First of all, let me say that it depends on where you are going as
the waves can vary quite a bit from the Mentawais to Bali.
Also, (been there, done that) don’t take anything that you haven’t
spent some time on getting dialed in. July in Indo can be some of
the biggest surf you might find there. We went in June/July and it
never got below 1 -2 ft overhead.
I’ll attach some pics of a series of longboards that went to the
Mentawais on the biggest swells of the past 10 years and worked well
for our group of older longboarders up to double overhead.
If you haven’t spent time on shortboards, don’t bother as this is not
the time to learn. Forget the wide nose longboard, as you never get
up there anyway, as you are trying to get down the line the fastest
you can and if there is any offshore wind you will not be able to drop
in. If you want to look at shapes that work in Indo type surf,
Yater’s boards worked in Hawaii and work in Indo as well. Just keep
your dim’s smaller than what you think will work and all should be ok.
The biggest longboard we surfed in xx conditions was a 9’5" and it
was a bit sketchy on the inside hollow stuff. Rocker is super important
also as it allows you to get into the wave early but fit the face once
the wave hollows out. Most of the shortboarders surf 6’3"s to 6’6" in
these conditons so to do a longboard that works requires a bit of tweaking
of most designs. My recommendations are:
9’3" max length
N = 16"
T = 13 1/2"
W @ 5" up = 22.5"
Rocker (super important!!)
N = 4 7/8"
6" = 3 7/8"
12" = 2 5/8"
24" = 1 1/8"
T = 3 15/16"
6" = 3 1/8"
12"= 2 3/8"
24" = 1 1/4"
Fins:
Box (10.5") @ 7" up
9" center fin, wide base
Sides @ 17.5" up
1 3/8" in from rail
1/8" toe, 4 degrees cant
4.5" base (can go smaller back home)
Shaping cues:
slight belly in nose to flat with slight
single concave (1/8 or less) thru middle
of bottom (if you are sanding, watch this dim)
to 1/8" vee starting in front of side fins thru
tail. spiral vee is ok and works too, but we
noticed little diff as we were going really
fast!! Rails should be down and hard the last
1/3 of the board. Don’t square out the tail
as this doesn’t help in the hollow stuff but
is more of a shortie cue to help the tail slide out.
Good luck and pm me if you need more info.