Barrel Boartes

I like to go with...

• A little more rocker
• A little more length
• A little more weight
• A little less width
• A little thinner rail
• Tucked edge a little shorter
  
• double concaves instead of single
• some vee in the tail for medium side waves (with or without concaves)
• some vee through the middle and through the tail with concaves for large barrels
• front fins set a bit further forward and apart
• Tail a little more pulled in

 

There is a green Roberts in that Norwell9 video I posted about - has black skulls onnit and Mano, it’s a barrel beast. Something to watch too! Sick video and funny as hell

 

I know it’s as much the surfer as the bort when it gets to that level of insane, but that ride never looked shakey under him once. And those were waves of consequence. Plus, since getting my RBBT I am a huge fan of his stuff - incidentally the next chest high plus day we get I’m getting my reps on that bad boy and I’ll be sarfing for realsies. Can’t frikken wait for the first good face I get onto with it.

 

Sick Coil.

 

The problem i always have is i think at lot of the mid atlantic barrels require taking a pretty high line to avoid getting axed. The pocket is high and tight. 90% of the barrels i encounter are in lefts in Ocean City Maryland...this pic from xgen 70 illustrates where you have to sit to fit inside.



and my curvey outlined boards like to take a low line, almost as if the curve of the template makes the board want to keep low on the wave. I've suspected this for years, but never really overcome it.

 

Also could be that boards with more rocker tend to drop later than a flatter fuller board requiring a true bottom turn instead of a drop in with the line approach. Seems to me that a lot of east coast barrels require you to knife in rather than bottom turn into a barrel.....dunno ymmmv etc just what I think I see

 

ok! sorry! wrong treade, world class arse rocker belongs in Dawg's treade! my apologies! (ukelele's aviator got me confused)

 

We’ll let this one pass. Maybe one or two more.

 

https://bessellsurf.com/surfboards/performance-surfboards/

Best barrel rider ever- the Eliminator. He will modify/customize to fit your needs. I still have one but rarely ride it cuz I am old, crusty longboarder.

 

Yea... that looks good.

My "step up" for head high+ barrels is a thumb tail... a round tail with a little less surface area. My regular shortboard is a true round tail. But my big wave board... the one that doesn't get to see much action, but is the only board I have that can handle those "as big as it gets" days for Jerzy is a rounded pin.

Other tail shapes work... lot's of big wave riders swear by mini swallowtails. But for us mere mortals, I've found the rounded pin to work well in bigger barreling waves.

 

I agree... curvy templates, particularly in the tail, do take a lower line IMO. I also think your right that whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on the wave.

There's a gem of a left that was doing it's magic a few winters ago. This wave gets pretty damn square when it's barreling hard, and I was riding a board with a straighter outline through the middle, into a bat tail, with a pretty normal tail rocker and relaxed entry rocker... shallow single to double concave. I had an ah-ha moment that day when I kept getting these great backside barrels but kept having to angle down the face because there was too much lift in the tail. I kept getting pulled up too high on the face, so I was having to aim the nose down.

The next board I built was designed with that very affect in mind. To keep the board lower on the face, I added more curve... AND more tail kick. That extra kick in the tail allowed more water to release out the back so the board could stay more horizontal in the pocket. I put the exact same bottom on that board... shallow single to double... and the same fin placement. Even though the board was 2 inches longer, it worked so much better in the barrel... not just in those lefts at that one spot, but EVERYWHERE. I figure what it did was allow me to use more rail to set my line, so I could put the board anywhere on the face I wanted, and the extra kick in the tail helped the board fit into the curve of the wave better, especially back deep where the curve is tighter, or in waves that were just barely big enough to fit into.

 

I went with a rounded pin 6’4” for the board I had shaped for Indo. It worked very well. I have used it once since in Hatteras.

I really prefer my 6’0 or 6’2 both wider shouldered squash with little rocker for almost any type of barreling waves on the outer banks unless it’s well overhead and just pitting. Especially backside, I like the feel of the tail sorta sliding down the face. Which may have more to do with weight forward/wider shoulder.

I did notice the last swell which was shoulder++ and barreling, I left the quad set up (6’2”) and wished I had the thruster set up. On the lefts (frontside) as I took late /steep drops and pushed out of transition...like a half bottom turn lol, it felt like I had to pump through the barrel section.

Side note, I have a 6’6 board I brought back from Hawaii that has a narrow baby squash. 19.5 wide. I took it out two tropical seasons ago on a big swell. I got one my biggest backside barrels on EC with that thing but it felt so unorthodox. Drop and did a sharp quick bottom turn into pocket but once the turn occurred, it handled the transition so well...had not ridden it since PR trip like 7-8 years ago. I have since sold it b/c it just does not fit my surf psychy...

I guess my overall thought is the rounded pin thruster set up is optimal for bigger meatier barrels...with some fun options otherwise.

 

My go to board is pretty similar to the meat cleaver. Except mine has slightly lower rocker. I almost got a meat cleaver but didn't as, if i remember correctly, they were nearly identical.

It's definitely personal preference but i just like the feel of getting in earlier with lower rocker to set that line.

Worth noting... barrels and those days were its big and racing barrels are too diffrent things. On those big days i think more volume is key to making it. Think like an old school single fin sort of shape. Extra thickness. Straighter rail line. Wide point forward. If it's big and there's nothing but barrels id prefer somthing like that. Biggest issue i have in those waves is keeping up with the section to make it. Those "not so modern" designs seem to really help with that issue.

And ofcourse you can take a more modern approach on that older design.

 

Here's my current favorite for when it has some size and is barreling. Echoes a lot of what others have said: more rocker, narrower, glassed a little heavier, longer than my regular sb, round tail, etc. I forget how much I love this boart until we get a solid swell and take it for a spin.

 

What do you need to know about Coil shapes? I might be able to offer some advice. I own a couple myself.