I am 5’8" and 170 lbs, 23 years old and I am riding a 9’0" single fin Choice pin-tail. I want to get an egg with a single fin that is considerably smaller, but still with a good thickness and gloss finish, but I’m just not sure what size to get. I still want to be able to walk a bit on it, but want it to be as short as possible. How thick should I go and how long should the fin be? I’ve been looking at the retro eggs by Hobie, and the Spherical Revolver by Harbour, but all are a bit out of my price range. Chas, out of San Clemente makes a single fin egg as well, just don’t know very much about his boards. I just don’t have a lot of $, so building up a quiver just isn’t really an option. I need to sell my 9’0", so this egg will be my only board. I can ride a short board as well, so I wouldn’t have trouble riding a really small one, I just want to be able to move a bit on the deck of the board. any words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated. thanks for reading this if you made it to the end. have fun in the waves.
I think the reason you are not getting any responses to your question is the question is too vague. I mean this with respect. What is your ability and what type of waves will the board be ridden? Otherwise, its like asking what color shorts should I wear the the movie this weekend? Its your choice. Know what I mean? To keep your cost down I suggest building your own board, although it gets kind of addicting and can get to be an expensive obsession(ask my wife).
I was looking for the same thing about a year ago and had this board shaped. It’s a 6’0" and I love it. It’s a little strange getting used to the single fin on such a short “round” board, but it’s probably the fastes board I’ve ever had…
I have a 6’8 blank at home and want to shape pretty much what you described. Do you have photos? Or maybe even a template? I wanted to measure a friends board which I loved but can’t get my hands on that bpard atm.
Most real “Eggs” are 6’10 thru 8’2. The average being in the 7’2 to 8’2 range. 7’6 & 7’10 are popular sizes. If you shaped a 7’8, you would be dropping a full 1 1/2 ft. That is a big drop. Try to keep thickness in the 3" under your chest and waist( 2 3/4" min.). Slight belly in the chest/shoulder area. 20–21 1/2" width. An “Egg” outline and an “Egg” rail. “V” in the tail. No Concave.
^^^ Wut he said. The only thing I would add is that if you go on the shorter end of the range it will be easier to learn how to duckdive. That is a big deal in situations where there’s some energy or short intervals in the sets because the smaller boards don’t paddle as fast, so it becomes a lot more diffcult to get out between sets.
Length does not determine whether a board is an egg, or not. This is a 6’4" egg that was shaped for me in 1978 by Tony Staples. He was a protege of Skip Frye, who was the guy most responsible for popularizing the concept. Eggs have no straight lines, no sharp edges, and have a near “double ender” outline with wide point forward and less than a 1.5" difference between nose and tail width. It’s not about the length, but how the whole set of curves fit together.
That’s my friends board I wanted to shape. It probably doesn’t count as egg? It feels more like a mini log even though it’s only 6’4. Whatever it’s called I loved that board! Also managed to duck dive it more or less. It’s super flat with almost no rocker and not that thick as I remember it. I think I’ll keep mine a bit longer with the 6’8 blank I’ve got but I’ll try to get the outlines close to the board of my friend.
You are correct. It’s not an egg. Not even close. Looks like a longboard/noserider shape that’s had the middle cut out. The nose is way too wide and blunt, and it has a square tail. Neither are found on a true egg.
I probably wouldn’t have called it an egg just what zackoopman said about his 6’6 remined me of my friends board. Then I realized his comment was 10 years ago haha. But I love it that pwople still reply to comments! Thank you! I’ll call it mini log then.
When I lived on Missouri St. in Pacific Beach, Ca. 1968 thru 71; Tony Staples, Frye, Hank Warner, Michael L. Hynson, Ron Cunningham and a few others were the top shapers. The sizes I mentioned in my previous post were the norm for the day. Hank Warner was one of the first in the area to go reaeeally short. 68,69 & 70, MOST boards hung in the 7–8’ range. With the Lis Fish, people began to realize that a shorter/wider/thicker board could be ridden. Even though the Egg in the Seven ft. range was one of the best board designs ever and could ride a wide variety of surf; we were all affected by trends and the media. So we got off of the down railed pins and squares, sold our faithful Cunningham Eggs and jumped on sub six ft. Twins. I had a lot of fun on a 5’8 Twin, but could have as had just as much fun on an Egg. I’ve mentioned it before, but I got to witness Lis ripp up the Cliffs on a Fish in real time. The week before I was watching Hynson and Lopez try to out side slip each other thru tubes at Blacks. If you took the Staples board in Zamy’s pic and put a set of Thruster fins on it; it would instantly become an 80’s Thruster. Once a board got down below a certain size you could call it anything you want, but a classic Egg it’s not. I lived thru all the stuff that was going on between Swami’s and New Break during that period. I didn’t read it in a magazine.
PS . I thank God I got to be there in the middle of it. La Jolla, PB, Mission, OB and the Cliffs. A “hot bed” of surfing and surfboards. Not to mention Girls, Girls, Girls! UCSD, SD State, The OC and Arizona bikinis on the “strand” in the summer. WOW!
best eggs I’ve ridden featured a constant curve outline with a low constant curve rocker…the longer they are, the more you’ll step forward for max trim speed…truly nose ride? nope…
a popular nose riding short board is the Takayama Scorpion…plenty of squirt off the tail, easy to get a foot on the tip…that wide nose, however, will rebound like a bitch off incoming whitewater of any size when paddling back out…
great example of my favorite egg shape, the speed egg, is the Howard Mini
it’s already Feb, why not just keep your longboard for summer fun and save your sheckles for an egg come next fall…
Haha. I spelled it the way I wanted to spell it. HaHa. And Yes; Three fins would indeed make it a Thruster. And the outline is almost the spitting image of early 80’s Rusty Thrusters. I owned several of them. Key words “Classic Egg” . Get a life bonehead.