And yet in all his posts I don’t remember one quite as off-topic and nasty and totally unnecessary as that one you just posted!
Hey Slim, is that you?
I was just reading Laird’s interview and I noticed that his tow in boards are balsa, 6’2" by 16", and 1 3/4" thick. Freakishly similar to our balsa 7’ by 18" by 1 1/2" thick mini guns from 1995 ( at least in terms of material and overall dimensions)
I am eyeing up some clear redwood logs at the local mill for a 19 footer. Tracking down redwood clears and convincing the wealthy mill owners to sell me a few planks takes nearly as much time as building the board! Then there’s the drying time . . .
All the best, Roy
Hey Roy I hope you’re planning some weight training time so you can get that sucker off the roof racks! Sounds great though, I want to get into that sort of length over time but I think I need some time to work up my skills.
There was a comment back there about my not surfing amongst others and my attitude is just a general concern about the weight of these boards. My sailboard could kill if it shot up in the air and came down on someone’s head and, at that weight, I can’t use a leg rope, so while it is possible to surf amongst others it’s a risk I want to avoid.
You certainly don’t want to go out in the water in any crowd if you don’t feel good about it, that’s for sure. If it is really crowded I often drop back to eleven feet or so myself. The good part is that there is all that virgin surf territory out there, with humungous gear there are some deserted spots which can provide amazingly long rides!
Thank’s for the weight training reminder!
OK, well here it goes.
I have to admit that I have, and surf, a 15.5 footer. In fact there is a whole bunch of us that do (I can’t tell you how many, but we do have our own web page if that tells you anything), we’ve been trying to keep a low profile, but I guess it’s time to fess up. Mine’s fiberglass, with hardwood rails, a hull bottom. I hate to admit it but it’s probably heavy enough to kill someone (as heavy as Roy’s, or more). It doesn’t have a tunnel fin like Roy’s, but it is pretty different, in that the fin is aluminum with a wood frame. My wife also likes to surf this one, in fact she got me hooked on it.
There is an underground market for these, they sell used for between $750 and $8500 depending on condition (so if anyone’s interested you can buy one pretty quick). There are even some ads on the web page, if anyone’s interested in picture (or ones for sale) I can post the web page.
Sorry to keep this under wraps for so long but the other guys really didn’t want to let everyone know. I guess I just felt guilty not talking about it here because Swaylocks is like family.
Aloha,
Keith
Keith-
Please post the web page or send it to me via a PM…Thanks.
Makes my 10 footer look tiny, but a few questions Keith. How do you get out through breaking waves? Do you roll over and grab rail? Mine are too thick and I’m not prepared to wear a leg rope so I just try to punch through or if all else fails, throw it over the wave. I’ve tried a few other techniques like sitting in anchor position facing the beach but the bottom line is if I get caught inside by anything over a few feet I get cleaned up and have to swim in.
I haven’t seen anyone surfing anything like this in Sydney except Derek Hynd on his 11’9" and he’s really into riding the breaking parts of the wave while I’m heading for unbroken rolling swells.
I surfed some really small wind swell peaks on it yesterday, no-one else could even catch them and with extra length I could have been way further out. So given that I want to ride those kind of waves probably up to about 6-8ft, what sort of length, width etc do you suggest?
Wow…15 1/2 feet. A friend of mine has a 12 footer, and it looks like he’s hauling an airplane wing on his car when he comes to the beach. The fact that it’s fire engine red just makes it more noticable on top of his rusted up Oldsmobuick surfing car, which was some dark blue-ish color, at one time. We’ll sit around swilling beers after a session, and people will ask him about it, and he almost always jokes about how sometimes, he catches waves and doesn’t even have to paddle. I’ve never actually seen him do that, but I’ve seen him sit wa-a-ay outside and catch waves and only stroke it once or twice, but, still, it really drives 'em nuts, especially when it’s been one of those days when the waves are not pushing much.
I don’t have as long a board as that, but I do have two types of longer boards, mid-nine footers (“baby” longboards, he calls 'em), one light and wide, with a very light glass job, and one heavier, thinner and having much less width, and I would have to agree with RoyS.
While I do tend to take the heavier one out in steeper faces, the lighter one definitely requires me to walk a lot more, and it’s a lot more “twitchy” over bumps.
I would definitely like to try one of those, though. I bet they are fun.
Keith,
I am intersted in the site and the boards… please post the site or email it to me at johnlong@m2visual.com.
Thanks in advance…
Do you think he might be joking?
Me, joke? No, I really do have a 15.5 footer that loves to surf the Pacific Ocean swells off Point Loma.
Here’s the web page:
I try not to turn turtle in oncoming waves (most of us use the term capsize in that situation). For one thing it makes the CF number hard to read…
keith-
Yeah, I didn’t remember seeing any 15’ surfboards at your house. Those look like more fun then a 15’ surfboard anyway.
Hello BBoy, I realise that you are asking for Keith’s advice, and I am looking forwards to seeing his big board also.
On the subject of getting out the back on a large board, the deal is that the rail has to be slim enough to hold on to, and the board must be heavy enough to roll under. A light board cannot be used to roll under. When the waves are over four feet around here, mal riders just throw their boards away, relying on their leashes. This is despicable behaviour, they shouldn’t be out there if they have to do that. There is no trouble rolling a heavy board, provided that the swell is being met head on.
Lord, the Snipe, a very heavy log of a boat, well mine was anyway… must have been just post-war, wooden mast, a suite of cotton sails and if I remember rightly a big heavy steel c/b?
what I do remember was it went like stink in a blow.
My 17 is nearly back in the water and I will post some video of it in action soon.
Regarding your statement. . .
"keith-
Yeah, I didn’t remember seeing any 15’ surfboards at your house. Those (Snipe class yachts) look like more fun then a 15’ surfboard anyway"
How would you know?
Quote:
OK, well here it goes.
I have to admit that I have, and surf, a 15.5 footer. In fact there is a whole bunch of us that do (I can’t tell you how many, but we do have our own web page if that tells you anything), we’ve been trying to keep a low profile, but I guess it’s time to fess up.
Keith…
Wow… !!!..
I know now that I’m not alone here on the West Coast with “Plus Sized” surfboards…
I wasn’t going to bring it up, but since you did, I have to come clean and admit that we here in the PNW (home to BIG wood) have had our own “Trophy Timber Tube Riders” for decades…
Back in the '50’s, the Hoquiam Plywood Factory put out plans for “The Skookum Surf Plank”…
Skookum being an Indian word for big, sturdy…
Well the local boys, with time on their hands in the winter, would scare up some premium planks and follow the Hoquiam plans, well sort of…
They weren’t so good with readin’ and numbers and stuff, but they could sure follow the pictures…
So one day I’m at Old Man Weaver’s on Ward Lake, here in Olympia, and he tells me he’s got a couple of old "Skookums"under his deck…
Jackpot…!!!..
Ka-ching…!!!
Weaver’s youngest boy, Witt, was one of the original Skookum Riders in the 60’s…
Witt was a goofyfoot with a bad habit of wearing his “corks” in the water…
Great traction, bad for swimming…
Turned out to be his demise…
What a trajedy…
His older brother Nitt, also had his board under Weaver’s deck, in good shape too…
Nit was also a local treeclimbing champ…
Till one day he went up, and never came down…???..
They sure loved the forrests, those Weavers…
But getting back to modern times, it’s not uncommon to find the reformed Trophy Timber clubbies out on their 17+ footers at some hidden spots…
It don’t take much swell for us to have a hoot-n-anny…Yee Haw…
Check out the pictures below…
One is of Tom Slashen, a local big water fisherman, with his “Big Stick”…
Tom’s built kinda tall and rangy, nearly 6’10" tall, so you get a sense of the size of is board…
It almost looks just like one of Roy’s …
Amazingly, Tom carries the board in his teeth…
Wouldn’t do it any other way he says…
Hardy stuff, that Tom…
The other picture is of our own Vaquero KP riding Ol’ Nitts board on a small day last month…
Smooth and carving…!!!..
No leash either…!!!..
Viva Las Locos…!!!..
Whatever that means…
Show us some close ups and a rocker shot, Fakester! Wouldn’t you just love to have a real one?
Take another look at the real thing!
Sir Roy…
Trolling has never been easier…
Don’t take it so personal, buddy…
What the pictures don’t show are the speed that Vaquero is traveling…
At least as fast as 27 mph (Stewart Scale)…
Re: wood boards… what I’ve got is as real, as real gets. Period.
BTW, as Rush Limbaugh says: “Genius never needs to be explained”…
You either get it or you don’t…
Not me mind you, but if it applies…
XXX OOO XXX OOO…
End of Conversation to Roy…Really
Paulus Magnificus - Skookum Bay Surfrider
aka: Yankee Doodle
aka: Fakester
I am also laughing buddy! That makes two of us!