Aloha all,
After 6 mos. surfing my 11’6" SUP in less than perfect small to medium eastern N.C. waves (and having a ridiculous amount of fun I must admit) I am downsizing to a more “high performance” (an oxymoron?) SUP. Mind you, I never go through the pack- what lineup there is in the winter here, and it’s generally a solitary pursuit, catching waves that would have gone unridden.
Anyhow, my excellent shaper friend David D. and I have almost solidified plans for a 10’2" x 28" x 4 1/4".What I keep vacillating on is the tail shape; been from diamond to wing swallow to pin and keep coming back to the old squash. I keep imagining a midget surfing a board that is (necessarily) to big for him- what tail shape would work the best? The bottom turn is not a problem, but cranking that beast hard off the top is the trick. Some things that have seemed to work in small waves are a generous vee in the tail, and a “cluster” type fin setup with a relatively small center fin. I’m thinking of putting in five boxes so multiple fin configurations (including quad) can be tried. Maybe the tail shape isn’t all that important, and just having a board barely big enough to paddle will be the thing (I’m 165 lb).
Any thoughts? This is my first post; hope it comes through.
Thanks, FR