This concept has been applied to fins, board weight, board length, width, rocker, you name it! What has your experience been? Boards can be too light, as well as too heavy. Too long, as well as too short. Too wide, as well as too narrow. Boards can also be too pretty, IMO. Though less so, in these days of leashes. A pretty board, was one you would be less inclined to take risks with. All of the foregoing, in relation to specific conditions. Makes the challenge of a ‘‘one board quiver’’ somewhat daunting, eh? Your thoughts?
Hey shaper since '58…“nothing is good nor bad, thinking merely makes it so”…Shakespeare.
I’ve quoted him a number of times on Sway’s in the past. Smart guy, Willie…
As you and I both know, the so called magic board that is ultimately right for one person may be poison to another. Because the attraction for me is to work with compound curves like Merlin the alchemist, it is in the mixing and combining that makes for fantastic potions and thereby successful wizardry.
It is so stimulating to create performance art for people in all shapes and sizes and approaches to expressing themselves on momentary cavasses. I can’t think of anything more dynamic nor dramatic than people and water working and harmonizing together.
That magic board we strive to make for each and every surfer is as elusive as The Holy Grail. But given the time, the patience, and the energy of spending years to acquire the knoweldge and experience to do so, we often come close if not, hit the mark.
Man’s ability to dedicate to a passion is none other than spectacular in it’s purity of heart and desire to satisfy one’s unquenchable soul.
Gee, all this from a dead guy…
Quote:
Hey shaper since '58…“nothing is good nor bad, thinking merely makes it so”…Shakespeare.
I’ve quoted him a number of times on Sway’s in the past. Smart guy, Willie…
As you and I both know, the so called magic board that is ultimately right for one person may be poison to another. Because the attraction for me is to work with compound curves like Merlin the alchemist, it is in the mixing and combining that makes for fantastic potions and thereby successful wizardry.
It is so stimulating to create performance art for people in all shapes and sizes and approaches to expressing themselves on momentary cavasses. I can’t think of anything more dynamic nor dramatic than people and water working and harmonizing together.
That magic board we strive to make for each and every surfer is as elusive as The Holy Grail. But given the time, the patience, and the energy of spending years to acquire the knoweldge and experience to do so, we often come close if not, hit the mark.
Man’s ability to dedicate to a passion is none other than spectacular in it’s purity of heart and desire to satisfy one’s unquenchable soul.
Gee, all this from a dead guy…
Deadshaper board
You’re right Bill, but also don’t forget that “too much” or “too little” is not definable unless in the context of not only the individual surfer’s size, experience/ability, style/feelings, etc., but also the type of waves and conditions the board is expected to perform in. That’s part of what makes the search for the perfect board so elusive, but also what drives us as shapers to try so many variants and therfore to constanly innovate.
For me, board weight won’t mess a board up as bad as wrong rocker and fin size and/or placement. Too much tail rocker and I can’t make a board go forward. Too little nose rocker, and it doesn’t feel right going off the top (generalizations to some extent here). I do better with bigger fins than with fins that are too small, seems like drive goes away (especially combined with too much tail rocker). As for a board being too good looking, never had that problem!
EPac…I see your response with a little square down there but can’t open it?
Back to shape…I’ll check later and see what one of my babies it is…
Well timed post. I rode my friends 8’6’’ steven slater surftech a few times a while ago, didn;t like the lightness. I swapped with him for a few waves the other day and it went unreal. Started thinking about how i really need an 8’ ish longboard ( i have a small car ). I think the lightness would be a disadvantage sometimes but only really in a very windy day, of which around here there aren;t too many. So i think despite the few shortcomings of a S/T longboard, i’d be happy with one.
When i’d surfed it before, i felt it didn;t have as much momentum as a poly LB. But, if you ride them further forward than normal, it glides and trims quite fine i found. It’s also handy when you wanna turn quickly and catch a wave that just “pops” up in front of you. Not to mention stepping back and cranking a turn out ( not that i’ve got that fully figured out yet! )
So, while there are some cons, i think i’d prefer a surftech in that way. Bit of a compromise, but based on the waves i surf, the way i surf, and my fitness, its probably best suited to me. Still like the feel of poly though, so im still in two minds, although i have no money to buy one, so i’ll probably end up making one ( poly ) anyway.
I do feel a but silly though, up until the other day i’d been telling my mate that i didn;t like his board coz it was too light, ha, i just ate my words, d’oh!
P.S i dont care how a board looks, my spray jobs are so ugly!!
E-pac,
Me too - can’t open your pic. You have an amazing archive/memory and I always enjoy your photo input, as well as your thoughts.
Been noticing alot of posts lately with inaccessable photo attachments…
Pete
Too thick, too floaty… have a couple of boards that I’d probably like a lot better if they were thinner and floated less. 'Course, I’m a kneeboard type, out on the fringes, and my floatation requirements are more like ‘just so the board floats itself’ so I can get under anything by pushing the nose down and kicking hard.
Too pretty? Oh yeah; we had a Plastic Fantastic in the shop once, had an airbrush on it of …well, basicly, the universe. Stoners would come in, toke up, stare at it and get to be one with the cosmos, staring at the thing and saying ‘Whhhhoooooow, maaan, heavy’ - this being in the pre-‘Dude’ era. I forget who bought it, but I really doubt it ever got wet. Then again, it basicly wasn’t a shape that worked, prolly why they did all that on it.
Best to have clear boards for hard use, only distinguishing marks might be fin color or something minor to distinguish design variations, so you surf 'em hard, surf 'em long and replace 'em when they are beat to death. Save the art for the walls. If that… what makes a surfboard…or kneeboard…special is how it works out in the water.
Granted, I bought my first board 'cos it had color, and my ignorant eye ignored the far better shape it had ompared to its clear-coat rivals in the rack. That knowledge came later…
doc…just think of me as your friendly neighborhood philistine
Bill,
Everything “GOOD” is bad…
Everything “BAD” is good !..,(eg.Good for the mind…bad for the body).
Got some nice/rare facets to pass on to you… for your better half,as well.
Herb
Jesus Beerfan, you wouldn’t would ya.
I’m sure I’m gonna get hammered for this, But please dont buy an 8’0 LB. If you’re gonna ride a long board ride a proper longboard at least 9’0!! Then you can go down to Gerroa on a Sunday arvo and fit right in.
Surely your fish gets you going on the tiny days?
Just kidding mate ride what you want.
Surely you’re gagging about it not being windy down here. Howling westerly in Aug. howling NE every arvo from Oct-May.
Did you ever end up finding a paddleboard? PM me if you still want one. I may have some the club will let go cheap.
Regards
Daren
Nothing is ever too pretty. IMO, there’s no excuse for ugly or boring anything - I don’t care if you’re talking about a toilet seat or a surfboard. If you have to look at it, why not make it pleasing to the eye? Pigment the resin around the leash plug. Use colored glue. Resin swirl your fin layups. Hell… at least splatter some paint on the damn foam before you glass it.
Now, what would you say if asked you if there was such a thing as “too durable?”
A board IS too pretty, if that beauty causes the rider to be too cautious, or shy, in wave selection. I know first hand. I’ve nursed, and protected a board so much that it ruined my surfing. I sold it, and made a plain white pigment board, (easy to patch) that I no longer babied. I surfed without worry of dings!
Too durable? No such thing in my book, unless it compromises the ability of the board to perform, due to increased weight. Every board you make is a compromise between durability and performance. It’s a moving target, that is different for everyone. I had one fellow, in 1965, after seeing my then new thirtyeight pound gun, tell me my boards were ‘‘too fast!’’ I surfed that board almost daily, for three years, in waves up to 25 feet. The board is still around today, in a collection, in great shape, unrestored. Too durable? Perhaps, but that is the way boards were built then. At least by me, and the 38 pound weight, was my target weight. I got exactly what I was after, so there was no compromise in construction. Double 10oz Volan, both sides, full lap rails, with glass-on fin, using no rope, or roving. (stronger, that way)
Hi Bill, off topic but… I was wondering if you could tell me the proper way to glass on a fin without using roving.
Did you guys inset the fin?
Thanks.
Check your PM’s.
Well Bill here is my call on this. Balance, or scale if you make it longer you need to make it wider. If it is not scaled it is not going to work. Here is a guy 220lbs he wants a 10’6" longboard he wants a lot of float so we go up in thickness a little then he says he has to be able to carry it under his arm to look cool I guess. This guy is not very tall and has short arms so 22 1/2 inches wide is the max we can go. The board ends up being 3 3/4 inches thick with big fat rails and 10’6 long it kinda looks like a pine tree log, I’m sure if the fin was taken off the board would just roll. Everything on a surfboard has to flow or it will not work well. Too pretty no such thing, tiger strips are so easy to do ding repair on that it is not funny, you just need to think a little about ding repair before you start. If you are afraid of dinging the board put on a leash. Too heavy in my case I have to go down a cliff so much over 40 lbs is a killer, too light you have to get use to a board that is lighter then what you normally ride, but don’t go much more then 20% lighter or you will spend your time dialing in the board and not as much time surfing it. Don’t try and put a 20" nose on a board that is only 22 inches wide, it will look like as Velzy use to say a “tongue depressor” In other words make it flow and keep the curve and it is going to work just fine. There is nothing wrong with a 11’6 long board as long as it is 24+ wide if you try and make is too narrow it is not going to flow keeps hips on it and a little kick in the tail and it will turn quit well. I know because I have one that is 11’6 a good nose rider, but it also works well in bigger clean point break waves. The right board for the wave is also very important don’t try and put a sq peg into a round hole. In other words a 11’ gun may surf well at Malibu but why would you want to do that?