There has been discussion about worst shaping experiences, worst surfing experiences and worst decades of surf board design but how about the worst board you ever made?
The board you shaped exactly you meant it to be and did glassing and everything with success but the board just doesn’t work. What kind of shape was it? What do you think is the main reason why the board sucks?
i think it was my third or fourth board, way back in the late 60’s i was just home from taking long walks in the woods is betiful southeast asia and my view of surfing was still a bit behind or besides the time—it was an 8’6" reshape—that was 24 inch wide and had a nose 22" and a tail of 18" and to top it all off it was super thin! i think it was supposed to be a super noserider—boy did that thing suck! i was actually happy when it wrapped itself around a piling of the 14th street pier! went and actually bought a new board on the way home…
All of mine suck beacause I know less than nowt about this thing. But by far the worst is the 5’10" hollow wooden fish I built last, thogh it does look nice. My son loves it but for me it just will not work. It might have something to do with the difference in weight and ability between us. I also think that the wood keels I glassed onto them are just rubbish aswell so I might be taking a saw to them one day.
Peace!
I made a stiff flyer compsand type shortboard that had tons of concave between the fins.
The most unforgiving and hard to surf board Ive made. Wont be doing that again…
…everything in moderation.
bad design ideas:
downrails that extend too far rather than smoothing into something more subtle
chines that are too wide
fins too far back
nose concave too narrow and too deep
board too thick
extra glass layer over whole length
Some good ones?
widowmaker fin setup
slightly concave deck
fins closer to the rail edge
subtle bottom contours
sharp rail to tucked under edge to subtle chine
extra glass layer over whole length (yep…)
Im not as knowledgable as most of you lot with board design, especially since i havent shaped any real boards yet 
But heres one design (if i ever get into it) that i belive could be my worst board untill i get all the aspects right.
Its not a totally original idea, a few stolen ideas like the half swallow but many other ideas i thought of or developed off reading about isometric boards.
So many things could go wrong with a board like this but i want to try anyway.
The board would be for only going left or only going right, with the inside rails low, outside nose edge spooned for
less catching on foamballs and shockwaves etc.
Not sure on the rocker or concaves etc.
Fins- inside fins probably closer to rail, further back and bigger, less toe in. Inside is built for tube riding and staying high in the tube.
Building lots of speed off the first bottom turn and drawn out turns.
Ouside fins further forward for easier carving, smaller and more toe in.
Inside tail is half swallow for edge in the tube.
Outside tail is rounded into the buttcrack with a slight pivot point.
Rounded for smooth carves
-a fish with extreme down rails with hard edges from nose to tail (my 6th board…pre-sways…I never even did any exploration of fish design before shaping…it was basically a total dog)…Ironically, a friend saw this board and asked me to shape him one (I declined, not wanting to own the results of his dissatisfaction when he actually tried to surf it)
-a “recycled” egg (my 10th board) from a nice 9’1" longboard (board #4)…rocker, thickness, outline, etc. all messed up due to my being too cheap to get a fresh blank and too stupid to see the reshaped blank was a p.o.s. …my nephew/niece thought it was “pretty” however, so all was not lost…
…but it was all a learning process…
SURVEY SAYS-------7 outta 10 are not good.
Second 10 is proving----------the same.
The WORST one?
workin’ on 'er right now…
Or is it the one bein' glassed right now?
I'll shoot a pic when I figgeritout.
“PooPy SurFboArds now taking CUssdum orderves!!!”
…this …
[in c. ?1985?]
it was a cutdown from a mate’s trashed , flat rockered , thick , [c 5’8" ?] early eighties thruster…
my first ever …er…? “shape” ???..
I don’t know what I was thinking - flattened the rocker, straightened the rail, pushed the wide point 2" forward and put in double wings into swallow.
Got a board that wanted to be a gun but couldn’t make late drops (no rocker) (I’ve been pitched a few times trying to make it into 8 foot barreling Quarantine) and it is murder to turn in small stuff (weight back brringg it round, weight forward and off we go again).
I’m still trynng to figure how I can redeem it.
But it’s so fun when you break the fins over the top - loosens it right up!
That thing’s a submarine not a surfboard!