Thanks to this site I’m now off in search of the holy grail- the perfect surfboard. My wife will never understand the search. She asks, “What’s wrong with the last one?”
Anyways, what do da Swaylock boyz tink of this-
Me- 5’-11" (that’s 180 cm for da international crew), 155 lbs (65-70 kilos?), 44 years young, strictly shortboarding. My motto (and thus the rationale for my search) is- “I just want to go fast and turn hard.” Of course I should add, “with a flowing style and an occasional tube ride.” When I see a guy ripping it’s because he’s going really fast and punctuating with big, full rail turns.
Locale- South bay of LA, beachbreaks. That’s what I surf 90% of the time, usually head high and under, usually kind of hollow (often closed out). This morning was shoulder high but I saw one wave spit twice. I always dawn patrol (try to be the first one out) so it’s usually pretty glassy or slightly off shore.
Board- I use to ride a Chalrie Smith , 6’10" x 18 1/2" x 2 7/16". Magic. It got ran over by a lady on a three stringer old school single fin. History.
I got another 6’-10" but this was 19" x 2 1/2", six channel. Really fast but way too stiff. I just made myself a 6’-4" x 19 1/4" x 2 1/2". I was thinking shorter and wider, but it’s still more float than I think I need. I also put a little vee in the tail and that made the board surf like a single fin, fun rail to rail turns but no drive (SPEED).
So now I’m thinking 6-2" x 18 1/2" x 2 3/8". Kind of like the Charlie Smith- thinner and narrower. But I’m thinking of putting the channels on it. Maybe 1/16 - 1/8" concave in the middle, then flat in the tail but with the channels. To compensate for the stiffness I want to go with a pretty narrow tail so I can put a lot of curve behind the back foot (less than 14" going to a 5-6" wide swallow)>
I glassed my last board with Resin Research and am sold- no pressure dings after three months of surfing! This time I’m thinking of going EPS in which case I would adjust the thickness ( 2 1/4" ) and take some volume out of the rails (the Charlie Smith had pretty thin rails). I’m kind of worried about EPS. I’m afraid I might hate it. Also, going to use FCS k-flex fins toed a couple inches in front of the nose.
How about that? Waddayathink? Any feedback is highly appreciated. Mine is a totally selfish pursuit (my own board) but I sure thank all the guys on this site who are making boards for others and sharing knowledge.