You know, easy paddler, easy popup, but short(er). What have you found that works?
Hey Huck, That 6’8" Becker Tiburon you rode that one day at Topanga is along the lines of all the popular big guy/“seasoned” guy shortboards. They make them 6’4" up to 7’6". Five fin convertible, double bump swallow, single to double concave. Mine is 21" and 2 5/8". I know you said it felt small, but you were riding a longboard that day and the change was drastic. You’d like it after a few sessions. Easy paddler but loose when up and going. It’s all a matter of what you’re used to - I jumped on my 6’4" fish the other day after riding my 5’9"s for weeks, and it felt like a giant boat…
I’ll have to give the Becker another look, I had forgotten about that. And we gotta get together for a surf again soon! I’ll pm ya when I can get back down thata way!
Hi Huck!
I don’t know if you remember, I was on a 7’2" Channel Islands when we surfed Topanga. The trade off with a lot of the “big guy / seasoned guy” boards is in duck diving. That CI is so bouyant that it’s injured my shoulder once after a long session - turning turtle is a viable option though. The board does perform nicely (that’s it on my avatar), though it’s definitely on the “cruisier” side of the shortboard spectrum.
Bonzer with a bit of meat, Like a Bonzer Egg. I have friends in their mid 50s that have transitioned from short board to long and now back to a shorter Bonzer board with meat. Might want to think along the lines of a board with fuller hips and more curve in the tail. I have also heard nothing but glowing reports on Mike Tyson’s Quad Fish. By the way what is your personal definition of a short board?
Huck, I really believe that you are only as old as the number of days since you were born divided by 365. I really believe that.
older?
depending on the conditions,a 7.4 ,5 fin bonzer,thick,wide,floaty,handles 2x overhead or shoulder high,catches as many waves as my 9.0 longboard,or a 7.0 single fin egg.my body is older,56,but my brain doesn’t know it!!!
I have been riding a 6’10" 5 fin convertible. 3 1/8" thick in the center but you can’t feel how thick it is when you carry it under your arm. Wide point a bit ahead of center and not much rocker. Love this board. Got me stoked on riding a shortboard again. I weigh about 205 so I struggled until I had this made for me.
Kava, I would like to see some Photos of the Bonzer.
7’6 evolution style board with modern rails, bottom and fin set-up. continuous rocker, concave nose, tri fin set up in rear with concaves under the side fins which make a slight v or maybe a bonzer effect up to the center fin (all fcs, not a widowmaker) and going flat out the sightly flipped last 6"… maybe 3" thick or a bit less, 21.5 wide. paddles about as good as my 9’0. used the 7’9H us blanks, which allowed for the xtra wide hips. rides anything that comes thru the space coast (that i’ll go out in). used a board from the late 60’s for the template.
McCoy Nugget - will do anything you throw at it…fast paddlers and forgiving…and a well proven design. Just do a search. Good luck!
I tried riding a friend's Surftech Channel Islands M13, 7'0" and was quite surprised at how well it rode. Paddles decently, a lot looser than I expected. It groveled decently, in thigh high waves and I felt quite comfortable on it considering it was the first time I'd ever ridden that board. I'm 55 and usually prefer riding shortboards around 6'6", but after riding the M13, it kinda changed my whole outlook on longer shortboards. Seems like Surftech gets bashed a lot, but I do have to say this particular model may be a board one would want to try.
greg griffin makes some excellent boards for older and bigger guys, from his modfish to his cheater to his rockets they all have both paddling power, drive and control. I’ve picked up several of his personal boards and they all work fine for my age and business suit sedantary(sp) lifestyle as he’s probably in his 60’s and been riding these things at boneyards and other sketchy northshore breaks.
The M13 is a nice board as is Rusty’s Desert Island design, But I prefer something as short as possible to make duck diving and getting out easier. Those 7’6"-8’ “betweeners” as we call them tend to get hung up in certain spots because of the extra length, My brother hates anything in the 7’-8’ range but then he’s like 5’6".
George Ku of Hawaiian Surf Designs makes some good 8’-9’ hybrids as well but his stuff tends to be a little more geared(stiff) more towards the power of northshore or the westside.
Before I started riding Griffins I really liked my stubb vectors and longboards I got from Dave Parmeter.
The nugget and no nose are definitely valid designs but they tend to be a little particular of where they like to be in a wave than a Grffin.
I don’t know the age or conditioning of the original poster but I’m 41 and last season I pulled out an old board I rode back in the late 80s. What I found was that the boards I rode when I was 19 years old still work for me. Boards where quite a bit thicker, wider and had less rocker back then. The problem is finding a new 80s board in your local shop. My answer was to build them myself. I’m now riding 6’5 and 6’6 boards that are nealy identical to the boards I was riding in 1988. For years I struggled with riding bigger and thicker boards like those mentioned in other posts here. What I ultimately found was that the boards from my youth worked better than any modern compromise big guy board.
No doubt. After some talks with Greg Pautsh, we have made some changes with what we do with the whole positive negative mix on rails and bottoms and I think for all around surfers it’s been an improvement. I think for singles and waves with power pockets, the whole neutrality thing works. On more mushy or your average rolling wave beach break…changing them up a bit works better. Unless you are real heavy and an average to below surfer. Then the stability helps. New stuff in the works. Especially for the bigger surfer.
The McCoy or McCoy-inspired boards would certainly be one good avenue to consider. But I couldn’t say enough good things about the Griffin Modfish, based on my brief experience riding one. Very much a shortboard feel in a ‘‘comfortable’’ package. Like any good shortboard, it works better the harder you push on it; but there’s no struggle to get it ‘‘going’’ at any point in a ride. At Coil we make 2 boards are popular as older guy’s shortboards - widerboard (usually a little oversized for ht/wt), and the flashback fish (and it’s variants).
I turn 50 this week and I have 2 good wave shortboards a 6’6" x 21.5" x 3 1/8" Nugget replica (thruster) not a McCoy but a very accurate copy, likes steeper waves and does prefer certain spots in the wave. If you try and generate speed the board doesn’t really respond, and is a chore to Duck Dive. The pluses are the board paddles really well and catches waves like a much longer/bigger board and never feels out of control it also is very loose and turns well. I will ride this board on clean days when the waves are chest + and hollow.
The other board is a 6’10" x 21" x 2 5/8" EPS/Epoxy round tail with 5 fin boxes to ride it as a quad or a thruster very easy for me to Duck Dive and I like riding the board as a thruster. Works quite well for me but I think I’m going to stay with the same outline but drop down to a 6’6" and take a half inch off the width.
I used to have a 7’4" Griffin Rocket like the Nugget the board is a bear to Duck Dive but paddled great and caught waves well, it did like waves with some push, I wanted to down size so I sold the board. I’m sure a Mod Fish in the 6’2" or a slightly longer cheater would be great boards as well.
I personally am interested in both the Coils and Solo’s modified Nugget’s/Zaps I know they are on different ends of the spectrum but I like variety.
[img_assist|nid=1054157|title=6'10"|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=482]
[img_assist|nid=1054192|title=6'6"|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=451]
Mis-quote… I hate anything from 7’ 4" up to 7’ 8" I’m Ok with boards up to 7’ 2" or 7’ 10" and longer. Don’t like them after they get out beyond 9’ 4" either. I’m 5’6" and up to 166lbs.
Just rode a board I made with only 3 inches of nose rocker, and under 2" of tail rocker. It’s about 7’2" maybe 21" wide, but 3" in the middle, and it’s a diamond tail single fin. Very old school outline, kind of like taking a fish and stretching the tail out till it’s narrow enough to be a single fin, but then adding some curve so it not straight. Chunky down rails with a hard edge from the nose to the tail. Paddles like a charm, and it will glide until there’s no wave left to ride.
I’d say a 6’6" x 20" x 2 3/4" modern short board outline with low nose rocker maybe about 4" and 2 1/2" tail rocker would be just right for me. Keep the wide point just forward of center and the bottom flat with tucked under rails all the way. I have one just like that but 6’ 4" and 2 1/2" thick, and it works very good in big waves.
The big guys I know are riding Rusty’s boards because they say he is a big guy and understands what they need.
I just bought a Simon Mollusc.Lovely board , I get it out of the bag every few days just to eye it’s curves. Mr. A. does a spiel about it and all his other designs on YouTube. Havn’t even waxed it yet , I’ll keep you posted. And , like others , I also really like the look of the Rusty Big Cat