looking for - help - answers - info - board - opinions - all to do about a shortboard for a 300lb 54 year old dude ...... im a very proficient longboarder who for the last 7 years has been riding an Infinity Tandem Board 11'6" ( rated i was told for 350 lbs ) ....... ever since i started 7 years ago on this board ive been able to ride every wave from a foot to 6' with ease, i started out at 350lbs and am now at 300 and looking to get below 275 ( just my history and experience to help with your opinions )
i am looking to get a shortboard that i can ride waves with my son at santa cruz ...... i just want to be able to catch waves easily and have some fun riding faster and looser
ive been told an 8'6" shortboard would be good 3 1/4" thick and 24" wide, a 8' or 9' walden was suggested, ive seen eggs or pigs for sale, one was a 8' 24" wide pig with a quad fin design
so im looking for ease and something i can have alot of fun with
all opinions and help and solutions and recommendations will be gladly welcomed ...... would really love to hear from some real big guys also
An 8 foot Pig would be a lot of fun. My personal choice would be a 8 foot Egg Bonzer. Fst loose and fast For those down the line waves you get there in Santa Cruz
Haven’t got one or seen one as yet, but an 8ft Simmons style, 24-26inches wide, wide as tail would be my recommendation. The wide tail is the secret to get the same amount of planning as your 11ft 6" when paddling for a wave. Hardly any nose rocker and say 4and a half inches thick. The problem with scaled up shortboards for guys with heavy lower bodies is the ability for the board to be picked up by the wave and start going downhill so as to speak. pintails etc just sink and make it very hard to catch a wave. 23-24 inches and over 4 inches thick will make for a tippy board especially if you have a bit of a gut. Plus when you get to your feet narrow boards will wobble rather than plane unless you live around very powerful waves. If you have a typical beach break you have to build in every advantage possible.
It sounds like you are dropping some weight and want to keep getting in better shape so you can ride a ‘short’ looking board. Congrats. Keep on hittin it. Good on ya.
Of course you know for a specific weight, you need a certain level of floatation, unless you are already a really good shortboarder. You are the only one that can really judge your skills, and therefore, the floatation needed in whatever outline you progress to. An 8’ x 3-1/2" egg may work for you. …or it may be a target to lose more weight. That could be an even more valuable tool than a longer and thicker board.
Don’t be satisfied with mediocre. Keep working mange.
Good luck.
If your happy with the Infinity then get another one. Two boards they have that may fit the bill are the secret weapon and there are four variations of that I think. Or go with the big tex which is pretty much a blown up shortboard. Check their website.
How can you criticize my design without ever riding one, I don't appreciate being called not a sensible person, I posted this board for Frank to get a visual look at an option. I'm 6' 4" and 225lbs so I understand what will work for the bigger guys. This style board is one of my top sellers to the bigger crowd and has proven itself for many years. I made one for Corky Carroll 6 months ago and it's his favorite board. When Frank started this thread he should of stated SHORTER board which he did clarify later and after talking to him we both agreed that a board around 8'6" to 8'8" x 24" x 4" will work best for his ability and size. Frank's main concerns are to Catch waves easily and to have Fun, if he wants me to make him a board I will give him that plus performance with a quad set up that has been tested here, Hawaii, Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, also this board is not a hull. I've made everything from a 5' chip to 11' noseriders all shapes and sizes and thru trial and error I've come up with designs that work extremely well for everyone. I thought Sways was for helping each other and giving fellow shapers a pat on the back when they are proud of what they made.I only post on here when I think I can help someone and I never get aggro, but when you criticize my sensibility that's where I draw the line
Isn't ACE near there, or am i way off!?. He makes killer big boards. I like the look of toms too. Fun looking board
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Ace lives and works in San Diego. It isa very long drive from Santa Cruz down to San Diego. In my much younger days my surfing buddies and me would do all night drives from San Diego up to Santa Cruz Then follow a north swell south. We once chased a swell from Santa Cruz to some remote spots in Baja.
T-- Once you have decided what you want; There are sooo many really good shapers in SC who could easily shape you a board appropriate for your weight and ability. Congratulations on shedding a few pounds and staying active. Don't know what Doug Haut is doing these days but he used to shape one of the nicest oversized squash/square tails for bigger guys there ever was. Usually in the seven to eight foot range and 21 ---21 1/2 inches in width. Standard thruster. John Mel is another shaper who has done alot of boards in the seven to eight foot range over the years. If I were shaping you a board I would want to know how well you ride that eleven footer. Can you turn it well (or at all). Can you bounce it of the whitewater once in awhile. If you can throw around an eleven footer; you may be able to ride a nine footer as though it were a shortboard. I disagree with alot of the previous posts and their recomendations. Twentyfour inches is a ridiculous width for anything in the seven to eight foot range Also after riding an eleven footer for years why would you want to jump on a Quad or a Simmons? If you were that proficient in you abilities you would have moved on to a short board after a couple of years. Drop down to something reasonable. Probably 7'6"--------9' 23/4"----31/4" 21" to a max of 22" or 23". A tried and true shortboard outline, just scaled up to fit your dimensions. Thruster or 2 plus one fin set up. Do that and you will be thinkiing logically and within your abilities; Instead of trying to look cool with 5'8" Simmons under your arm. Have fun or struggle. Your choice.
Custom is always king…but i could suggest a surftech that Munoz designed just for your situation…its 9’3…with great volume…and really loose…might be an easier transition that moving right away to an 8’ board…
Gotta disagree with you on this. The board design posted by tjrm63 (Tom) looks to be MUCH more within his abilities than a 7’6’" x 21" x 2 3/4" shortboard outline. If he’s a longboarder dropping to a 7’6" shortboard is going to be a completely different type of surfing. He said " i just want to be able to catch waves easily and have some fun riding faster and looser". At 300 lbs, a 7’6" shortboard shape is not going to be fun for him. He’ll have to work more to paddle and work more to maintain speed. I’m also not sure why you say 24" is too wide. I have 5’6" x 23" fish that are fast and loose. At 8’ x 24" with the full outline, he’ll feel the reduction in length and still have all the paddle and ease he want. Personally I think he’ll have a whole lot more fun on a board like Tom’s design than a shortboard outline. But that’s just my 2 cents.
First of all ; The man said he wanted to ride a "Shortboard". For a guy who is 250 lbs. Any thing down around seven six or less is a "Shortboard". The four finned monster that you speak of is NO shortboard but rather a longboard with four fins shaped like a "hull". It may work great four you, but any sensible person wouldn't reccomend that a guy get off of an eleven footer and jump on a design whose benefits and performance are arguable amongst experts and pros alike. And as I said previously; twenty four inches is ridiculous for an eight footer.
Second of all ; He’s riding an 11’6", so 8" IS a shortboard to him. He may have said “shortboard”, but he only discussed boards in the 8’ - 9’ range. He’s not 250lbs, he’s 300lbs and hopes to get below 275. Personally I think it’s less “sensible to suggest he jump off an 11’6” and cut off 4’ down to a 7’6".
Also, the “4 fin monsters” to which you refer are shaped by Ace and Tom, two respectable contributors around here and nice guys who are always willing to help other swaylockers. They way in which you are criticizing their boards is actually kinda rude. It would be one thing to make your own suggestion, but to call their designs ridiculous and monsters isn’t very nice. Maybe I annoyed you by disagreeing with you, but imagine how those guys feel when you rip their design concept.
I want to say thanks to all who have posted here and voiced their opinions and suggestions. I have surfed on and off again for about 8 years now and always with the same board. I have to drive an hour and a half to get to santa cruz to surf. The last 3 years I have not surfed that much ...... but starting in novenber of 2010 I have been bitten by the bug big time again and actually average about 2 - 3 trips a week. I have become more serious in my longboarding and i can do bottom turns and top turns back to back and occasionaly get up on the wash and back down, im even trying 360s. I want to be able to ride a shortboard or shorter board so that I can continue to surf with my son when he rides his shortboard. Im 300 i want to get below 250 but reality suggests that i get a board for a 300lber. With all your input I have done lots of looking and reading, ive got a message into Infinity looking into their boards and what they offer for advice. I talked with Tom who makes the board shown earlier and I was very impressed with his opinion and what he told me the board would do. I am 54 but a young 54 LOL and I feel that transitioning slower and easier down would be alot more enjoyable for me. From what i am understanding a board that is 8' 6" with close to 4" of foam 23" to 24" wide and full rails is what I need to be looking for, fin configuration thruster or quad I still dont know. Please keep all the opinions and advice coming. Again thanks to all who have helped in this process.
**McDing**, there are lots of variables and opinions on how best to tune those variables... Sure 24" wide on a modern potato chip truster maybe a little ridiculous, but a 24" wide board is not a ridiculous thing at any length. Bert Burger the master of composite boards builds 24" wide shortboards (sub 7'). Just because it is not right for you does not make it a ridiculous suggestion.
I for one would prefer to go wider and thinner instead of narrow and thick... My 6'2" Lis/Fry style fish is 24" wide... it is a preference.
The thing to remember is that a good surfboard is not a certain set of numbers... it is the proper balance of all the numbers (length, width, thickness, rocker....).
**wofrankwo**, I'd suggest maybe a 9' x 24" performance quad LB as a good transition coming down from the 11'6". Let your shaper work with you on a good thickness for your size and fitness level based on their experience with a something in that size and rocker...
The man as someone said is riding an 11’6" whacking three feet off a board is a huge drop down and it is going to feel pretty squirrly.
Unless he is really skilled and very athletic for his 300 pound frame I seriously doubt he can jump down from an 11 foot board to a 7’6’ unless it is very wide and thick.
The monster as you so ineptly referred to either my board or the other one which looks like a very nice board would probably suit the man just fine.
Both boards pictured in this post would represent a radical departure from what he has ridden before and to him would equal a shortboard.
The rest of your post speaks to a very closed mind in fact the surfing community as a whole seems very very closed minded and downright paranoid about different designs.
Bonzers
Quads
Fish
Eggs
Geminis
tri fins
All the above have been made fun of at some point.
I’m so pissed I had no idea what a fish was until the mid 90’s I was stuck in the doldrums of short board mania.
Are you over 250 pounds?
As someone who is I know what works for me and larger frames width is the key to surf happiness.
The sad part in all this is all people see is a fat guy trying to surf when we all know fat guys can’t surf…right???
I have taken the squish board I posted out and actually been made fun and told it’s a longdoard right up until a get a couple of waves.
Once people see it being ridden they change their tune real quick on what they think is rideable or even what a longboard is.
This board is 8' x 24" x 3 3/4" . I make a lot of these for the Bigger older guys with great success when downsizing from a longboard.
