I’m shaping a board for a co-worker. She wants to try a thruster after 2 years on an 8’ long board. Her height is under 5’ (I think 4’10") weighs about 100 lbs and a strong swimmer. She’ll be riding mostly beach breaks, mostly waist plus high.
So…
L 6’6" x N 12.5" x M 18.5" x T 14.0" Mid dimension is 6" below center and 2.5" Thick. Slight Vee at the tail and square squash (5" wide) Glassed with epoxy resin. Prolly use Clark Foam 6’9"R blank.
Any comments on fin placement also?
~ Ghost
Make it narrower and shorter, like 6’ x 17.5".
Her wingspan can’t propel 18" width easily, as only her hand hit the water. On a funboard, don’t matter, as they float nose and tail dry.
Yes! She complains that her funboard is hard to paddle 'cuz her arms are not long enough. She has problems digging her arms in the water to get a proper water stroke.
She tried a 17.5" wide board but has trouble balancing it when executing a duck dive (wobbles), of course the board was also super thin (1.75" thick and the rails were thin).
Would a 17.5", fuller rails, and thicker board say 2.25" be sufficient for her? Would duck diving be a problem for such a narrow board? She not looking for performance just an intermediate board.
Better for you to educate her that at her weight, she can’t really duckdive anything significant, over 4’ of whitewater, unless her board is around 5’6" and 17.5" wide at 1.85" thickness.
She just doesn’t have the weight to drive the board clear below the surface, and anything left up on the surface gets grabbed and tossed by the whitewater.
You don’t want stability while you are duckdiving, you only want a board you can drive the nose down 24", then drive the tail under, while the nose stays down. Stability can be had with practice and repetition.
You notice most PRO surfers, at 150 lbs., ride 6’2" x 18.25" x 2.25 thick chip tris. When they sit on their boards, with nose and tail underwater, their nipples are barely dry. That’s not good float for intermediate surfers, but great for duckdiving.
Compromise is the key. Ask her if she prefers easy wave catching and success surfing, or is duck diving more important to her.
A surfer can always choose to paddle out during a lull, go around the whitewater, and then have mobility once outside to choose and snake for waves…or get a submarine to punch out thru the whitewater, then sit inside doing late takeoffs from the smaller waves which come thru during the lulls.
