i'm about the same size... 6'1" & 195lbs. my smallest board is 1.07 (5'10"x20"x2 5/8") & it floats me pretty well. i think i'd like it better w/ 1/2" more in width, but oh well. it works for me...i've ridden it in waves chest-head high down to thigh high.
easiest way. drill a hole. hollow out your surfboard. fill with water. measure how much it takes to fill. now you have your volume. and you DEFINITELY need a new surfboard. duh
Well it all depends what you see as a board that floats you. Do you like being completely on top of the water when you sit or do you like being submerged up to your stomach?
Although I think Coils are good boards, I have experienced a serious repair first hand and all I did was bang my knee off the board. I was in Mex and the wave was closing out so I popped off the back and as I popped off my knee went THROUGH the deck...it wasn't even that hard of a bang...so there I was in nowheresville Mex with a giant hole in this supposedly tough board. Bunk....I did a hack job of fixing it for the rest of the trip and then had a shaper do a full job when I got home....granted this was a very early coil made under neilson but I wasn't happy with how the board held up....I have had poly boards that could take a blow twice that hard and barely have a dent....needless to say I didnt buy another. This is just one experience and I personally think I got a lemon but they also lost a customer. I know other cats who have these boards and love them..take that for what you will As far as volume is concerned, I think it is only a matter of time before all reputable surf shops/shapers will have a sink tub that will solve the problem once and for all. Couldn't be that hard of a thing to make and it wouldn't have to be all that wide if you are just measuring short boards....in fact, I think I just got an idea for an invention~!~!~!
kind of a high performance stubby...CI motorboat. full nose, wide squash tail, thickness carried out to the rails...
That was the first gen when they were doing boards for Neilson and WRV. I've seen some of those still around that are bright white and only minor pressure denting. They are currently on the 3rd gen now using different fibers. The guys from Coil will openly tell you their boards are NOT indestructible. Mike has said there isn't an indestructible board made that he would want to ride. I agree. Anything that strong has a dead flex and ride, *cough* Surftech *cough*. But the current Coil tech strikes the perfect balance of durabilty, ride, and price IMO. I've seen a Coil snap in person in some heavy surf, but any board would have snapped under those conditions and maybe sooner.
+1 on Coil, I have had my Flashback Fish for a year and 3 months, been to PR and back, in some pretty heavy waves and not a scratch on her. It's one of the new models with "kick" or dimples as some call it. Can't imagine doing any damage to it, it's a sick board to surf to
Actually, if all you want is to compare a new board to one you have and like, your rough method isn't horrible . . . But it is only rough. You already know that there are many things besides floatiness that affect your love affair with a piece of laminated foam!
another unseen advantage of upping ones' volume - and, of course this is a personal choice - is paddle/baddle wise one has an advantage over those who choose a 5/anything hpsb.
As long as she is easily maneuverable ( I like some tail volume ), a little extra on the hips makes it way easier on the initial entry.
a while back, I read a theory on SI that floating too high on the water makes it harder to catch waves than being partially submerged. The thought is that when you're floating too high, waves just roll underneath you, passing you by. On the other hand, the more you're submerged (to a certain extent), the more you become part of the wave and are more likely get picked up by it. Don't know if any of this is true(?), but it does kinda make sense.
That's not really true. A board with more volume/float is going to allow you to paddle faster. If you're able to meet the speed of the wave, you'll catch it. Sitting in the water will create more drag but if your paddling abilities are there you'll be fine, that's why some folks can ride potato chip boards. When you're up and surfing you may find the extra volume working against you, giving your a more corky ride, harder to use your rails and you'll find your minor adjustments turn into major adjustments in order to get any responsiveness. When you're up on the wave, you're ideally on top of the water with the least amount of drag possible. You only become part of the wave again when you crash.
the thing is, there's more to a board that paddles well than just volume alone. by way of example, my own recent personal experience: i tend to like boards in the 33-34L range for small wave groveler type boards. my 5'8" layzboy (33.8L), i disliked & felt it really didn't paddle well for me. borrowed a friend's 5'8 bing dharma (31.8L) & it paddled & surfed much better IMO, even in crap surf. the difference, i think, was in the wetted surface area of the board. the dimensions were, for all intents, identical: 5'8"x21"x2 1/2" for the layzboy vs. 5'8"x21 1/8"x2 5/16" for the dharma. the dharma had a much more parallel outline & a wider nose & tail than the layzboy. if you only take into account volume, then the layzboy should have been the better paddling board. it hada full 2 liters on the dharma, but i felt the opposite to be true. there are just so many things going on in a surfboard that unless you isolate one variable (volume) for tweaking, you're really just whistling in the dark.
Clemson has taught you a lot. What you say makes more sense. I could be wrong, but doesn't the Dharma have a flatter rocker than the LayZboy?...that would make a significant difference in paddling, despite the negligible difference in volume
You're right. There's no use in debunking partial theories with partial theories. We've been through it before and a surfboard is more than the sum of it's parts.
Why don't you rocket scientists just easy button this crap? Don't buy a board without the volume being listed. Granted used purchaes may push you down into your bat cave to crunch algorithms. I am 5'10', 180lbs, intermediate in skills, and older in age- 42. I don't get a ton of water reps due to job and family. I ride a 6'3" x 19.5" x 2.5" CI Flyer with 31 liters of volume and it works great.
