As usual, im thinking way too far ahead of myself. When i finish a big guy tri, im thinking of an egg. I was gunna do a bigger fish, but after riding my 7’6’’ minimal, im thinking of an egg shape at 7’- 7’4’'. Mostly for beach breaks, knee high to head high. My fish is my “i feel like kelly slater” board, so it will be for high lining, and long carving turns, mainly in small mushy waves, with head high being the biggest i usually ride. Im also curious about flat rockered boards, so am not scared to go low rocker!. Single fin mainly, probably always haha
My minimal is 7’6’’ x 16n x 21.5wp x 14t if that helps.
Thanks, Bill. I’m not familiar with NSW beachbreaks waves but I assumed that they are hollow, hence not too much width in the outline. That’s just a suggestion, anyway, and should be adapted to local conditions.
I have been making 7’6" funboards that are 17N 21.5M 14.5T squaretail or round that ride really well. Recently I had a few orders for smaller “egg” type boards that were really prevalent 10-20 years ago around here in Florida( actually I guess they never really went out of fashion with guys in my age group 50ish) All I did was to make the same type of thing we road back in the 70’s.
7’ 0" 16 x 21 x 14 or 15 and I just made one for myself that was 6’6" 16 x 21 x 15 roundtail and thin at 2 1/2". Just got to ride it today for the first time in some glassy waist high and it went well. But I’m still fairly trim @ 170# and fighting to stay strong. they go great. good on ya.
Thanks guys. Balsa, that looks sweet mate. The beaches i surf can be both hollow and full, but usually not extreme either way. At the start of summer, the beach i ususally surf, and a few others i guess, seem to have a lot of “full” high tide kinda “rolling” waves that can be hard to get into. They are fun to surf once you get em, but i noticed a few weeks ago a lot of people who didn’t have longer boards were struggling a bit. They are the kind of waves the board will be for, not too steep, to pretty “full”. I like the plan shape mate, and other than going to 21wide , i dont think i’d change anything. Thanks mate.
Jonnyfever, 16nx21x14 x7’ sounds good as well. Thanks mate!
Beerfan (obviously a man after my own heart). More food for thought, here’s a couple pics of some “fun-shapes,” I just made. The board in the middle and by itself in the 2nd shot is a 7 footer. 15"N, 20.5"W, and a 14" tail. It’s from the last of the 7-4R’s (Clark!) made to turn, but with some glide. Works in 2’ slop and a little overhead Puerto. I placed the fins at 12" trailing edge on the front and 4" on the rear fin. Outlines look kinda funky from my rooftop wide angle shot, but they are actually pretty symmetrical!
Ahhh, I was only joking with this one…I just played around with the nice little gadget at http://www.atuacores.com/surmesure.php Very cool little website!!! Merci, Balsa for putting me onto it!
I wanna shape something like this though in the near future!! But with paralell rails. A mini longboard of sorts…I’ve taken the tail template and vee from a Takayama Egg and the rails of a McTavish, with a bit of Beau Youngs Womabt thrown in…
This is just the second attempt with the Atuacores online designer, but its close ish… Needs to be alittle rounder in the tail and not look so long…Ahh well…Guess i’ll just have to shape it to show you what I mean!!!
Heres a 7’0" 181/4" n x22 x17 tail big boy pill im working on now. Thickness is 2 3/4" nose rocker 31/2" tail rocker 21/2". Im thinking of going with a 8" single flex fin on this one.
Would putting a square tail instead of a pin make a huge difference in the turning of the board???, and would it decrease wave catching ability??.
Beerfan, I suggested a round-pin because you said you were after “long carving turns”. Putting a square-tail will INCREASE your wave-catching ability (added tail surface area) and probably make the board a little bit more “pivoting” than the round-pin. But increasing width as Bill suggested will bring added paddling (and catching waves) power, too.
thanks balsa, i think i’l go with the square tail. Im also going to basically copy my minimal. I know that might seem odd to some, but the board never lets me down, and i seem to ride it well. It’s also much more “all round” than my fish, and is fun in fat,steep,tiny, and head high waves. Interestingly, i measrued the rocker, and its 5 1/2 nose, and 2 1/2 tail, ( same as my 6’2’ fish )and there happens to be a 7’5’’ blank available that has the exact same rocker. Cant wait, my minimal really needs to be retired!!!. The fish will be saved for steeper waves, it seems to like those better.
For a board between 7’0" & 7’6" my sense is the 21.0" to 21.5" will work very nicely for an egg. Nose width will have to be somewhere between 15.0" & 16.5" depending on how much swing wieght you’re up for and if you want to do a little cheating up forward. Wide point should be anywhere from mid point to 2.5" forward depending on how much top to bottom surfing your intending to do. Tail width depends as much as what kind of fin you prefer. A star fin will carry much more tail width than a fin with a narrowed tip. The less fin you want on you’re board the narrow you want the tail to be. However tail width is a good thing when you’re in small surf. Foil will affect how the board projects so If you want the board to run out into the flats with some speed you want and nice soft foil from a little forward of the mid point back into the tail. Then there’s rails, rocker and bottom configuration - everything plays out on everthing else.
So much to do, so much to consider, so little time, so little gray matter.
There are many initiating questions, yet there are no final answers.
Halcyon, would 4 5/16’’ be too little nose rocker for say, a board 7’x 17’‘nose x 22’‘wide up 3’’ x 14’’ tail?. Im thinking if i flatten the rocker down to 4 5’16, i’ll still get good wave catching ability, though, with those dims i dont think i’d have too many problems catching waves, what do you think??
P.S my minimal at the moment has a thruster sized centre fin only, on a 14 1/2’’ tail ( the board is 7’‘6’’ ), which can slip down the face. Im nearly finished a 5’’ x7’’ single fin, with an inch or 2 of rake, would that suit the above board dims??
IMHO, 4 5/16" nose rocker will be somewhat relaxed and will tend to let you cheat up a little as the wave speed backs off. It’s not excessively relaxed. I think 17.0" is a little wide. 15.5" to 16.5" is more like it. 22.0" wide is fine with a somewhat wider nose though and you may like the 17.0" looks. You’ll find the balance that serves your eye I’m sure. Moving the wide point up a little will make the board project better but it will limit your ability to climb the wave the gain speed in the pocket. A 14.0" tail is way to narrow IMHO but that depends on how you want the board to manuever. A wider tail will get you into wave much more easily. With the 22.0" wide point a little forward I’d say that 14 5/8" would be a minimum tail width. Max would be about 15.25".
A lot of how you configure this board will depend on what kind of fin set-up you plan for it. If you going to run a center fin in it you want to put a Bayne box in for sure. This will give you the kind of options you need to tune a single of set up a combination of fins to get optimum performance out of it. Where the center fin is placed and how it’s conformed has everthing to do with how the board will hold on the critical part of the wave face. The wider the tail the more center fin you’ll need.
Lots to consider, but one thing is for sure – if you want some speed in small waves tail width is a big help. Tail rocker is a big key to how you board will perform. Some thing around 2.5" is a good middle of the road number for an egg this size. I would stay away from a deep vee anywhere in the board because boards that ride higher in the water make better speed in small waves. If you going to attempt a hull or rounded bottom on the board you 'll want to be very careful about you rocker configuration and rail configuration because they ride so close to the power of the wave.
Everything you contour in a board shape affects everything else.
