I’m curious if any of you have ever gone down that path before. The search for the one board that does everything that you want to do. What, if any,
was your degree of success? Did you focus on larger, or smaller waves? Was it a satisfying experience, or a source of frustration? What fin setup did
you settle upon? Last part of the question, ‘‘do you think such a thing can be done?’’
YES,Bill,
My 8-1 in the board archive did everything.
After it’s prime I left it on the big island.
I had a few others that came close but nothing like that board.
It would ride 10’ pipe to 1’ SanO,and do it all.
I still miss that board today.
After all this is over… it will be there for me.
H
Bill,
I made an 8’4" for a friend, it’s sorta a classic hybrid board, if that makes sence. It has (I think) around a 14" nose, 22" wide (around center) and maybe a 14 1/2" winged swallow tail. We set it up as a 2+1 but he surfes it as a single. I think we used a clark 8’8"E blank, it’s been a while, so i’m a bit fuzzy on the details. The dude has surfed the board in waves from like 2’ to 10’+. He has six or so boards, from a 6’6" Fish to a 9’4" lb, but the 8’4" is his go to, I think he onley takes out the other boards out of guilt.
We were not looking to make a do all board, it just turned out that way…For my buddy, anyhoo.
Yeah, I think you could build a one board quiver, but maybe not without a little compromise.
Cool questions.
Cheers,
Scott
Hi Bill,
I always had a one board quiver untell I started making my own 5 or 6 years ago. I still have it. It’s a 7-6 full railed triple stringer shaped by Doug Haut. Great board I would ride from knee high to as big as I’m willing to go.(double overhead) I think about it now, but I have so much fun making different things or tweeking my current boards and seeing if I can ride it with any degree of skill as I get older. It does get confusing sometimes and I miss a lot of good waves trying figure out the new thing. I often take two boards down to the beach and surf both. There’s a lot to said for a one board quiver, though. You really KNOW that board and what it will do in the conditions at hand. What’s your one board quiver? Mike
I can’t say I’ve ever had a one board quiver… because I’m too much of a consumer. Surfboards, guitars, and cars… I’ve had enough to supply a small town.
That said… the one board I can count on for 90% of the surf I encounter is my 9’2" Brewer performance longboard. I can ride it on waves that you need a magnifying glass and tweezers to catch, and I’ve had it out in solid double-O Hanalei. I surf it in jacking shorepound where only shortboarders tread. I surfed it at Big Rock a week and a half ago… taking off deep behind a dry rock shelf. I love this board so much that I made two copies to go with the original… which was RB’s personal board for four years. I ride it as a single with a 7" cutaway fin pushed almost to the front of the box.
Up until about six years ago I never rode longboards. My stint at Hydro Epic changed that, since the only board we made for awhile was a nine pound 9’1". That was my only ride for a couple years. Those boards convinced me longboards could be fun.
If I really had to pick one board it would probably be a 7’0" round-pin winger single fin. 7’0" x 19-1/2" x 2-5/8". Actually… I think I’ll order that today.
.
For people who aren’t rippers ( like myself ), why wouldn’t you want one board that you could surf in all your local conditions. Still, even if you had a board like that ( my minimal was great in all waves i used it in, but it died ), it would be hard to not ride the other boards once in a while, even if it was just for something different.
When I returned to Hawaii and surfing from skiing in 1990 I had Jim Turnbull from Country Surfboard Haleiwa shape me a 10’ all around that was big enough to deal with my 15 year out of shape-ness and still tandem with my nieces later. It was glassed real heavy by Ed Searfoss.
It was a classic multi-purpose longboard with a slight twist as it had a very narrow 6" pulled in squash tail the last footand a half or so, a bonzer like deep double concave through the fins and three glass-on thrusters.
Pretty much could ride anything from 1" to 8’-10’ hawaiian and I did. Riding it at big Alii, big tennis courts and windblown ewa beach mush.
Other than being cumbersome lugging it around on honda prelude it pretty much could handle anything I was up to riding. The size allowed you to sit outside and paddle into anything early enough the tail was narrow enough to make the bottom and top turn, the rocker was enough to support most vertical drops and the bonzer concaves allowed you to pump down the line with enough ferocity to scare off any shoulder hoppers plus the glassing was so strong you could run over pretty much any one in the way (which I did) without worrying about getting a ding… Best of all it was pink for the rock climbing term “Think Pink” and in honor of a close ski buddy who died rock climbing in the pacific northwest.
Jim Turnbull even though he had his demons like Ed was a longboard genius in my opinion and I only wish I ordered many more of his designs before he passed away. Ed used to sell his boards at the swap meet back then…
Never had a board that was as versatiie or strong since then. Most of my boards other than the epoxies didn’t last 6 months before breaking down…
Thank god for composites…
For a longboard I have a Cooperfish hornet that works pretty good on all kinds of conditions, from small mush to overhead surf. But that dosen’tkeep me form having 10 other boards.
Yes! But it didn’t begin untill just a few years ago.
I started out in 65 with a 10’ Hobie noserider… to big, slow turning, heavy (thoughts from now).
In the 70’s I got a - 7’2" BrotherHood… worked good but still wanted to walk around… couldn’t.
- 7'8" Herbie Fletcher stub nose... turned good, easy catching waves.. the best so far.
In 2003 I got back into surfing more AND building my own boards, mostly long boards (I like them best 9 - 10’)
Each board I have made is THE BEST, ie. the latest board is better then the last.
EXCEPT… when I get into OH waves… until now! I have a 10’x24" noserider and a 10’x22" gun.
This topic has been brought up before but more like 'how do you make an all around board
I now have my next ‘one board quiver board’ in the works but I’m in the process of restoring a ‘72’ 2002 BMW.
The OBQ board that I have in the works will be a 9’6"x23" rounded pin, WP 6" forward, 17" nose, 13" tail.
Fins…5 boxes for versatility or 1 + 2 (SurfTrux).
Any suggestions for me before I REALLY get into it (Probably later this summer)?
Les
PS - Oh ya!.. 1 lb EPS with 3/32" balsa top and bottom and Cherrywood rails! Should end up 14 to 15 lbs. Perfect!
I just picked up my new 7’2" Steve Friedman semi-gun yesterday, I bought it as a traveller for most waves and destinations. If had to choose one out of the 15 odd boards I have this would be the one.
I allways have a one board quiver
1st was a Harbour Banana 9’8"
small to head high
2nd was a Stembridge 10’2" with a Guy Takiama single flex fin
Small to overhead (14’ was the biggest surf)
3rd is my self made 10’ epoxy useing the Stembridge outline and G.T. 2+1 Mantra fins
small to overhead so far
I use the same board till I kill it
I have a sweet 9’6" Fungun that I opt not to surf, I works killer, but its a wall hanger now
first veneer board I did (it works well in small to big big surf)
I’ve mostly aimed at one board quivers. I’d usually prefer to sacrifice a bit at the ends of the range just so I’m totally used to and comfortable w/ what I’m riding. Must be said I don’t surf more that once or twice a week now but this was true even in the daily surf days. Also, don’t like bigger surf. 2X OH and I cringe at the beatings I take so range does not need to be huge to satisfy. One reason I like hulls, though they can be fine tuned, they do work over pretty wide range if you ride as design calls for which is smooooth and round.
Hate to beat a limp bag (heh-heh) but really, Neumatic mat beats anything and everything I have ever ridden for versatility and fun in any and all conditions and sizes. I know it isn’t a surfBOARD but it is a one vehicle quiver
I think that once we reach a certain age, the one board quiver will be more a reality that ever. I still like to switch around between short and medium and long boards. It all depends on where I surf and how big the waves are. I really like the way a short board will go where I want almost telepathically. But I know that I won’t be trying to ride that way forever. I really enjoy surfing with the old guard who are all in their late 60’s or 70’s now. Some ride the same old Gregg Noll or Hobie board that they bought brand new in the mid 60’s. These guys are always fun to be out with, they have Aloha.
This one came close. 9 ft, with a c-5 set up for fins.
I’m curious if any of you have ever gone down that path before. The search for the one board that does everything that you want to do. What, if any, was your degree of success? Last part of the question, ‘‘do you think such a thing can be done?’’
I did that during all my early years surfing…maybe 8 years worth, with some overlap for a couple of years that I kept a small Jacobs roundtail that I got in Texas for a Gulf and East coast trip and was so nice that I would ride it occasionally back in California. The trick was that I just wanted to ride waves…I didn’t want to work 6 days a week 50 weeks a year to pay for stuff…and I wasn’t riding the north shore. Those were all single fins, so sometimes I was overgunned and other times I wasn’t, but it was about riding the waves…no decisions to make other than best waves and conditions. Longboards were not being made during that time period so that option wasn’t really available. Waves were readily available, so I didn’t need to find alternatives.
By the 80’s things were changing on the beach and in the water. I went through most of the designs. Everytime I’ve had more than two boards life gets complicated. As the people piled in I sought alternatives, so suddenly I looked around and there were surfboards and bodyboards and bodysurfing fins and then a kneeboard and a mat and handboards and paipos, and it wasn’t about riding waves as much as trying to find waves to ride that weren’t choking with people. The more options, the more mental hassles. Eventually the boards were in bags to protect them in the garage and in the vehicles, and that took the stoke factor of the boards away…can’t just sit and look and lose control and just go paddle out and sit on the thing because it looks so cool.
The whole thing is mental. Given the equipment available everybody can have quivers now. But all you need is a big wave board and a small wave board and a longboard if that interests you. Anything else is unecessary for 90% of us. And one could easily reduce that to 2 boards only based on personal preference and a realistic assessment.
yeh. been trying that for a few years now. still not satisfied. size about 8’4. mush gun type. can ride it like a long board sort of in small gutless waves like we have here a lot…turn off the tail and up to the nose, etc… but not as good as a noserider or longboard. can ride in hurricane surf, but not as good there as the prototype which was stiffer in small waves…nearly useless in small waves. can ride it in chest to ohead waves but stiff turning, but fast.
so sort of mediocre but capable.
original idea i had was for 1 board for traveling. ride most conditions one would find…not have to haul 3 boards around. not be looking for deathpit waves to ride, something for small to well ohead waves.
board is currently sitting in the racks dry for the last several months.
been riding a 9 foot longboard, pulled nose with concave and v entry, 2 +1 setup in the back with rolled up rails and a soft diamond tail. thicker and narrower than most. hips are a little too pulled at 14, so doesn’t go up the face as easily as i would want…that’s the only problem so far. haven’t had it out in bigger than ohead. probably wouldn’t try hurricane waves on this one.
trouble with most compromises is that they are a compromise.
so yeh, maybe 2 boards u can get away with. 1 seems to be too much compromise for me.
In contast to the big-board posts here, I find my 5’8" Larry Mabile twin-keel fish to be usable in just about everything NJ can throw at us, from shin-high to well-overhead. Positioning is key in the larger stuff. Of course, it might not be optimal, per se, but it is do-able.
I’ve also found a really honed 6’2" x 18.75" x 2.25" to be usable in just about everything, but again not optimal on either end of the range.
I’m curious if any of you have ever gone down that path before. The search for the one board that does everything that you want to do. What, if any,
was your degree of success? Did you focus on larger, or smaller waves? Was it a satisfying experience, or a source of frustration? What fin setup did
you settle upon? Last part of the question, ‘‘do you think such a thing can be done?’’
Greenough has…air mat.
My father who started surfing in the early sixties, always asks why I need so many boards( a noserider, a small wave shortboard, step up, and a groveler fish)
He gets irritated when I say each board is for a different condition,“back when I was your age we only needed one board for everything”
The thought has crossed my mind of having a oneboard quiver, but at the same time I just realize since I can why not have boards tailored to certain conditions?
…air mat.
2 trips to Mexico via post 9/11 airlines…my entire surf “kit” fit in a daypack…swimfins, trunks, rashguard, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, book (never touched), and NeuMatic surfmat. Never felt more free.