I may be moving from San Diego to Central/Northern California soon. I’m not 100% sure so this is still tentative. I’ve never surfed North of Pismo beach, and Ocean Beach SF, Salmon Creek and other more open ocean wave spots would be a whole new experence. Since this may or may not happen, forgive me for prematurely bringing this up, but I would like to hear some input if anyone has any to offer. I have been riding a 6’6-20.5-2.7 quad shortboard- I think the nose is 12 inches & 14 inches tail width? I’m 6’2 & about 205 lbs, 36 years old with 7 or 8 years experence ect. Anyway, the board works good in my 3/2 wetsuit, surfing SD beach + reef breaks in the waist-3 ft overhead range. The question is this- for my next board order, if I am moving North, I’m thinking of beefing my next board up a little to compensate for a thicker wetsuit, longer paddel outs and pushing my comfort zone. Is this good reasoning? If I do should I stay with the same length and go wider/thicker? or just go longer? I’ll consult with the shaper, but since I have the time to ask all of you & I’ve had a few glasses of wine with dinner- which put me in a thoughtful mood, I’ll ask, what do you think?? Thanks for your time!!!
The tail on quad is 15, not 14 inches
The 4/3 and 5/4 combo suits weigh out at 15-25 lbs. wet (mine do). When I did the volume on my SUP, I figured this weight in.
I build all of my boards a bit wider for the paddle up here in Oregon but thats just me, lazy.
keep the same board. paddle more, lose some weight and get in better shape.
My two cents: I’d just go a bit thicker… I have very limited experience shaping (and doing volume calculations etc.), but my home surf is in canada, and I wear a 6/5/4 wettie. I have a fish that I bought in Indo when the waves went crap for my last week there, and I intentionally bought it too big for me (6’0)… and it was crazy and too much floatation surfing it there! but when I got it up here… with the extra weight of that wetsuit it surfs just about right. it’s insane how much weight those wetties add. Taking this to shortboards, I’ve decided for my little quiver to go a bit thicker while maintaining similar dimensions of length to try and keep the shortboard surfability. I like shorter boards in general, which keeps me from wanting to add inches onto the length. maybe just my hangup.
Good luck and enjoy!
I wear a 4/3 in the winter and a 3/2 in the summer, and booties about three or four months during the coldest months. I haven’t donned a hoodie this year yet, but I wished I had one my last time out at Mavericks, cuase I froze my ass off. While a thicker wettie will add a bit of weight, it’s the paddling at Ocean Beach that will get you. My advice - bring the board you’ve got cause it seems to be working for you now, and add a semi-gun for gnarlier beach days, or a longboard or high-volume shortboard for the knee-high fun sessions.
Ocean Beach can be the most grueling paddle out of anywhere I can think of. Everyone gets humbled there occasionally. There are those epic days when everything lines up and you come in feeling like a superstar, and there are days when you come in with your tail between your legs. If you’re not willing to take massive ice-cream headache poundings on a regular basis, there are other more protected - read less gnarley - spots around. There are also days when the swell gets so huge and close period that the only surfable spot is Mavericks.
It’s impossible to be a one-board quiver guy if you want to surf the beach regularly. Bring what you’ve got and build on it once you’re up here. Take a look at some of the surf spots and find the ones that will work best for your comfort zone. There are a lot of us swaylockers up here. When you’re ready to make the move, we can help you make the transition.
Dear Tommy Boy,
This little 6’2" 200 lb guy will kick you ass. You think 6’2" 200 lb is fat? 6’2" 200 lbs is what Tarzan weighs. fricking baboon strength!!
How did you arrive at those numbers? They seem ridiculously high. I just weighed my 6/5/4 Elasto (size L) it weighs 3.5 lbs, bone dry. For it to gain 20 lbs when wet, it would have to retain nearly 3 gallons of water. I seriously doubt that any wetsuit adds more than 5 lbs to a paddlers weight. Factor in the buoyancy of neoprene, and the weight difference is negligible. The biggest concern with a thicker suit is less mobility, not weight gain.
Hehehe indeed!
…and good call Kendall on advising to keep what you’ve got; I hope I didn’t sound like i was saying to scrap it all and start over! 
…besides, you can NEVER have too many boards… not until the lady in your life starts complaining about not being able to park in the garage any more, that is. My newer boards will definitely be a touch shorter than what I have and make up for that with an extra little thickness.
There’s a special something about surfing in thick rubber that can be pretty fun in it’s own way, right up until the next morning when it’s still wet and you’re suiting up for a first light session… then the dreams of indo and the south pacific come a-callin’!
THANK YOU EVERYONE! Good info. I think it’s going to happen, but not exactly sure when. When the time comes, I’ll post up for sure. thanks again, JBJ
[img_assist|nid=1030430|title=OB backs|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=56]For OB SF My short board is 6'8"-7'2" and I am about the same age-size and a little skinnier than you. Any overhead day in the winter and your going to get set waves that are
two times bigger and 80 miles of bay water pumping up and down the beach.I rode a 7’4" fungun today in head & 1/2 shore tubes.I didn’t need it for the waves but it upped my wave count and made it so
I could get back out with out the ten-fifteen minute paddle back. When I moved here I had a 6’4" and a 6’8" gun, now I have an 11’2"gun. There are a lot of other places to surf up here so OB is more
for people who like to bang their heads.
Foam is your friend!
Hey Jbj,
In my neck of the woods, 4/3 wetsuits are unavoidable…My personal boards are a pinch thicker but this does’nt go as a rule across the board for crew I shape for.
The question of extra volume in a cold climate remains one of general fitness…wetsuits contribute to paddling fatigue but that factor keeps being reduced by wetsuit tech…so, you may notice a difference but will soon get used to it.
And the factor is also swell and break-specific…like, where there’s a heavy rip the boards used tend to be longer/thicker for paddlability.
Josh
I totally notice a difference in my boards whether I’m wearing a suit or not. There is a weight to the suit, and more when full of water. Stiffness is a huge difference, but even more is the way that cold saps your strength. When your arms are like rubber, a little more board thickness would be in order.
haha… Growing up in So Cal, the longest gun I needed was around 7’0". Even for the biggest Lunada Bay days. The longest board I had was a 9’6" gun that I only used for Big Hawaiian waves at Wiamea and Hanalei.
I’ve been up north for over twenty years, and my perception of “gun” has totally changed. Now my go-to OB gun is 8’0". That board works great on the macking double-overhead days. On bigger gnarier days than those - which are not uncommon in the winter, my 10’0" is like a warm blanket… except you can still get tossed out of bed. When I first got that board, I thought it was going to be too huge to ride anywhere but Mavs. Now I’m thinking I could even go bigger.
Of course, some of my new found fondness for foam has grown with my middle-aged pot belly, but that doesn’t change the fact that Ocean Beach can be the most humbling surf spot on earth. There are days that make even the best surfers feel like total kooks. Just getting out can be impossible. If you do make it out, you may end up a mile down the beach before you catch a wave back in.
The extra foam in the boards up here is not so much to compensate for wetsuits or riding waves… it’s for all the paddling. Ocean Beach is wide open with LOTS of water moving around. You can always limit your experiences to more user friendly spots and ride whatever you want. For instance - Linda Mar is ten minutes south of “the Beach” and beginner friendly. On days that are too big, blown out, or messy, Linda Mar can be gentle and shapely. If you like it a bit slabbier, you can go the the next spot north and get your fill. A bit farther still, and you can get reeling barrels at RVs or POs. North of San Francisco is a great right hand slab at Fort Cronkite. North of that there are all kinds of coves, reefs, and beaches. If you’re brave and adventurous, you can find nooks and crannies everywhere. And… even some of the “name” spots don’t have crowd problems. The ocean takes care of that.