Unlike the title of the post, my question is serious. ‘‘Is there a concensis as to what is a LONGBOARD?’’ By that, I mean, when does it begin, lengthwise? Is it 7 feet, 8 feet, or 9 feet? Or something else? I have heard each of those lengths expressed as the ‘‘threshold’’ of LONGBOARD status. So, It causes me to wonder if there is a universal, shared, definition of LONGBOARD. By way of example, in 1968, any board under nine feet, was called a ‘‘MINI-BOARD.’’ As I write this, I’m wondering, ‘‘Should the mini-board designation be revived?’’ Perhaps, under 7’ 0’‘= shortboard, 7’ 0’’ to 8’ 11’‘= mini-board, 9’ 0’’ and up= longboard. As a point of interest, in 1958, and 1959, Velzy&Jacobs were producing quite a few 8 foot, and mid-8 foot range boards, in Balsa wood. I purchased a new 8’ 10’’ Balsa, Velzy&Jacobs in 1958 ($75), and in 1959 shaped a 7’ 11’’ Balsa. They were all just called surfboards then. Your thoughts, gentlemen?
I heard the consensus was a full plan shape 3 feet longer than the rider…or, for contest purposes, 9 feet.
I just finishing a contest long board, its right at 9’ 1/4" on the deck but with a diamond tail, has the outline of a 8’10".
Cheater!
I’ve heard for contests 9’ no bending the tape is required. There’s an 8 1/2’ I ride every so often that looks and rides like the 9 footers, just a little shorter. Young lady surfing girls ride 8 footers that look and ride like 9 footers do for heavier riders. Longboards don’t do snap turns, swing great amounts of lumber when maneuvering, pick up waves good, glide good, allow board walking, allow tip time, have trouble keeping the nose up on drops…
I’d draw the line at/around nine feet, but I’ve seen guys with boards in the nine-foot range, throw 'em around a lot, (until they snap).
Howzit Honolulu, 9’ is the minimum length for our Pine Trees Long Board Classic in Hanalei. Back in the 60’s before the short board revolution 9’6" to 10’ was the norm for a board.Aloha,Kokua
Okay. But how can a MINI Board be longer than a SHORT board?
MINI is short for Miniscule. Surely, miniscule has to be shorter than short.
(Wha’d he say?)
And where does the word DIMINUTIVE fit in?
Im sure we can all agree on the following length categorization.
Microscopic
Diminutive
Mini
Short
Mid
Long
Extra Long
Rediculously Long
Unfathomly Long
Johnny Holmes Long
Barge
Who’s with me?
Did she say all THAT? Is a seven foot board short, or something else? If something else, then what? How about 7’ 10’', what’s that?
If the sun refuses to shine…
…let it Shine…
…let it Shine.
If all the hippies cut off their hair…
…I don’t care…
…I don’t care.
…NOW if a 6…
turned out to be 9…
…I don’t mind…Let it Shine.
Herb and Jimi
Herb,
Are you hitting the bong??? (kidding) In 1969, during the ‘‘shortboard revolution’’, I’ll bet 80% of the boards we built were 7’ 6’’ +/- four inches. By definition, those WERE shortboards. Are they STILL shortboards? You can see the basis of my question.
Bill,
Depends on the individual… to what is 6 or 9…
…just as what is short or long…
…Now where’s that bong ?
Herb
with the obvious exception of guns, 9ft + are longboards. 7ft mark is where the big guy shortboard ends around. step ups and semi guns are unique parts of the “shortboard” category and consequently need to be realized by their design parameters. In the 7-9ft range we have the funboard, mini logs, and retroboards.
Agree with riderofwaves: design parameters more important than length. There are even “longboard guns” as distinct from “shortboard” guns with the main diffences apparent in the rockers and parallelness of the outlines.
9’ plus… Longboard,(LB gun, full gun, whatever longboard)
7’ - 9’…Midlength,(mini mal, funboard, semigun, whatever board)
0’-7’…shortboard,(kneeboard, what the hell, throw in skimboard too)
keep it simple
in the upcoming China Uemura Law Enforcement contest the rules are:
shortboard = less then 2 feet taller than rider. no egg shapes.
longboard = 10 feet or longer for riders over 160lbs. everyone under 160lbs. may ride a 9 foot board.
Under 7 - shortboard
over 9 - longboard
7 to 9 short longboard or long shortboard your pick
Under 7 - shortboard
over 9 - longboard
7 to 9 short longboard or long shortboard your pick
Damn , thats simpler than mine…!!
Is a seven foot board short, or something else?
Depends on who you ask. A shortboarder would say its long, a longboarder would say its short.
“Excuse me sir, I’ll take that short one there…yes that’s right that 12 footer”
We can continue using the old standard which discriminates against the use of the words “mid” or “middle”.
Which makes about as much sense as judging wave size by the part of the wave that is never ridden and rarely seen.
From the looks of historical things, its safe to say there’s been a lot of psychadelic drug use in our sport.
And while psychadelic drug use may have helped the quality of our record collections, its probably not a good to thing as it pertains to creating proper “standards”.
Surfboards are like shoes…there’s a numerical size that fits just right.
Since there is no standard association for the sizing of surfboards why don’t we just call them surfboards. Thats what they called them back in the day. 8’, 9’, 10’ they’er all surfboards. No one every called a 10’, 11’, 12’ board extra long.
…for me a semigun is not a shortboard…
also a 9 gun is not a longboard
and what we call longboards now are intended to ride small ones or so and the 9 guns are for heavy surf conditions
and those we call now shortboards are very different than other technically shortboards, like fish, minieggs, etc
and the 5´6´´to 6´2´´ contemporary tipical thruster shortboard is different that those other big guy small wave thrusters
that are around 6´8´´- 7´…
etc