Any ideas for a shorter board for very hard pitching waves?

rippe75 · Post by **rippe75** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 8:21 am

Hey all.
I've been kneeboarding for about 2yrs now and ride boards ranging from 5'10" to 5'7". No flippers anymore

I remember how easy it was to take off very late when I used to bodyboard and want to incorporate that(flippers) into making a short board for a very powerful (but not big), rippy wave (slab?)that is my homebreak. Air drop take offs and lots of bumps on the face and rips through the wave are common place. Not an easy wave but you can get some really good barrels.

So all I wanna do is take off and get barreled. No turns

Any ideas? I'm 5'6" and weight around 59kgs.
Not looking to shape a spoon/velo but something short (So that I can use more flipper power, rather than paddling) and wide(wide-ish... not sure how wide would work but i feel wide stances work better, unless one of you knows anything that might work better)

Thanks in advance

skansand · Post by **skansand** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 7:27 pm

That sounds alot like a wave over here that breaks in the winter... SBss . The kneelos I see dominate that wave are riding Romonosky Kneeboards... 5'4 to 5'6 ..Quads and Tris with fins near the standard stand-up fin placement.... With flippers.. He might glass em heavy to plow through the chop too?

rippe75 · Post by **rippe75** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 1:05 am

Thanks
Will have a look at those boards

Headwax. · Post by **Headwax.** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 2:07 am

Hya

I'd be thinking about the bottom contours

and taking everything from there

Veed nose will keep the stringer rocker reasonably straight but still give you a higher rail line - good for cutting through chop and stopping rail catch. And giving you a clean entry into the wave/

Same with a veed tail that will sit in the barrel niceley with less chance of the tail sucking up and sending you over the f alls when you are deep inside -also sits in the foam ball better.

Belly contours? Your choice, maybe flattish will stop you getting sucked up in the barrel - especially if you have a stiff ride and can't do minor adjustments ...

There's probably something to be said for a traditional slight belly concave splitting into a dual concave that bleeds around the tail vee,

Try a resin edge from about 14 inches from the nose to just in front of the fins - will give slightly more surface area and a clean break for the water to leave the board -

Eggish rail for the first 1/3rd of the board - if you have a lot of power in the wave then these won't be too much of a disadvantage I guess - and will help stop rail catch as well

You don't want to turn the board much? Maybe fins with nice wide base will give drive off the bottom amd lots of rake? Bear in mind while sitting in the barrel it's always handy to make minor adjustments and stiff fins, though they might give drive down the line, make it harder
to pick your line in the barrel.

5'7" by 23 inch maybe will do the trick - maybe 23and 1/2 wide, single flyer rounded pin? Dunno about the flyer - maybe it's just cosmetic....

hope this helps

EDit: thinking about the flyer.... having the flyer wil let you have a straighter rail line in the middle of the planshape - good for speed down the line - and still have a narrower tail. Try fluting the flyer/wings by taking some foam out of the bottom of the board to make the wings bury better - see Reno Abellira via Steve Artis for that tidbit.

see http://renoabellira.com/surfboards/fish
also page 9 and page 11!

http://www.hotbuttered.com.au/attachmen ... alogue.pdf

rippe75 · Post by **rippe75** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:03 am

thanks a lot Headwax.
Any thoughts on entry rocker? The blank that I have (Broken longboard

) probably won't let me have a big rocker so anything to counter that? I'm thinking of take offs

Bryn · Post by **Bryn** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:36 am

Check out Duncan jones' board shaped by Bro Diplock. He surfs double overhead reef waves on it. Basically a 6'0 packaged in a 5'2"! No flippers either, pics are in the board gallery. Sure he will be along at some point!

Edit sorry its 5'1" and pics here!
album_showpage.php?pic_id=30717

Kauaikneelo · Post by **Kauaikneelo** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:04 am

Tell Bud you want a board for "dump trucks" island style wave and do Bob Gove handles! Then just hang on......

Headwax. · Post by **Headwax.** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:21 pm

rippe75 wrote:thanks a lot Headwax.
Any thoughts on entry rocker? The blank that I have (Broken longboard ) probably won't let me have a big rocker so anything to counter that? I'm thinking of take offs

Numbers are hard, maximim 4inch nose lift and 1 and a half inch tail rocker comes to mind (but others know a lot more than me) , but it's the curves that link the two that are important - that's why we have kneelo shapers. If you are working with limited foam I'd put as much kick in the first three inches as you can and then blend it in quickly to the nose vee etc. If you keep the foam out of the tail as much as possible it will help stop tail lift on late takeoffs - tail lift can cause nose dive.

Beautiful board Bryn!!! Looks like a workhorse.

cheers from oz

Dunc · Post by **Dunc** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:08 pm

http://kneelo.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=754

I had this board made for the reasons you describe. It doesn't have much nose lift so the rocker in your blank should cover it. The idea was to help me compete with the bodyboarders on late drops at a slabby reef. It works really well and the other good news is it goes well it pretty much anything I surf. I've ridden it from 2' up to triple over head. It has Bro's magic shaped in to it though. I imagine the bottom contours, rail shapes and volume distribution have a lot to do with how well it goes.

Dunc · Post by **Dunc** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:09 pm

I just realised I duplicated Bryn's thread. The board goes well though so deserves two posts.

My concept was - get rid of the nose and you don't have to worry about catching a rail up there and it seems to work.

Bryn · Post by **Bryn** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:20 pm

Bro does have the gift! (Must catch up soon Dunc)

As far as numbers go, around 1" at 1' off the nose gives good entry and paddle power i'm finding along with a single concave under the chest. Speed to burn. You can flip the tip as much as you like on the last couple of inches as Mr.'Wax says!

rippe75 · Post by **rippe75** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 3:02 am

Thank you guys. You've given me heaps of helpful info

"... that's why we have kneeboard shapers". You're right Headwax.
I have a Parkes (5'10") and a Neil Luke (5'9") that were given to me, in very good condition, by a friend (ya, a very generous guy) . But they were shaped for him and he's probably at least 20kgs heavier than me. These boards are great for riding bigger waves and the Neil Luke handles the steep drops and chop of the "slab" I'm talking about.
But it's just too much board for me to swing around drop into critical waves. However, it is my go to board for this wave.
I have a custom Flashpoint that's about 4months old and it is a great board for most of the pointbreak type reefs here, in Maldives. But its too fragile for THIS mutant I'm talking about.

Thing is I want to try my hand at shaping during the next 4 months of onshore, small waves and maybe I'll have an ugly (but functional) board when the mutant starts doing its thing, next year.

Thanks again all of you.
KSUSA rocks!