Many of the F.A.Q's we get asked. We thought you might like them answered!

 why do I need a slyde hand board/handplane?
 Ive heard them called handguns hand planes etc, why do you call yours handboards? whats the difference?
 Where can I hand board/body surf ?
 What materials do you use and how are your boards made?
 What made us start Slyde?
 How do I Buy Slyde gear?
 Do you need swim fins when you bodysurf/handboard ?
 What is Bodysurfing?
 What other forms of bodysurfing are there?
 Who Bodysurfs?

If you have any questions you would like answered email me Send EMail

why do i need a slyde hand board/handplane?

The simple answer is you don't need one! But you probably also don't need to have many thing you currently own. The honest truth is it is simply way more fun body surfing with a board than without. The added use of a hand board or hand plane as they are commonly referred to allows the rider exactly what they want in more planning speed and lift out of the water. It is not uncommon in fact more than likely you will to get enough speed to round a section of a wave. The Handboard also allows for more control on the face of the wave. giving you more maneuverability while you are body surfing. you see, you don't need one but it makes your experience in the water that much more enjoyable and why wouldn't you want that?

Ive heard them called handguns hand planes etc, why do you call yours handboards? whats the difference?

That's alot of questions but good ones. Hand planes, body surfing boards, Handgun there are more but you get the point. Well to be quiet blunt there is not not a whole lot of difference. We are not particularly fond of the Name handplane or handplanes. which would probably be the reason I like to use Handboards, Not that there is anything wrong with the Handplanes name I guess it's just a personal preference. In fact if I had it my way I would call them Handguns which is what we used to call everything and anything you used as a board for body surfing when I was a kid. 10 points to the first to guess why that probably wouldn't be a great name idea. In fact our Fed ex guy Timo: a super cool Samoan/American man mountain walked into our office space and immediately inquired about the sweet handguns. So apparently as he grew up in Hawaii that's what they call them there too. So really it's more about what you're used to or grew up with than any hard fast rule think we will stick with Handboards thing. I like the reference to board in it, I guess it reminds me of surfboard more and really they are intrinsically intertwined as water sports. One thing is for sure body surfing came first and who knows what would have happened to surfing if the Polynesians hadn't taken to waves on their stomach.

Where can I hand board/body surf ?

There are literally thousands of places you can body surf or Handboard/ Handplane probably even more than you can surf. As a bodysurfer/ Handboarder you can ride waves that are unrideable to surfers and have great time. I personally love to take my Hand board out when I'm either a little surfed out to change it up, or when I feel like there is a good possibility I might end up breaking my board because of dumpy shore break conditions. Below are couple places we have either visited or know of that can get very good for body surfing.

Costa Azul, Mainland Mexico
30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta this is a small corner point break in front of the hotel that gets an amazing amount of swell and gets really big but very fun. Be prepared to get washed about a little bit and always remember to take you Fins out with you here it has a strong back wash/current

Makena Big Beach, Maui
Don't let the idyllic setting of crystal clear water and white powder sand fool you ! This wave can cause harm. But if you are experienced in the water it's one of the best places I have ever body surfed. As you'd expect from Hawaii the water is perfect and the wave is very powerful. I was dumped onto the sand more than a few times and that's where the danger lies. There are signs as you come onto the beach warning of broken necks "beware"! this spot is not for the faint of heart when it is firing. A good rule of thumb if you see the locals down there stay out.

Snake Park, Durban, South Africa
A beach right in front of a city. The bad: it can get a little crowded. The good: it easy to get to and when it is firing it is firing. Also when it is firing most of the locals are surfing so you can get the little inside section that picks up over the sandbar and fires again into a perfect little barrel too quick for body surfing without a Handboard and fins . it would not be fair to say there are all sorts of little spots along the east and west coast of south Africa. Too many to name here but nothing a little surf trip won't fix.

Lagundri Bay, Nias Island, Sumatra
This is one of the best places I have personally ever surfed and bodysurfed/hand boarded. Again not for the faint hearted. this little Indian ocean gem Is a world class right hander among the land of lefts. If you can stomach the 2day overland/sea shit fest to try get to Nias (a little shorter but 100% more live threatening by air. Think a plane held together with duct tape, you will start to get the idea) granted I made the trip in mid 2003 so things may have changed ,but I doubt it. There is civil war to the north in Ache and a not very well put together transport system to make getting there an absolute nightmare. Now! saying all this, once you are finally there it is a magical place to visit and I mean that literally. There are very few places in the world with kind of untouched beauty. So barring the very real threat of dengue fever, drowning, rogue waves ; think the 2004 tsunami that wiped part of this small island out and very many more unforeseen (or seen) dangers . This place is without doubt one of the best surf trips you are ever likely to do. almost a Mecca trip for any serious waterman. Perfect spitting barrels crystal clear water and yes you guessed it completely un-crowded. That's what you get from travelling through hell to get there. perfect untouched reef this place is what surf wet dreams are made of. Me and my brother got 20 straight days of overhead perfection some days so surfed out all we could do was sit in our hammocks and watch. Body surfing without a board here is ill advised. In order to get out to the break proper you have to make you way over the reef and a perfect timed jump into the ocean between sets, through what the locals call the " keyhole" miss queue and you land on the reef! Once you are out there its one wave after the other take your pick. Getting back in to dry land is of course another story all together , be it surfing or Handboarding. It's cheap and beautiful but like I said the running the gauntlet has its perils.

we  will slowly add more places as they come.If you have any you would like to add please dont hesitate to let us know about them

What materials do you use and how are your boards made?

We use the very finest materials in our manufacturing our Handboards/handplanes because, we pride our selves on our quality and will never use inferior raw materials. Our fiberglass and epoxy are from Frances Porcher Industires and our fins are FCS/Rainbow Fin Company. We source every as much of process that we can here in California Fins etc.

Our proprietary CSC technology sandwiches the foam core in a 3mm layer of PVC foam. This sandwich technology increases strength by 30% and decreases weight by nearly 30%. Our vacuum seal process creates a full and completely seamless cover over the whole-board which eliminates weak spots found in many other sandwich boards.

What made us start Slyde?

There are a few reasons for wanting to start my own company. Going back a bit; It has been dream since I can remember . I was always the kid in junior/ middle school back in the late 80's early 90's attempting to draw the famous Santa Cruz hand or doodling away with some surf brand I was obsessed with at the time, all while I was supposed to be paying attention in math class. It wasn't until in the mid 90's that I started to play around with shaping, delaminating my first surfboard to try reshape and re-glass and shaping little boards for Handboards/ handplane from off cut foam . Delaminating the board didn't quiet work as planned but it was the very beginning of Slyde as you see it today.

During our summer holidays we would spend all our time down at the beach surfing . While Bodysurfing the shore break after surfing ourselves out and generally making a nuisance of ourselves down on the Durban Beach front . It was here I decided there had to be a better alternative to stealing fast food trays to use as Handboards/handplanes for our bodysurfing.

I think one of the very main reason for wanting to take Slyde to the next level, is I wanted to create a brand exclusively for Body surfing/Handboarding , There currently isn't a hard brand choice that anybody can get involved in, Wear the gear, ride the board etc, like there is with the major surf companies like Rip curl, Quicksilver. Handplanes /Handboards are becoming more and more popular as a fun alternative. We want to help its popularity grow and get more people involved in what is a really fun sport to do in the water. I am a surfer and I will always go for a surf first but there is that wave on more than the odd occasion that will be so much more fun riding with a Handboard/handplane. The wave that is too quick to steep it just makes sense adding it into my quiver of boards to select from .

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Do you need swim fins when you bodysurf/handboard ?

Good question! You really don't need fins when you bodysurf or Handboard. You can watch the boys in Oahu Here, they are not using fins and seem to be having a pretty good time. Saying that, using swim fins enhances your ride almost double in my experience and very rarely don't use them when I head down for a session. The answer to this question is: It's really up to your own personal preference, however my believe is if you can enhance you Slyde why wouldn't you

What is Bodysurfing?

Bodysurfing is the art and sport of riding a wave without the assistance of any buoyant device such as a surfboard or bodyboard. Bodysurfers typically equip themselves only with a pair of specialized swimfins that stay on during turbulent conditions and optimize propulsion. However you don't need fins to body surf. To get on the wave, bodysurfers must time their launch, pick a direction, kick and stroke hard with feet and arms, then use their back and outstretched arm, to ride the wave both sideways and downward. Turns can be performed by digging the shoulder into the wave, causing the person to "slyde" to the side of the wave and accelerate. Exiting the wave is key to safety, In shallow water the safest maneuver is roll sideways out of the wave letting the feet tumble forwards. In stronger waves a person must drop the head and execute a very rapid tumble forward to exit the wave, flipping the feet over as fast as possible. This must be done with no hesitation, to avoid injury. Advanced techniques include spins and barrel rolls.

What other forms of Bodysurfing are there?

We cant take full credit for this explanation but it was as perfect an example as you'll get. This is one of the most fun things to do in the water and it is as soul surfer as you are likely to get. This Form of Bodysurfing is how the Dolphins Bodysurf hence the name. Also it's not possible to use a Handplane/Handboard while using this technique. Hey that's why we gave you board bag! so you could put your stick in the car while you dolphin your day away. Here is how to perform the "Dolphin Pop" or "Porpoising". Unlike standard body surfing, which involves the surfer sliding with gravity down the face of the wave, porpoising utilizes the same wave energy as a dolphin or seal uses when they ride 'inside' of the wave; within the wave's energy pulse. In order to achieve this technique, the exponent starts out a meter or two further out to sea than one would for a 'standard' body surf technique. As the wave passes, one dives into the 'back' of the wave and gives a quick kick (with fins) or single crawl-stroke, and then tucks the body into a 'dolphin shape' by tucking the chin to the chest, hunching the shoulders, bringing the hands into the inner thighs, stiffening the whole body, and creating a concave 'air bubble' in the chest. By flexing forward or back from the hips, one can control the depth of the body within the wave - too deep and one crashes into the sand (which could be painful and even dangerous) - too high in the wave and one 'pops' out the top. Once 'grabbed' by the wave's energy, to minimize drag and turbulence; the body must be held rigid and still, without kicking or attempts to use the arms - or the hydrodynamic forces that make the technique possible will break down and the wave 'lost'. Done correctly, the wave energy then takes over and pulls the surfer along at an ever accelerating rate - allowing the exponent who has experience to either literally fly out through the face of the wave (and somersault back underneath the wave) or come up in front of the white water and ride to the beach.

image courtesy of Tim Mckenna

Who Bodysurfs?

Everyone should bodysurf! The great thing about bodysurfing Handboarding/handplaning is it is a great way to get into surfing. You learn the ability to judge the ocean, the waves everything you need to be able to surf well. It is of our opinion that you can't really call yourself a true water man if you haven't body surfed. But don't just take it from us, Hell what do we know take if you dont believe us maybe youll listen to two of the greatest surfer ever

"With Body Surfing you don't take anything for granted! You ride the wave as far as you can, you don't kick out because the barrel stopped. You realize how much room there is out there, even with all the people." Kelly Slater

"We as a species are connected to the ocean all living thing come from the ocean Body Surfing is a chance to get back to your roots, It's the ability to feel the energy." Laird Hamilton