GUNS

[Freestyler]

Ok, as there's been no waves for....I can't remember how long.
Thot I'd open a discussion on guns. Interested in hearing about the gun board you guys ride when we do get waves, like June. What do you look for in a big wave board, size, thickness, shape, board design, etc. Pix if ya gottem. (Had posted this in gen discussions by mistake, meant shortboards)

[Shaunm]

Got excited there before I read it.
Butts, this was mine (not exact unit). I was a licensed shooter, but was not allowed to carry this one for work.
Not gonna say aanything like helps with overcrowding.

[surfin39]

Well as I have not been to really intense OS locations in recent years I don't have a big gun any more , like a 7'er and probably not likely too again... my gun for Sydney is 6'6" rounded pin with hard rails 19 1/4, 2/14, but is a pretty tight set up and handles big and dredging waves really well, it isn't the board I used through last winter, I actually destroyed that board through excessive use in big waves and the whole tail collapsed, but it was 18 months old.... the new one is very similar but to be honest I know very little about the finer details of board dimensions as I have always left it up to the guy who makes my boards and he has always delivered for me ..... about a month back I snapped the nose of my new 'everyday' board and had to ride the gun for a week and although it was hard to push around it was damn fast and on the Saturday morning I remember it hit 5' I ended up being able to go way deep and had a ball on it ....
I'm going to the maldives next year and I know it doesn't get real big so I'm taking my this board as my gun.... after using a 6'6" (me 5'10")rounded pin last winter I don't think much more is needed if you get you rails and fins right ...

[Nick Carroll]

I think of guns as boards I use in Hawaii.

Have a bunch of 'em there and here.

Probably my favourite is an 8'1" x 18.5" x 2.5" concave six channel pintail shaped by Allan Byrne that I surf at Sunset Beach at maxed size. Fairly straight rocker, light vee between the fins, low square rails, forward foil. A lot like a Brewer but more refined and with the six channel format, a lot quicker. It originally had a roving arch for a legrope string but I ripped through it one day and subsequently sanded off the arch, so now it's leash free. It's kind of an examination board -- I know I've got my shit together if I can surf it through a session at big Sunset without losing it -- but losing it is also kind of fun!

Have a bunch of others between that and 7'1", mostly six channels thought there's a couple of Rawson re-vees in there, I think a 7'7" and 7'9". Plus an 8'6" Rawson pintail for outer reef paddle in days (ie 15-18' Phantom Reef etc).

Plus a 10' Brewer pintail single fin for Waimea, super thrown forward foil, flat bottom other than about 2' of vee in front of the fin, insane paddler.

For here the 7'1" is about as big as I can think of needing except for one freak day this winter, for which I might retire one of the 8' Sunset boards and bring home in case.

Have profound respect for paddle-in guns and the people who can shape good ones. Which I reckon you can count on two hands. Ie Brewer, Rawson, Bushman, AB, Dennis Pang, Jeff Clark, a few others.

[mustkillmulloway]

my favourite is an 8'1" .

he had go mention a 8 footer straight away didn't he

mr "i surf sunset too get inspiration for my job"

8 foot board too me...as a gun....is plain scary...the surf it is used in.. life and death stuff



i'm with iggy on this i got a fat wide 6'8 swallow....that loves the ox overhead stuff ( v- bottom too....concave...pffft...so last decade ) )

a 6'10 was always my favourite for a gun.....budget restraints leaves that hole in my quiver

i reckon shallow swallows make for a better/ more usable in smaller surf gun than the full on pin tail

thats good for guys with only two boards as they can pull the bigger out if they snap there usually

any board over 7''.....your a freak

[surfin39]

.....budget restraints leaves that hole in my quiver :

I have a quiver of two ... is that even considered a quiver

everyday board for 1' to probably 5' or 6' , and the gun for bigger or fast dredgy stuff ..... surfing predominently NthBeaches I just find I'm happy to stick with two good boards .... I would only really consider getting something more for a particular trip but in recent times it's been Fiji and finding the balance between family holiday requirements (wife and daughters rule) and surf for me means similar places in the future ....

Cleary no guns required today ... I was standing there again today at 5.30 looking at surf that can only be described as 'pooh wrapped in pooh' ......

[wanto]

nick, can you elaborate on how a 8'6 works at big phantoms but you need a bigger board at smaller waimea? i tried surfing waimea on a 7'6 last season for a laugh without too much success. seemed like 9'0 would have been ideal.

anyway i figured an outer reef like phantoms would be moving faster without a boil like waimea so a bigger board would be needed?

[Nick Carroll]

nick, can you elaborate on how a 8'6 works at big phantoms but you need a bigger board at smaller waimea? i tried surfing waimea on a 7'6 last season for a laugh without too much success. seemed like 9'0 would have been ideal.

anyway i figured an outer reef like phantoms would be moving faster without a boil like waimea so a bigger board would be needed?

Well Phantom Reef at 15'+ feels like a bigger version of Sunset, you want a board you can surf well on that wave 'cause it's got some quality. Bigger than that again and it's kind of tow territory at least to me, I know some people still like to paddle it at 20 plus but they do go up into the 10' range for that.

At Waimea you're always thinking of how to ride the bigger days, ie well off the boil, on the ledge takeoff another 80-100m out. Like what they call 20 feet plus. It's quite abrupt, the wave's moving fast, the base slows abruptly on contact with the ledge, but the bit you're paddling into is still really honking along and you want to give yourself plenty of drive into it, so you're going down the face before it pitches. For me a 9'8" to 10'0" feels really good for that. Smaller days are really just muck around practices for the 20'+ days so you ride the same board to keep a feel for it.

[lovemuscle]

My 6'6" for Sydney is more of a big shortboard.Its an inch wider but the the thickness is spread out more. Its a good set up for sloppy wind blown surf. Cause most of the time you surf big waves in Sydney you know theres gonna be a howling Southerly. I tried using my indo gun, you can make the drops and bottom turn but I was catching rails everywhere.

[--++sunstroke++--]

Thats not a gun ShaunM, THIS is a gun





err whoops


this is more like it






Check out the guns on this chickie

[ric_vidal]

’84 Skull & Bones conspiracy theory only you could find that --++moonbeam++--! Too much pump action

[Freestyler]

So, narrower, but thicker with a gun, is that message? A little bit like Conspiracy Girl.

[surfanimals]

sa

[mustkillmulloway]

just wondering

wouldn't u better off buying a board too suit hawain waves over there

i've seen some hawaiian guns....and they just blow my mind....there totally removed from wat u would call a aussie gun...or even a indo all rounder

nice pics ...both moonbeam and animal

[puurri]

It's that time of year.

Big waves in Hawaii, the Triple Crown of Surfing, the Eddie, Pipe Masters to name a few and from now until late February 2008, all eye's are on The North Shore of Hawaii, watching these guys risk their lives for that 'one' moment in time.





My last trip to Hawaii was 2003. I'm booked for 16th March 2008 and have been studying a miriad of gun shapes for the trip. I recently took delivery of my gun after playing around with various designs and templates over the past few years from semi guns to rhino chasers.

What I found was the earlier designs, those tried and tested by the legends of our sport are in my opinion still the basis for the ultimate big wave experience for people like me, the average punter, the guy who can hold his own without sponsors and lives on the stoke of his own personal goals and not those around him and the ego's of corporate slaves and the print media.

My custom is 9'3 by 23 by 3 1/4. It's a 'Malibu Gun'. Built for deep water rolling walls of water. It's all about paddling in early, heaving down the face, back foot position, driving off the bottom, rising mid face and setting that line for the ultimate rush of adrenalin. The world stops, you hear your heart beat and you make it, eye's huge, hands raised in the air - completely stoked !




Through the process, I stumbled across some articles on the early guns. Those shaped and ridden by the legends of surfing. Check the tail and nose area, more importantly, check the thickness and wide point. These boards were heavy, they slung out of the turn and sped across the face with power and grace - similar to driving an old Chevy or Ford as opposed to a new age Fast Four' - it's the real deal !








As I said, I've ridden all sorts of semi guns to big wave chasers. These are the boards that surfers are 'expected' to ride. Driven by greed and assumed that we all surf similar and are lead by what we read and what the corporate slaves feed us. Get out there, try the boards that suit you individually, test pilot differing templates, make up your own minds and fooken charge it !

(Oh, those hardcore shortboarders will hate this post But the older and knowledgable crew will get it completely )

Respect,

You know their "proper way" eh?

[surfanimals]

just wondering

wouldn't u better off buying a board too suit hawain waves over there

i've seen some hawaiian guns....and they just blow my mind....there totally removed from wat u would call a aussie gun...or even a indo all rounder

nice pics ...both moonbeam and animal

Thanks mate.....

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want my first surf on a board to be 10 foot + and critical.

I want to feel it out, paddle it around, get to know my rails and fins and tune it before I turn into the first wave of a hawaiian session !

I also want to be involved in the shaping of it, get what I want and know the process - not just flick a pop out under my arm. That's just me though.

Here's a cuppla more of my oldies;

[--++sunstroke++--]

’84 Skull & Bones conspiracy theory only you could find that --++moonbeam++--! Too much pump action

LOR!

I reckon she could handle that thing too

Gotta love the first shot with her in red heels & the Ruger Mini

[puurri]

’84 Skull & Bones conspiracy theory only you could find that --++moonbeam++--! Too much pump action

LOR!

I reckon she could handle that thing too

Gotta love the first shot with her in red heels & the Ruger Mini

But the weapon's canted so the bullet strike would be off by a mile.