Yeah… but lasers are so cool. I’ve even got a shark with a frickin’ laser beam attached to its frickin’ head.
Well... I finally finished, and got the board in the water this week. I took it out in some nice head high waves a couple of days ago. It was a blast to ride this board. The one word that comes to my mind is momentum. I went out at a spot that breaks hard, backs off, and then reforms. I never had to worry about not making it through the soft sections. It just kept on gliding. I ran over a big patch of kelp, and thought it would stop me in my tracks. The fin sliced through it like a giant samurai sword, and I kept on moving. Despite its massive size and weight -- it turns nicely.
I'm hoping to get it out in some bigger waves, and see how it goes. My intended design was for it to be a Southern California big wave gun in the style of the early sixties boards. Thanks a bunch to Bill Thrailkill for coming by and helping out with the design. I couldn't have done it without him.
Here are a few pictures that I took with my camera phone.
[img_assist|nid=1053506|title=Balsa LB 8|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
[img_assist|nid=1053505|title=Balsa LB 7|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
[img_assist|nid=1053504|title=Balsa LB 6|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
[img_assist|nid=1053499|title=Balsa LB 1|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
[img_assist|nid=1053500|title=Balsa LB 2|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
[img_assist|nid=1053501|title=Balsa LB 3|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053502|title=Balsa LB 4|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053503|title=Balsa LB 5|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
Wow, I lost track of this one, gotta go back and read up. Awesome! Great ride report, too, thanks!
Sweid,
The board looks like it's moving, even when sitting still. It came out looking quite clean. Wait 'til you get it into some 6 or 8 foot winter waves. I'll bet it ''comes alive!''
Hey Swied, nice board! What was your source for that long of balsa? Did you have to scarf joint any? Also cost of just the lumber?
I got the wood at Frost Hardwood in San Diego. The cost was a little over $5 per board foot. I didn't do any scarfing. the wood had some natural rocker that I was able to take advantage of when laying out the template. The boards with the most curve in them were placed in the middle.
I don't know what happened to my pictures. They were full size when I originally posted them. I went back to correct a spelling error, and they turned into mini pics.
Here they are again...
[img_assist|nid=1053506|title=Balsa LB 8|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053505|title=Balsa LB 7|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053504|title=Balsa LB 6|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053503|title=Balsa LB 5|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053502|title=Balsa LB 4|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053501|title=Balsa LB 3|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053500|title=Balsa LB 2|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0][img_assist|nid=1053499|title=Balsa LB 1|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
Uhhgg!! I give up. I'm a pretty technical guy, but I can't figure out this embedded image thing. Here's the link to my photo set on Flickr.
www.flickr.com/photos/swied/sets/72157624712965929/
Thanks for the info Swied, that baby is going to be a lot of fun in a swell with some push.
Bumping up to get an answer to a question. Have you been able to get into some larger waves with that board yet? If so, did you get that sensation of the board ''coming alive'', as I describe it?
......wrong thread !