I’ve never owned or ridden a “pig” shape and was wondering what the riding characteristics might be for a 9’0" pig-shaped board. Easier paddling, or wave-catching? Better turns? Nose-riding?
What say ya’ll?
Gain in Wave catching/paddling.
Some loss of snap, larger turn radius harder to duck dive.
Shape/get one and tell us about it.
For about 20 years I rode boards between 8'2 and 8'9 based on a Nat Young template. His "Fall Line" shape was a bit of a throwback to the early 60's pre-parallel rail, noseride influenced shapes. Lots of curve in the tail-hips.
I preferred these with the nose pulled in somewhat: if I remember correctly the nose width was around 1 1/2 -2 inches wider than the tail and the wide point was roughly at mid board. I'm not much of a nose rider but these boards worked great in a variety of conditions.
I had some made with standard (slightly rolled) bottoms going into v in the tail, with twin concaves in the tail, and with full (single to double in the tail) concaves. They were all thruster set up and ranged from 21 to 21.5 inches wide.
My favorites were the boards with double tail concaves, and rode them in everything from 2 ft junk to double overhead serious surf. Several of my mates liked what they saw and a few others ordered similar boards. Sold a used one to a Canadian once and he reported that it was the best board he'd ever ridden. I saw another one years later and it was on its third owner and had been extensively repaired (I had them made strong).
I say, give it a try. You'll like the turning you get with the tail curve and the pulled in nose doesn't get in your way when things get sketchy.