Most comment on the glide as they paddle and the fact that you can feel the water through the board due to the resonance, more of a boat feel than the muffled dead sound you get from glass and foam.
They also comment on how heavy it is, especially on dry land…
Yesterday was one of the rare times I went to the beach on a weekend…I NEEDED a surf…
At first light, I’m standing in the parking lot talking with a friend and a guy pulls up in a truck next to me…He gets out, shakes my hand tells me we met once before, and now he’s making a couple of HWS…We talk for at least a half hour about “The Process”…Kinda fun bouncing the ideas around…
I’m itching to get wet, so I excuse myself,and hit the water…
Once in the water I get the stares, but that’s normal…
After a while another guy paddles up to me and tells me he too is making a couple of HWS…Between waves we talk the “How To”…I mention that just about all I know is on the web-site…He tells me “Yeah, I know the ‘Paul Jensen Bible’ chapter and verse”…Whoa, that made me look at the clouds for signs of lightning…Easy fella, they’re only surfboards…
Later, the same guy says something about the Velzy memorial paddle-out, and says that when I’m gone it’ll happen for me too…I almost choked while laughing…
I get a lot of compliments for my board and people are surprised when I tell them I made it myself. I find it hard to explain how it is made, most surfers don’t seem to be interested in building boards. I have to be carefull surfing a 22lb board in a crowded line up, I usually go in when it gets too busy.
Sorry. I forgot. I actually got a lot of requests over PM but went through some difficult personal things recently and just kinda shut everything down…PM me your e-mail and I’ll try to send you the one I gave to Zosurf.
someone once asked me “where are you taking that old door?” and reminded me that it is illegal to dump trash on the beach. Not really, I made that up! My latest one is turning out better looking though.
nice to look at …really heavy / cumbersome to surf …
these were my first impressions , riding hicksy’s 8’er wood board , and Gray Murdoch’s ?6’? fish …
as mentioned previously , it felt dangerous in crowded surf . I was worried it might kill or severely maim someone , so I couldn’t relax . I , too, paddled in .
They would probably be fun to ride at a good empty pointbreak . (But then , so would MOST boards …)
As has been profuely mentioned… Heavy. Both myself, and others have said that lots… Other han that, they range from “You should try a foam board, dude. They’re way lighter.” (been there, done that. loved it too.) to “Is that a cork board”(The rails I’m guessing) to “Sweet board” and such. Pretty much just a good conversation starter/ icebreaker. Some old guy took my number cuz he restores old cars and wants a pic with one on the beach with a wood board. I tried to explain to him that it really wasn’t a full classic shape, fin, construction style, etc. but He figured it would look good on his car. With all the time put into it, i’ll be watching that he doesn’t drive off with it on top… Cheers there Paul for you inspiration, and all the rest of you who filled in the blanks…