Hi wave1,
Your suggestion for a funboard is good. But, it’s not a fish. I’d call it a swallowtail,maybe a dovetail, the photo is kind of small. Fishes are shorter, in general, and have 10 inches between the tips minimum, and big ol keel fins. Mike
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Hi wave1,
Your suggestion for a funboard is good. But, it's not a fish. I'd call it a swallowtail,maybe a dovetail, the photo is kind of small. Fishes are shorter, in general, and have 10 inches between the tips minimum, and big ol keel fins. Mike
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I'm sure in a builders term a fish might have certain dimensions they go by. The template for the pictured board is an extended and modified version of a "Lost" fish. Thats the beauty of a custom board. It's made to suit and work for me and my size. I dont like "big Ol keel fins", this one has FCS SF's. A funboard........definitely not. Ive tried several funboards and my, lets call it a hybrid fish, is faster and more manuverable than any funboard ive been on. Not saying you're statement is wrong.........just saying it's not right for me.
Hybrid fish works for me. Glad your board works well for you and is a good choice for a guy trying to move down from a big board. Mike
Well…a hybrid fish quad 6-8 PU looks like what I’ll be going with here in a short while. Just stopped by my friend Rohde’s work place & he’ll start shaping it next week. Looking forward to not only giving the quad fish a go, but getting to see it go from blank to finished board. I am still interested, perhaps next board, in getting a single fin 'round the 7-0 range.
Before you pull the trigger, reconsider going shorter than 6’8. If you’re sure that’s what you want, go for it. Just be sure. 6’8 is a lot of board for a 5’8 guy. I’m 6’1 and almost as heavy as you, and I ride a 6’1 fish. And I’m almost 50 years old. Rocker and foil are key for float and paddle.
If you go 6’8, what blank will you use?
What’s the point of surfing if your boards are not fun, all my boards are “fun” boards even my 10’6" gun…
I’m sure you could go smaller to have been surfing a 6’4 x22x2.5 fish I shaped for The last few weeks starting to get the hang of it and stoked on the board. I’m 6’2 and prob your weight plus a nasty 4/3 wettie for winter, usually surfing shifty beachys I’m most at home on my longboard but feel I could probably gotten awaY with a smaller one and not noticed maybe even been better off. With smaller boards it seems to me that its more about where and how the volume is distributed than the length.
OBX et al,
The important thing is to be as objective as possible about your ability, fitness, the surf, and how you surf(high performance, sould seventies, classic longboard style,etc). Ages, lengths, widths, heights are secondary to those considerations in my opinion. The 4 boards on the left are fishes, 5-8.5-9,6-0,6-0. The board on the right I extended my fish template to build a 6-6. Not a fish. I’d call it a ‘funboard.’ And it’s a pretty fun board, too. For what it’s worth, I’m 5-9, 175, 54 years old,and still hanging on after 40 years of surfing. Mike
If you can sit in while the board is shaped, take some photos!
I’m 5-8 190, but I’ve been over 200 before and I have never owned a shortboard/fish over 6-6 (and that 6-6 was a stepup). My point is that when you are short like us you need a shorter board for proper foot placement because you can’t dance around on a shortboard like you can a longboard. As nj said, rocker and foil are the keys, and width is where you get your stability.
I may get my head bitten off for this, but even at your weight you shouldn’t ride a fish that’s too far over your height. I wouldn’t go over 6-0 at the max. I am realizing that you are coming down from a longboard, but when you get into that funboardish range you get a board that can’t do the things a longboard can and can’t do the things a shorty can, you just kinda go down the line
Now that 7-0 single fin you’re talking about is a different story though; midlength singles allow for you to move up and down the board like a longboard, but still stomp on the tail and crank off a hard turn. The transitional era was such a short time that I think its good and fun for surfing that people are really exploring and improving on designs from that era