This is one of the best boards in my entire quiver! Hulls and otherwise. It just works so well. In all conditions. You jump on it and feel right at home instantly. I don’t ride it as nearly as often as I should, although if I ever had to have (shudder the thought) a single board quiver, this would probably be my choice. I took it on a surf trip to Oz/NZ once and it worked just as well at 2’ Noosa as it did at well overhead Raglan. What more could you ask for?
It’s not as bladed as the Liddles or KJs or Bojoquez’s. Hell, this one isn’t even as bladed as the newer Vaqueros. The other interesting feature about this particular board is that it has a pronounced V in front of the fin that blends out behind the fin as you get to the tail. The hull is really only around the center of the board… maybe a little ahead of center. Like the 2+1 hulls and my old beat up 70s Liddle, this one can mix in tail-oriented surfing with the more heavy front footed surfing style of traditional hulls.
Thanks for all the pics and comments on your boards. Nice boards and thoughts.
I don’t know what Hullabaloo longboards you were riding, but the 9’6 roundtail hull Spence made for me is not at all difficult to ride. Still just a half dozen sessions on it, but so far in waves from slightly overhead down to waist high it rides great. Trims and glides like mad, and lays over easily for really fun cutbacks and s-turns. Step forward out of a turn and the tail rises and the board seeks a high trim before you dive down for another carving turn off the bottom. Too fun!
This board surfs a lot like those seen in Children of the Sun (1968). Hull longboards just before the shortboard revolution. Great footage of longboards of this period and an entertaining film from Greenough, McTavish and crew.
hey, nicosb, i’ve always been attracted to the andreinis …if i was going to put a board up as just something to look at in my living room, like a piece of art to gaze at, it’d have to be one of these vaqueros. i would love to have one for hollower, ledgy waves. one day, maybe.
anyhow, i notice tho that the fin box on yr vaquero seems further back than i usually see here on hulls…
OT a bit: the other day i was ready to go in, and caught a small insider at this rivermouth. i really was ready to just ride the whitewater in and ya. so i hook in, and i see there’s a bit of shoulder, but i thought it was long past me … i’m proned, and lean over a bit to the left, and the PBer just hauls ass and gets up into the pocket nice and high… trimming along beautifully. alot of times in the past, and on other boards, at the end of the sesh i’ll catch a few waves prone – yknow, imagine like you can riding this way y’re on giant wave ( even tho it’s like 3ft)… but i’ve never had a board ride so well prone. Anyone else notice this about their hulls compared to other boards?
hey a pretty good way to wake up here – coffee in hand – a slew of hull posts with pics and commentary – not bad for a non-surf day!
Had to mention was in Mollusk the other day and saw an Andreini, maybe 6’4"? and just because of how the lines felt in my eyeballs I almost plunked down $700 and bought it on the spot. Almost felt like it put a soft, whispery hook in my brain…“ride me…ride me…let me get wet and go fast…”
Jeez Matt, it seems like I’m ending up with all of your past boards…
It is indeed the Damon board. I think it’s changed hands a couple of times since you owned it. A friend of mine ended up with it for a while and then needed to sell it to get some cash. So… now it resides in a good home again amongst its brethren. I’m stoked on it; it’s a fun board!
The hullabaloo longboards I tried belong to my buddy Oliver. Like I said, I think the project involves both Spence and Paul Gross but I don’t know who is doing what in terms of shaping/design. It seems like they were all around 9’3"-9’4" range.
I can’t keep straight which was which, but one of them worked great; it was just as you describe your Spence. I seem to remember the template being more along the lines of a Yater Spoon-type shape. It responded well to turns, went fast and would noseride reasonably well. One of the other ones, which I held on to for a couple of weeks, trying to figure it out, has just continued to be a mystery to me… It was fast in trim but I couldn’t make it through a turn or noseride it to save my life. I played around with a bunch of fins, etc. but to no avail.
Who knows… maybe I just didn’t give it enough time. I’d definitely try another if I have the chance. The idea of longboard hull is intriguing to me.
I should be able finish shaping it, lam it and hotcoat it this weekend. A couple of Pro-boxes and a gloss next weekend and it’ll be ready for Anything-But-Three at Cardiff on March 22.
Plan on starting with keels but after that…who knows?
Spence and Paul Gross are indeed working together, he was there when they finished the design file and cut my board. Spence’s comment was that this roundtail would be more versatile than a spoon, and I think he was right. It was a treat to meet Paul, that guy is simply genius. All his comments on how the board would surf were spot on.
Funny this board seems to pick up from a design concept that matured 40 years ago, when I was born. It is certainly more refined, and more nose rocker. Cool that all the hull shapers are getting some recognition, winning some converts, and continue to move these designs forward.
I think that until recently half the used hulls around SB and Ventura once belonged to Matt.
What you see in the photos is planer to a quick 30 grit scrub down…there is still a bit of a bump in the mid section to tail rocker transition and deck blending to do. Not to mention screening the rails. The tail will thin with all that but not too much more. I want this one to be stiff. Too much off the tail and the feathers will flex more than I’m looking to do on this one.
Can you post the basic dimensions of your 9’6". It looks like an interesting board. I’ve never seen a 9’6" quite like that. What kind of fin are you using and how far up is it? I would guess a 9.75" Greenough 4A.
Okay, last ones… Matt I don’t think these were yours…
7’0" Anderson Bojorquez
This was my first hull, circa '99 or '00. Gamboa was pretty much responsible for turning me on to these. He’d come up and stay or surf with my buddies and I and bring along a Liddle hull. I was heavily under the influence of The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun and Crystal Voyager at the time and watching Jimmy surf these style of boards immediately appealed to me.
I’ve heard that this board was actually made for him but never picked up. Don’t know if there’s any truth to that. Anyway, it has a different template from most of the other Bojorquez models floating around out there. It’s closer to the Dirt Machine perhaps, wider nose, narrower tail with more of a rounded pin. Quite a pronounced hull in the bottom; very flat deck rocker.
It works great when there’s a bit more juice. I think because of the thick stringer and heavy volan glass, it rides a bit stiffer than a Liddle. I used to ride it in beach break and on my backside when I first got it and it seems like it worked pretty well from what I can recall.
This is the “Id.” It’s a tempate Greg developed for beachbreak and or folks who might have to surf on their backside if my memory serves me correctly. I find it at the local shop “used” about 3 years ago. The thing looked like it had hardly been surfed!
It’s got a more pulled in nose and tail along with more nose rocker to help facilitate turning on your backside. To be honest though… I don’t think I’ve ever done either with this board (surf beachbreak or go left, that is). Maybe I’ll have to try it some time, but I digress…
Very fun board. It works very well in my righthand points. I can take this out on the smaller days and have an absolute blast. Even with the added length, it gets right over on to a rail and turns just as well as the 7’4"s; it just trims better on the straightaways. I like a really flexy fin with a thin base (the fin in the photos isn’t what I ride in it). This is another one of those boards that just feels right, it’s got that instantaneous speed, right into 3rd gear.
Well, alright, I’m off to vacation tomorrow for a week (no surfboards but I will have the surf mat in tow just in case). Keep the hull thread alive while I’m gone. Hope you enjoyed the quiver. We need Matt or Kirk to open up the vaults to their collections!
