I’ve been waiting for 6’0" flyers to arrive at my local surfshop ,and they finally came in today.There’s two of them with the same dimensions except for the width.One is 18 3/4,and the other is 19" wide.Is there gonna be a difference in performance between the two boards?thanks
If all the other dimensions are truly exactly the same…
Wider floats, paddles, and catches waves easier.
Narrower is quicker responding, easier to set the rail in faster surf, and floats…less.
Which to choose? Depends what you need and like.
Is a 1/4 inch more width really gonna make a difference?Here’s the scoop,I recently sold my 5’11" flyer because it didn’t quite float like I would want.I also had a harder time getting into the waves when it got real small.It was 18 7/8wide and 2 5/16 thick.So I’m bumping up in size to get that added floatation,however, the 6’0"s are 1/4 thicker and 1/4 to 1/2 wider.I only needed just a little more float.Are the dimensions on the 6’0" gonna make the board totally different from my old 5’11"?Am really going to lose alot of responsiveness do to the extra width?
Gonna depend how sensitive and picky you are.
Adding a little length might solve it, with some thickness, but maybe not.
You still growing? What about winter when you need a thick suit?
You know it’s all in your head…if you think adding more is better, it’ll haunt you for picking the narrower board.
If you think wider makes it slow and unresponsive…just think, LB, Buttons, Cheyne, all rode wider and thicker boards. If you could just surf the same as them, would you be satisfied?
I just loved everything about the 5’11" board except for the floatation.There’s a big difference in dimensions between the two boards from just one inch size difference.I just don’t want a totally different board.I guess what I’m asking is, other than the extra floatation that I want,is the 6’0" going to have an overall dramatic change to its performance?
I ride a lot of shortboards. I get boards as often as one every few days during testing. I don’t know if this helps but I bet part of why the 5’11" was so killer was because of narrowness. It’s super quick rail-to-rail because the rails are closer together, that little board was probably very responsive. I found if I increased the width 1/2" (and nothing else), it is going to be quite noticible; more so in the small chippy boards. At first, you will feel an ever so slight “delay” between rail shifts BUT after a few decent sessions the new board will feel right. Logically, you can keep increasing in small steps like this over time. Eventually what you will get is a different surf style for yourself which may or may not be a bad thing. If you increase the width say a full inch, you might have a freak out and end up rejecting the board; especially if you are as sensitive as I, to the way your shortboards ride.
Weigh surf performance against what you gain. Wave count. I mean, you got rid of the 5’11" right? and it worked killer. I found 1/2" in width on smaller boards makes a Huge difference in paddle, actually more so than volume increases (again slight volume changes). If you hold out for one about 18-1/2" I think you would be the most stoked. Of course the question you are posing is like asking, “how much spice do I like on my food?”
Lastly, you better Carefully measure the boards yourself (if you haven’t already) as the “numbers game” can get more mental than anything else eventually distorting what you will actually experience with the new board. Some times the numbers on the board or tag can be a little off; you might be surprised. Good Luck…