New old stick

[bumfluff]

Picked up a shorty a couple weeks ago. I was using a 6' epoxy ultra-light and was having too much trouble paddling it (got a crook shoulder) and I also wanted somthing a little wider through the middle and a little longer for the smaller stuff. I grabbed this one the dims are 6'4, 19 3/8, 2 3/8.....

Couldnt be happier with it, it goes great. Its got a really shallow swallow tail at the back. I was after a rounded square, but close enough and in fact I think I like this better.

Also I found the ultra-light felt weird under foot like there was nothing there at all. Feels good to be back on a PU board.

[dUg]

Nice ride. Deck looks in pretty good nick, doesn't look like it's done much work. Glass on or FCS?

[bumfluff]

Glass....Im pretty happy with it.

Now all I need is some swell...

[pridmore]

who shape it ? MG, Millsy or ???

[bumfluff]

Its shaped by MG...

[Braithy]

I picked up a JS Blak Box ... rather than get it as a 5'10" like the pros would ride (its recommended to ride 3-4 inches shorter), I got a 6'3" which is my normal sized board ... The board's overall dimensions 6'3" 21 & 2 5/8 which is about 2 inches wider than my normal shortboard and about 1/4 inch thicker.

I got this board bcos I tore my achilles and have been outta the water for 18 odd months, and thought it'd paddle a helluva lot better while I build up my paddling endurance again.

I don't know why I didn't go wider and thicker earlier ... this board needs no momentum to catch a wave, I am cruising through the lineup like I'm on a mal and it is so fast through sections I'd normally bog rails or just sink in. I kind of feel like I'm cheating out there

[pridmore]

good stuff I know exactly wat ya mean...foam is my friend , love a bit of volume and it doesnt have to mean you cant surf them hard ....

[Natho]

Some interesting stuff here, along the lines of what Ive been thinking about of late.
I think many of us get a bit too caught up in what dimensions are written on the stringer, rather than the actual volume/L of a board (myself included).

JS suggests riding the Black Box shorter and even thinner than your normal board because he squeezes more Volume/L into the board than a normal shorty. So technically a shorter, thinner Black Box should have approx the same volume/L as your normal shorty (I did say approx). This is due to the way the board is foiled relative to a normal shorty, and the fact that it is wider up front. In fact a friend of mine who rides JS's boards swears he needs to go 1/8 thinner with the Black Box, rather than riding his normal thickness as the board has so much foam squeezed into it. We are all different I guess.

At the end of the day if Braithy is happy with his Black Box being bigger than suggested, then all that matters is that he likes it as is. This may in fact suggest that it may also be worth looking at a bigger shorty than his norm, as the extra Vol/L appears to be working. So going outside of what would normaly be suggested as 'his dimensions' has paid off.

Dimensions are only a rough guide IMO. Its more important to have a look at how the board is foiled, plan shape etc. As an example my normal board thickness has been 2 1/4. However two of the best boards in my quiver are in fact 2 3/16.It just comes down to the foil. Im sure the vol/L is similar to my 2 1/4 boards.

In fact I have found myself tweaking the boards thickness depending on the shaper and how the shaper foils the boards. As an example Nick Blair has shaped me some unreal boards of late that have been 2 1/4, whereas Ive been getting boards off Simon at 2 3/16. The 2 3/16 in Simons boards still feels like plenty of volume. So Im kinda going outside of my normal dimesions now and factoring in other elements in the boards design. I guess the lesson is that it can pay to move outside of what we would classify as 'our dimensions'.
If we all talked in Vol/L, well that may in fact help rather than just dimensions. Possibly shapers could start putting Vol/L numbers on the stringer as well?

The other thing is that just because a board has certain dimensions penciled on the stringer, doesnt mean that the board is those exact dimensions (but that's another story).

[pridmore]

yep, or no dims at all on the stringer...but surfers are so locked into their 'correct' dims and many wont even try anything outside of it... more of a mentality than anything else....I used to ride pretty much 6'2 or 6'3 when I was right into my perf shorties but these days with such a variety of designs in my quiver, my dims vary from 6'3" to 5'7....and the 5'7" has more volume than most other boards in my quiver....but it sure does feel weird to be agreeing with Natho, reckon he'll sort that out soon.....

[DV8]

I'm hearing ya Natho.

I always thought 19 wide x 2/1/2 was the limit for myself and that there is no way I could go wider ...little voice in my head was saying ........... "I'm not a beginner and only beginners ride wide things "
In the last 2 years I've gone 1/2 inch wider on my boards just because .............and I'm wondering why I didn't do this earlier. My weight hasn't increased at all and I believed my surfing had probably reached its peak . But since adding the width I honestly believe I'm now improving again which is a nice feeling ( might not actually be the case ) .

My last board is a real smooth outline and in fact 1/4 inch wider in nose than my order requested which initially threw me ....................but it fits and works ............so the next board will more than likely follow suit .

Would a cool experiment to ride a bunch of boards from your shaper with no dimensions on them just going by looks and feel . I bet majority of the ones people picked out as feeling the best suited would be different to the dims they ride now .

Even better going down to your shaper and saying I weigh this much and I want the board for this shape me something and I don't wanna know the numbers..................could ya leave that much responsibility with the mad professor ???