Brofessionals - How to choose a glove

If your gloves are worn out or you just suffer from cold hands the Brofessionals have you covered. Checkout our 60 sec video on how to choose a glove

Brofessionals - Libtech Lost Puddle Jumper Review

With this summer of surf that never seems to end, we thought it was about time to get into the dirty details of one of our favourite little numbers - the Lib Tech Puddle Jumper. If you have been struggling in small surf, finding it hard to progress or are just looking for that perfect learner shortboard setup, the Puddle Jumper is a must for your quiver. The overall shape combined with the flexible yet incredibly tough Basalt-Fibre construction, makes this board paddle and catch waves like a dream. Setup as a thruster or a quad, it's also fast and will help you make that next section, or get that extra turn in on every wave.

PJ - Small waves for all abilities

We are all looking for that perfect board that performs in smaller or hard to catch surf. The PJ's overall concave and fat tail make it super fast across any wave lacking in push. The slightly pulled-in steps in the tail allow the PJ to retain a super loose feel for it's volume, giving you loads of freedom to throw it around and generate speed. The massive amount of volume in the nose however, is what makes this board amazing for learners. It gets you onto the wave early with ease, and is as stable as a freight train if you are a little slow to your feet. All this volume is also the reason that you should buy the Puddle jumper at least 4 inches shorter than your normal shortboard. This is because, to get the most out of this shape you need to be standing forward, over where all the volume is. Buy it too long, and you'll find yourself too far back, like you're surfing with the brakes on.

Construction - Strength and Flex

The Basalt-Fibre weave is a volcanic rock substitute for fibre glass. This makes the board more durable than if it were an epoxy construction, yet still light-weight and flexible like a PU board. Not only is this form of construction tougher, but it's environmental impact is almost non-existent. By combining this construction with the nitrogen closed-cell foam inside, you have yourself a board that's barely needs repairing even if you do manage to figure out a way of dinging it. 

Want to get away skiing in a Powder Paradise?

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Wakeboarding this Easter? Ask the Brofessionals to get the most out of your wakeboard boat

To most of us buying a G23 to go wakeboarding is about as achievable as purchasing your first home in Auckland. So as you sit there looking at your rusting 50 Evinrude engine on the back of that 15ft Sea Nymph know that the Brofessionals respect your ghetto rig and want to help you achieve maximum pop off that wake.

 
Rope and Handle
Before you put a high-pole or tower on your boat and before you sink the crap out of it with as much lead you can get your hands on, the most important purchase to get the most pop from your riding is a non stretch spectra line. True pop - off any wake - is created through building line tension while progressively cutting towards the wake. A task that is impossible if you have a rope line with the stretch consistency of a bike inner tube.  Getting off that old PolyE line and onto a spectra line is the single most important purchase you can make for your wakeboarding career.
 
Ballast
Whether you use five fat mates, lead, cement, water, sand or whatever you can get your hands on, ballast is what will make your wake big and strong. Not only does it help to make that wake larger it also makes it solid which will in turn be punchier and not crumble when you edge through it on your board. The key with weight is displacement; don’t load everything into the back of your rig make sure you keep it even between the bow and the stern. The more you can sink the overall boat, the better your wake will be.
 
Wake
Cleaning up your wake is a simple problem that most of us are unsure on how to fix. The basic principles are if your wake is too mellow and does not have enough kick you will want to add load to the back of the boat. If the wake is too steep and has a crumbled wall or a lip then you need more weight in the nose. Also if you are running a stern-leg or outboard keep the engine all the way down until you are at riding speed (18-22 mph) and then trim the engine back up until you see that bad boy clean himself up and become nice and smooth. Always try and ride as far back on the line as you can before the wake starts to crumble again.
 
Prop
If you are like us and you keep your rig for nothing else but hardcore wakeboarding and water sport then you should really look at changing the prop. A good wake will always benefit from more weight and often your engine will only give you so much pull with the amount of weight you want. This is where down pitching the prop size will allow you to load your boat with more beer chugging mates to really help jack up that wake. Like dropping down a gear in your car your top end will suffer but as thisisn’t so important for wakeboarding, it will give you a lot more torque to get your boat up on the plain. Take note that you don’t need a high end stainless steel prop - a flexible small pitch alloy prop is perfect for the job.

Brofessionals: Wakesurfing Made Easy

Possibly one of the most enjoyable times you will have behind your boat, if you have the set-up is Wakesurfing.

 
For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s the act of producing a large wave by sinking the back of your boat, riding a Short Surf or Skim-style board then letting go of the rope and hacking your way to glory. It gives you the sense of surfing that perfect infinite wave - well if that perfect wave was three feet off the back of a boat and the serenity was drowned out with a roaring V8.
 
Nonetheless it takes away the hard part of surfing and leaves you tearing up the wave you have always wanted, without all that painfully hard paddling and duck diving.
 
For most of us, it’s a tough task to set up the boat to build a big enough wave to be able to let go of the rope.
But not anymore! Thanks to Mission Delta Wake Gear. They have come up with a product that will turn your old dog of an inboard into a Wakesurfing machine.
 
The idea although very simple is incredibly effective and very well thought out. The Mission Delta basically is a suction cupped wake plate that can be fixed onto the side of any fibreglass boat easily. Place it further back for a steeper walled wave and run it further forwards for a longer, more drawn out wave.
 
How it works:
Leaving your boat with full ballast, you suction the Delta onto the opposite back corner of the boat that you wish to surf on. This causes the boat to turn inward towards the side that the plate is on. Turning the wheel to correct the direction of the boat to go straight, which makes the wave swiftly appear on the other side. Effectively the boat drives now in a straight line but the physics of the rudder and hull make it more like it’s arching in a massive turn to create that beautiful wave you have always wanted.
 
As long as you still sink your boat with plenty of weight you can set your rig up for wakeboarding. Instead of having to move all that weight around to set-up for Wakesurfing, with a simple leaver flick of the Mission Delta and you are away laughing.
 
We recommend only doing this with a direct or V-Drive boat as the prop is situated well out of the way under the hull.

Going to Japan…ask the Brofessionals.

Going to Japan…ask the Brofessionals.

Japan is a powder hound’s dream. The cold Siberian winds pick up all the moisture from the Sea of Japan and proceed to unload on Hokkiado (North island) and Honshu (main island) upwards of 18 meters a year. If you want to ski in true waist deep powder there is no other place quite like it. The super large flakes of snow combined with how light and fluffy it is will literally have you swimming in the stuff.
Being the good buggers that we are we have endured many ski holidays there ourselves just so we can educate you on the dos and don’ts of going there on a ski holiday

Buy before you go
Excluding Niseko, Japan offers very little in the way of purchasing equipment. This is 10 times harder if you have long feet or you are taller than most. Our recommendation is to always go over prepared and make sure you have everything you need

Ski width for powder
If you are an all-day piste basher then your standard 80 under foot carvers will work no problem. But like us if you want to adventure around in the powder those carvers will be about as much use as blind lifeguard.  The terrain on average in Japan is generally somewhere between Blue and Black runs but most resorts have their fair share of flat sections. There are two main ways of looking at purchasing.  Either to own and use back here - or to own and only use on powder days.
If you want to have a set of skis that can handle waist-deep, face-smashing pow in Hokkaido yet still roll into the Motatapu chutes on TC, 100 mm underfoot is our recommendation. As long as you combine it with a decent 15% tip rocker then you will have a set that can pretty much tackle anything
If you really are just in search off the best face shot then go for 110-120 underfoot. Although they are pretty pointless for NZ unless you search out the pow days or just love heli skiing then these will be your go-to travel skis. The medium vert of the resorts combined with the trees and amount of snow mean the more width you put under your foot the less effort you will require.

Snowboard Arsenal
Your style of riding obviously plays a massive part in this decision. Japan is dominated by low lying mountains with medium to steep faces, large rolling flat sections and narrow tree lines. Camber is  still the preferred choice of advanced riders but we definitely recommend rocker for Japan. This will help keep the nose of your board out of the deep snow and stop the worst of that back leg burn. Here are the two ways the Brofessionals recommend you go about this:
Keep your standard board and purchase a powder board is one of the better options. This allows you to keep your normal shred stick to ride at home and dominate the trails but gives you a powder board to pull out on the days you need. These usually have taper dominated design, with large rocker forward of the front binding. The other good thing about a powder board is they don’t change a lot so you can keep it as your deep day destroyer for years to come.
The second is to move onto a Reverse Camber preferably Flying V or Hybrid camber. This style board will give you the best of both worlds. It will still dominate in that freeze thaw that we get here but the lift in the nose and tail will help you ride through the trees and keep your speed up on those powdery open faces.

Your normal shoes won’t cut it
As soon as you step out of the plane at Chitose airport you will immediately regret your decision to bring normal shoes. This is not just due to the cold ground temp working its way through the soles but the amount of snow on the ground will have your shoes filled in seconds. A waterproof set of hiking/snow style boots its a must. Due to the small size of feet in Japan this item is near on impossible to find in anything over a US 9. Also a set of spikes for your boots won’t go astray. The average incline when combined with the ice factor make the footpaths resemble an ice-skating rink more than a sidewalk!

Puffer up
No matter how warm you get skiing at least a packable puffer should be taken. Getting around the restaurants at night will almost always be on foot and the temps drop well below zero so pack plenty of items to insulate
 

The Resorts We have skied in a few words:

- Niseko – Busy / Book for dinners / Lots of night life / Kitchen sushi train / Go Moiwa / Australians / Gate 4
- Rusutsu – Great tree runs / No crowds / No nightlife / Day mission from Niseko
- Furano – Amazing back country / Cable car / Small town vibe / Ajitos / Link Lift
- Tomamu – Great vert faces / long run out / Nothing there / Open trees / Good day mission
- Samui – Open / Uni mountain vibe / Very quiet / Rad old Gondola / Small park / No English
- Hakuba – 11 resorts / One flight / Loads of terrain / Japanese holiday destination / Lots of everything.

The Brofessionals advice on how to not get into a fight at the boat ramp

Easter is coming and we thought it was a perfect time to throw some Brofessional advice out there on some simple boat etiquette, to keep everyone having a dope time on the water. Here are five easy-to-follow tips to make sure you all get the most out of the flat water.

1. No power turns.

There are a few reasons power turns are a no-no when your rider falls off. When you huck your boat around to pick up your fallen comrade you release a massive wake up and down your lake, creating rollers not only for yourself but for everyone else. Always come to almost a complete stop and gently cruise back to pick up your rider. This gives the water a chance to settle and lets your rider dice up the butter on the take off.

Not hauling through the turn without the rider will also preserve your rope and handle. Powering up with the handle tracking in the water causes the rope to fray and tear and the handle grip to delaminate.

2. Track a straight line

Remember to always try and track in behind the boat that just passed you. This will allow your wakes to remain in the same area and make their way to the edge of the lake. Driving in circles causes massive double ups and wakes to constantly cross each other, ruining the water for everyone

3. Don’t ruin people’s day

Although this isn’t wrong and anyone is allowed to use the water - cutting someone’s lunch always blows. If there’s a crew out waterskiing/wakeboarding/wakeskating on a nice piece of flat water don’t ride up near them and start hucking donuts in your jetski, throwing a tube around or start wakesurfing. These sports can be done in most cases in rougher water and will destroy anyone’s chance of enjoying the flat water. Multiple boats with good drivers can share a piece of flat water unless you start doing one of these to it.

4. Boat ramp patience

Remember that most people suck at reversing a trailer so take a chill pill and just wait your turn. This place probably starts more fights than a school yard but awareness is the key. Don’t park your boat trailer on the ramp for any other reason than getting your boat on or off your trailer. Get your boat on or off the trailer and then move it well out of the way for others to use. Don’t drive it down onto the ramp and then decide to pack or unpack it, clean it or re-polish the gel coat. The ramp is for loading and unloading only; watch out for what everyone else is doing and remember to be friendly!

5. Boats don’t run on thanks

This is a given…. if you want to get invited out again next time to ride behind someone’s boat always pay for your share of gas. Roughly every $1 of gas that goes through a boat, $1 is spent on the boat. The normal going rate is about $20 a set, so if you ride two sets/turns on the boat, its $40. No matter how rich your boat owner is, always offer to pay your way. If you’re unsure just ask the boat owner what you can contribute to the session.

The Brofessionals Advice: Why Auckland needs a cable park

Imagine being able to finish work early on a hot summer's afternoon, and instead of going to the gym for a workout, meeting up with your crew at the local cable park to shred together 'til dark. The ability to ride with a gang of mates while being inspired by others is the key to this sport’s growth and survival. 

Wakeboarding emerged in the world’s action sports scene in the early 1990s. Unfortunately, over the years the sport has become restricted to a more elitist sport, close to that of polo or off-shore power boat racing.

National and international competitions are now run with such expensive and exceptional boats (NZD$200,000) most riders are unable to properly train due to their inaccessibility. This combined with the forever-increasing price of petrol, you are left with a sport in its top-end that can only be reached by those with over-flowing wallets (by the way we are talking about the height of competition, wake-to-wake double flips and Backside 1080’s, not hacking around Greenhithe in your Bayliner smashing out back rolls - because that shit is ace!)

With wakeboarding there is an alternative side of the coin that most of you have heard about, but possibly never experienced….. cable parks!

I’m not referring to your two-tower system, which in their own right are amazing and provide a whole different kettle of fish, I’m referring to a full five-six tower system. These systems are well proven around the world in exciting cities like Sydney, London, Frankfurt, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, Paris, Shanghai, LA, Las Vegas and San Francisco and are great facilities for getting a large amount of people who would otherwise never have access to wakeboarding.

They create a great community of riders; allowing interaction between professionals and learners in the same space. Unlike boat riding where you may not see anyone else out on the water in a session, the cable community revolves around hanging out at the park watching other riders while getting inspired.

The major benefit about cable riding is equipment and a season/day pass ticket this is the only outlay you will need to spend. You can virtually ride for as long as your arms will allow you to hold on for. 

This means that wakeboarding is no longer in only the elitist domain and brings it back to everyone.  Anyone, no matter how much money you have, can compete and ride on the same platform at the same speed using the same features without having to take out a small mortgage to pay for an official boat and run up massive bills on your petrol fuel card.

We say bring on a cable park for Auckland - a city of water sport lovers - and let’s get behind anyone willing to try and build one.  

So who's with us?

The Broffesionals advice on Snowboard Rocker

While all boards have been created with the same idea of descending a slope covered in frozen water, these pieces of timber have come along way since their conception. From the initial creation of Snurfing in 1965 by Sherman Poppen to Jake Burton strapping on the first set of bindings to secure his feet to the board.

Traditionally anyone who has been snowboarding for more than 6 years will have experienced camber, as almost all snowboards shared this profile (except INCA who tried rocker early on in their boards but didn’t quite get it right). Now there is an ensemble of different rocker/camber profiles that can leave most of us as confused as a deaf man in a blind community.

 If you remove the names given to these profiles by their brands then you can break them down into the following main types; Camber, Hybrid Camber, Reverse Camber, Flat Camber, S-Reverse Camber, Hybrid-Reverse Camber.

Our Brofessional opinion:

CAMBER

Awesome if you are Old, or if you are Ace

If you have more of a traditional style and want a board that ‘sticks like shit to a blanket’ on ice, then get Camber. What makes this board catchy, is the same thing that allows solid riders to land strong, stomp their tricks, throw them back over their front foot if they land tail heavy, and provide them with sky high pop.

HYBRID CAMBER

Great for pop without all that ‘smash your face’ vibe.

When you’re after the pop and drive of Camber but don’t like its ruthless edge catching nature. The camber between your feet gives you that traditional feel, yet the small incline just before the catch points gives the board a forgiving nature.

Also known as: Pure Pop, Lock and Load Camber

REVERSE CAMBER

The Friendliest of all Profiles

Beginners and more timid riders look no further. This profile will have you standing at the bottom of the mountain wondering how you got down. Practically turning itself, the catch points are so far off the snow even Daniel Vettori couldn’t catch them. Also a great option for soft powder and chopped up snow, as it’ll lift you up and out of it.

Also known as: V rocker, BTX

FLAT CAMBER

Fun. Friendly. Freestyle.

Void of any real profile, Flat Camber is exactly what it says - flat. Used in situations where you want a locked-in feeling when riding into booters/features, but you want a forgiving landing. Often a softer flex that will provide you with a more traditional feel and drive on edge, yet still remain forgiving when initiating turns. Also a go-to for freestyle powder riding and often super easy to butter.

S – REVESE CAMBER

Great for the Old man knees

The S Shaped design will provide power and drive through the back foot that most freeriders want, while lifting the nose up and out of the crud/powder. The over sized rocker in the nose helps keep the board on a high line, which makes it a great shape for NZ fields where traversing long distance is necessary.

HYBRID - REVERSE CAMBER

The best for the rest

If you are still overwhelmed by which rocker line to get, the Hybrid Reverse Camber is the outline for you. Coming in a vast array of flexes, Hybrid rocker is the profile for the rider who wants it all. Drive and pop underfoot, lift in powder and traversing, catch free tip and tail while still holding an edge.

Also known as: Flying V, C2 BTX, EC2 BTX

How to Choose a Park Ski

In the early ’90s, when dinosaurs had only recently been supplanted by mammals and plaid shirts were worn layered on top of each other, terrain parks were in their infancy. They were an attempt to welcome snowboarding to the resorts and to corral (unsuccessfully) the skate-inspired tricks that boarders favored and that upset the status quo.

Initially, skiers were not allowed in the parks, but with youth being youth, that restriction became more of a temptation than any marketing ploy could ever hope to achieve. Skiers began “poaching” the parks, and not long after, the first production twintip ski (the K2 Poacher) hit the market. This was the original park and pipe ski, and for almost a decade, all a manufacturer had to do was put an upward curve in the tail of a mold and slap some rad graphics on the topsheet to make one.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHOOSING A SKI

Twenty years later, park and pipe skiing is its own industry, and the most televised skiing discipline in history. Park and pipe skis are designed specifically for the sport, and while the abundance of choice may present a tough decision, the actual difference from one park ski to the next is not as extreme as you might think. Park and pipe skis tend to stick within a narrow design range and are focused on achieving a few goals within that scope.

WIDTH AND SHAPE

A park ski doesn’t have to float in powder, and it doesn’t have to rail high-G, high-speed turns, so dimensions usually fall in-between carving and all-mountain skis, with a little extra width for stability but not enough to make the ski sluggish or sacrifice hard snow grip. Around 80-85mm underfoot seems to be the sweet spot, with a shorter radius of between 11 and 16 meters. Some manufacturers offer “true twin” dimensions that are identical in the tip and tail, which (in theory) makes switch skiing easier and improves balance for spinning tricks and rails, but most seem to believe that a slight directional shape offers a better all-around experience.

LENGTH

As for length, you’ll want to go a touch shorter than you would for a carving ski, but not too much … you don’t want a ski that’s so short that your landings are going to feel squirrely, especially if you’re going big.  Keep in mind that bindings are usually center-mounted (on true twin-tips) or only very slightly off-center, so they’re going to feel a touch shorter than, say, an all-mountain ski where your bindings are mounted slightly further back.