the 8-2A is a monster of an over inflated blank. I love it for that reason. Never tried an AX, couldn’t imagine that I ever would, the 8-2A has enough foam to float a family of four, according to one of my instagram buddies, haha. This is no close tolerance skin it and glass it blank, this is a foam block masquerading as a blank, a true sculpting challenge, to separate the men from the boys, the shapers from the scrubbers. OK enough of that, but really, what is anyone else using this blank for? SUPs? Fishing boats? I have to wonder, but I’m just glad it exists, this being my 4th board from said mother of all blanks. I almost want to start a fan club!
So I wasn’t really intending this as an offshoot of the beachcomber, it was designed all on its own, and only at some point did I realize hey this is different from all my other boards but not so different from the beachcomber. Which is OK, the beachcomber is becoming a favorite in a variety of conditions, mostly in the 4 - 6’ point break down the line stuff, especially when the lineup is crowded. I’ve had a few nice comments / compliments from strangers on the board, most recently a week or so back when a guy walked up and said Hey I was watching you in the water that board seemed to be working really well for you. Always kinda makes my day as a shaper when somebody comments on a board like that.
The design was driven by a desire to push myself outside my comfort zone, to make an 8 foot surfboard shape intentionally different from any other 8 footer I’ve ever seen. The nose was just a result of wanting to take volume and float and surface area out of the front end, for a board that is intended to be ridden from the back. All the foam is in the back half, so to speak.
If its pivoty that’s ok, its kind of my goal that this be a more pivoty type shape, but its intended as a quad, so probably won’t be as pivoty as a thruster version might be, being as quads tend to be more drivey down the line, in my experience anyway. Hopefully it will be a blend of the two.
I also wanted a board with a single concave, V being an asset for rocking a board from rail to rail, but this board with the pulled in nose shouldn’t need to rely on that, there being very little nose to push around, so just one single concave, with two fins on each rail, It makes sense to me, the balance of lift and control.
The nose looks pointy in plan shape, and I ended up pulling it in a bit more than my initial sketches, but in 3D it doesn’t seem as extreme as it looks in the plan shape pic.
It should resemble a shorter board in plan shape, and I’m just trying to push the boundaries of volume and length on a fairly common planshape, to see what happens. Never know until I try.
Mass and weight will be per my usual, meaning I like a little more glass and weight than most guys, and volume (mass) as well, of course.
BTW, sorry I had to patch some dings in the 8-8 but that happens when you ride these things, I had some fun with that one, in some decent size waves too. I would have made it look a little prettier but just never got the time.
Will get the stubby soon I hope, will be spending some time with my brother in simi valley soon so I hope we can meet up one of those times, he’s a control line airplane nut, I bet Dustin would just trip on those things they are really fun, be nice if we could all meet some time. If he likes the cars I bet he’d love the planes, a little different than radio, which I’ve never done, but I used to fly stunt control line a lot as a kid and its a rush. Especially as my brother likes to build performance engines for these things, haha. I’m building my first model in 40 years, hope to have it in the air soon.
