I feel your pain trying to find a short board for a real big guy.A few years ago I scaled in at 309 lbs and now I am around 260.Luckily for guys like us, US Blanks makes two great blanks to handle our payload.The 8-2A and the 9-3A are two high volume blanks.Joe Blair made me a great speed egg fromthe 9-3A.He ordered the blank about 1.5 wider and lowered the nose rocker by 1.5” and the tail rocker by 3/8”.It yielded a 9-3 x 26” x 4” quad egg that I throw around like a short board. Paddling power is a requirement here in Hawaii with the crowded conditions. Once I found the sweet spot, I can drive harder lines and make snap turns off the lip.It is fun to see the expressions on people faces when I pull off a floater or carve on a big open face. That board really makes me feel like a kid again.(BTW, I am 55). Check out http://www.jblairsurf.com/.Joe is nice guy and a great shaper.
I wanted an even smaller board that I can take to the North Shore.I ordered the 8-2A blank and had it widen about 1 ½”. I yielded a 8-2 x 25” x 3 ¾” round pin tail quad.The neat part about this board is that I can dip this board.I call it my tiger board for obvious reasons.Pictures of the board are below.Finding a board that works for you is essential for surfing fun and feeling young again.
said with the best of intentions, dropping those 50# will make such a difference in your long term health, and do so much to ensure you have many years ahead to enjoy with your son. So why not get a board designed for 250#, put yourself onto a workout and diet program, and end up at the weight you really want to be at, surfing the new board the way you really want to surf…
Like I said; Twenty-four inches for anything under eight foot is ridiculous. Just go back to an eleven footer. You can do whatever you want to the outline and put as many fins on as you feel are necessary; Anything over nine foot is a longboard or a gun. Ha! Ree-friggin' dickulous. I've got a nine foot Brewer gun and it's only twenty one inches.
Very Cool!! You must have seen me either at cowels last week or the other night at 38th because that was the first time I’ve been on my tandem in a while and I had a lot of fun both days!! I’m at 300lbs even now and I’ve been taking hot yoga classes for a month now and what a difference it makes!!
My big guy Shortboard I found and bought about 5 - 6 months ago. It is a 9’ fish swallowtail shaped merrick quad fin that is 4" thick. The guy I bought it from had it custom made ( supposedly ) and he was a semi pro surfer and it was made to be a quick paddle board for the guy and he weighed 140lbs, the board is epoxy all blue weighs 28lbs and is 27" wide. The advice given to me was right on about the 4" thick as it floats me. I talked to a lot of people and only 2 people recommended that I use at least a 25" board or wider. It was Infinity Surfboards and Joe Blair. I was just about to purchase the Joe Blair board when I found the board I bought. I could see maybe using a 24" wide board but I don’t think it would have floated me very well or been as much fun.
I have been riding the merrick most of the time the last month and those last 2 days were the first on the Infinity Tandem in a while!! I love the speed and the ripping of the merrick and ride it at the hook when I can
I live in Oakley ca and its a 90 minute drive with no traffic to Santa Cruz and I try and surf 3 times a week!!! I am a die hard no doubt and love it!! My son who just turned 17 has become quite the little short boarder and me at 55 have some awesome fun with him at the hook!!
Im still losing weight I was actually about 325 when I posted this and my goal is to get down to 250 so I can " ride a real Shortboard "
Give me a message and maybe we can surf together some time!!! I’ve met a lot of cool and amazing people while surfing and love it big time!!
Had a roomate at 5'10" and 275lbs., one of the fastest windsurfers in the US.
He had G&S make him a 8'6" x 24, egg rails, 3.75" thick, light blue. Too sinky, belly button underwater. A shark came up between us at Pedro and took a chunk out of his board, between his thigh and his hands, while we were sitting around. That board was on display and SanFranSurfShop at SloatSt. for 20 years.
His replacement was a 9' x 24.5 x 4.5, wide squash tail, thick blocky downrails. It worked pretty well, floated his top of thighs out of the water, and he could actually surf like a normal sized guy. He had only size 9 feet, so I shaped it with lots of V, chine under the rails, to help him lean the board over on juicy waves. Tail OFU was 15", and just under 3" thick to allow him to tip forward into the waves.
The Bing Sweet Pea is similar to other shapes suggested here. I’m using it as a guid to shape a 7’6" for a guy push 260+. This Bing add is nice because it gives you some good numbers to work with when scaling up for a bigger rider. I say wide tail quad. The photo is of a 7’6"
