Custom Flowrider Boards

[BOSS_Cruiser14]

Hey all!

 

Looking for the Flowrider enthusiasts who have their own boards. I am looking to create a custom board with Mak Boards. I can't seem to decide what size board I want, as well as some other features.

 

For reference, I am 6'2, 200 pounds. I like to do carve and do tricks (Trick Pony, Mr.Miyagi, 360s, Push-ups, seated 360s, etc.) - I basically do a lot of stupid stuff and even create some of my own tricks. I also only ride on cruise ships.

 

I do not want to bottom out and I want to have a board that does well with the new inflatable flowriders (ewww).

 

What board size do you recommend I get?

 

Do I want the "chub" board or the "point" board?

 

Channels or no channels?

 

Kick pads (what even are these)?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

 

[A&L_Ont]

@Russ Lomas can you help with this question?

[Ken at the beach]

6 hours ago, BOSS_Cruiser14 said:

Hey all!

 

Looking for the Flowrider enthusiasts who have their own boards. I am looking to create a custom board with Mak Boards. I can't seem to decide what size board I want, as well as some other features.

 

For reference, I am 6'2, 200 pounds. I like to do carve and do tricks (Trick Pony, Mr.Miyagi, 360s, Push-ups, seated 360s, etc.) - I basically do a lot of stupid stuff and even create some of my own tricks. I also only ride on cruise ships.

 

I do not want to bottom out and I want to have a board that does well with the new inflatable flowriders (ewww).

 

What board size do you recommend I get?

 

Do I want the "chub" board or the "point" board?

 

Channels or no channels?

 

Kick pads (what even are these)?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

 

I asked my son as he has his own board and his response was that unless you are 150 lbs or less you will run the risk of bottoming out regardless of the board.  So much depends on not only they type of wave but also how fast they have the flow set to.

 

He also mentioned that so much about the boards is personal preference based on your own style and how you ride that what one person likes another won't.  Before he bought his he tried a number of other board that riders who brought their own boards on had to help him decide.  He now lets others who are serious about getting their own board to do a few runs on his.

[leaveitallbehind]

2 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

@Russ Lomas can you help with this question?

Funny I was just thinking of asking you the same thing.....LOL

[Jkaczanowski]

My teens and I all flowride and have owned 3 boards (39 flowrider outlaw, 39 flowrider shuv it, and a 38 Mak).  All no channels.    I’m about 5 foot 2, 200 pounds and my teen boys are 150 and 220 pounds, 5 foot 8 and 6 foot.  All 3 of us easily ride advanced with a mix of tricks (show ponies, 360’s, heel stalls, etc).   My experience with the Mak is that while it was GREAT for carving, I found it hard to turn the board to 360 or heel stall.  I really had to force the board to go.   Teens weren’t enamored with the board either and we sold it on ship.  
 

My taller, heavier teen and I both prefer the flowrider outlaw, lighter shorter teen uses both the outlaw and shuv it.  
 

The consensus over at the social media site for Royal Caribbean flowriding is that you either love or hate Mak boards.  Sorry this doesn’t help.  

[Russ Lomas]

On 8/25/2024 at 2:23 AM, BOSS_Cruiser14 said:

Hey all!

 

Looking for the Flowrider enthusiasts who have their own boards. I am looking to create a custom board with Mak Boards. I can't seem to decide what size board I want, as well as some other features.

 

For reference, I am 6'2, 200 pounds. I like to do carve and do tricks (Trick Pony, Mr.Miyagi, 360s, Push-ups, seated 360s, etc.) - I basically do a lot of stupid stuff and even create some of my own tricks. I also only ride on cruise ships.

 

I do not want to bottom out and I want to have a board that does well with the new inflatable flowriders (ewww).

 

What board size do you recommend I get?

 

Do I want the "chub" board or the "point" board?

 

Channels or no channels?

 

Kick pads (what even are these)?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

 

I have a custom-made board from Mak flowboards and love it.  I recommend that you go on that social media website that begins with the word Face.  Contact Jeremy Miller.  He is the one that runs the company and makes the boards.  That is what I did, and he will message you back, and you can ask any questions you want.

[Russ Lomas]

On 8/25/2024 at 9:13 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

I asked my son as he has his own board and his response was that unless you are 150 lbs or less you will run the risk of bottoming out regardless of the board.  So much depends on not only they type of wave but also how fast they have the flow set to.

 

I used to think that was true as well.  Then I watched a video online from a great rider in the Master's Division on the Flow Tour and different stances on the board.  I always used the snowboarder stance because it felt comfortable since I snowboard as well.  The final stance he mentions in the video had a radically different foot stance from how I rode (and how the activity staff of the ships) tell you to place your feet.  He says that is what all the professional riders' stance is.  It took me 3 or 4 runs to begin to feel comfortable in this new stance.  After I got used to it, I found that I never bottomed out on the board any longer on waves I was bottoming out on with the old stance.

 

Take a look on the world's most popular video site on the internet (not sure if I can mention its name here) and look for videos by Flow Coach.  He has fantastic videos breaking down and demonstrating everything from foot stance, to entering the wave different ways, to mastering tricks.

[Biker19]

51 minutes ago, Russ Lomas said:

not sure if I can mention its name here

No restriction on such links/name. 

[Russ Lomas]

12 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

No restriction on such links/name. 

Here you go then...

 

 

[Ken at the beach]

1 hour ago, Russ Lomas said:

I used to think that was true as well.  Then I watched a video online from a great rider in the Master's Division on the Flow Tour and different stances on the board.  I always used the snowboarder stance because it felt comfortable since I snowboard as well.  The final stance he mentions in the video had a radically different foot stance from how I rode (and how the activity staff of the ships) tell you to place your feet.  He says that is what all the professional riders' stance is.  It took me 3 or 4 runs to begin to feel comfortable in this new stance.  After I got used to it, I found that I never bottomed out on the board any longer on waves I was bottoming out on with the old stance.

 

Take a look on the world's most popular video site on the internet (not sure if I can mention its name here) and look for videos by Flow Coach.  He has fantastic videos breaking down and demonstrating everything from foot stance, to entering the wave different ways, to mastering tricks.

I'll pass that on to Toby, thanks

[A&L_Ont]

On 8/25/2024 at 9:13 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

I asked my son as he has his own board and his response was that unless you are 150 lbs or less you will run the risk of bottoming out regardless of the board.  So much depends on not only they type of wave but also how fast they have the flow set to.

So, that’s my problem.😂

 

On 8/25/2024 at 9:51 AM, leaveitallbehind said:

Funny I was just thinking of asking you the same thing.....LOL

I thought about responding but have only tried a Mac and never owned one. Now if it was about Flowrider brand boards I’d have a few answers. 😀

 

1 hour ago, Russ Lomas said:

Here you go then...

 

 

I’ve watched this one before and have to try his stance next week on the ship. Symphony I believe is still the old mat style, and not inflatable so I should work on this for March on Freedom. 

[BOSS_Cruiser14]

9 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

So, that’s my problem.😂

 

I thought about responding but have only tried a Mac and never owned one. Now if it was about Flowrider brand boards I’d have a few answers. 😀

 

I’ve watched this one before and have to try his stance next week on the ship. Symphony I believe is still the old mat style, and not inflatable so I should work on this for March on Freedom. 

Symphony is thankfully the old style! Sailed her in May - great flowrider and super fun staff. Those new inflatable flowriders are rough - a lot of bottoming out 😞

 

The Icon and Freedom ones are not too terrible. I have heard Odyssey's is pretty bad - got her in January 😞

[mil76]

I'm a fatso and I can vouch that the skateboard stance is the best for not bottoming out.  

 

I think it is impossible to give good advice on what board to get, as everyone ends up having a different feel for different boards.  I wouldn't buy a board without being able to try out that model first. I have tried just about every model of board, and I always end up back on my antique 38" wooden side cut Shuv-it with channels.  I bought that board because none other than Pezz let me try his out many years ago.  I just did major surgery on it including replacing the EVA foam since the staff on the last cruise I took it told me it was on the verge of not passing the inspection to use onboard.  

[RockHoundTX]

So what ship is everyone on that actually allows tricks these days? On Harmony last year you were pretty much limited to 360s on the boogie board and staff started yelling if you did anything more than light carving or flat 360s on the stand-up. There was a Flow Tour guy that was a passenger on that ship and he was basically banned within about 60 seconds for "coming off his board" (and he was just warming up and still doing basic beginner stuff). Son had a list of "intermediate" tricks that he had previously seen guests do on RC and wanted to try/learn, but those were all squashed pretty quick by Sports Staff.  

 

Previous trip on Quantum in 2021 allowed some things but pretty much banned about half the tricks allowed pre-Covid. While I can understand why (son broke his collar-bone on an RC Flowrider in 2019), seems that what is currently allowed is down to the bare basics. My son has always loved the Flowrider but once you can do an infinite number of 360s in a row (standing, sitting, show pony, etc), there seems to be few/no tricks you can progress to from there. Really funny that about half the "Flowrider Tricks - 14 ways to enter" Youtube video taken 2 years ago on Quantum by the official RC Sports Staff guy is now listed as "illegal" in that video 😕

 

Just curious what others are seeing that have been on an RC ship in the last 6 months. Thanks.   

[Biker19]

8 hours ago, RockHoundTX said:

So what ship is everyone on that actually allows tricks these days?

That varies by staff/ship.

[BOSS_Cruiser14]

9 hours ago, RockHoundTX said:

So what ship is everyone on that actually allows tricks these days? On Harmony last year you were pretty much limited to 360s on the boogie board and staff started yelling if you did anything more than light carving or flat 360s on the stand-up. There was a Flow Tour guy that was a passenger on that ship and he was basically banned within about 60 seconds for "coming off his board" (and he was just warming up and still doing basic beginner stuff). Son had a list of "intermediate" tricks that he had previously seen guests do on RC and wanted to try/learn, but those were all squashed pretty quick by Sports Staff.  

 

Previous trip on Quantum in 2021 allowed some things but pretty much banned about half the tricks allowed pre-Covid. While I can understand why (son broke his collar-bone on an RC Flowrider in 2019), seems that what is currently allowed is down to the bare basics. My son has always loved the Flowrider but once you can do an infinite number of 360s in a row (standing, sitting, show pony, etc), there seems to be few/no tricks you can progress to from there. Really funny that about half the "Flowrider Tricks - 14 ways to enter" Youtube video taken 2 years ago on Quantum by the official RC Sports Staff guy is now listed as "illegal" in that video 😕

 

Just curious what others are seeing that have been on an RC ship in the last 6 months. Thanks.   

Symphony was super chill with a lot of tricks, Freedom was alright, Allure was REALLY bad - they didn’t allow a ton of stuff. Icon was super chill (depending who was on shift), Independence was really chill too.

 

If you want to do a lot of “illegal” tricks it helps to know the staff already.

 

Regardless, Symphony and Independence had the best staff in terms of allowing tricks.