Try not to get wrapped around the axle here with details. You have to start somewhere since everyone has. This is your first board for a beginning surfer. What you originally described will work for what you want. A board that is 8’6’', wide point behind center, belly, 60/40 rails, with an enormous fin, something that you can learn to shape, something that someone can learn to surf on and something that will float. Everything is a tradeoff from rocker to thickness to fin to rail to leash plug vs. leash loop vs. no leash.
Also, use your Jacobs as a guide. I can only assume it has rails similar to what you are looking for and belly. If there is something you don’t like how the Jacobs rides then research how to make it different.
Thanks warrior. The jacobs has really radical belly and eggy rails. I am planning for a less extreme belly and rails with a bit of an edge. Thank you for the links. They’ll be handy!
I’de like to add something Bill T said to me in my own pig shaping, and that I’ve seen outlined through various member’s discussions on different lb’s, wp’s, and volume distribution-
Instead of “classic” pig foam distribution, why not try for something that is much more balanced with the bulk of material underneath your chest/belly/waist/knees? I’ve yet to ride or glass my finished shape since I’m still waiting for some nice wood stock to foil a fin, but it bears a striking resemblence to the kind of board you are describing (Wp aft, 8’8, slight belly, flat nose entry, mellow rocker, low 60/40 rails, crowned deck etc). Just holding it under my arm and in my hands the board feels much more centered. Im hoping it will lend to a more effortless paddle. I can upload pictures later.
Post 11, and post 13, were posted by Bill T. Since you have an ‘‘experienced New England shaper’’ at your disposal, you have no further need of my input.
Bill T helped me quite a bit, and I tried several times to create a board like you see in the picture. I could not for the life of me get the outline look right. I gave up and took this picture to Ricky Carroll. He hit it spot on. It is 10-6 and about 23 at the WP. I pull it out everytime the surf gets lined up and reeling. It has serious tail rocker, and even so I believe I can catch waves from behind. ha.
Pigs ride so poorly compared to a well designed and shaped longboard. I suggest you make it, and if you have a degree of intellegence you may agree with me that your board sucks.
…that design is something that only works in the types of waves you have in the US frontier line, like San Diego, etc; probably you just watched them in some hipsters video.
The D fin, as mentioned by SammyA, is a skeg do not work as a fin. Looks good and holds a bit but nothing more.
In Japan I saw lots in the water, all from California, but in hands of inexperienced riders.
-One interesting thing is think the outline like the godfather of the small shortboard.
**Probably late, @ 10'-6 a US Blanks 11'-3" D works very good. The "Pig" is a Velzy deal and the origionals made men out of groms. Thrailkill lived it and tells it, ride what you want. Photo one "real pig" , photo two Dale with a modern pig and photo three a 10'-6" "pig" spoon made this Summer. It's the principle of behind center wide point and for my 48 years of making boards have spent a lot of time and money on pigs. I agree with Reverb, indeed the Godfather of the short board. Oh, photo four "Pig Fish"**
For the life of me, I can’t understand the fascination with D fins that’s currently in vogue among certain quarters. To some, they may look “cool”, but anyone who lived through the years when that was just about the only fin around will tell you they are a hindrance.
I’d like to solicit some input from the older guys here. Older than me, that is.
Here on the EC we got whatever the local shops decided to carry. We were usually months behind and far removed from innovations as they came along.
Much of my research and memory says that the D fin was a concession made to the post Gidget masses who needed stability over performance. As primitive as it was, it was preceded by more functional fins with much less area.
I think that piggy templates with the more modern fins and rails are really easy to surf. Easier for me than the noserider designs, except that they’re more about turning than noseriding.
I think they’re markedly less forgiving in terms of paddling position, though. You have less margin for error in finding the trim position whilst paddling than the NR designs where the center of mass and volume distribution are further forward and closer to your chest.
Fantastic thread! Just what I was looking for, this is why I love swaylocks.
Have been gathering info and reading up up on pigs for a while and this is the first time I’ve come across negative coments regarding pig paddling due to their outline. I always asumed they at least would pick up waves earlier and esier than “modern” longboards with tiny tailblocks.
Started researching pigs after Bruce Fowlers modernized veebottom V8 changed opened my eyes to the wonders of widetailed boards. Veebottoms and pigs reperesent completely different design periods, but share similar outlines.
I’m thinking of taking the outline of a late 50’s pig but pinching the rails and using a big 4C flexfin insted. My question to those in he know is, should I adjust the tail rocker when using a box and Greenough fin instead of a huge skeg rigth on the tail?
I have no intention of noseriding this board. It would only be used for tiny days when my 8ft veebottom would not shine. Those huge veepanels need some wave face to be be burried in and tend to drag if you are forced to suf the board flat when trying to milk tiny zippers.
So for a 10’ classic pig outline with pinched rails, Greenough flexfin how much tail rocker?
A truely classic Pig, of the late ‘50’s, (remember, I was there!) would not be 10 feet long. More in the 9 foot to 9 foot six inch range. Mine was 9’ 3’’ x 21’‘. The best surfers at Windansea, in the day, were on (typical) 9’6’’ x 22’’ rounded pin Pigs. Properly shaped, the ‘‘no stroke takeoff’’ was a routine matter. They paddled well, and caught waves easily. The best boards had a uniform one inch natural rocker on the deck, and were three inches thick. DO NOT bother with a flex fin, on your board. If not building the board yourself, select a shaper that has first hand KNOWLEDGE of the design. FYI, the best modern classic Pig I’ve seen, was made by Jim Phillips. The lines were flawless. So much so, that I asked him for a copy of the template. Take a good look at a ‘‘modern’’ short board, it’s little more than a scale model Pig. What people call ‘‘pinched rails’’ today, was the ‘‘egg rail’’ of the mid to late '50’s. Not much new, under the sun. Just new to the uninformed.
Same can be said of the average board through the mid 60s. I cannot understand why folks who are under 200 lbs ride boards that are way too big for them. In the mid 60s, a 10’ board was considered proper size for a guy around 200lbs or more.
If your daily driver is an 8’0", sami, you’d be well advised to follow what thrailkill has said.
My daily driver used to be 9’6 fishimmons but after I got used to the amount of drive you could get of the bottom and how easy the V8 is to cutback in comparison. I sold the fishsimmons. It was fantastic on those few “big” winterswells we get here in Scandinavia but not ideal for milking small waves.
I weigh around 100kg and need hooded 6/4, boots and gloves most of time, so thtas why I’m after an oversized pig.
Regrading the fin, why would you choose a D fin over a greenough if you would neber nose ride the board? Have gotten addicted to the twang you get of the bottom with these type of fins, but granted on the smallest days, there would not be much bottom turning.
I’m not after replecating all the features of a late 50’s pig, just the outline. More like an oversized magic sam with a fuller piggish outline. But I guess the fin is the dealbraker if you go with a D fin you need to design the board around it. I always put some roll in the entry of all my boards nowadays, no cons IMHO, smooths out bumpy or big waves and lets you keep that nose rocker low for more of that addictive speed without pearling.Pigs seem to have slight roll through the entire board deepest under the feet, Iwas thinking ogf going with roll to triplane to vee.
I didn’t see anyone recommend a D fin? Just put a box in it and experiment. My first try would be something with a good amount of surface area and stiffness. Doesn’t have to be a D, just for the sake of period “correctness”. In fact, many boards in the late 50s and early 60s did not have a D fin.
