Mid-Life Dims (40+)

I had a 6'4" and that was all i rode. Got out of surfing for a while because I got married and moved further from the beach. But, i got divorced and got back into surfing. Since then, I sold my old 6'4" and started trying different size boards and fins. I went from having, 3, 6'4" boards with slighty different shapes to a 5"10 Dumpster Diver, a 6'1" Dagger, a 6'2" Lost F1 and a 7'6" Ron John. Using the different boards for the different surf has improved my surfing. Oh yeah, i'm 42

 

25" wide x 25' long x 5" thick
Death point tail and bananna style rocker.
Contact Roy (performance boards) Stuart.

 

Cracked me up

 

i am in the same boat as you. height, weight, age. I have found that keeping it short, but maximizing planing area is the way to go for the groveler. I have been riding these 2 shapes in under head high surf:


5'8"X 21 7/8 X 2 1/2 low rocker, slight belly in the nose, to flat, to vee in the tail



5'11 x 21' 2 1/2
low entry rocker, slight single to double. running as a quad. really good in under head high punchy surf

 

keep at the hpsb; at 40 you have 20 solid years of surfing shortboards still.
just don't get fat.

 

I'm fity-one and most days I ride a board with similar dems to Root Down's 5'11 only mine's a 6'0 swallow. However, I recently added a 7'0 mini log for ease of paddling into smaller surf. I know you said HPSB but it's worth consideration.

 

Hey Jay Im 42 yrs- 180lbs all my boards are 30 liters thats my happy place enough float to get me in anything without sacrificing manuverablity. Ive being buy boards like crazy for the past two years tryin to figure this out . What Ive learned is the shorter the board the higher the fun factor but dont go to wide cuz the board slows down the wider you go, I try to stay under 20" wide and if I need more bouyancey just go thicker and stay as short as I can get away with. My board of choice in all conditions is 5'9"long- 19 3/4 "wide- 2 1/2 thick the board rips!! I think each liter is good for about 6lbs of bouyancey. Try 32-34 liters. Good luck I hope this helped. Cheers!!

 

Don't mind Doug, he's still trying to find himself.

Is moving around the lineup or getting into waves early becoming more difficult? I'm same size, ride similar short boards and 2 1/4 is too thin for me. Especially in a wetsuit. Your boards sound around 30liters maybe less, I would look for something closer to 34l.

If 2 1/4 works then 5'11 20" 2 5/8" would have you floating around nice getting into everything.

I'm Looking at something similar to this for next board, check out the dims chart


http://static1.squarespace.com/stat...b0f44dbfa238a9/1414079053644/GENERATOR-01.png

 

This sounds right. I wouldn't go wide for punchy steep surf just add a little thickness maybe 2 5/8 max. With thickness, you can always keep the foam in the middle of the board and taper the rails for more performance surfing but you can't do that for width.

 

It's not all about liters of foam, it's also about planing area when it comes to paddle speed. Keep that in-mind. However, if you have too much planing area, and not that much rocker, we all know what happens on steep hollow conditions....Just too fast. I have learned this the hard way. It's hard to find the magic board.
Anyway, to contribute to this topic, I am 40, and my sweet spot for volume is in the 35 liter range, maybe a little more with certain shapes. My shortboards range from 5'11" to 6'8", and they probably all come in at the same volume. I don't like to work hard too much anymore when it comes to surfing. I like easy. I have work/kids/wife/work/kids/wife to contend with, and surfing time is focused on catching a lot of waves and having fun.

 

oh, and I'm 6'0" 180lbs.

 

I'm 6'0", 180lbs., 40-ish. I've been riding fish shapes (thruster hybrid styles, not true twin fin, fat boy rides) since my late 20s. I just ride longer versions now though. A little longer rail makes them more versatile to use if it's bigger and gives me more foam now that I'm an old guy. The board from that movie 5'5" 19 1/4", I used to ride at 5'8", 19 1/2" to give you an idea, but now I ride 6'0"s. Then I take the width and thickness down a notch from what a normal 6 foot fish is offered stock. I can't ride a 21.25" wide board, 20.75" is about max I'll go, around 2.5" thick. Volumes are usually 34-36L from my guesstimates going by WRV's stock board charts.

 

I'm 45, 6'1 and 205. and I'm riding the exact same length as I was riding when I was 20. Only difference is the boards I'm riding are an inch wider and 1/2 inch thicker. For small waves my go to board is a copy of the CI Dumpster Diver that I made extra thick.