RealSurf Surfers' Forum

Each JD I get has less and less foam as well. The beautiful irony is that the current ones don't feel worse for it. They still surf unbelievably well.

Mine aren't hpsb like legions, but they surf so damn well they make me want to improve my surfing more and more. Round tail quad for me next .













Just gotta get some wires taken out of my knee first

Here's me always looking at Josh's boards and thinking that they just look too fine for me.
Should have pulled the trigger on that one you offered me ages ago Josh.
That's the trouble with distant shapers and images on the net.
Hope all is well with you.

Seems like too many Realsurfers know Josh' pain.
So on the brighter ish side....The Imperial, what are the dimensions...looks cool and I like a bit of extra point in a longboard nose like that

fongss wrote:know the pain too josh.

good too know theres a silver lining

with your little bros board.


hows the flex ?


plz dont think im having a dig at ya cause im not.....its just one thing ive disliked about composite (and im talking about a tufflite and the bamboo model build here) boards is that they dont feel as alive as a standard fall apart in three month poly board.

have u found a way around that which in your build keeps the board flexy and lively

Fong you're about five years behind in this conversation. I'll bring you up to speed. Surftech's have a low density eps core wrapped in a sandwich of glass + high density foam+ glass. The is called sandwich construction you can read how it works here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich-s ... _composite

If you wrap a sandwich skin around the rails of a surfboard you turn them into c-beams which are as stiff as hell. Separating the top and bottom skins along the rail line using solid foam or wood rails with a fibreglass layup eliminates the c-beam effect. Bert Burger stumbled upon this many years ago when he was trying to vac bag balsa cored sandwich around the rails of longboards he was making. The balsa kept splitting around tighter curves. So he started making the rails solid and noticed the improvement in feel. Swap out the balsa in the sandwich core for high density foam but keep the balsa rails and you're got the basics of the first Firewires. JD has taken the whole thing a bit further with his boards, but the principle is the same.

Thanks for sorting that out Pinhead.

Fong clarified his statement with the edit to specify Surftech and Bamboo. It's long been established that Tufflites are very stiff.

My very first exposure to composites in surfboards was while working with Frank McWilliams at Bamboo Surfboards Australia - I know exactly how they fucked up.

In short, yes Fong, I make 'em twangy.


And Matticus - thanks. Here's the worst of it - three days after she left, my much loved cousin died - fried to death whilst "Train Surfing" in the nude in Melbourne.

It kind-of knocked my drama off as the biggest family news!


Anyway Jorgo - the Imperial is 9'2 x 22 1/2 x 2 and forgot.

Here's the next one coming down the line - a big beasty of a log - The Leighthal weapon - 9'6 x 23 2/4 x 3...JD

speedneedle wrote:My very first exposure to composites in surfboards was while working with Frank McWilliams at Bamboo Surfboards Australia - I know exactly how they **** up.

I've been circling on your fringes for a long time Josh.

I bought a bamboo many years ago, whey they were first starting out. It snapped in about the third surf, and it would have been lucky to be 2'.

Wrote to them to tell them I had ordered a custom over their website, and after hearing nothing had decided to buy from a shop the one that snapped. They got back to me and offered a custom at cost, which I took up.

It was shaped by Frank McWilliam, who just happened to have trained up a mate through a CES training scheme. He built me a bamboo based on a design I worked out with my mate, who I had got to do a custom for me.

I still have that bamboo board. Recently resurrected for a trip away, with a certain amount of ding repair for little cracks etc, it still goes well. I have largely kept it as a collectors item, must be close to 13 or 14 years old now (how long ago was it that they started up in Byron?) but it still goes well.

And so, I planned to return it to the collector's museum, the only board I have kept for purely aesthetic and historical reasons, and the Sunova board is my 'actual riding' board to allow me to put the bamboo back in the rack.

Interesting to read others comments about volume, and eventually going lighter with your board. The sunova is light on for volume for plan shape, with extremely fine rails, but I'm willing to try it out, and push myself.

Seems like our paths are destined to cross Josh.

In time.

Till then, take care of yourself.

Spent the last half hour looking through this thread ( not the first time ). I've been in the water for a while now, though still basically cruising and weaving with my knee. But I'm still keen for another. I thought I'd keep my longboard for the kids or when i get older but fkukk that, the 2 JD's I've got have turned me onto smaller lighter much more manouverable boards, and I'd like to keep that going, shitty knee or not. Planning my next one. I was keen for a mini driver type shape, though really I think with my current situation maybe a foiled out modern egg shaped quad. No longer than 6'0", no wider than 20" and maximum 2 1/2" thick. Should be fast and drivy, which I'll be able to handle now, but when the knee gets better ( wires out mid year ) I should be able to push it around a bit.

Stay well josh

Hi Josh, a local guy here rides one of your boards and loves it, he also is a bloody good surfer.

Yeh I had the Mrs thing to, all circumstances are different and for me it was a release, as I moved on quickly she could see I didn't need her that much and wanted back in, still undecided what to do as I have a clear mind for the first time for years.

Mate just looking for your view here, I need volume in shortboards as Im over 100 kegs but I'm finding I enjoy boards that are a bit wider in the nose but not much volume under the chest, where as I'm am steered towards slightly narrower boards but more volume. What do you think, wider thinner vs. narrower thicker for say a 6'4.

Somebody has had a good New Years and started the process of JD number 3

...

No not you, me silly

...

josh where art thou?

are we giving the gearbox A SPIN?



CHEERS HUIE

...

I hear ya tonks. My rehab board is a great board but ffs it's getting a few spider cracks here and there. To get a decent lasting board in poly it needs to be heavy. Ok if you live on a point break but for average beachies they lose a lot of responsiveness. Josh' boards are hardy, but super light. Best of both worlds IMHO.


Matticus, mine will be a pulled in/speed egg 7'er. Juuuust wide enough for average beachies but narrow enough for decent beachies. If I can ever build my form and fitness up again haha. I'm going quad but I'm kind of thinking quad + single. Just not sure how often I'll use it as a single.

yea i dont do faceache haa'' they tell me i will not get any till 15th ?

i think the support structure seems to be better than others-- i have used. to be able to custom fit the cover is good for wood


cheers huie

Im guessing josh your just to busy to post up these days mate. Hope all is going well.

He has to put up with antsy impatient customers wanting to know how their boards are going all the time I reckon:). Check his Facebook for photo updates digger.