I need some board advice. I’m in the process of finishing board #003 which is a 7’3 semi gun/big bloke thuster. Its 21 wide and 2.8in thick. For my next board, I really want to make a smaller, more manoeuvrable thruster. I weigh about 210lbs (102kg) and consider myself and average surfer with off days and good days.
I have been through the archives but most advice pertains to big thusters (>7’0).
Do you think I could get away with something along the lines of 6’8 x 20 x 12 (n) x 13.75 (t)x 2 ¾ - 2 5/8 or so thick?
Basically I want to take my surfing to the next step.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
As usual, Swaylocks rocks.
Ado
ps - board mainly for hollowish beach and reef breaks up to head and a half at max.
IMHO you could go with the dimensions of the first board, just make sure the tail is pulled in (narrow swallow or squash) to give a lot of hip curve in the back third of the board’s outline, combined with a healthy dose of tail rocker (at least 2.5") and some decent fins and you’re good to go. I made an 8’ x 21" x 3", i weigh only 150lbs and am suprised at how well the thing turns.
If you want to increase the performance, make the same board out of EPS foam. Quite a difference in the 2 materials. Keep the length the same, cut the width to 20 1/2 in. Keep the thickness the same or about 2 3/4, but make sure you thin the rails out, dome the deck to get the right foil. Thin the nose and tail out, push the rocker from the bottom of the blank.
Most guys on there first few boards leave way too much volume in the rails, they also leave way too much foam in the nose and tail. Get the rail shape down, and a good fluid rail line from nose to tail and the rest of the board will work great. Search the archives for fin placement too.
If your bent on the 2 5/8 thickness, then you’ll need to carry the volume out to the rails a bit more to compensate. No big deal. The big deal is the EPS, the board will be 3-4 lbs lighter, and that is a big jump in performance.
To be brutally honest if you want to surf better lose about 10kg. Cut any sweets out of your diet and do some swimming or bike riding during flat spells.
If by taking it to the next step you mean getting more vertical and critical then in hollow waves around 3ft any board over about 6’6" just doesn’t fit into the wave properly, and anything wider than 19.5" and you are just giving yourself too much safety net.
If you just want to go fast on hollow waves then 7’ would be good but 20" or more is too wide.
To be brutally honest if you want to surf better lose about 10kg. Cut any sweets out of your diet and do some swimming or bike riding during flat spells.
If by taking it to the next step you mean getting more vertical and critical then in hollow waves around 3ft any board over about 6’6" just doesn’t fit into the wave properly, and anything wider than 19.5" and you are just giving yourself too much safety net.
If you just want to go fast on hollow waves then 7’ would be good but 20" or more is too wide.
Im pretty fit and have always been a big bloke - just my build…no amount of weight loss will change my overall physical structure. I havent got a big gut if thats what you are saying.
I do swim regularly and surf as much as i can. What do you mean about the safety net? I dont want to really go radical or more vertical as thats never been my style, but looking for a bit more looseness is all. Yeah, i guess i want to go faster in hollower waves. I’ll go with 7’0 x 19.5 and see how i go.
Good to hear you are fit and wanting to improve, it’s a great thing about surfing, there’s always room for improvement.
I find with a wider board you can be sloppier with feet positioning on take-offs and still make it (a safety net), the problem being you won’t be near the sweet spot to get the board going fast.
I have been 92kg for a while and I’ve got an MR super twin that is 6’4" and 19.5" wide, it goes really well and picks up speed down the line, I think the flyer and the small rear fin helps with looseness. There would be a whole lot more going on that I don’t have the board shaping experience to recognise. Once it gets to 6ft and over I ride a 6’8" round pin thruster that is 19" wide and it is a good stable board but not exceptionally quick. I like the twinny feel so I put Al Merricks on the side fins and a G3000 or PG3 on the rear to keep it loose. Maybe a bit of a hip on it would loosen it more but it is just a semi-gun shape that I picked up second hand but in good condition.
It’s incredible how much swimming helps with getting into waves early and still having energy to pump down the line. Skipping is good too, for speed and feet placement.
thanks for the input. Swimming is great and has made a big improvement in my paddling and takeoff fitness. Havent tried skipping but looks good for cardio.
I could always be fitter though and winter has the tendency to make me hibernate and only come out for food and when the swell is up.
Those dimensions you mentioned sound right up my alley. Shapers Oz have a 6’10 blank which would fit the specs. its only 15/16ths thick so i’d have to be careful shaving thickness out of it and not making it too thin. THey also have a 7’3 which is 3 1/8th thick so may be a better option, though i would have to careful of cutting too much rocker out. Anyway, experimentation is fun!
Ouch man, so your saying because someone weighs over 200 lbs, that there fat? Hummm, not everybody is a skinny 5’6" 130 lb, blonde headed rat. Some people are even fit at 250 lbs. I have a buddy that surfs at 6’5" 250 lbs, looks like fricking Tarzan…he not fat, and i don’t know body that would call him fat even if he was, he doesn’t surf a 6’6" either…for that matter he doesn’t surf a 7’6" either.
A performance board is exactly that. Performance in design, not it some magic formula the needs to be 6’0" length. extra width will not slow a board down from pulling into hollow waves. A wide fat tail will. A 7 ft plus board with a 20 in waist is not a fat board. You have to remember you have a longer outline to work with. Just the same a 9 ft board with a 21 inch waist is not a fat board either…if you pull it in properly.
I don’t think I used the word “fat” anywhere. Ado was saying he wanted to take his surfing to the next level so it was just a challenge, if you want to take it to the next level it helps if you are fit.
There’s a lot of solid guys around here that surf extremeley well (leave me for dead) but they usually grew up as surf crazed grommies and developed a great style early on. They don’t ride 7’ boards though.
It’s just my opinion but if you do have the longer outline to work with and you put 20" of width in it you end up with too much volume so when you ride it there is too much bouyancy and the board stays too high in the water instead of in the wave. So when you do cutbacks it makes it hard to get it on rail and when you do re-entries it tends to bobble around. With Mals they’re happy for that to be happening cos they want the bouyancy when they are walking up the board etc.
If you have the dimensions and plan shape for a performance design, 7’ plus, 20" wide board, please post it and someone like Ado could give it a go.
Im just a newbie at board design and making. Im not a brilliant surfer and am coming down from a 7’6 wide single fin. I don’t know what my style is per se, but I am not an overly vertical surfer and get my thrills from taking large drops, bottom turns and turns off the top of the wave I got my first board when I was 14 (now 36) and surfing has been a part of my life for a lot of that time. However, as life got in the way, I only started surfing again about 4 years ago after a long hiatus (living inland working for mining companies) and that was on a 10’ log. I’m just starting to become more comfortable again in head high plus waves so just want a board I can comfortably duck dive and can get me into larger waves and make the drop. My 7’3 I mentioned before is coming along very nicely and should be a great board in anything up to head high I guess. What I want is to experiment with is something more for larger conditions – so I naturally thought shorter and narrower and thinner would be the go. I guess I’ll come up with some dimensions and see how I go.
I agree with you RH that performance can be inherent in design and that you must be able to make a 6’10 board that surfs very well in the aforementioned conditions for my weight and ability. Guess there is only one way to find out and that is to make one and see. Any more advice re dimensions etc will still be most valuable.
Sounds like you will have a ball experimenting on whatever you shape, once the bug gets you it bites hard. If you have a 7’3" and a 6’10" you’ll be able to work out what you like from each.
Keep me updated on this thread, keen to know how you go.
Do you head down to Margaret River to get larger waves?
Sorry, I just took the drop 10 kgs which in my world is 22 lbs, as being “heavy”. If I packed on another 22 lbs, I would be fat. And if i dropped 22 lbs, I’d look like an Aids patient.
In my world of reef & point breaks a little extra board in the line up does wonders. It’s always great to catch the wave your going after, but still have the performance. Tell me, is there a worse feeling of being out on a big day, trying to catch the first wave of the set…missing it, turning around to see the rest of the set feathering…dam if I just could have caught that wave, oh no…hey it’s dark and black down here, gee I hope I come up soon, I think I’m running out of air…ahhhh, air, light…OH NOOOOO, here comes another one…hey it’s dark and black down here, gee I hope I come up soon, I think I’m running out of air…ahhhh, air, light…OH NOOOOO, here comes another one…hey it’s dark and black down here, gee I hope I come up soon, I think I’m running out of air…ahhhh, air, light…OH NOOOOO, here comes another one…
But as always to each his own on what a surfboard is supposed to be, thats what makes us all unique.
I can tell by your avatar that you have the perfect body.
I agree, nothing worse than a near drowning, it’s not always the boards fault though if you are in the wrong position and didn’t scratch into a wave.
If you are trying to improve you’re surfing it’s not a great feeling when you do take off on a decent wave and as it winds down the point the board size becomes too cumbersome to do decent manouvres. Unless of course you are a freak like Curren in Glass Love where he takes his fathers old solid wood board out at Sunset (I think) and shows what positioning and wave understanding is all about. Some older guys around here do show a lot of grace on biggish boards, but those dudes are very stylish and make it look easy. Unfortunately somebody thought it would be better if I were 6’1" with little natural ability so I try and get as refined a board as possible.
If Ado does end up with a 7’3", 21" wide and a 6’10" which was 19.25" to 19.5" wide it would be interesting to hear how he rates them and which one he takes out most as he improves. I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong, no refunds though sorry Ado.
Yeah you are dead right about that bug…this is my third board and my first was pretty much a dog. I’m going to strip my last board and re-shape. But the current one is looking really good and the rails turned out not too thin but not too boxy either. I had my friend, she is an artist, to do some work on the deck and it looks great. Going to my blank bloke this arvo and see what he has- he’s also a really good shaper and knows what blanks suit what task. I haven’t been down south this year at all. But ive been getting to Rottnest regularly (island off Perth) which sux a lot of swell and scored it 4-6 foot last week. I’ll probably start heading down to Margs in Spring when the swell is a bit more manageable for my ability. I’ll keep you posted as to what I end up doing. Cheers mate
I’m following this thread with interest as I have a Miller v-skate which is 6’8" X 20 & 3/4 X 2 & 3/4 which I was using as my regular shortboard to ride in whatever conditions I came across. I don’t think I’d be wanting to surf these dimensions if I was 102kgs though.
It would be usefull for you to have a read of Grant’s website and his board information. May give you some ideas. (Miller surfboards Australia)
I was talking to him yesterday about a new board which would be a 7’2" X 20 & 3/4 X 2 & 3/4. A “waterskate” type of design of his but with more refined rails in a rounded pin with a single box and FCS side fin plugs.
What do I want to ride it in? It’s to ride in ankle snappers when others would ride a longboard. However, I know that I should be able to take it 6’+ as well with no worries.
I had a Powerglide of his (which has a mal nose with 22" wide and 2 & 3/4 thick) and I could ride it in tiny waves and glide and in 6’ point breaks with complete confidence.
I find I don’t ride my 6’8" anymore because in breach breaks and decent point surf I ride a 5’10" epoxy Van Straalen rocket fish which is super fast, loose and a blast to ride.
So the 7’ 2" will be for really small days and for days when the points are firing (and really crowded) I can have the paddling speed to sit out further than the guys riding 6’6" s to get the sets and paddle in early and with some extra heft to power around sections and the solid feel to pull into any tubes that get in the way.
I can’t do this on the 6’8" and so the wave count goes down and the frustration goes up. Fun factor is down.
I wouldn’t be suprised if I end up surfing this board more than any other.
I’m 44 and 85kgs but I know what I’m doing out in the water but have my good and bad days. Had a hiatus like yourself (but adventure tour guiding in Sth East Asia) and so missed a six pack of years surfing.
I can tell by your avatar that you have the perfect body.
Thank you, but I could loose a few pounds in the head. It’s a real bitch holding my mellon up for more than 3 hours, my neck get tired. Maybe if i cut out the junk food…I do look better with clothes on though.
Sounds good, I’ll be heading over there next January for a holiday with the family. I 've got some mates in Perth to catch up with and then we (read “I”) want to head down to Margaret River for a week. Thinking of bringing the 6’8" over just in-case there is some decent swell, might not be the right season but you never know.
Would like to see a photo of the the artwork on the board once it is glassed.
Sounds like Miller has sorted you out…ive heard great things about his boards but too pricey to keep experimenting with.
Ive just got a 7’3 blank and was thinking of going 6’10 x 19.5 x 2 3/4 x 12.5 (n) x 13.5 (t) - sort of more pulled in than the 7’3 im currently finishing.
I’m really interested in seeing how they compare. Im with you on the frustration factor - thats why it took me so long to get off the 10’ log - what a wave machine - it felt like cheating - but it turned like the Queen Mary so im glad i made the move.
