Of all the boards you`ve ever surfed: molded, off-the-rack, pro custom, home built, CNC machined, whatever… which type(s) have been all-time favorites… “magic”?
Small waves, probably my homebuilt 5’6"x20 series of twinfinned squash tails.
Medium waves, for sure my 6’8"x19 series, mostly diamond tail single fins.
Big Waves, for sure #2, built in '68, thinned down in '69, and still in service by '77, as one of 3. It was 9’10"x19x9" pintail. Had Brewers, Colleta’s, Eaton’s, and Prodanovich’s, none ever came close.
A Bob McTavish no-nose single fin, 6’2", I think around 1980. I was told the board was for himself, signed by him and also written ‘no nose 2’. I had only been surfing a few years, so I sold an early board I had made myself just so I could experince the way this one looked, and it looked like it would go.
When I first rode this board all it did was catch waves, but I couldn’t ride it, I couldn’t work out how to control it. I thought I’d been a bit ripped off, maybe it was an experiment gone wrong. After a few weeks of frustration, it started to just go, or maybe I started to catch up with it. My feet started to fall into that magic spot time after time, and it would go in anthing, from kneehigh onshore slop to 8 foot plus beach and pointbreaks.
I’ve had other boards that had a magic spark, and many more that have sparked on occasion. But at that stage in my early surfing life, that board could do no wrong, in all waves.
I learned a lot about myself and my boards during the time I rode that board.
9’4" diamond tail Ukelele by Chris Ruddy. That board was so fun to ride and one day it blew off the roof of the car along with a brand new Yater and was never recovered. I never even got to say good bye.
When I just started surfing, an acquaintence had a 6’6" Rusty that was just magic for me. He wouldn’t sell it though because technically it was his sister’s. Actually, I think he was just being an ass. I guess it’s a good thing; I wouldn’t have started shaping when I did if I bought that board.
I’ve got a 67 9’7 Hansen Master square tail. $75 dollars from an old ladies garage, hadn’t been ridden since 1969 or so. Perfect swing weight, nice on the nose, positive turning. I like all my boards, but when I take that one out, it feels like I never stopped riding it.
It’s hard to choose cause I have some real sweet boards both longer and shorter but these two, a Freeline and Natural Curves, both 8’3"x21.5" though built 30 years apart are tops bcause they are so versatile. When the surf is good it just depends on which one suits my fancy. They could hardly be more different but both catch waves very well, surf like a dream and do quite well in small surf and will handle anything I have the stones to drop into.
Mahalo, Rich
all my current boards are magic…
when i make my self a newboard ,if its not better than the best board ive ever had (for a particular purpose ) its not good enough and gets sold after 3 surfs max…
when i was younger and got shapes from other guys most of them were duds except for these 2 magic boards, a 6’-8" by 19 by 2 -3/8 ,it had thought control ,shaped by col ladhams,
another time jim banks lent me a board we were about the same size at the time ,i just went off on it ,like ive never surfed before ,i got him to shape me one the same ,not as good as his but still magic, 6’-4" by 19 by 2 1/2
regards
BERT
Quote:
Of all the boards you`ve ever surfed: molded, off-the-rack, pro custom, home built, CNC machined, whatever… which type(s) have been all-time favorites… “magic”?
The first board that I ever rode, that was designed, shaped, detailed, glassed, and sanded all by me. …sure, it was a little too thick, the rails were plain, and the nose was too pointy - but that’s not the point (no pun intended).
My most magic board has been a 7 foot Bonzer bottom thruster hybrid, about the fifth or sixth board I shaped 12 yrs. ago. It is loose, fast, positive and just plain fun to ride. What I like about it is that it can ride almost anything I come upon, small, big (for me anyway), mushy, juicy, there hasnt been any condition that this board won’t work in. I guess the thing I like about this board is that it took my surfing up a few notches. I still use it occasionally and keep it as a loaner for visiting friends.
Darn near every board I’ve ever ridden was magic…for a while. Then you get in a situation that tests the board’s design or construction and most of the magic rubs off. I guess the “magic” for me is a board that challenges and rewards over a long period of time. Two come to mind; 6’ something Krejewski/Liddle flex-tail I rode at the Cliffs in the mid-late seventies (s-turn delight, bawang fun in high tide mush) and the mat that is just now starting to reward after two years of challenge…
What is fascinating to me is that most everyone answering this question is describing an old board…If it was magic, are you still riding it or something exactly the same? Why not?
The magic I found back then is just as valid as the magic now. I’ve changed since then, the magic too. The board I surf next is the best board on earth, for me, at that time. I’ll stop ranting before I start, or the magic board will start getting too philosophical. Not that that’s a bad thing. I even had a board that’s colour alone rendered it magic.
6’2" Caster Tri-fin from the mid '80’s. It was as close to a perfect match for me as I could have asked for at the time. Small fins, flat bottom with vee in the tail. Ugly airbrush though.
Bought it off the rack at Bunger’s. Sold it on consignment at the same shop about 2 years later. Stupid move.
Eric J
6 foot rounded pin I bought from Santa Cruz Surf Shop around 82 or 83. I was looking over the boards when Cory( I think that was his name) brought out this lightly used board with wormy squiggles on the deck. He said Harbor Bill road it a few times and didn’t like it. It was exactly what I was looking for. I don’t think I ever surfed better than when I had that board. Surfed it until it was roached then gave it to a friend who kept threatening to get back into surfing if he had a board. He dug it, too.
I’m still riding the best board I’ve ever had…6’5" x 2 1/2" Al Merrick Sashimi. Catches waves easy, is fast as hell and turns on a dime. It is probably a few inches to small as I am 5’10" and 190 lbs but that may be part of its magic at the moment. Handles decent sized waves but will probably be replaced by a board 3" longer,1/2" wider and 1/4" inch thicker for this summer. The Merrick makes me smile just thinking about it. I’ve been studying the bottom contour/ concaves and, combined with the archives here on swaylocks, have increased my board knowledge ten-fold. I hope one day to shape a board that works just as good…
I rode a molded board once a 6’0 ‘M10’- it felt like a standard shortboard. nothing stood out about it, but it wasn’t bad either. Just what I would expect. I dont know why people bag on them so bad and say they cant surf well because they feel like a normal off the rack board.
I owned one board off the rack - a 6’2 Maurice Cole (ridden once by a pro and discardered) I bought in Torquay after I snapped both shortboards I brough with me. I liked that board. That board would go fast before I even did my first pump down the line - MC can probably blend all the curves for optimum waterflow much better than me.
I have never had a “pro” custom made for me
I have ridden some friends machine shaped boards (Sharp Eye 5’11 gliders) and they rode insane, but that shape is very similar to one of the favorite boards I have shaped for myself.
Bert is right on about every board I make for myself is magic in at least a specific condition or mood that I am in - except for a few that come out weird and those get sold, but not until at least a few surfs on them.
What about you Dale? Is the mat your most favoritest thing ever? Or has there been some other favorites or magic crafts in the past?
hmm, magic boards I’ve met over the years…
an Encinitas 7’ single fin, perfect Black’s Beach board…
an early 80’s channin 6’3" thruster w/ glassed on curved side fins, real skatey and loved late drops (still have this one)
a 4 fin PDS super light step bottom w/ big channel thru fins -it fell apart from too light a glass job but fun while it lived
a thruster Rusty shaped for Shaun Tompson, found at a yard sale – it turned on a dime (traded this one back to Rusty, he wanted it as a memento)
a channelled five fin 9’0" long board, turned better than anything
a single fin Owl Chapman 9’1"
an 8 foot Holly/Brewer swallowtail (died of delams due to overuse)
some of my own-shaped boards I consider magic, I suppose…the most magic was the first one I ever shaped, because it actually worked, when I wasn’t sure it would…
7’4 Surfings New Image Diamond tail with a fire breathing dragon on the deck. Took it to Hatteras. It was the best…
Hi grasshopper,
Yes, I`ve had a number of favorite wavecraft… surfboards, kneeboards, paipos, bodyboards. 99% of them created by myself.
But overall, considering its wide operating range of waves and surface conditions… its complex blend of speed, performance, sensation, ease of portability, safety, design and construction… I`ve never experienced anything like a good surf mat.
Nothing else has challenged me as much, both physically and mentally… while offering such a deceptively sophisticated learning curve, or consistently revealing so many fun surprises along the way.
the question brings a smile to my face. The three most memorable boards in order of ownership are: a 9’6" Dusty Rhodes Spider Real stable on the nose, a 7’6" Morey Pope Tracker by Bob Mc Tavish one of the first V Bottoms, and eventhough I shouldn’t mention it on this board a 5"10" Morey Pope Hollow Wave , caught waves easy and floated in the air after hitting the lip. if I could find those three again I’d be in heaven.