Since that craigslist find a few years ago, two others have since joined my quiver and I can possibly see one or two more additions in the future.
A 10'3' glider perhaps? :)
Aloha
