Weight becomes an obsticle at some point and 70 pounds in at that limit.
Wally Frosieth has one of his original solid Redwood hotcurls, it is 10’10" and weighs in at 68 lbs.
Fran Heath, during an interview shortly before his death, described how in the late forties surfing Sunset on these boards, how they would catch the wave behind the peak, go to their knees, grab a rail and pull the board into the wave face before standing, this was called slotting the board.
The shear weight of these early boards made any attempt of quick positioning very difficult and created a board that was very down the line by nature.
Of the Joe Quigg reproductions I did to be surfed, the heaviest, a 9’9" Malibu Chip at 35 pounds, it became evident that weight becomes an issue when combined with smaller fin, flatter rocker, wider tails.
Each of these things contribute to lack of maneuveriblity, if the fin was bigger, it would get more boost in the turn, if the tail had more rocker, the turn would become shorter and if the tail was narrower it would be easier to sink.
One of the 11’ balsa hotcurls I did was out of heavy, hard balsa, it hurt my elbow to carry it under my arm, I never weighed it, but my coffin bag last winter weighed an even 75 pounds, this board weighed considerably more than that, the logistics of moving heavy boards around reminds me of the “iron men, wooden boards”, I guess I’ve just become a pussy in my old age, but I like em’ lighter, they don’t hurt as much when they hit you !