I am in the rail stacking stage of an elaborate very labor intensive HWS build for myself . My weight fluctuates between 205 and 220lbs. I am closing in on 45, been surfing since 11, been wave riding since 8. On a skill level on a traditional longboard ridden traditionally, I would give myself a 8.5+ out of 10, on a shorter multifinned board perhaps a 7.5 to 8 on a good uninjured day, with 11’s being Joel and Kelly.
Rode 60’s style tankers in the 80’s and early 90’s as much or more than I did shortboards, even in shortboardable waves, so I can throw around big and heavy without issue. I’ve always had heavily glassed boards since I stopped buying off the rack in the early 90’s. I do not like superlight boards under my feet.
Current build is a 6’11" x 22 1/8" x 3 3/16" double bump round pin with a fuller nose at 15+ and a fairly deep triple concave. It will have 5 proboxes with a Mckeeish quad locations moved about 3/4" up the board from normal fin placements. Trailing edges of fins line up with trailing edges of wings. Final weight will be about 13lbs. Hopefully 12 but that is looking to be a pipe dream at this point according to my fish scale.
Intended waves will be anything ~ chest high to double overhead, mush to hollow. Rarely smaller, but maybe, depending on how this board goes in such conditions. Currently I can’t even think under 7’ boards unless it is chest high or better and juicy.
Lately, my correct ‘tool for the job’ has me choosing to ride relatively heavy( 19 to 25Lbs) single fin thinner longboards 9’3" and 9’7" with old school more traditional 50/50 or 60/40 knifier rails, even in well overhead conditions, and when getting back on my 6’8" x 20.5x 2 5/8 double bump round pin in head high+ conditions, I have been overpowering it and having to back off the power on bottom and top turns to keep the rail and fins set, and from too much water coming over the deck on bottom turn or top turn, slamming my back foot and throwing out the sea anchor.
I do get bad longboard hangovers, but mostly the pain is localized to paddling for waves I can’t catch, usually the shortboard flow once up and riding is reestablished fairly quickly, but not this year as my leg strength has increased weight down to 207ish, and it feels Like i can just sink whole board under a hard turn and come to a standstill, or blow fins and spin out on a board that I am Very familiar with and that has rarely been overpowered before. My back foot rarely gets as far back as the fin cluster.
Water over the deck into my back foot has always been an issue, and I think it helped turn me into a more front footed surfer, but perhaps I was always riding an inappropriate board for my style and weight. Back in the day, buying a board off the rack which was then my only option, a 220 Lb surfer one had to go longer to get the volume required, so I’ve always been on longer boards than others who are my height/age/ability and carried this though the last 25 years and with my tanker throwing ability a few inches of shortboard meant little hindrance to me.
Anyway this new HWS build is thick at 3 3/16". This thickness cannot be thinned without compromising structure and effing everything up. Tapering the rails to meet deck being this thick, and my lack of shaping experience/knowledge is causing a lot of chin scratching, as I am building a close tolerance blank, out of wood, and only have so much room for shaping afterwards. Some previous HWS builds had rails somewhat boxier than intended, just becuase during final shaping, it could be tapered no more, something I will prevent this time, which means stacking the rails correctly from rail apex to domed deck is of high importance. the stacks are currently above the apex, i am in the apex to dome stage of rail stacking at this point.
Boxy rails with a flat deck would be easiest to fabricate with this HWS, but I am not a fan of them, from an aesthetic standpoint, but perhaps a boxier fuller rail would keep water from slamming into back foot when I throw everything into a turn at speed?
But boxy and 3+ inches thick could be a bitch to lay on rail, even with and aggressive and capable 200+ LBS pushing. Would also be hard to hold onto when doing underwater cartwheels duckdiving as I cannot palm a basketball.
More a domed deck with a more pinched rail ‘might’ cause more of the water into backfoot sea anchor effect which bums me out.
Should I move the apex of the rail up higher? More of a tucked edge under back foot? more soft 50/50 in the front half?
My high mileage 6’8" that i am now overpowering, which I was not really before, has a pretty hard downrail behind 1st wing.
I am just not sure how to incorporate my desires and ability into the rail design of this highly labor intensive HWS build for a personal board given my weight style and ability. I’ve already have hundreds of total hours into it, 15 hours alone this week hollowing out the interior rails that I have stacked so far, and likely a few more to go before the next stack, can be stacked.
The only variables I can change at this point is the rail profile, and the doming of the deck to meet that rail, and the toe in of the fins and perhaps their exact location by perhaps 1/4 inch.
Any thoughts on how rail profile affects water over the deck into back foot when throwing ones weight into hard turns on heavier boards?
At this point I just want a good wave count, be able to go fast and turn hard maintianing speed through turns. Going vertical or above the lip antics for me, are not going to be planned for.
