I have 2 cents to throw in: around 1997, I had been riding really tiny shaved down chips like alot of surfers, a la Slater… they weren’t working too great. I went from a tiny 6 'er X 17" to a 6’7" round pin, 19 1/2 full volume - there were a few other guys my age that I noticed doing the same at my local spot, and you know what? - it was super fun! I stayed on that size for another 5 years - loose, flowing, and kind of old school single fin feeling with a slightly bigger center fin (they were thrusters) anyway, point is that small bit of extra foam/length really does the trick, in earlier, smoother flow, etc. - I say get one your dims & tell us about it!
That looks like a good candidate for the “Sand Dollar Special” board alluded to in the the Big Sur thread. Nice!
Ahhh…they just don’t fit the wave right…check this out for clear evidence that boards over 6 6 don’t work ;)
I tried going longer for a few years and never felt the magic. I’ve found that going back down to the length I rode when I was in my 20s just with a slightly wider outline, thicker, flat rocker and concave is so much more fun.
I think a lot may depend on what you started to surf on. I started on a midlength, and even though i love my fish boards and longboard, the 7'6'' shortboard i have feels great so far. Though i've always felt comfortable on any midlength shape. Especially in the mostly knee to little overhead beachies i surf. I had a "standard" shortboard for a while. I found it didn't paddle or catch waves too bad, but once up, i just wasn't used to not having at least some speed to work with straight away. Sure, when the waves were nice, the turns were unreal, but it was a long time between drinks, and was frustratiing. Im more of a drawn out carve surfer anyway, so the extra length isn't an issue for me.
Icc I like the looks of your board This is an excellent post since we are getting real feed back with age weights and some honesty on paddleing power. another thing to think about is where you spend most of your time surfing.
Mako made the comment that he was haeing fun on a short wide thick board Mako is in NJ and so is surfing east coast beach break. Short wide and thick would be fun in that type of surf. I grow up surfing in NJ and know that kind of surf well. On the other side is if you ride a point style wave that allows for longer rides and also more time to set up the turns and big moves.
At 61 soon to be 62 and not getting enough time in the water my 9'6" gets a workout. Getting a new board domne soon that will be around 8' speed egg style 5 fin Bonzer setup.
mako224,I agree with the"shorter,wider,thicker" in my case minisimmons. And I surf in Hawaii,not the East Coast.After surfing all 7.0’s in the 60’s and 70’s,then doing the high performance longboard thing all the way till 4 years back,when I got a 7.0 diamond tail egg single fin(which I converted to a thruster),then I scored a 7.4, 5 fin bonzer,which I can surf as big as I can handle,and now I am totally addicted to my minisimmons twin fin,6.0x 22.5 x3.I went a little longer than the experts say to,at 6.0,but I felt I neded the additional floatation as I paddle it out to a break that is pretty far offshore,and at soon to be 58, I can use some help.I haven’t been able to surf anything else,it’s so much fun.Last week I used it in up to double overhead surf(6-7 ft hawaiian), and it handled it so fun,unreal.Not high performance,but definitely high fun.
Hey Mako,
What are the other dims of your short wide boards? It seems like I saw a post of yours a while back on the big guy short board thread. I an 6’ and 220 lbs. I have been making 5’6"x 22" fish/simmons thingies. Now I am starting to push the 23" width. I just finished a 5’5"x 23" fish/simmons thing and I am stoked with it’s float and performance. I just cut out a 5’10"x 23" template that is more thruster loking. I can’t wait to get it shaped and in the glass shop.
6’6 lengths. One is 23 1/8" wide and 3 1/8" thick. This one has the wide point moved forward and catches waves like a longboard. The other is 21 3/4" wide and 2 7/8". This one is similar to a CI Dumpster Diver and I can throw it around like a high performance board…I may make another of these and go down to 6’4.