I just finished board one–my 7’2" single fin…stoked! Anyways, my girlfriend has recently gotten into surfing. Right now she surfs a 7’ thruster funshape–not a very cool board, but it has gotten her in the water. I want to get into shaping longboards so I guess this is a pretty good opportunity to do it. I just need some advice on size for a small girl’s first single fin longboard. She is 5’3" and 107 lbs. She needs something that isn’t too big and overpowering. Something she can learn to maneuver without too much trouble. I’m looking for any info. Thanks.
-Zander M
Nose rider?
Classic?
High Performance?
I can send you a plan if you want?
PM me if you want one.
At her size ‘longboard’ is kind of relative. An idea might be to rent or borrow a few boards in the 7’10" minimal to 9’ range and let her try them. You’ll never know what works for her until she tries a couple. If she likes the longer lengths consider boosting the tail rocker and take note of the outline hips. A 2+1 fin setup will allow fine tuning. A small trailer fin in a FU box can be adjusted to make one turn pretty easy.
I’m still amazed at your first board. Good luck!
Hey zanderm, im 5’10’’ and nearly 200lbs. Personally, if you aren’t looking to spend a lot of time on the nose, then 8’ is plenty long. I have a 7’10’‘, its more of a nugget/minimal shape, but it trims great from up near the nose ( its a little too narrow for me to get a cheater 5 though ), and still turns awesome. Im really keen for a longboard, but i’d still only go 8’, as im not too interested in hanging 5/10. Plus, i surf beach breaks, and taking off on small hollow waves gets tricky with a 9’er. Can definately be done, but is tricky.
How about a 7’ish egg??
Thanks for the replies although I probably should have thought of those suggestions in the first place…haha. I have a friend with a 7’10" Blue thruster/mini longboard and another with a 8’0" B. Miller…surftech…2+1 setup. That’s it as far as longboards go. I need to meet more people down here who surf longboards.
I’m going to talk to her about something in the 7’8" to 8’5" range. Something classic. Single fin–bare with me, I’m kind of new at this. It would probably be best flat bottomed with maybe some tail V and fat 50/50 rails? Some real templates from someone more experienced would be great. I would love to see something.
She eventually wants a noserider, but there’s no way she will be hanging any toes off the board anytime soon. The board she has is too thin and sharp. She just doesn’t get the feel she wants. She needs something that will paddle fast and turn relatively easy. I have a template I made based off of Michel Junod’s eggs. I can scale it up to like 7’8". Maybe that would be good. Thanks again.
9’0 x 22 1/8 wide
do it with eps and epoxy
light to carry and she’ll nose ride by fall
Here’s a plan for a 7’6 Mini Mal.
This is what she should start out with.
EPS 8’0-8’6 single fin, no wider than 22"
Just do a scaled down nosrider template…plenty of tail rocker, soft rails the whole way, nose concave if that’s what she wants, to a little roll through the middle, to rolled vee in the tail. Marko’s 9’1 Hyperform blank would do nicely, with a little more kick shaped into the tail.