Mid-Life Dims (40+)

You can snowplow with one of them FW potatoes. One of my pals had one--the thing plowed so much he got rid of it. But, to each his own--someone else could probably make it rip.

 

I made it with a wide tail and the side fins are at a 9 degree cant, and it has some v in the tail. It turns great! It bogs when it goes straight unless you go a bit front foot weighted since it is 22" wide, but remember, it is for mushy waves, (with a few bowly sections and an occasional steeper drop). It has the nose flip, and works good up to about chest high, then it gets squirrly a bit. And the wide point is just north of center, it does not have a wide nose.

 

Just out of curiousity, you mean it seemed like it was pushing water under your front foot just when it should have been planing along?

 

I have a board like that. As in real thick all the way to to the soft rail. It does not paddle or duck dive well. I think because it's to corky. Fun board to surf in wind slop that doesn't require a real paddle out. It can really make something out of nothing. Any hint of a real swell and I ride something else.

 

Displacing water from the front end slowing it down. Wasn't my board-I would not buy one personally but for those who like FW---have fun!!

 

Wider shoulders will put more volume ahead of your wide point, but it has to be taken into the context of foil elswhere. If you've added tail area, you've added volume there, too, so one may have cancelled out the other. Keep in mind, too, that the proportions of the rider matter, too. Not every surfer is built the same.

Adding thickness is always helpful for paddling, as long as you keep the foils the same... nose to tail foil, and rail to rail foil.

 

I do a knock-off of the Sweet Potato, but I've tweaked it for EC beachbreaks. The concept is the same, but I've pulled that big round tail in to more of a super wide rounded pin, and I've flipped the tip in the nose, as mentioned earlier. Same fat foil, same flat deck and beveled rail idea, same long double concaves. Works great, and does not push water due to the flatness of the rocker and massive volume.