“Why is the blue board in storage - how was the ride?”
I was using my inlaws house next door to make boards and store my “out of rotation” boards. Last October we tore the house down to build a new house, so I had to move all of my things out. Turned out I had a lot more boards than I thought, so I wrapped them in plastic (3 in a bundle) and stored them under my current home (dirt). When the new house is completed, we’re moving into that house, so I’ll slowly move stuff back there. Until then, they’ll be sitting under my house wrapped up.
“Talking about about rocker, what rocker did you use on your 8 footer?”
The double ended 8’ board has 2 tails, so it has very low rocker, the narrow tail side has just under 2.5" rocker and the wider end has just under 3". The other difference is the wider end is flat, but the narrower end has a double concave starting in front of the fin. The rails on that board have a hard edge all the way around.
“Why did you use more curve in the tail with that diamond and how does it ride?”
The yellow bottom board started out as a stretched out version of the 6’8" love child. The love child has a pulled in rounded pin, so when I mad the decision to change it to the diamond, I had already committed to more curve. The positive side, is that the little bump helps keep the board a little bit looser. Generally I do prefer an straighter rail and a hard edge like a swallow or square that keeps the tail slightly wider and makes sharper turns.
“Your nose it still quite “pointy”. Do you prefer it over a full sized round nose?”
Nothing against rounded noses, but I don’t think they “look” as nice. I’m not sold on the cut off nose boards yet, but I understand the concept.
“What is your weight (for reference)?”
I’m only 5’ 6" tall, but I weigh between 160 and 170. When I made the yellow board I was closer to 170, I’m at 164 or less now, and I’m 62. Been surfing since the late 60s and my family had beach houses where I learned about the ocean and all that it offers with several generations of family.
I should also add that I started making boards because I wanted things that were not “popular” at the time, and most shapers were too busy doing their tried and true boards to experiment. I do what others don’t want to do or don’t think will work. In many cases the things I did were so far out there they didn’t work as well as I hoped, but I learned where the boundaries are for me with bottom contours, rails, rockers, and so much more.
Here’s a clip a friend shot of me the last time I rode the 8’ board. I rode it with the narrow tail.
