Just contemplating my last Clark blank…and thinking 'bout the wide point…and just measured an old favourite (no longer any good as it was epoxy and I left in in a hot car…nuff said)
Anyway this board’s 6 10 x 20 with the wide point …wait for it…13" back from centre!
This board was absolutely amazing as it got around sections better than anything I’ve ever ridden and caught waves that I thought were uncatchable…
Why have I not seen others out there like this?..valid reasons or aesthetic considerations?
Just contemplating my last Clark blank…and thinking 'bout the wide point…and just measured an old favourite (no longer any good as it was epoxy and I left in in a hot car…nuff said)
Anyway this board’s 6 10 x 20 with the wide point …wait for it…13" back from centre!
This board was absolutely amazing as it got around sections better than anything I’ve ever ridden and caught waves that I thought were uncatchable…
Why have I not seen others out there like this?..valid reasons or aesthetic considerations?
but if you’re a back-footed surfer (with pretty big feet) you might find that the board just takes off with the back weighted because of all that surface area. It dosen’t make sense to ride that board if you’re front-footed.
What’s the fin size and set-up? and how wide is the tail?
What you have created (re-created) is a MiniPig. (my term) Your board as described has the wide point placed like the Velzy Pig of 1957/58. Design thinking then was “wide point 1/3 up from tail”, Guns were 1/3 back from nose. Simplistic, but worked well in the day. Follow your own path, and go with what works for you.
Yep…very similar to the zap you showed, except the tail is pulled in much more (14 7/8)…
Thanks for the replies…yep I guess I am a little back footed in my approach…
I agree…of course I’ll go with what I like …but… why does it seem that wp is now @ 2" back or therabouts and not much further…is it to create neutral feeling boards?
Wow, that photo brings back memories… In the early 80’s Cheyne and Geoff used to hang with my friend Fielding (Colonel Benson’s son) when they came to the North Shore and that was in the last year that the Lazor Zap was being used by Cheyne. Man, he ripped small waves apart on it!! We had this guy Dick Rosborough (ROZO) from Florida in the hills above Sunset making McCoy inspired hybrid Lazor Zap Thrusters that had red, black and green rails that he called Rasta Rails which then turned into this thing called the Rasta Bat… Don’t ask…Haha! All the boards were glassed by a guy called Squatty… Those days were a bit fuzzy… Hehe!!
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Anyway, some of these boards had wide points back and 18" tails on them and I remember surfing it one day with a guy named Gary Timperly from Down Under. I remember him being one of the nicest people I ever met and absolutely shredding. The guy ripped! He takes a look at my board and goes, “That’s a pretty wide tail… Are you gonna surf in the Pro Class Trials tomorrow?” I was like no way! He told to go for it but really I’m thinking he just wanted me in his heat… Hahahahahaha!!! For me, those wide point way back, wide tailed boards were horrible designs… Haha! I struggled to get those things to work… I told Rozo to make me one with a 15" tail and that board ripped… To this day I remember it as one of the magic ones… Ahhhhh, that photo brings back memories… I’m becoming an old fart!
What you have created (re-created) is a MiniPig. (my term) Your board as described has the wide point placed like the Velzy Pig of 1957/58. Design thinking then was “wide point 1/3 up from tail”, Guns were 1/3 back from nose. Simplistic, but worked well in the day.
Bill, don’t you think that it still holds true? Three fins have helped widening the tail in guns, but, basically, a good pivoting board for small waves should have the wide point back whereas it will move up as the size of waves increase. Maybe that 1/3 rule has been refined a bit, but it still makes sense.
BTW, it’s funny to have this thread NOW, 'cause I just started (yesterday) a pig-inspired 9’00" for a friend. Here are the first shots that show the original blank and then the outline cut. Notice how the volume distribution has been radically changed:
In this board, the wide point is about 6 1/2" back from center.
Works great if you’re big and strong, or just strong riding wimpy waves.
Take it out at Sunset or Pipe, maybe not.
I’ve always touted the advantages in wave catching of WPoint back boards, and looseness if the board is gunny enough to handle the waves is another plus.
Only possible disadvantage is when the board gets overpowered, the wide tail is hard to lean into the face and might bounce in choppier conditions.
I didn’t intend to give the impression that I thought the design principle wasn’t still valid. The photos of the board you posted appears to be a classic mid sixties board, and well executed I might add. Your wide point at 44% up from the tail conforms with one of my design principles for that type of board. The “ideal” being somewhere between 40% and 45% up from the tail, depending on the style,skill, and choice of waves of the rider.
Bill, John, I do appreciate both of your kind comments.
Now comes the hard part: blending this “beautiful outline curve” into a “beautiful rocker curve”, then blending both into a “beautiful rail curve”, and trying not to screw up everything with a “not so beautiful” glass job… So help me God…
Balsa…I’d like to see that when it’s finished…looks like a nice outline…Mine was more extreme…with an 11 1/2" shortboard nose, still - a similar kind of principle… tell us how it rides
Just carved my last Clark… 3" behind centre looked like the nicest curve…put very blady rails on it and a flat to spiral V(ish) bottom
I’ll post a pic when it’s done… going epoxy/balsa sando after this…blanks getting difficult to source
Man, That is the maddest looking thing I have ever seen!
Im only a young pup and missed the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s!!! I took the wide points back on my last board but because I still wanted a fairly narrow tail, the shape just didnt work, I never thought of just saying, feck it, if the tails gonna be 16 inches its gonna be 16 inches!
