My best friend got accepted to the Honolulu Police Academy. He’s graduating in a few months and I wanted to give him a board for graduation. He’s always been in love with the Lopez style single fins but, the best surfing I’ve seen him do is on '80’s style shortboards. He’s about 5’6" and 185-195 lbs. Short and stocky but not fat. He’s not a great paddler and will be surfing lesser known northshore spots up to about 1.5x overhead. I really want to make him a short, thick, wide shortboard because I think that’s what would work best for him but, it’s not about what I want. Like I said, he’s always been in love with those older single fins. That being said, I’ve been playing around in Boardcad trying to figure out an outline that is reminiscent of the Lopez single fins but has a little bit more user friendly curve. Rocker help is welcomed too. I’m thinking a little more curve between the feet will allow him to use the board in a wider range of conditions than originally intended for those boards. He’s not too interested in hotdogging, he just likes to cruise and do smooth, strong turns. The board will have a single box because that’s what he would want. I’m on the fence about adding quad Proboxes. Chances are he may never use the quad boxes BUT I think that the board would go better for him as a quad…
anyway, here’s what I got so far, critiques and advice welcome:
Please disregard the tail shape. More than likely I will do a small swallow or diamond tail I just don’t know how to get BoardCad to do that…
I like the first one best I think. The second one, I pushed the width forward more which pulled the tail in a little. The third one is the same as the second one except I widened the tail a bit. #1 and #3 both have more curve between the feet. I’ve heard that the original boards were pretty “point and shoot” for critical waves. I’m hoping to build him something with a similar look but that will perform in a wider range of waves.
I like #1 also BUT he wants something different. I measured a old board that was a favorite of mine in 1979 and here are the #'s 14" tail x 21 wide 15" nose. Wide point forward a little. It is now a single fin. It rode pretty good. Single fin bottom’s, I like slight convex to V off tail. fin type and placement are very critical to getting the “sweet spot” wired. Boxes are wonderful. A bag of fins is fun. A little thicker “modern” rail with a little edge left on bottom. Just cheat and flip flop the thickness and you will have a nice blend of old and new.
I was going to say I like #3 with the tail pulled in a bit and not as thick as 41/2, maybe 31/2. Bellied nose for helping to project the turns to a flat spot that transitions to vee in the tail. Simple.It seems to me this would suit his style better. But after reading Ace's comments maybe my head is up my a$$. He knows a hell of a lot more about boards than I do. Plus he makes some bitchin rides.
Did not notice 4 1/2" thick? I’d go along with no more than 3-1/2 for this style board. 190 lbs is not that big. If thats not gonna work go a little wider. When I say slight “convex” bottom I mean “visually” flat but not, leading to the V. If he wants a flowing type ride flatter rocker with the V giving some rail relief enhance rocker. Simple is good.
thanks for the input fellas, I’ll have to take some time to digest the details. And, sorry for the confusion. The “+3” and “+4 1/2” is how far closer to the nose the wide point is from center. So, the 2nd and 3rd boards, the wide point is closer to the nose than the first… As far as thickness, I’ll probably go with about 3" at the center. The volume is more than he needs but, he just wants to cruise.
“Looks more like the outlines I’ve seen from back then.”
Ain’t that what HE wants. Sometimes as a shaper you gotta listen to your customer and make em what THEY want. Outlines just connect the dots. The real riding is whats going on inside the dots.
Hey Chris, if I were in your shoes I’d try to convince him about the merits of a bonzer. Would suit the style of surfing he seems to like, and the added drive would be a big assett in Hawaii. Show him this video that just popped up on the Russ Short bonzer thread. Russ’s style is very reminiscent of Lopez’s IMHO-
Yup Ace, it’s about what he wants so, I’m leaning towards that last outline. I just want to stoke him out. Regarding your “inside the dots” comment: Haha, yah, I’m sure that’s only PART of what separates shapers like me (I hesitate to even call myself a shaper) from shapers like you =). I will be taking your advice on bottom contour.
Thanks TBlank, I plan on KISS. Just found out his graduation got pushed back a couple months so I’ve got time to make sure it comes out right.
Lillibell, SWEET VIDEO! My buddy doesn’t know too much about board designs and recently he told me that his friends were riding “these quad boards with a single fin in the middle”. After a few questions, I realized that he was talking about 5 fin bonzers.=) I’ve never ridden a bonzer but am convinced that one would probably benefit him. I’m sure a sidebite option with the single would benefit him too and, based on what I’ve tried, I think a quad would work well for him too. He’s pretty stuck on the singles tho =).
hahaha Wood Ogre, at least with a board he won’t have to pick up poop, just fix dings. =)
