I am making a 7’6 funboard out of a Marko EPS FS JJ for a friend of mine that is a completely new surfer and I was wondering about how to pick a width for him. What would you guys recommend? I want to make an easy board for him to catch waves on and paddle (we do a lot of that in Oregon) through the white water.
He’s 5’5" 150lbs with about 12 inches from armpit to the end of his hand. 18 inches in the chest - a teeny dude, more girly than manly really…
He’ll be surfing beach breaks during the summer mushiness around here.
Your friends age and physical fitness will also determine the width and thickness of the board.
With munchkin arms like that dont go too much over 20" in width or he'll be paddling with arms at 45 degrees to the water and getting nowhere.
A lot of people try to go too long and wide for beginners without knowing about there physical prowess.
Is the person a gymnast?
An olympic swimmer?
BJJ fighter?
or, and may Allah forgive them , a body boarder with years of wave catching under their belt?
It will also depend on the type of surfing yor friend wants to do and the disposable income he is willing to part with. Some people can get on a new midlength board as a beginner and within weeks are looking for a shorter more high performance board.
12 inches? That’s like, really tiny. I mean, freaky tiny. Go no wider than outside one shoulder to the other. Throw a little flip in the nose to avoid pearl diving. Low even rocker curve for paddling and planing. No breaks in the curve though. That way you’ll max the sweet spot. Don’t worry about looseness. It’s all about stability.
Thanks you guys - I am looking into the Tak Egg idea as a single fin now. I can get 7’2 out of my blank, and the 20 or so width. Is the wide point on an egg 4 or 5 inches north of center?
JM. That’s the info I was looking for - in fact I was tossing around ideas of building surfersteve.com 's small wave board with some block foam. I will look into those other models for sure. Do you have any templates or anything that I could check out?
Unfortunately my blank won’t let me have 22 inches so I am kinda stuck in the 20s.
Are you a “big guy” like me? 6’0 240lbs of manliness and hair?
Maybe think about something like a 7’0"x20"x2 3/4" egg with a thruster setup like the takayama’s or corky carols. I have 26" reach also and over 20" is harder to carry around for me. It’s also really as wide as you’d need to go for his weight as long as you don’t dome the deck too much. What entity is talking about is important to consider also.
Go around 20 in, but keep a full outline(wide nose and tail ) to ensure max bouyancy. plus a straighter outline will give him more speed. you should consider doing a single fin egg, their really fun, and float well
I’m in OR as well, and know the pains of the paddles… I can’t really comment on the correct width as an expert but here are my personal experiences:
I surfed Longbooards, fun shapes and “big guy” tris for the longest time and was perfectly happy EXCEPT for the paddles out at our local breaks. Especially during the winter months when the tides are higher and the paddles longer. I finally tried something both wider and shorter than my fun shape (CI Water Hog) last year a 6’4" Mabile Twinzer Fish.
The paddle out is so much easier because I can duck it instead of getting pushed back to the beach because I had / have so much foam. I also find that the flatter rocker works so much better up here year round, rarely does it get so steep here that we need all that rocker in all those boards on the shelves at Gorge.
I guess my point is, try something shorter and wider than your thinking. I would try a 6’8 22-23" wide board, I would really pay attention to Lindens Compressor model. I’ve had a chance to surf this and I think its perfect for OR, my wife has also surfed this board and as a novice surfer finds it works great as well.