What board size do you ride?

5'11" 195

6' x 20 3/8" x 2 5/8" Dumpster Diver (Shaped by Mike Hague, southern DE local)
6'4" x 21" x 2 5/8" WRV Nugget Shaped by Fernandez (5 fin setup), usually ride as a quad.

 

Definately like both of the WRVs i've had. One was a little 5'11" Bob Yinger swallow tail and the other was a Mike Daniel fish. Both great boards and in addition to these guys, Jesse Fernandez and Tommy Moore are legendary shapers. The boards seem nicely foiled out in the nose and tail and they arent afraid to give you a little rocker for popping wheelies! They also seem nice and light for fishy shapes.

Their reputation seems like it might be a victim of their own success...still making good boards but selling a lot of crap to tourists liek you said.

 

5'10" 130 lbs

5'4" CI Pod (19 1/2, 2 3/8)
5'9" Chemistry (18, 2)
5'11" Sharp eye SB-1 (17.9, 1.9) Don't really like this board to much but I love the two above.

During the summer and the waves are like ankle high, I have a 7 ft foam that catches everything. Makes surfing tiny waves kinda fun.

 

6'1 175 31 years young

6'2 kechelle squish -
6'0 lost rocket
6'2 ci semi pro
5'8 ci biscuit
5'8 ci fishcuit
6'8 rusty terminator - big wave board

 

5'8" 220
7'2'' Biscuit
6'3'' tuflite biscuit.

 

Yes! I love my 7'7 fish hybrid now 8 yrs old. Its my Costa Rica board. Still rocks and is my all around board. I also have a 9'0 WRV that is 14 yrs old but it has recently delaminated and is beyond really repairing it. Was absolutely a fantastic board: loose, caught everything, actually caught my first tube on it years ago. I just put a new WRV 9'0 on layaway and cant wait to ride it. Shaped by Fernandez. Just beautiful. My daughter is stoked to ride it too when we pick it up on her birthday.

 

6'1" 210 lbs 62 years old
6'10" Piranha
7'0" T2
7'4" - 7'10" Fun Boards

 

The average respondent to this survey is 5-11 and weighs 176lbs--with a BMI of 24.5 (who gives a flying frick about BMI's).

I was somewhat surprised to see how many larger fellas are riding smaller boards. Must be something to the manufacturers' claims that they find ways to hide extra volume in the boards.

 

And what was the average length shortboard?

 

I really feel weight is over stressed when selecting boards. Most boards can serve a big range of weights, it comes down to more paddling strength, technique for catching waves. Once your up it doesn't matter if you are on a skateboard. I've bulked up to 185 ish from 155 in 3-4 years time, and still ride the same dimensions from before. (I call it bulking up hahaha). I surf a 5-10 18 3/4 semi-groveler in winter rubber and I know i'm probably pushing 200 with it all on.

 

Yes... Volume is mostly about paddling/wave catching. You can ride a much lower volume board if you're a fit, strong paddler with good wave catching technique. Entry rocker and nose width play a big role as well. But once you're up and planing, it's more about surface area and geometry (planshape) along with rail shape/volume more than anything else, including length.

 

LB's last snippet basically sums up why I didn't average board lengths. That and there were so many of them and, according to Barbie, math is hard.

My 6-8 Piranha is waaay easier to paddle than my daughter's 6-6-Sunova--it's almost 2 inches wider and has less rocker.

I think the total package of lengthxwidthxthickness+geometry, etc., even trumps material. I am gonna open a new can of worms by saying that I'm not completely sold on the idea that EPS/EPX boards paddle better than PU/PE boards.

 

36 years 5'8 160
6'8 modern stub fish 21 1/2 x 3
6'2 hbsp 19 1/4 x 2/14
5'10 groveler 19 3/4 x 2 5/8

 

I feel like I remember you were just learning to surf when you joined the forum... is that right? Didn't realize you were in your 30s. Good on you for that.

32, 5'7", 145 lbs

My two main boards are both made by Solid Surf:
5'10 x 20.5 x 2.5 modern fish/groveler
6'3 x 19 1/4 x 2 3/8 hpsb

The rest of my quiver fluctuates, but right now consists of:
5'10 WRV rocket fish
7'2? Patagonia fish

 

I completely agree with that...there are some ways that EPS/Epoxy and PU/PE are different (durability, flex, weight) but i would say for a similar sized board, paddling difference is pretty insignificant.

 

Here's my take, FWIW...

When Clark closed, and EPS started to become more accessible, we started doing a lot of EPS boards with the exact same dimensions and lam schedule as the old PU/PE. What we quickly found was that while there was a significant difference in weight, we couldn't really see a difference at all in strength, float or paddleability. The lighter weight gave it a different feel up and riding, which was not always a good thing, particularly in choppy or big conditions. So to make the board the same weight as what we were used to, we started glassing them heavier, with the added benefit of increased ding and snap resistance. But then the boards became too stiff. So to get some flex back, we started experimenting with stringers... pvc, fiberglass, divinycell, stringerless... but none of them held up like wood in terms of snap resistance or fatigue resistance. They all "died," one way or another, very quickly. So then we started making them thinner. That got some flex back AND kept the the same snap and fatigue resistance. The tradeoff was lost volume. To address that, dimensions started to change slightly (a little wider, with flatter decks carrying the volume out toward the rail more), and we finally were getting boards we were VERY happy with... happier than the old PU/PE.

Faced with the same challenges, lots of other board builders were doing the same we were, and ending up with boards that were generally thinner than their PU/PE counterparts. So from a design perspective, going thinner was about getting a similar FEEL out of eps/epoxy boards while making them more durable and longer lasting. Not about float. But customers, seeing generally thinner eps boards, but not knowing why, started to assume that somehow EPS floated better than PU, so that's why their boards were thinner. But that was not the case at all.

And it's still being talked about in those terms today.

Surfboards and surfers are a funny bunch, huh.

 

Thanks. Yes, I did startup again a few winters ago. I enjoy it even more now that I'm older. I have a good job in terms of flexiblity and being close to the beach which allow me to jump on almost every swell (big or small). That's helped me progress a good amount but I'm still not great. I can do cuts backs and snaps on my backside but can't pump on my back side. On my frontside I can only really pump and not do turns. Go figure. It's probalby because I'm goofy foot and most breaks here are rights.

 

+1 re: Jimmy D.

 

Heard good things about him... my 6-6 is from COS and the 8 is by Clay Bennett.

 

5'11" - 195lb
10'2" w/10" hatchet 95% of the time.
Myrtle Beach SC is a drag...can't afford to not bring enough board to the water. The other 5% I will take out one of my two hollow woods that I made. (not kit boards....from scratch. Bought everything at lowes.) Haven't quite got it right yet.