I’m looking for a shorter board to transition from my 10ft longboard. While doing some research, I noticed that there are not many boards offered in lengths between 8-9ft. Lots of boards at 9’ and above and lots below 8’ but not much inbetween. Is there a reason for this?
SF
Well, if you’re talking about California, its 'cause Kirk Putnam has got them all in his garage…
its because most surfers are sheep and think of themselves as “shortboarders” or “longboarders”. An 8’6" is neither, so the sheep aren’t interested…
Longboard competitions define longboards as boards 9 ft and longer. This creates an artificial length boundary - longboards must be at least 9 ft long. Hence, the competition 9 ft longboard. An 8’6" won’t cut it, it is not definable as a longboard by competition standards.
I posted this once before, but this is my 8’0 RC Shapes mini-longboard w/ Greenough flex fin…you can deep fade the bottom turn, drive off the bottom, make big sweeping turns across the face of the wave from top to bottom, and move up to the nose when needed. Fun.
I make alot of 8’ 3’’ boards and 8’6’’ boards, mostly fun board shapes. If you need a template I can send you one so you can make one?
Mark
my favorite board is an 8’0"; the picture under my name is me riding an 8’0". Its a great length for a board in my opinion. Particularly if you have some wave size…
keith, can we see a bigger picture? thanks.
What you seek is attainable, Grasshopper. It is the hidden realm (wait, maybe Realm is not the right choice of words—Costco).
I’ll start over. There are several board makers out there who are making some mullet-rocking, hip-hoppin, kick ass eight + boards. In fact, there’s a dude on this very website making some really cool boards. His name is Greg Hunt. Go to his website: www.huntcustoms.com. The Kind Creation is is a great design. Lots of guys are making shapes like this, and it is, brother, a very fun design. Mine is an 8,2 made by Jim Phillips. It is in the archives, but I’m not sure which number. Just do a search on Jim Phillips and 8,2 and it will come up in the photo archives. It’s such a fun board and so versitile (sp?).
It will get into two foot mushy slop and give me a fun ride. Or, it will ride chest to head high, well-shaped San Onofre and give me a classic seventies ride (figure eight roundhouses). Plus, when the surf gets grindy and hollow, it will get in early and sticks to the wall like nobody’s business, gettin me tube rides that rival Gerry Lopez. Okay, that’s stretching it a bit, but it does tube ride really well. It is the best board I own. I don’t ride it that often, because I still shortboard about 75% of the time (up from about 25% of the time last year, due to the fact that I now have the most magical shortboard I ever owned).
Anyway, it’s an 8,2, pintail, single fin (with a greenough flexfin–key to a great bottom turn), rounded nose, and (this is important) volan glass. I love it. Absolutely love it!
Jim Phillips of Encinitas made it for me. I bought an 8,3E blank from, of course, Clark. I had the nose rocker dropped two inches from center. It’s a flat board, which gets me in early on both mushy AND hollow surf. Jim shaped it better than I could imagine, and Tom eberly put a superb glass job on it. I brag about that board to everyone who asks (and they ask a lot). It’s a work of art.
Sorry about that run on paragraphs. Also try www.cooperfishsurfboards.com and look up the “comet”. That is essentially the same thing, only prettier and with pinched fifty-fifty rails, I think. And Dewey Weber makes a board called the, uh…wait…I forgot. Go to their website and check it out. The nose isn’t rounded, but it’s a good one anyway.
Feather Fastback. That’s what it’s called (Dewey Weber). Good board.
If, however, you are simply looking for an eight foot big guy tri, everyone makes those. They aren’t very impressive and they ride like crap, but some people like them. They are interesting in that they catch waves early, but they don’t turn sharply enough, in my opinion. The boards I was talking about don’t turn sharply either, but they are designed to be ridden from the middle and the nose, but not from the tail as much.
Good luck.
http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/Detailed/671.html
I’d say the description of Fairmount’s board and how it rides is close to mine. Mine also has flatter rocker and similar outline, but I suspect the Jim Phillips rails are nicer. Also mainly ridden from the middle and the nose. 2 foot to OH, likes the hollow section also.
Hey, you found it! Right on. Cool board. The first photo shows a lot of wax, NOT a patchy glass job. The glass job is actually top quality. Tom Eberly did it in Encinitas (next door to Jim Phillips). I could have had it glasses in Oceanside (twelve miles north) for about thirty bucks less, but is that worth the drive and the chance to ruin the shaped blank? No, so I had it done right there.
I forgot to mention that it has an S-deck. Now, I always struggle with what that means, exactly (something about Simmons), but the good shapers know exactly what it means. I can tell you this: It’s barely fifty-fifty (rails) for maybe the first nine inches, goes to 60/40 for most of the board, and then gets really sharp toward the back, and the pintail is real, not a rounded pin tail. That’s important, because this thing will stick to the wall, like I said. I take it out at overhead Blacks with confidence, because it really gets in very early. The only hard part is getting it to stall.
Sometimes, if I set the rail just right on a steep part of the wave, I swear, a little motor kicks in and it actually feels as if someone gave it a giant thrust from behind.
I was on the beach at Pipeline in February, and the waves were big and hollow. I’m beginning to think that if I had brought that board I might have attempted at least one wave on it, because it gets in so early but is easy to turn (compared, of course, to any longboard).
By the way, don’t put side bites on it. And don’t glass it light. Both those things will kill it. The glass has to be heavy and the fin should be a flex fin. The first time I bottom turned on a six foot wave, it almost left me behind because it thrusts out of bottom turns IF you have your foot placement right and you shift your weight through the bottom turn gradually. It’s a trip.
If you are ever in the Carlsbad area and want to ride it, just send me a message. We’ll paddle out.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I am six feet tall and weigh 190. If you are dramatically different than that, well, I don’t know what you should ride to get the same trip. Ask you local shaper (or the experts at Surftech 
Fairmont,
Interesting review. Can you detail the width and thickness of the board? What is the bottom like? What is it about volan that u like so much (what about heavy S-glass)?
I have been contemplating making me a mini-longboard for those knee high days and have envisioned a board with very flat rocker that rides good from the center.
Your board seems to fit the bill and further detailed design comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
The thing about my board (which I think is similar to Fairmount’s) is that although it catches waves fine when it’s small, I really like to ride it when it’s chest high or bigger. It really turns on then. I have a video clip of the wave above that is a pretty good example of how it flows…anyone know the best way to compress 30 seconds of video using imovie to get the smoothest mpg movie that is not all pixalated? If so, maybe I’ll post it later so you can see.
here’s the board on a bigger wave last Easter at my home break:
Versatile magic is the result of getting a custom shape suited for you in this size range.
My magic is an 8-6 Pointblanks epoxy which handles much shorter than its length would indicate.
An 8-0 McCoy Nugget is en-route to me from Oz, should have it in a couple of weeks.
I have a nice,but much older 8’0" Liddle that acts much like a long board.It can bend but because of the length, stays straighter like a longboard.Liddle will not make them that long anymore. Paul Gross does make an 8’8" model that takes Liddle’s round board concepts and applies them into this new length.I’m sure that Proneman can furnish you with Mr.Gross’s phone number.
I will give the total dimensions in the next day or two, but I got them right here at Swaylocks from the generous guys at, yep, Swaylocks. I started asking about boards like this, and before I knew it I was getting outlines, and stuff right here from very friendly and helpful guys. I know I bugged the heck out of a lot of people, and they got a little annoyed, understandably, but the thing turned out just right. If they store these discussions in the archives, then it’s there. Just do a search for Fairmont or Michael Fairbanks or something. I forgot my old screen name because it wasn’t always required. The board was made last fall. You can also call Jim Phillips in Encinitas and ask him about it. You may have to jog his memory, but if you mention my name and the board, he will probably remember.
The bottom contours are: rounded under the nose (no concave at all) and lots of V in the tail and mid-tail area. I like that a lot. The nose is VERY Velzy, and that makes sense, because Jim Phillips makes a lot of Velzys (I think). The magic, besides the outstanding rails that Jim put on it, is the rocker. I must have been told by three or four shapers (excluding Jim) that I took way too much rocker out of it when ordering the blank. I got stressed, but Jim was positive the whole way. Needless to say, again, the board is magic, and You’ll have to fight me, feed me, and give me a million bucks to take it away. I love that board. It’s also cool that there is only one label on the entire thing, a Jim Phillips laminate that is about three inches by half an inch, right next to the leash loop (another cool touch–I recommend it–looks much better than a leash cup or plug).
I like Volan cloth for many reasons. One, I like the look. It’s cool to see the weave, and I love the green tint it makes when glassed over a white blank. Really gives it that old-time look. Second, I like the weight of it. This board has momentum, and would not if it were sanded with a 4/4/4 combination. It keeps its speed as I’m paddling and as I’m surfing.
I think, since I have a better camera now, that I’ll photograph it again and send it in to Swaylocks.
But, like I said, it is so good that I always ask people to try it. I tried to get Kelly Slater to ride it, but he politely said no. He probably didn’t want me riding his board (as if I could) at the Boost Mobile Pro last year. I always go up there to Trestles to surf after the contest each day. For some reason, it’s less crowded during that time. Go figure. Well, he probably thought I was trying to hit on him or something.
Again, I’ll try to get those dimensions posted within a couple days. Course, I don’t have calipers, so I don’t know how to measure thickness, but I am going to guess 2.825. The width is about 21 or 22. I need to measure.
I’m mostly riding longer boards these days, but I have an 8’ Walden Magic that is really a blast to ride! Check one out if you can.
Looking at the Clark Foam cat, the 8’4S blank could be an easy to shape alternative.
Its 2.9in thick, relatively flat rocker. You’ll need to cut 3in off each end and you’ll get very similar rocker profile, about 3.5" nose and 3" tail. Reducing the thickness in the middle to about 2.75" would yield even less rocker. Perfect for those who would want a slightly shorter board with a little more rocker. Fairmont’s board is probably a little flatter which is a major part of the majic he describes.
I can tell you thatBrewer/Plumeria sells all the 8 ft. mini longboards that we can make. I mean we can’t keep them in stock, as soon as we get blanks, they are spoken for. We just got a hold of some T-Band blanks for these and they went in a day. I agree with others on this thread, you don’t hear much about this type of boards, but obviously a lot of people like and ride them.
