as some of you have already mentioned a board may be magic at a specific period in a surfers history and then the surfers technique moves on and new magic is required. I had two self built 5’ 10" twin fins that were magic in the 80s for me, one monolithic epoxy the other conventional.
Of my current active quiver of 5 or so boards only one is magic. For the last year and a bit I have been surfing a longboard friendly region and last winter was impressed by both the hp and old school moves being done and with my 8’ 4" mini LB stranded in Australia and summer approaching I decided to get something locally in N Cal. My experiences with the 8’ 4" weren’t great, grappling with all that length I found hard in anything above waist height, but a useful small wave implement.
so I balked at the full 9’ and ordered a round nosed 7’ 10", by a famous shaper and I’d seen the 7’ 6" version in the shop.
this type of board is well described on the surfline “anatomy of a surfboard” design page
http://www.surfline.com/sdg/features.cfm
but here is the text to save you searching
"Known also as the “mini-tank,” “beer belly board” and a host of other brand-model names, the funboard is out there in greater numbers than you might think – they’re the Volkswagen Beetles of the surfboard high-concept coterie.
The funboard is a textbook hybrid design. But instead of cobbling together the more potent elements from other surfboard types, this board picks whiffle ball components suited to novice or intermediate-level surfers.
It’s a compromise design, combining the superior paddling attributes of a longboard, but stripped of some of the unwieldy length and bulk so the rider may have a taste of shortboard maneuverability. The rails, outline and rocker are soft or neutral; and there’s plenty of thickness for comfortable flotation. There are no flats or edges to provide leverage or breakaway release. The funboard doesn’t set out to challenge the rider, but rather cossets him with reassuring mediocrity."
I had to wait a bit for the overseas shipment of the 7’ 10" and it wasn’t cheap either. Fortunately it was up to my expectations and went nicely in waist high surf, definately more manageable than my Australian mini LB but having sufficient glide and paddling power for me. Not what I call magic though.
On about my third use of it I misjudged the size of the surf and found myself in heavy overhead pt break waves, perfect material for my smaller hybrid which i had made specifically for these conditions.
The experience was incredible, the extra size made huge bottom turns possible, the speed built on the drop down the wave allowed my to run in front of the trough having enough momentum to pull back up into the face. Due to my upbringing in Welsh surf this is not something that i am a natural at. My favourite wave in Australia (Bells) did not encourage me to make this sort of move either. Bells can be surfed quite big due the deep channel but i found that the difficult sections could be made by running a high line where the wave was steep, that wave has a long sloping base.
anyway back to the overhead session in cali - huge roundhouse cutbacks were also possible on the egg/mini-tank, beer belly board or whatever you want to call it. I found myself hanging on and making climbs up onto the white water combined with a tail slide, ok probably only i knew the board was sliding but i was in the next level of happiness.
I used this board last week and felt i was having an off day then discovered that the centre fin had been knocked back 1/4". I used it again today, with its fin back in its normal place this board has not lost its magic at all.
I don’t actually believe in magic of course and nor am I a worshipper of any material, pu, eps, xps its all good when used correctly. So I attributed its performance to light weight and world class shape (Takayama).
I’ve changed my mind now, after having built my own sandwich board. They are a noisier when travelling over texture, but its the responsive feel of them I like (maybe the extra stiffness?). I now believe the sandwich construction of the Takayama egg has something to do with it.
But of course what is magic for me may not be magic for others and vice versa. I’ve seen a lot of pointless design arguments caused by failing to recognise the basic differences between surfers techniques and the different types of equipment needed to satisfy them.
I found sandwich board construction to be very labour intensive (see my vac bag project thread). This must be the reason why it was made overseas.
