Higher performance board.

i see your from up north, but if your down by the beach i would check out greenlight in squan. super cool dudes who will talk with you about what you need. http://greenlightsurfsupply.com/

you can score a custom for way less than a name brand board of the racks. local shapers i have used:

http://chaizesurfboards.blogspot.com/
http://www.wynnsurfboards.com/
http://surfboardsbyrider.com/

 

Ricky Carroll is the man and master shaper! He just won a bunch of awards at the surf expo for shaping!

Wopwop just go talk to Ricky tell him what you would like, give him a little background info besides just height and weight. How long have you surfed? How well do you surf? Where do you typically surf.... etc....

Be honest with the man because he can shape you a perfect ride with the info you provide him.

 

i can shape you a new board for $375, shoot me an email if interested Shipwrecksurfboards@yahoo.com, you can check out some other boards i've made. www.shipwrecksurfboards.com

 

I've been surfing a year now, through the winter and all that. For the past past month I've been transitioning from a very high volume 8-4 beginner's board to a 7 ft swallowtail quad (22" wide, 3" thick with a fair amount of nose rocker). I get out at least 4X/week, and it's been tough and frustrating at times. I can catch waves and rides, but not with any consistency. Lots of trips over the falls. There are times when I think I should've gone up to a long board, but I wanted to downsize a bit while still young. Just turned 58.

 

Big guy short boards include Rusty Big Cat, Sharpeye Blowfish, WRV Nugget . . . They need a little bit of punch in the wave, but you get that with jersey beach breaks. Dave Hamilton makes a great board with rocker, speed and paddle-ability, surfed that at Squan the Friday before the Belmar pro in chest high surf. I think he calls it a Vector. But if you are going over the falls a lot I might be thinking technique over board. Not that some rocker doesn't help, but, just sayin'. Are you in position? And paddling fast enough? Not knocking, just asking.

 

This board for a beginner/intermediate 200 lb.er in a 7'4" length

Dude, you have the correct shaper (Ricky Carroll), you just need THIS board now that you're ripping the
funshape:
http://easternlines.com/surf/surfboards/ricky-carroll-big-guy.html#.UlAMm1Phfj8

Be careful, what options you choose with this or another similar model of Ricky Carroll's, that's all. Don't
get it 2 7/8" thick - you only need about 2 5/8" - 2 3/4" thick. I am 196 lbs. and I surf boards 2 5/8" thick
without any problems (6'10" long). You need a little more paddle but not a huge amount more. You could
also order a fish but I'm just assuming for now, what you would order in a shortboard. You need about
40 - 50 litres in volume. I'm not sure where in that range. 37 litres is a little too drastic a drop for you.
I surf boards that are between 30 and 37 litres mostly.

I suspect that you are more towards the 50 litre+ range of volume - I just don't want to see you on
a board that has an increase in thickness and a huge outline. If they take a little out of the nose and
tail in outline, and a little out of the thickness, you should be ok.

Listen to Agabinet - if you go over the falls, then the head-high Jersey surf is hard to catch due
to steepness. I personally need MORE paddle when I surf Ocean City, New Jersey's jetty breaks - they
are steep. For this, you need a nice custom-sized/perhaps even custom-shaped board. This is
a big decision - good luck and ask questions.

Enjoy!

 

Shipwreck's boards are sick and you won't find anyone else in NJ that will shape a custom for that good of a price. I would take him up on that offer if I were you.

 

Thanks. I do think it's technique, or my lack of, more than anything.
I think what will help, as it has in the past, is to ask one of the experienced regulars I know to watch and critique what I'm doing. Practicing the wrong thing over and over again without any feedback only reinforces the problem.

 

Contact B Wynn. Great shaper, cool guy. Talk to him about what you like in a board etc, he can make it. Support your local shaper.

 

Scorchie is right.... If you're going to get a custom shape have it thinned out, make it a little wider and shorter. This will allow for good float and you can still jam turns with it. Keep the rocker to a minimum it you go that way. Put some bigger fins, like G7's and those fins will give you more drive.

There are actually some free autocads for surfboards on the web if you want to tinker around with designing one yourself.

Check this out.... at the very least its fun to play around with!

http://www.shape3d.com/

 

This site may also be helpful...

Maybe able to find a good local shaper on here.

http://www.swaylocks.com/

 

A typical performance-grom board for a 200 lb. surfer for head-high surf - 47 litres

Some quick numbers for a typical performance shape shortboard:
1.
7'4" x 22" x 2 3/4" - 45 litres (this is a tiny bit less float than you need). This is 5 1/2N rocker, 2 9/16"T and
it has good thickness flow as in thinner tail and nose than required (1 17/32" nose - 1', 1 41/64" tail + 1'). So
these numbers are almost for a guy like me (this board would turn pretty well and squirt in tubes pretty well, it's just not floaty enough for you.

2. So let's thicken the tail and nose a tiny bit (since the above thicknesses are for a 6'10" board 200 lb.
surfer like myself. With the above but 1 3/4" tail + 1' and 1 5/8" nose - 1', we only get up to 46 litres. Now, the above board had only a 11 31/64" nose - 1' in outline - AHA! We need to give you a slightly larger
outline (that will work and get you into lots more waves!). So here's your tail + 1' outline and nose - 1' outline
needed to get you some fun head-high waves: We'll take the nose - 1' up to 13 1/2". This is still good
and carvy. I can take you up to about 16" in the tail + 1' (we were at about 15" or so). Now we're at
47 litres. We are now at the minimum float for you. You could probably surf this board. If we go up
to 2 13/16" we get a 48.6 litre board. I would not go higher than that but you could go all the way
to 2 7/8" if necessary. At 2 7/8", we have about 49.6 litres (which is enough easily for you once you
work out a little and practice).

So in 1), we started with a perfectly normal performance shortboard, and at the end of 2), we are at
a board that's even floatier than a typical big-guy, since it has the larger outline.

3) Now here's a walk backwards along a different route: Let's pull the nose in now that we are at 2 7/8"
thickness (our absolute tolerable maximum) down to about 13 1/2" again. Now the volume is still over
49.1 litres but the board is back more to performance again. THIS IS YOUR BOARD! After a year, we
go down to 2 3/4" thickness, your volume is still 46.974 litres. You'll be ok after a year. Just be careful
not to paddle too much or your arms will get gigantic! So the board in 3) is back to a big-guy, but
performance-oriented board since the nose is pulled in a little - it has a nice floaty tail to catch
waves but it's carvy. Perfect board!

I have the files if you need them. By the way, I don't like the concept of a "big-guy" board.
We should just take a "small-guy" board and give it more float. That's all. Recently, I
was in a Boston-area shop, and there was not one GOOD board for a larger surfer. All the
boards in the 6'8" - 7'2" range had either too much width, too much thickness, the wrong
shape, or all of the above. So dude, I feel for you. But since you're in Jersey, you'll find
something. One of my best boards came from a New Jersey surfer - it cost me $100.00 used.
It's a 6'10" board.

Just click on the little surfboard and it will give you a larger pic of the board I am envisioning for you.

Keep in mind that we can take some off of the width - 22" is a little bit high - I would try 20 or 21"
as you get better at surfing. Your volume will still be above 45 litres or thereabouts for a 2 7/8" board
and about 44.9 litres when we get down to 2 3/4" in thickness. Not too bad.
Enjoy!

 

Scorchie's got some sound logic in his last post... To add to what he says:

Dropping width in increments of inches is pretty drastic. I winced a bit at 22", but like he says later, closer to 21 would be my suggestion... like 21.25 or 21.5, depending on...

Thickness... that center thickness of 2 7/8 is at one point in the foil of the board. Boards are foiled nose to tail (he suggests nose and tail thicknesses, so that's a hint at nose to tail foil), but also rail to rail. Flattening the deck will increase rail volume. Crowning the deck will lower rail volume. There's purpose to both of these, but know that a really thick board at 2 7/8 with a crowned deck and a performance rail volume will ball up too much foam through the middle of the board. This can create instability and can lead to bogging when the board is put on a rail. You can bring that center thickness down a bit, flatten the deck, and put a little more volume in the rail to address those design flaws, particularly in a board for 200+ lb guys. I'm only 10lbs lighter than you... my performance boards are 2 9/16 - 2 5/8, and between 6'6 and 7'0, the latter having a more crowned deck and for the biggest surf we get here, with more than enough float for me.

And that's where an experienced shaper will be able to fine tune a board for you... that balance between volume and performance that arises out of the complexities of design not measured in typical dimensions. Rail volume and deck contours are not standardized, even within the industry, for example. But you gotta start somewhere, and the discussion above is a really good place to start.

 

LBCrew's obviously a talented surfer who knows his stuff! To WOPWOP77, New Jersey will probably
have a board or two for you - don't despair! By the way, WOPWOP77 MAY be able to surf boards
almost as thin as LBCrew or myself before long - your chest-strength and other factors such as
where you line up out there ALSO affect your wave-catching ability. Keep in mind that some boards
with bigger outlines will catch the wave easily but perhaps NOT make the lip before it pitches - this
is where experience comes in - you'll eventually get the hang of head-high/overhead surf! I learned
to surf on a 7' rented shortboard in Huntingdon Beach, CA - I just kept moving closer and closer to the
beach until I caught a wave - I was 205 lbs. at the time. Good luck getting a board - hopefully someone local
can guide you as a mentor through the custom shaper/board selection process!

 

A Rusty BigCat might be what you would want if you want an off-the-shelf board. Rusty is good about
rocker, rail/deck shapes etc.. I have a 6'6" board of his that works better than any of my 6'6" boards.

This is from Swaylocks which took this quote from Rusty's site:

From Rusty's Website:

The "Big Cat" is one of Rusty's most
popular new models. It is a great bigger guy board. It is a mix between a
Piranha and a regular shortboard. Has some of the fishie qualities of the
Piranha without the extra width and volume. Should work in a wider variety of
conditions. Most quad fin enthusiasts swear by this board. Most of the bigger
guys at my local spot, have made the switch over to quad fins. The extra drive
and less drag you get from a quad really helps the big brudda's get moving.



Dimensions:

Nose=13”-14” Tail=14-1/2”--15-1/2" Tail 1-1/2 to 1-3/4” wider than nose



7-0 x 21-1/4”x2-3/4” 7-8 x 22-1/4”x3-1/8”

7-2 x 21-1/2”x2-13/16” 7-10 x 22-1/2”x x3-1/8”

7-4 x 21-3/4”x2-7/8” 8-0 x 22-3/4”x3-3/16”

7-6 x 22-0/0”x3-0/0”

Perhaps you could order a custom one of these with a square tail or less width/thickness. Perhaps
send them a note.

Hoy Runnels shapes for Rusty. 40,000+ boards shaped.

 

Yes... pretty much what I was thinking, coming down from a 7'4 funboard.

 

Good idea, and one thing that would be nice is if other surfers could let him try a board down around the low 40s in litres. Let him try it out - this would certainly be a challenge but I think that's what WOPWOP77 is looking for. He's tired of the fun shape so he needs to leap into a whole different world of surfing. He might even surf better with less board. If not, he can go with a couple inches longer. I just hope he doesn't buy a board and can't catch any waves for like a year - that would stink. 21 1/4" is not a bad width to start shortboarding on.

 

This is a good thread braddahs. Scorchie and LBC are killing it. Boss authorities.

 

you need to search Phil Taylor ...he specializes boards with extra volume for lil heavier guys https://www.facebook.com/PhilTaylorHandcraftedSurf
check the link. here is pics of mine he made