Going to have my friend Clay Bennett in Jacksonville Fla make me a super light board for prone surfing. It’s going to be shaped from a SUP blank we got from Surf Source. I want it as light as possible so am getting it with standard 6oz glass and sanded finish. I will take it to my shop and do some color and then spray a coat of acrylic clear to seal it all up.
Not going to get in to the health issues as to why i want this board.It’s just boring shit from a 65 year old.
My style of prone surfing is just a down the line glide. I take off at an angle in the direction i want to go and drag my arm to position myself in the wave. I used to prone all of the time when i was a kid in Hawaii.
My thoughts were to make it nice and thick around 3 1/2. Width around 22" with a squash tail or rounded pin. Nose kinda pulled in but not pointed. Rolled bottom and fat 50/50 rails.
I am really out of shape and 210 pounds 5’10 tall. Am using this board to get back in the water after many years.
Looking for input from the Sway bros. All appreciated. R Brucker
no doubt roger! been using my 7' pg belly board(aka "la panza") and having a blast. i will also use my liddles that are 8' and 8'4" as well. my back/sciatic issues are getting better. stood up the other day(been a looong time since i could do that! ) however, surf has been small, so the prone way has been the fun way!
Reading your posts and the replies has got me stoked! Anything to keep you in the water is good. I made a little prone board for when I had my meniscectomy. It was so much fun I wasnt rushing to go back to my usual short boards.
Go for it and please post picture of the finished product.
Isn’t getting old grand. 79 bad shoulders, knee replacements and lots of arthritis. The board I made that work pretty well with all of that is 11’ x 26" x 3 1/4".
I have a foam standup board pad on part of it which is kind to the knee and helps to keep me from getting was off if I don’t make it to my feet. Beause of the shoulders I paddle out sitting down and save the prone paddling for catching waves. The rails are dropped to the bottom in the tail portion. I found that a wide tail and a single fin made this board turns much better than the previous one. This board is around 25 pounds maybe a little more. I like the feel of some weight when making the drop or plowing through white water. We do what we have to do to get out there, the alternative is something to be avoided.
Roger how are your legs? Riding a mat is a lot of fun, and offers a good workout. My only problem with mat riding is that I get a sore back from the angle that I am at when I’m not riding, and a lot of the places I did it were way the heck out, like number 3s on really small days. If there is a place with waves closer to shore it would be a lot of fun. I used to take my fins and 2 mats whenever my family went on vacation. The girls would go without fins. We stayed in Waikiki a couple of times and that’s when I rode the mats at 3s.
I had a friend who was in a bad bike accident and he messed up his feet. After he got better he’d ride a longboard on his knees. Sadly he got killed riding his bike. RIP Darrell, miss you.
Thanks for all the input. Decided to keep it simple. 10'0" 23"wide 16"nose 16"tail. Rolled bottom up front going to flat with a bit of concave thru tail (Clay's call).Rails wil also be Clay's call. Single fin with a generic 9" cheapie fin in a fins unlimited box. Sanded finish with Behr acrylic floor sealer sprayed as a sealer. 6oz. bottom. double 6oz deck.
Hopefully this will get me started. Hell I can always make something later if I want to change. I don't do epoxy and I wanted it light and floaty. I call it a "training tool excersize machine".
Do you think it needs a vent? Clay's opinion is that they just end up leaking and don't help that much. Any opinions?
I have only one board that was made strictly for proneriding. 8-8(El Paipo Grande). It never felt as good stand up riding as it did proneing.There are some pics and conversation somewhere in the archives. Brought it back from Mexico and on over to Oahu with the intention of bringing it to Maui for riding Ma’alea. Maybe next season! But, I have many boards that are similar and ride good any way I choose. For me, common denominator is low rocker, 50/50ish rails, hull bottom. Just enough fin to keep it from sliding out and not too big to keep from rider directed side slip. I dont want my rails to catch and pitch me in tiny waves over reef or cobblestones. I occasionally get on different types of modern boards and while they may be fine stand up boards, they feel awful laying down…I want em flat, fast, fun and forgiving…
I've been an avid surfer since the 60's but I had to go strictly prone about 10 years ago due to a neck injury which over time has destroyed my ability to paddle overarm.
I was sort of lost for a while, it took me a couple years to get my bearings and I almost quit surfing altogether, that is until I discovered and started riding a wooden alaia, kipapa (prone) style.
Easy to make and transport, easy to duck dive, super fast even in tiny gutless surf and fun fun fun.
If you are going to ride prone I suggest you owe it to yourself to give one a try. The ride is unlike anything else and the speed is mind blowing.
You could add a couple rope handles to use to steer the thing. I did that on a surf paddle board I made and the control I could get from the handles was way better than holding on to the rails. Also made it really easy to roll bigger waves.
I appreciate all of the input. Have changed my mind about the 50/50 rails and will go more modern. Now thinking roll (belly) in the nose going back to more of a down rail going toward the back. I want this board to be real floaty so am thinking of keeping the rails kind of thick. The hot wired EPS blank has a flat deck which i really like but probably gonna have to crown it or the rails will be too thick.
I want to keep it fairly narrow because if it’s too wide the arm drag deal gets harder. Still thinking around 22.5 but am open for opinions. As for the fin it’s just going to be a generic single fin. My Shaper Clay Bennett is going to put one of those SUP carry handles on it for me. One of my main physical limitations is a prosthetic hip that makes it hard to walk long distances through the sand so the handle sounds unreal.
Almost thought about making the whole thing down rail but not sure about that. Like I said…my style of proning is pointing the board in the direction i want to go and dragging my arm to climb and drop. Once the wave breaks can use my arm as an anchor and do a pull out through the back or just straighten out and ride the soup.
This board is kinda like a training tool to get me back in the ocean. When it’s flat i am gonna paddle to try and get some upper body strength. I feel the old stoke pouring back.Haven’t been this pumped in 20 years. I figure that by taking the input from you Sway bros. and the experience of Clay Bennett I can’t miss.
Keep up with the suggestions.All input much appreciated. R. Brucker
Considering your height/weight a 9'6" 3 1/8 or 3 1/4 would work too but consider some nose rocker since most of your weight above center riding prone. As far as your health issues and age many posts in the past seeking suggestions to stay in the water so don't sell yourself short to ride prone. I surf with others in your age bracket who work out to stay in shape for water time. Practice popping up 1 knee down/ 1 foot up, shift your weight to foot or knee to turn/glide down the wave as well as your hand in wave face for harder turns. I'm sure you can work yourself up to this style as its a very simple pop up and who knows could lead to riding full upright in the future.
Good luck Richard. In addition to moving up the fins a smidge, I’d say add a little more rocker to the board if the blank will permit. You won’t be able to work off of the tail while prone, of course.
From my very limited experience with prone riding on bigger boards I tend to agree with the rails comment made above. It also think a harder rail through the tail is faster, and its easier to slow with an arm in the the face than to accelerate with a full 50/50 rail.
One other comment, you might want to bring your fin(s) up a bit from where you’d place them normally, adjusting bottom contours accordingly. It may make the board a bit more responsive if you decide to go that route. It can be fun looking for little pockets to climb and such. But for point and glide, most anything works.
Like Huck said, wave count and ease are key.
Enjoy being back in the water - one thing I’ve finally gotten my head around is tha it really doesn’t matter how or what you’re riding, it does a world of good. I knee boarded a few waves several weeks ago on a 7’6" single of mine (wide at 22" and thick at 3") when I couldn’t quite make it to me feet, just point and go with a little line adjustment. Couldn’t care less if the “up and coming” thought I was a kook, it was fun.
