I thought I would expand on a topic covered here and there, but never really focused on it seems… 8 ft singlefins…
I’ve got my hands on an 8’3" balsa blank, and I’ve been thinking a long time about making this 8 foot wooden board for a particular point break I ride when it’s about head high.
The wave I have in mind is a bit of a strange one. It makes you feel like an old man I reckon. Usually bumpy at head high or bigger. Fat but lurching takeoff, a section that is often too fast, and then some grinding sections with room for drawn-out cutbacks and stalls. A shortboard often leaves you feeling frustrated, a longboard turns into a bucking bronco in the fast sections, and both long and short struggle to connect smooth turns in the bumps.
So I’m making an 8 foot balsa board, slight v-bottom (and/or rolled bottom) to cut through the chop, maybe a diamond tail, and the fin I haven’t decided on yet. Not a hull, not really a big egg, and not so much a mini-log.
My inspiration so far has been things like Tudor’s segment on a 8’ board in The Seedling, as well as outlines of boards like the Cooperfish Comet and Tyler’s Mini-Zeke. I suppose somewhere in the background are the McTavish V-bottoms, but this won’t be quite so extreme in those features.
I’m hoping that this will spawn some thoughts into the theory of boards of this calibre and design… Any comments will help me refine my ideas before I sharpen my planing blades…
this may or may not be a road you want to go down.
however it when you were talking about 8ft boards, vee and diamond tails i instantly thought back to the late 60s in the time of McTavish / Greenough and Nat Young (aswell as Chris Brock and a hundred other guys).
You might have/seen the movies The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun and Children of The Sun. they feature a lot of boards in the 8’ range with vee bottoms.
However you’d probably be creating something a bit more modern and more in the Califonian influence of Tudor, Tyler etc
I agree with Josh, check out Innermost Limits…those boards were between 7 and 8 feet in length…belly up front.
Very early entry into the wave allowing for big swooping bottom turns…they looked very sticky off the top but I’m sure some modernisation of the foil, rocker and rails might alleviate this. I think this is a beautiful and forgotten realm of surfboard design and length. These aren’t funboards we are talking about.
I have a very similar wave that I regularly surf and because it makes most shortboarders on thin thrusters feel like kooks and is not considered a longboard wave it is often very under attended.
i have a heavy 8 foot sort of big guy tri/semi gun (although it’s not really any of these) that I ride there up to DOH.
It paddles like a shark, feels very solid off the bottom and ploughing through bump, and has a wide enough pod to feel loose enough to have fun on. The early entry into a difficult wobbling lurching takeoff is itself worth the price of admission for boards like these.
If I had to have a one board quiver it would be an 8 footer. Good luck with the build.
ma 8 is a solid board. Not the construction but the size.
Good thing is you know exactly where it will be and you are a step ahead by knowing the wave it will be on.
Snapped a board at puaena last winter while on Oahu, Swam to the beach around dark. Slept, Morning coffee at roastmasters then grabbed a 8" footer on my way back to the surf. Ran into Jeff at uppers who was on a different board from his usual. Paddled out and see he is on a 8’ something. He snapped his board yesterday at Makaha he tells me. We grin. Tide comes up and we are done with the foam bath.
Underated 8, I have been pushing this board and it does not want to die. I might only shy from real big with fast hollow on it. could use a touch more rocker in the tail and more poignant rails but it feels like a caddie in just about any wave I paddle it to. Everything else it is always reliable. Steep drops, nose drops, off the tail. Bury the rail and stand take offs.
Even camp on the nose. Great all rounder this 8’
The only thing about a foamy in this range is can’t duck and it’s not the best paddler when size comes up but you will solve that problem with some added weight because of the balsa.
Good thread! Mattynz1, you seem to have the clarity of vision that will always makes a thread very interesting for the Sways gallery – hope you keep us in the loop.
i have a 7’8" board that might be similar to what you are thinking.PG and i worked up this design which is really based on the baby board greenough built and those you see in innermost limits…the nose is round but pulled in, the tail is an arc tail(like that on velo)16" wide.there is roll under the nose , with rolled v that extends about 24" from the front of fin box towrads nose, then dead flat after the box to tail.this was made to surf on the less than desirable days when the wind is up, lots of chop,etc. so maybe an 8 foot version would work for ya…
Wise words from round the world. Thanks to everyone for some design ideas. Glad to see some others who believe there is some utility (and more importantly - character) in an 8 ft, hi-volume board.
Been meaning to get Innermost Limits of Pure Fun for a long time. Now I can consider it a shaping tool. Perfect…
One more question… With rolled and v bottom boards, is it a good idea to have a relatively raked fin? I’m guessing if you put something of a low-raked fin on it (like the Skip Frye from True Ames), it might be a bit too rolly-polly, maybe even rail burrying… The trusty Greenough 4A maybe? Or perhaps something with even less base and more rake?
On a side note, I think I read something on Swaylocks about thicker foiled fins working better in turbulance. If I really want this board to be a Cadilac in sketchy conditions, I think I’m going to have to get the fin dialed in… With a high volume foil, ‘dispacement’ hull, and overhead waves, it seems like you could get away with quite a bit of fin…
Will update when I start mowing foam, or in this case, chipping away at balsa…
for an idea of what type of board my v-bottom is look at hull fin thread above and check the pics of dr. 's new spence v. , especially the picture of the rolled v itself.yes, on my 7’8" v i use a greenough 4a but it is thicker than what is available today.seems to be the correct ticket for the board…
That’s the ticket to ride. Where do you ride that?
That board would go nice out at Lennox Head I reckon.
Unfortunately, not my board. It was one I saw on craigslist, tried to buy it but missed out. Mattynz1 was asking about 8ft boards and that came to mind. When I get some spare change in my pocket I plan to have Robin Mair (aka Handshaper) shape one.
However, I just recently had Robin shape something bigger 9’ 1" x 12 1/8" x 22 1/2" x 13" x 3 1/4", and more of a gun with a 2+1 setup. You can see Robin’s personal board, same shape in yellow here: http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/detail_page.cgi?ID=1121
Where do you ride it? Anywhere between Baja and Santa Barbara County when the surf starts pumping. Plenty of glide to ride on smaller days as well. Works great on those high tide days when lots of water is moving around, the potato chips can’t get into the waves and you slide on by laughing to the beach.
Hi Matty here is an 8 foot single fin that Geoff shaped for me. Probably too gunny for what you had in mind but it has some design elements you might consider : soft forward high volume rails, convex bottom (loaded dome), quite a wide tail. 8’0" by 19 by 3
I have some frame grabs from Innermost Limits that George lent me showing the outline of one of Brockies boards. I’ll see if I can track em down. I love 8 footers.
The other 8 footer I was talking about I lent out to friend so as soon as I get it back I’ll post a pic.
I don’t know what your swell regime is like but most of the big surf we get here in winter comes from strong frontal systems and low pressure systems in the Tasman sea. As a consequence we are relatively close to the fetch so the surf is strong, powerful, very low period (compared to other big wave spots eg hawaii, Cali, Indo etc) and usually has a very strong current with it. You need a good paddler to be in the game.
If you were riding surf this size in Indo you’d be on a 6’6" or 7’0". try riding that in the spot in the photos below and your wave count will be lucky to be single digits.[/im
Although those particular boards are more gunny than what I have in mind this time around, I can deffinitely see some cross referencing to those designs.
As for McCoy’s boards, I have never had the chance to ride one, but I’m struck by how his boards seem so no-nonsense, unconventional, and functional at the same time. I’m a little afraid as soon as I get on a few of his boards, every board I shape from then on will be funny looking…
Even though I’m going with wide volume here, I’ll probably try to pull in the tail a bit for this 8 footer. Laying some nice turns in full use of the rail and the hull cutting through chop sounds perfect.
I deffinitely see myself trying to spawn off on a similar project of an 8 footer with a quad setup after this one. Having the looseness and control of a more conventional shorter board with the paddle power and projection of a longer board would be a nice blend that I’d like to see more shapers experiment with.
Perhaps it will be a natural progression as so many people become more proficient in fishes, quads, bonzers, and hulls in smaller waves. I saw a picture of a Josh Hall midlength on here recently that seems along that design path.
Here’s my 8 footer. I made this to use as a travel board to replace traveling with a longboard. Center box and four Loxbox gives me the option of fin setups.
Hey lennox. The quad I got for an everyday head high plus days that really line up. The trifin for bigger days, but I’ve been surfing it from waist high waves to a little overhead. Super fun board, really trims nicely, and with that trifin can really carve some turns. I mostly surf quad fins and single fins, I kind of forgot how a nice trifin pivots. Nice board Tuna! thanks
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