A friend wants me to build him a Hawaiian gun, 10’ or 10’6" x 22", so I’m looking for photos / ideas / design imput.
I just found these on Quiver - think I’ll show them to him and see what he thinks…
10’2" x 20 3/4" x 3 1/2"
Used a 10’5" Arctic for this one. Blank has a good useable rocker all the way through. Slight single to double to flat behind fins. Board is designed to take advantage of the quads turn and burn ability. High volume paddler with a heavy glass job for windy bumpy days.
Aloha Huck,
I don’t recall if you have a copy of my Big Wave Gun template, but it’s a well proven design, in 15 foot up to and including 30 foot Hawaiian waves. I’ll make it available to you, if you don’t already have it.
Any request for a "full gun" for ANYwhere needs the surf location identified.
Hanalei "guns" are for smaller waves, cleaner conditions, longer walls, usually steeper takeoffs. They usually have single convaves and harder rails. They work horribly at Haliewa or Wiamea.
Boards for Wiamea is the opposite. You need belly to handle the chop, you need more mass to punch into the face to get a downward angle, and you need more V, since "performance" is the least important part of the shaping/glassing equation. They are slogs at Hanalei.
And a full gun for outer reefs Himalayas, Avalanche, Revelations is another story, although a Wiamea gun would work fine once you drop in. Those 3 spots need much more paddling and positioning, to get to and stay in the lineup against the wind, rips, currents. Add another 6-12" for those spots, don't use any concaves, and make it LOTS, stronger.
Huck,
I consider you a voice of reason around here and find your approach on this one a tad scary…
1: What is your experience riding the kinds of waves your bud is considering for this board?
2: Your experience on the type of board required?
3: Your experience designing and shaping the type of board required?
People are putting their lives on the line in large surf…if I was, I’d want a damn good pedigree under my feet based on proven, up to the minute design and detail - not based on bravado and old war stories.
You going to hand him a big wave gun and tell him," It should work, I hope." ??
A picture on Swaylocks will never tell you the whole story. The mere fact you’re asking that question raises doubts…send him to a professional - or be the first to paddle it out and surf it in the waves it’s intended for…
Yep - Swaylocks is not for the faint of heart, is it?
This guy has been surfing 40 plus years, travels to Hawaii at least twice a year, has a ding repair business, and a pretty good idea of what he wants. He asked me to get some imput regarding template, and shape / design in general, as he likes to consider what others have to say. We’ll go over it together, and he can make the design choices. He’s gonna pick out the blank himself.
He’s spent plenty of time in Hawaiian surf, he surfs with me on a regular basis, knows my background and has seen my work, and I’ve already given him the full disclaimer - enough to scare any sane person off! Further, he already has a couple of pro shaper friends who do his customs, so Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Despite the overpowering logic of your suggestion, he’s adamant that he wants me to build this next board for him (his idea not mine). Maybe if I take out a life insurance policy on him - with me as beneficiary - but then the surfboard would be a ‘smoking gun’!!
I mean, as far as the life threatening surf - OK, maybe he’s not gonna be surfing in the Eddie or entering the XXL (I think this year he gave his slot to Makua), but he likes big boards, and does get into some sizeable waves on occasion. He just came back from surfing the south shore - Ala Moana and surrounding area - during that last good swell a few weeks back, and hey, there were 47 rescues during that swell (not bragging or anything, but had I been there I might have been able to bring that total to 48), and one poor soul did cash it in at Bowls, but I swear he wasn’t riding a Huck Special!
I just kinda thought it might be a good topic for a thread, for those who have pictures or design insights to share. =)
Thanks Bill, I will check my archives, and pm you if I don’t already have it, I’d love to get a copy.
Not picking on you Pete but, this argument is always interesting to me.
“People are putting their lives on the line in large surf…if I was, I’d want a damn good pedigree under my feet based on proven, up to the minute design and detail - not based on bravado and old war stories.”
The guys 50, 75, and 100 years ago were not on equipment up to today’s standard and they did fine.
We aren’t on equipment up to the standard of 2050. Maybe we should wait another 50 years for equipment to evolve before we go out on big days?
during the summer they are dirt cheap here
$275 Brewer-Chapman
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/spo/3911868842.html
$500 Carbon Fiber
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/spo/3877564716.html
$600 Minami Waimea Gun
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/spo/3875855574.html
9’0 Downing Gun $575
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/spo/3826392295.html
9’0 Byrne Gun $450
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/spo/3862084115.html
9’8" gun $350
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/spo/3864320877.html
9'2" Andrus Sunset Gun $500
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/spo/3846020045.html
got a 9’6" on a trade years ago with dreams of paddling to some of our outside reefs here on the south shore by Pearl Harbor Kind of gave up on the idea as the paddle wasn’t all that great. They cut through the water like a knife but unless they are 3.5"+ they don’t really paddle all that well
decent width and thickness are imperative to getting in early and I tend to like Vee’s in a design like this
While experience shaping and riding guns is a nice thing to have, it's not really important if the shaper can glasser applies some amount of logic to the equation.
I mentioned I shaped my first 9'7" x 19.5 gun as my second shaped board, maybe 4th overall. It worked great at maxed out sizing OBSF, including easy 12'15' stuff at outer bars at Sloat and VFW's.
Now for sure, "12-15'" is not max sizing, but for a beach break, it's as big as is ridden by anyone, including LarryMcGraw's 6X overhead wave of him dropping in, his feet still a foot off his board, and he's 6'3". OK, Larry's was bigger, as I sat at the seawall watching, 3 tennis rackets in hand heading for a scheduled practice match at GoldenGatePark.
But common sense told me to add belly from the nose to the widepoint, then transition it to a moderately deep V out thru the tail, keep the rails soft until the last 18", use high volume on the rails for consistent edge hold, make it 3.65" thick for paddle power, flatten the deck so it feels similar to walking on land, and glass it heavy with double 6 and add a 6 oz deckpatch from tail to 2/3'rds up, 4 full rail wraps.
I also knew to add a 8" single fin, as bigger can provide catching in chop, make it well swept back, and glass in in with 4 layers of 4 oz atop the regular triple layer deck at the tail.
No leashes then, around '67, so no leash cups, but added on glass in fin stubs for leash attachement later.
Upon review, I found out it was too small in paddle power, as OBSF has a non stop rip depending on swell angle, tides, and prevailing winds, so for the end of '68, made a 9'11" x 21" x 4" thick single fin gun with basically the same bottom contours, heavier glass job, which is the one ridden in NaturalArt at VFW's, SanFrancisco.
Overgunned in big waves is a blessing compared to those poor souls trying to make it happen with 8' semi guns.
I love the quad, and I like enough tail rocker to do turns when possible - I manage to do well on my 11’er when the waves are 3xOH+, cleaner is better of course… Ha!
That board is glassed supper heavy too - big belly @ 5" thick, thin narrow tail… Probably a pic some where here…
Man, that reminds me a lot like an 8’ Herb Spitzer gun I once had…
when I rode 10x OH buford pass I used my 1943 balsa flat bottom, concave vee. parabilic seawitch over drive. Now boards back in the day were a tad bit different, but my supurb surfing skilz helped me over come my egoness, and I see no need to update a board with that new fangled dangled stretch quad BS.. Needless to say when i surfed to mouth of the zepher at 20x OH my paprbolic sea witch gave that beast a run for the money, if ya know what i mean.
Heres a picture of my most current gun. please e-mail me if you want to template. it can be made in anything from 3 ft to 24 ft. all you gotta do is blend the curves a bit.
Oh, one more thing. Pink boards are fast.
True dat!!! Ha!
I found the thread but the “tinypics” are gone…
This is my Puerto Rican gun… Could work in Hawaii I guess…
The fin is Hawaiian
no pics Tony?
He told me the gun is for Hanalei… and he said “keep it thick, my guru
Ambrose said I need the ‘fat boy’ model”!
Robin Mair and DMP live in and surf Hanalei. Their advice on guns would be the best to use. I would think that DMP is still charging on big days. Terry Chung makes good boards for Hanalei too.
Hanalei gets big and it’s a long wall. DMP’s description of turn and burn says it all.
Hanalei... More walled than most bigger waves, usually SMALLER than any other "big wave spot", cleaner condtions generally, as it's more inside the bay than takeoffs at Wiamea, outer reefs, or most big wave spots. So some flatter slight concaves, harder rails, hard tail rail edges, flatter tail rocker with an accomapaning narrower tail overall for down the line speed after the bottom turn. Drops are taken care of with the length and volume, so a narrower tail can work fine.
Glassing can be lighter, but any wave over even 10" can break boards, so a 10+' board should weight in around 23-27 lbs.
Ask him if it's meant to be a "performance gun", or just a drop in cruiser.