Time to play: Whats wrong with this board?

General Discussion
21

All good advice. Many many thanks. I’m going to go with the easy things first. And just change one thing at a time to see what the difference is.

BTW, the toe in puts a straight line about 1 inch off the outside of the stringer, so I’m thinking this is within the “decent” range. It is not a gulf board. I just use it in place of a LB on the east coast. Don’t ride a LB on the gulf.

  1. Softening the rear rail edge is easy.
  2. And getting rid of the inside foil fins.
  3. Then a single fin box.
  4. then just live with it.
Kendal, I think the pic is a little distorted. The rocker is very smooth. And it was computer cut and unaltered except for the single concave I put in it.

Thanks all. If I get somewhere with this, I’ll post the results.

22

hi greg you,ll be pleased with the single fin imho. i had similar problem with one of my boards witch has now a bonzer 5 fin set up and turned in one of my favorites.

salu2

uzzi

23
Quote:

Just lots of lift back there. Get rid of some of it and it’ll be fine. I’ve had boards like this one myself. The rebalancing fixed them fine. Just takes a bit of figuring.

Would changing the foil help? I’m curious if a thinned out tail would reduce the lift while surfing even with such a relatively wide tail.

regards,

Håvard

24

Burying the nose might be a case of not enough tail rocker in my experience and you tail rocker seems quite flat. Also try going over five for the nose rocker. Also are you sure there’s three inches of rocker in the tail? It looks a lot flatter than that in the photo. I think there may be some flat spots in your rocker, but it’s only a photo so it’s really hard to say. Also try widening the nose a little and narrowing the tail a fair bit. 16.75 sounds very wide for a fun gun(?) sort of shape. Hope that doesn’t sound too critical as your airbrushing skills look shitloads better than mine.

25

Funny, I was going to say the opposite, I’ve always found that too much rocker in the tail leads to pearling.

I like the outline, it has a nice curve, the fins look clustered to me, but I’m not really used to such a long short board.

I’d like to try it as a single fin.

26

I’d cut 6" off the nose, put a single fin on that end, and ride it backwards.

Kidding.

But maybe not… :wink:

27

howdee,

I shaped a fish (my first one) and suffered this pearling problem…not only on take-off but when sinking the rail in drawn out turns. Initial thoughts from freinds was that my wonderfull fabric patched nose had made the board slightly nose heavy,but the one handed ballance test showed things to be near spot on.

but the board surfed well when i stood further back… then it dawned on me while it was sat on my stands - the STRINGER line in the single part of the single to double concave was not right… as it effectivly thinned out the volume forward (into the entry of the foil) of my ‘natural’ stance!!!

when i pop up on takeoff this natural stance makes me pearl, so now i throw myselfback on pop up and the world goes ‘YEE HAA’.

I’m a ‘two footed surfer’ (comes from rideing vert ramps and bowls as a youth) and next time in the wet i surfed fish off the tail only, back footed from pop-up and the board changed character so drasticly i now describe it as ‘magic’.

I’d say the ‘cure’ could be to convert to a box fin rear and go 2 + 1 or say… M5 sides and something as big as an M7 (but fitting the futures box) in the rear.

Ive also found that paralele rails to a wide round tail require one to stand a long ways back.

I’d also consider that, distressing as it may be,that this board might be no good period.

Not as bad as it seems… surf it some more,realy try to get it to go, no matter how soul destroying it may seem.

When in doubt I go down to see a freind (a pro surfer) and look at his boards, on the way to his place i walk past the surfers carpark… and randomly look at peoples boards.

Then if ive got time i watch these people surf,how they interact with their boards when rideing.

There is an artical titled ‘Shapeing - One Shapers Perspective’, I seem to remember it being in the resourses section, but not any more. maybe some one has this as a file on their pooter…try and get hold of it and it will be part of your shapeing in a big way.

28

So I bought this board from GT a few years ago, and surfed it, in Texas, on waist-chest-head slopes mostly. 

Thing is, this board is really light for its dims, and the nose swing weight is a non-issue. It’s also bullet-proof.

If you keep your back foot on the tail, which is actually really easy, the thing surfs and holds great. 

One time I popped up and dropped in diagonally on a walling outside head-high TX wave (shoulda been a slope but wasnt) locked and just stayed in a tucked speed trim quad-locked onto this green wall, railing for a hundred yards, collecting a hoot as I went by one guy, then shuffled a step back to a stall-cutback as a section crumbled in front of me (collected another hoot there) and rejoined going right the wave as the section re-formed. 150 yard ride. Two hoots. Epic, for me.

Might have been another another session:  I was carrying the thing back to my car after a couple of good way-leaned-over BTs, and a guy told me I “looked like Mick Fanning out there.”  I said, “what?” and he repeated it.

I mean, dude, you can’t buy that kinda thing for love or money. I called Greg and told him about this stuff of course.

I dont ride it enough because I’d been chasing my tail with something I shaped for a while and because well, it’s 8 feet long and has a pointy nose. But it’s rad.

I’m thinking about single fin boxes in the nose and the tail and I keep draging it out and cross-stepping up and down that ribbon he and his daughter did on it with tempra paint, and I’m stoked… too bad it’s utterly flat… but the thing is stoking me again and it’s gonna get ridden again, Greg.  Thought I’d holler 

 

29

Going with a single or 2+1 would surely change things a lot.  I’ll bet that concave over that wide a tail is giving you a lot of lift, too.  The catamaran effect.  

I think I would have mounted a quad setup for an 8ft board a bit further forward.  I also favor staggered fin setups with larger fins up front and smaller (single-foiled) fins in the tail.  I’ve been using longboard sidebites for the rears and a bigger front fin to make the quads act a little more like a twin.  It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but they do seem a little looser that way.   If you like the quads I’d try screwing around with the fins and softening the edge a little per GLs suggestion before anything else.  

30

GD, I will sand the sharpness off the edge around the very last 8 inches of the tail, just to reassure myself when I’m riding the round end forward, but there’s really nothing wrong with the board per se*.  I wish there was any surf right now.  I’d go ride it as is. 

*I’ll tell you one thing, there’s a reduced radius stage to the rocker around the mid 2-3 feet that makes it paddle like a mofo, just like Greg told me way back when.

This stage + coming off longboards + that he’s much lighter than me possibly = possibly popping up too far forward = possibly GT’s pearling difficulty with the board. Or maybe the center of mass was more substantial a problem for him because even back on the tail, he’s considerably lighter than me. 

If you’re 190 or so, pop up a little further back and keep your back foot back, or if you’re trimming on that flattish rocker section, locked in like I was, or if youre standing on it over a fat portion waiting for a re-form, the thing’s gold. 

Oh man, I wish there were some surf.  Ah well.  Nothin else to do. Guess I’ll whip it out and play with it some more. :wink:

31

Mr. janklow,  you are too kind and too much.  I haven’t built that board again, but I still come across the photo in my collection and think about you riding it.  How is the color holding up?  It was fun to do with my daughter.

32

GT, the color looks like it was done yesterday. Tempra paint looks great. I cleaned all the dirty wax off a couple days ago – amping on riding it someday soon hopefully. It is also ding-free. Looking at it again and looking at your rocker numbers I think the pearling malfunction was just flat rocker over 8 feet of board on waves with some wall and curve to the face.  Less of that here! ;-) 

33

Maybe on a similar note, but here goes my problem.

 

5'8'' x 17n x 21 x 17 1/8.

Its a fun board in small waves for sure, but i think the no toe on the fins, and slight v bottom, with pretty soft rails mean it has no "lift", and it sometimes feels like its going slow. I have had good small hollow waves on this where i've hit the bottom hard, and then rocketed up the face and whacked the lip in what feels like a nanosecond ( sometimes so fast i get thrown! ), but other times, like i said, just seems to be stuck, and hard to get going.

 

Am i on the right track regarding lift?? I did sand a harder edge through the tail which seemed to make a little difference.

 

Im contemplating making another board with this same template, but trying a single concave ( 1/4'' ) and harder rails from in front of the fins back.

 

Im also toying with making this a single fin, to see if that improves things

34

You're pissing in the wind with this board. Sell it while it still looks new. Don't put a single box in it. Just sell it as is. With that tail width and rocker on that board you'll never fix it by tweaking it. There's just too much planing surface too far back. You'd have to stand too far back and then there's too much nose in front of you.  We have all shaped boards that just didn't work. You just have to move on. You can muck around with different fins and it will help somewhat but the board will never be stellar.

If it was a foot shorter you'd be a lot better but still not there.

 Every board you shape you'll learn something. The cool thing with this board is if you DO you play with the fins you'll really feel how they affect performance in this situation.

 

Good luck,

TW

35

LOL. Sorry, guys --I just want to reiterate - I have this board now and it’s been great, for me. There are some idiosyncrasies to it, but I haven’t pearled it.  I really like it. I’m not saying I’m a pro or even an especially good surfer but I’ve had some long, fun-as-shit rides, some kick-ass BTs, for me, hoots from strangers, and the aforementioned “Mick Fanning” compliment, FWIW!!   I called Greg after that session and told him the thing was magic, for me.  Frankly, the thing is layingon its rail in my bedroom and it’s got me amping for something, anything, to line up on the horizon.  

 

(I’m plenty bigger than GT, and the waves here are “different.”  snicker)

36

I swapped the keel fins for some probox aipa twin fins and took it out in chest high bumpy waves today before work. Had a ball, loose as a goose and fun as. Stoked!!. Sometimes, as myself and janklow have shown, some tweaking can make a big difference.

Hope you guys are ok over there, hope you are safe.

37

Hey janklow! Good to see you back here and I bet GT is stoked you found out what wasn't wrong with his board.

BTW, someone with your google skills could probably find the car-camera vid from Vettel's P1 qualifying lap today at Spa. I recommend it highly, it was a work of art.

38

Hey MD - I missed most of the race this morning, but saw the end.  Wish I hadnt slept over it.  (BTW the bootleg internet feed from BBC has much better commentating - shhh )

 

Here’s all the stuff - the race edits are okay, but the onboard Q laps here: http://www.formula1.com/video/onboard/

are definitely worth registering for.  'Specially if you feed them into your TV!!

Here’s the link - I doctored it so it jumps fullscreen. Dont get confused! :wink: http://www.youtube.com/embed/fkYStO_mbWM

 

I got a PM coming your way here in a minute too

g

 

PS: Yeah Greg’s board is rad.  I rode it as a quad and had no trouble (staying on the tail) getting the thing on rail for super-leaned over BTs.  IME, these mid-lengths are good for slopey waves. I surmise that it’s the rail line length and parallel outline through the mid that gives speed and then I bear down on the tail curve and fins and rip through turns. I’ve had this exp with both this board (singled all the way out the tail) and a 7’6" with about the same degree of V from the front foot back. This board being a quad, and the V board being a thruster(!).

PPS: I do wanna put a box in the tail AND the nose of this board for grins. GT, can I get one of your GT chevron lams from you? I wanna lam it on the deck at the opposite end. :smiley:

 

 

39

That's the one - http://www.youtube.com/embed/fkYStO_mbWM   Going flat through Eau Rouge (~30 sec), then the lefthander at 1:47, not a wheel put wrong....

The Q session yesterday was one of the best I've ever seen. The race? Well, the first part of the race had all the good stuff, it's being rebroadcast at 3:30pm if you wanna catch it.

Back to surfboards, you're tall enough to utilize that longer rail line. GT may have been influenced a bit by another Greg (last name Loehr). That looks a lot like something GL would ride, and he's almost exactly your size.

I think the fin box in the other end will be a squirrely disaster :-) Not to mention making your nose heavy. But it would be a fun experiment.

 

40

Oh what do you know?

LOL