Been lurking for a while and now I am getting ready to shape my first board. I will be likely picking up a (very overpriced) surfblanks america 9’9" blank to shape a 9’6"-9"8" longboard for under head high, weak, mushy, Rhode Island beach and point breaks. Since moving to RI I normally ride a 9’0 HP longboard which works good for me once it gets over head high, but its kind of a dog in smaller stuff. I am 6 feet and close to 200 lbs in the winter suit. I have been surfing about 15 years but I am not an expert on longboard shapes. Any opinions on these templates I have been working on would be great.- Thanks.
Welcome to Rhode Island, whereabouts are you?
I am in South County (Wakefield)- Been in RI almost 10 years and I still hate the winter! What do you ride for your average day here?
Flacido;
I am not on the east coast but do surf a lot
of mushy conditions here out west and make a
lot of longboards for guys your size in our conditions.
If you are not into an old school style of surfing and
don’t care about nose riding, here is what I would suggest.
Off your first template I would change the following:
Move the wide point to 4" in front of center. Go up to 23"
wide. Drop the nose width to 18" or less. Tail dims are ok,
go down to 15" if you want a more turning board. Round tail
or rounded pin are great. I would try to keep the thickness
around 3 1/8" or more for your weight. This will require a light
skin job on the deck after shaping the bottom if you are using the
surfblanks 9’9. For your height I would try to squeeze a 9’8 or
9’7 out of that blank. I would go with the natural rocker off it and
not try to adjust it much. For a board that planes at slow speed I
would suggest that you shape
a flat bottom or really slight concave under the front foot/wide pt.
A 2 + 1 can give you a lot of versitility in your first design. I have
posted fin specs and set-ups on sways before so do a search with
my screen name if you need them. Try to keep your board simple
on the first one and it should be functional for what you want to surf.
Good luck!
Right on, I have been here for about the s ame. I love the winter, no crowds! I usually ride a 9'0 Ashton, but other than that I have a 9'6 longboard from the 60s. Those are all I have so I'm logging it most of the time, I would love to get a mini simmons though.
Thanks for the help teach; I really appreciate the advise. I was leaning towards the round nose since the waves I ride are mostly pretty slow and I want to be able to make smooth cutbacks. What effect would moving the wide point forward/ narrowing the nose have? would this just make it easier to turn from farther up on the board? would this totally sacrifice any stability on the nose? I am really hoping to make a versatile longboard I can take to the beach 75% of the time that turns well but I can still get up to the nose.
Some proven full scale printable longboard templates: http://greenlightsurfsupply.com/longboard-templates.aspx
You might want to check out the 9’6"W…
~Brian
Couple of reasons why I suggested the changes. First off,
wide point forward helps to catch those mushburgers and puts
foam under your chest. Also at slow speed the planing surface is
greater under your front foot and you can carry farther in the soup
without having a heavy old school board. The nose narrowing helps
lighten up the front of the board to reduce swing weight a little and doesn’t
slow the board down. Turns
come from steping back into the tail area and a 2 + 1 set-up with a rp tail
puts the pivot point just forward of the side fins. Smooth cutbacks are a
function of the pivot point + rail shape. Remember that this design is not
an old school lb shape that will nose ride well. The rocker is wrong in the
blank, the curve is wrong (should have more parallel rails) and the tail is
too narrow. For a mushburger wave however, it will work and work well. You
will be suprized and then have a basic shape you can tweek on your next shape
or try a traditional shape then like your second outline. Just my 2c! If I get some
free time today, I will try to attach some pics.
Thanks Teach, I appreciate the explanation. I am an engineer and so I have this sickness of always needing to know why as well as how something works. Here is version 2.