I have been building wooden boards over the past two years. I have been building them for myself so I am pretty good at figuring out what I want. However i have been approached by a co worker who has an 11 year old son weighing about 75 lbs and 4 feet tall who is just beginning to surf and would like me to build him a board. Any suggestions on board size. He lives by Rhode Island so will be surfing those beaches. He will clearly not be in head high surf as he is just beginning. Im sure he wants a short board style but would making a modified longboard (longboard shape but maybe 6 feet long due to his height) be a better option. I want to make him something that will work for him over the next couple years as he gets older, becomes a better surfer and also grows. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I just worked up a design with dimensions 6'6", 19"W, 2.5" thick (13 7/16" @ 1' off back, 14 3/4"@ 1/ off front, 4 5/16 nose rocker, 3 1/16" tail rocker) If anyone know how to insert a picture from a local drive I can put up the image of the board. Thank YOu.
sounds a little big for a guy only 4 feet tall.. when i was 11 i was 5 ft and i had a 6'2" shortboard that was 18 inches wide and it was buoyant enough for me... i think if it was to much wider then that i would have had trouble paddling it due to arm scrape. but 19 probably should be fine. you have to remember 75 pounds isn't much, and as he gets "heavier" he will also be getting better. and want a board that he can eventually do some hard turns on. or it will just always be his chill log to ride around. oh by the way i checked out kings beach in lynn.. thanks for telling me about that its a really nice place. gonna try to surf it this next weekend if the surf forecast holds
Thanks for the input. I just checked some forecasts for Nahant for this weekend and its looking like it should be pretty clean up there on Saturday with shoulder to head high sets. Lets hope the forecast holds.
