So i’m looking to design and build myself a thruster and would appreciate any advice, particularly on the design side. (by the way this is my first post on this forum, Hello )
About me: I’m 6’2 sixteen stone and landlocked. I surf around 1 weekend a month though used to be a lifeguard and am confident in the water.
My boards: many and vaired though only two often get used a 6’8 thruster/fatboy flyer (beachbeat - look them i cant speak highly enough) and a very progressive 9’1. To be honest I struggle with the 6’8.
So i’m looking to build a 7’2ish thruster for taking on 5’ to 10’ with a large bias towards paddling speed, this will be my first build and as such my inital thoughts were just scale up my 6’8 though i think this would leave me under gunned.
At your size you should aim for something like an 8’ AI M13 or 8’-8’10"rusty Desert Island style surfboard. Think of a hybrid-fungun shape. I am your height but am13.5 stone and I would not take a fat 7’2" thruster into 10’ surf. Don’t believe the hype on low volume boards if you don’t get to surf 3-4x’s a week.
t duck with a board that big in big surf?. i thought you would chuck it and swim down. i struggling ducking doh on a shorty and even then its a bit of gamble
If the wave has already broken, I’ll get on my board with my feet while holding the rails until the wave is really close then get back on it and push through as hard as I can. After double OH I usually dump and head down, but I’ve come up more than once and the board wasn’t there.
Before leashes, I would wrap myself around the tail with the nose pointed in and hang on. Most times the wave would roll over you with a short tumble. sometimes you wished you just let it go. That was back in the single fin days of the 70’s.
[img_assist|nid=1047951|title=Out side wave.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=419]Where I live when it get’s 10’ the crowd is not a factor. Bailing and swimming with a 15’ leash is not frowned apon.
If the wave still has a face and has not fully broken I can still duckdive all my big 8’-11’boards.
First paddle & get some molmentum going and wait until the wave sarts to pull you up then turn your board sideways so the rail sinks half way. Next scoop the nose under water so the board is flat again and put your knee in the middle of the board and point the nose up. If you hold this position you should pop out the back. More water time - practice will do wonders.
Unfortunately the art of duck diving was invented after I had given up on surfing in the early 70's so after rejoining the circus it's not something I've really mastered.
In our days with the heavier boards you either turn turtled, turned your back sinking the tail. or just bailed if it was really bad. But then that meant a long swim in to get your board back if you could find it.
But what's big?
I've been wrestling to make a shortboard for a guy 5'9" and 240lbs-250lbs of solid muscle
its hard when the dimensions are like that.
I think you want to stretch it out a tad instead of making a short and corky board especially if you want the paddling speed and ease of entry during take off. a high performance "tweener fun gun" 7'6" to 8' sounds about right. Just get the rocker right and you'll be okay. also get something a little heavier so you can keep the momentum going.
I posted this before for big guys who want to step down from a longboard 8' x 23" x 3 1/2 " I made this for a 240 lbs powerlifter who rode a 10 ' longboard and he does real well on it
I think i’m going to take your advice and go for something a bit longer up to about 8ft fairly narrow 21 or 22 with a narrowish tail a rounded pin and a fairly pointy snout. - so something along the lines of the m13.
where all my questions are now headed are towards rocker, bearing in mind i’m looking to retain as much paddle speed as possible to catch the waves how extreme should i be looking to take the rocker? (I’ve never even seen a fun gun before so its unlikely that i’m going to be able to track one down to copy.)
On the duck diving front i’m still very keen to build something that i can get under the water - i’m able to get my 8’1 and 9’1 boards under the water however not so deep that my back gets wet which doesn’t really cut it - even in thick whitewater - and has resulted in getting sucked back over in the lip and into the washing machine… more than once! however i figure if i keep the board fairly thin 3’ or less i should be ok?
Following on i’m looking to order my blank (US blank through seabase)
I think that i’ve got it down to three
7’11 A
8’1EA
8’2 A
Any advice on which sounds like it would suit my needs would be apprecated, my thoughts are the 7’11 may be a little to gunny and a bit small. The 8’1 may not be gunny enough! and though the 8’2 looks about right i’m going to have chop a lot out of the rails to get it down to size (are their any big disadvantages to this).
All three were made with bigger days in mind - surfed the 7'10" at Porthleven upto about 6' and bigger on noprth coast beach breaks. Handles everything that I dare pull into. Can still duck dive in a fashion but if it's critical I bail the board. This board picks waves up incredibly early.
the 7'2" was my first attempt at a bonzer and it's been great in bigger waves...surfed some pretty big stuff - similar size range to above. Very fast as rocker is flatter and bonzer bottom/fin set up.
The 7'6" is my latest design made for bigger surf - again is a challenge to sink on a duck dive but plenty of width, not too much rocker so easy to pick waves up - but pulled in tail and more pulled in on nose - easier to hold into steeper waves.
I went through the shortboard scenario for years and came out the other side to discover more retro influenced boards...they work far better for me...
The 8 2A blank from seabase is a special order and needs to come from the US i think they have shpments every few months, not much help i know but at least it helps you plan things.
Your boards look awesome. I love the direction you’ve taken your green 7’6. the outline of your 7’10 looks like what i have in my minds eye although i hope to pull the tale in a bit harder from about 1 1/2’ ft up. How thick is your board?
I’ve not got any experience with retro boards (just old ones) though they prove food for thought and hopefully inspiration for future boards.
I’ll be building the board as part of a course http://www.pembrokeshire.ac.uk/mitec/index.html and the dates are fixed to this easter so i’ll hassle them to get on and order the blank if its not going to happen in time i’ll use one of the smaller ones. I often find when fate has a hand to shape my decisions they work out better than when i chose for myself!!
All three boards are approx 3" thick - I love the foam...makes life so much easier and keeps me flowing...only downside is the duck dive.
The 7'10" was a template from Bill Thrailkill - he has kindly sent me a few over the years - it's basically like a single fin gun - with what would have been the pin tail chopped short...on that note I wouldn't try and pull it in - the width in the tail makes picking waves up so much easier...It works so well and even in smaller surf.
Thanks for the positive comments...always nice to have a pat on the back! I'm hoping the green bonzer will be my ride of choice from now on - surfed it a few times but yet to get it out in real clean waves where I can form a better opinion of it's performance - surfed it last week in marrocco - good sized swell at Killer point and it seems sweet - holds in well and very fast but the waves were a little bumpy so hard to tell...had first try out at porthleven and pulled in on first wave with ease...will let you know how it goes in the future.
The 7' 10'' board, referenced by Thirdshade, is a template that I've ridden in Calif, and Hawaii, up to and including 15 foot Hawaiian size at Sunset. The board was comfortable and predictable. The speed was more than adequate to the task. I have made a great many ''magic boards'' using that template. You will not need to pull the tail in to increase speed, or hold, in larger steeper, powerful waves.
Thanks for the advice on the tail i’d not really considered the impact it would have on wave catching, i’m still trying to shape the board in my head at this stage
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Homeblown looks like a good source for future boards.
The 8’1"EA is a real labor saver. That’s a good one IF you DON’T want a boxier board and rails. You can always have a gunnier rocker put into it. You can keep the harder outside foam on the deck so you can have a light strong board.
Just remember, it isn’t always about the dims as much as it is about the curve. Don’t be afraid of width, wider boards drive well, narrow boards go rail to rail quicker.
Think of Wayne Lynch and Nat sinking and driving those tongue depressors of yesteryear. Joey Cabell used a 5" thick board in huge Hanalei.
Hopefully this is helpful, I not trying to be discouraging or clever but can I ask which 5-10ft your planning on riding, here or further afield? The reason I ask is that 10ft Hawaiian is a rare thing here and if you get it a lot of the exposed places in Cornwall are beaches so you want something you can duckdive as you mentioned. With some of the outlines being discussed you might find yourself surfing something unsuitable and a lot less fun for the surf your in 99% of the time. If your planning to go to Madeira or big Scotland regularly then go wild with the gun, if your planning on surfing beachbreaks then maybe go for something closer to your shortboard, definitely in relation to tail width if your planning on turning.
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I posted this before for big guys who want to step down from a longboard 8' x 23" x 3 1/2 " I made this for a 240 lbs powerlifter who rode a 10 ' longboard and he does real well on it