HOW TO: PLACE A TAIL PAD

The question of the pad often comes down to an aesthetic choice for the look of your board. But what seems like luxury to non-pros is actually a huge help. If surfing is “the art of placement” then you need to put your feet properly on the board. And what better than a touch marker to know, “ok, I’m at the sweet spot for this turn.”?Sticking good pads is therefore essential. They will signal to your feet whether they are in the perfect position or not. You still have to stick them properly, and some get very creative…

To begin with, you should always stick it on a new board because on an already waxed board it is hell: it will always remain greasy. In this case, wax and then clean the surface with gasoline F to remove the grease, and wait 24 hours to rub with a clean microfiber before sticking the pad.

A pad should be glued straight, it’s prettier ? And we glue the tail pad to the leash plug !!! A maximum of 2cm in front. It is positioned on the board without removing the double-sided protective films. We adjust it just right. Then if you want to make sure it remains well positioned, draw a few points with a pencil on the board. We always start with the central part of the pad.

We peel off the front of the film 5cm and fold it back before placing it again. When it’s good, we press the front to fix the position with the glue on the board. Lift the back of the pad to remove the rest of the protective film. And we stick the rest to the back without stretching or twisting it too much. We press on it very hard because the glues react to pressure above all.

We fix the kicker of the tail pad firmly with paper tape and leave it under pressure for 24 hours. We unpack 24 hours later and go !!! And if a point of the pad ever comes off, we re-glue it with quick gel glue on a perfectly dry pad. We don’t wait 15 days to do it, otherwise the whole pad will peel off. It’s a little maintenance to do sometimes, when you have the wetsuit that got stuck to the pad a little hard for example.