I’m a mid-level intermediate longboarder who is making the transition to a shorter board and am getting my first board made in Bocas, Panama prior to my arrival in February. I’m 5’11" and 180 lbs and have decided on a funboard to achieve my next set of surfing goals. I want it to be stable enough that the transition from an 8’6 isn’t going to take my whole vacation to figure out but have no idea what the dimensions should be or what the design characteristics should be (rocker etc.). Any suggestions would be appreciated. (I tend to be forward on my board). P.S. I don’t want to turtle boards in bigger surf any longer, is there a cut off point for a funboard where duck diving will become too difficult? Thanks in advance.
Duck diving funboards/longboards is totally possible. I can duck all my longboards (9 ft) and even my 10 ft board if I’m riding it a lot. It’s all technique - changing the surface area of that big wide nose into something that will go underwater. Tipping the board on edge is the way to do it. You don’t need to get the board super deep underwater to achieve the duckdive. Just practice. Instead of pushing straight down on the nose like ducking a shortboard, try tipping one side of the nose down while applying that forward and down pressure. When you get that edge underwater you can even out the pressure between your hands and the other part of the nose will submerge. Pressure on the back of your board with your knee will bring the rest of the board underwater. You’re not as deep as duckdiving a shortboard, but that’s ok. It takes a bit more finesse and practice and especially practice with your timing (if you duck your board too early, it will be coming back up to the surface when the wave hits and you’ll get donuts) but it’s 100% possible. I’m your height and maybe only a few pounds lighter and am ducking my longboards (performance shapes) in sizeable Hawaiian surf, so guarens you’ll be able to duck a funboard. Good luck… (sorry no advice on the dimensions - I’m looking to downsize from my longboards myself, so I’m keeping tabs on this thread for my own curiosity too…)
A freind of mine also recently moved from a 8ft minimal he is about your lenght. He has only been surfing for about 4 years now and moved from bodyboarding to surfing. He asked me to shape a board for him. I let him surf on my board, which is a 6’3 X 20" 2.66" modern fish with low volume rails. Once on the wave he was ok but he found catching the wave a bit difficult. So I shaped the same board only just spread a bit of the volume around the board giving it a bit more totla volume. A few weeks ago we surfed to gether in Ireland at Bundoran he was doing just fine. His wave count had increased tremendously and he had oonly surfed the board once before. If you want I can email you the template you can use it or just get an idea what I am talking about my email address is the drawing is in CAD or .wmf format let me know which one you want.
Thanks Kolu, Swifty I’ll send you an email. Any other comments on board dimensions will be appreciated. I looked at the Stewart web site last night ( www.stewartsurfboards.com )and their funboard and funboard comp look pretty nice. What’s the real difference between funboard and egg? Is an egg just less streamlined? Cheers
if you’re spending to go on a surfari, take board(s) you know, trust and like. How’d you like to be a thousand miles from anywhere with only a board that doesn’t suit you? That said, the best way to evaluate other boards is (obviously) to ride them. Surely you have pals that surf? Is there a rental outfit in your area that has approximately what you think you’d like? I try to get my customers, if moving from one to another board, to do this, and to bring their current board around for evaluation versus what they want.
I wish I had those options. I live in Torono, Canada. Cheers,