Hey thinkin about making my second board an SF OB board to help me survive the fall/winter season when it is breaking in the 4-6ish foot range. Doesn’t sound bad but OB can do alot of things an a day like that.
My paddling isn’t as strong as it once was as I live about an hour from the beach, so I my primary goal is for this thing to be an easy paddle that can still fit in the pocket on a steeper hollow wave late take off waves and be able to duck dive somewhat, at least smaller sets. Turning is pretty secondary to those things. I also weight 245 lbs on a good day, so that is a big factor. I am thinking of a gunny egg, 8’6" x 21.5" x 3.75", really want to get a ton of foam in the center and thin out the rails so that its not a total clunker. In good point break conditions I’m fine on my 6’ fish, but the currents and shifting peaks at OB drive me crazy, been close to giving up on that spot a few times, despite the random super fun sessions I’ve had there over the years. Plus I dunno if its just me but it feels like the fall/winter clean conditions rarely break in a reasonable under double overhead range anymore.
Anyways, with that said, I am interested in any design pointers folks may have, particularily when it comes to rocker profiles for this type of board. What is the least forward rocker I can use that is still functional in these waves? How much tail rocker? What kind of blank would you recommend? My last board was a hollow wood pill, so this would my first foamie. Thanks for reading!
Aaron
One variation to ponder is to see if you can get easy access to swimming pool near you and do laps, lots of laps, several times/week. If you can get that in, you can ride a much smaller/lower volume board… Plus it will be great for your overall health as well as “survival” if/when you need to swim in at OB (leashes can and do break)
I did a 6-10 board for a 260# surfer a few months back. He can paddle and duckdive it without a problem and it will handle a pretty good sized wave, but the template and rocker definitely have an upper limit in terms of size.
https://www.swaylocks.com/forums/something-little-different
A little over head high would be okay but I think the board would be hard to handle at 10ft. With that said I think the design might give you some ideas for what you’re trying to do. One thing that type of design (hat tip to the Stoker Vee Machine and Bruce Fowler/Deadshaper) does demonstrate is that you can pack a lot of volume in a shorter length without resorting to a fish layout.
What we did was pick a desired length and rocker to fit the waves he was intending the surf the board in and then work backwards from there to get the surface area, volume and paddling. As for the width that would be hard for someone of smaller stature to control but a surfer of larger stature has more leverage to apply. You just have to mindful to not go too fat on the rails.
I should mention that the 66 liters we ended up with in this design is significantly more volume than my 8 x 22 x 3 singlefin “egg” which is “only” ~58L.