Long story too short and wide...

I am in a long and detailed conversation with a fellow swayser about length vs. width in terms of volume left behind.
I was asked if I could shape out a board similar to a Liddle that popped up recently.
The board is thinned out, like a foot up from the tail it is 1 inch thick. At two feet up, it hits a whopping 1.5 inches and gets all the way to 2 and 11/16ths or something. Stays that way to 3 feet back from the nose where it starts its slide to the 11/32nds rail edge on the nose.
The guy who owns it says "I dont know where he hid the volume!"
I do!
It doesn't have any!
Holy smokes.
Its a good looking board, the Liddle. Nice wide tail, fuller plan shape than most of his hulls.
The tail and nose, the rails too, all super thin, I mean while shaping it out, its going to be bending the foam to even sand it let alone run a planer across it.
Liddle must do these on a support table.
So I thinned out a blank cut off last night to see how thin I could go.
1/4 inch was as far as I got. I took a 2' by 2" piece of foam and planed it to a 1/4 inch.
The it simply collapsed like a white foam black hole.
So I took a 9'2" blank and laid it out on a soft foam backing and was able to get to the 1/4 thickness (the blank will be cut down for a 5'6" Simmons) without cracking the foam.
So that may be how he does it.
Still, I don't think I can do it.
He is Liddle, I am a hack.

In yet another talk about boards...when did 23 inches become too wide?
My 10'6" was 25.5 and worked just fine. My first Simmons was 24 and it too did everything it was supposed to do.
My personal sixten is 23.5 and I rode it till dark last night in 2' peaky perfection (while watching the Cormorants build nests in the tree's), any less foam and I would have been struggling to catch the little grinders.
The formula, all things being relative...an inch of width is equal to 6 inches in length.
Since how much length of rail and outline can determine how 'loose' the board feels, wouldn't it make sense to go wider rather than longer for the same paddle and float?
I think it relates more to where you surf.
I surf lots of crap waves.
Even last night, I was the only one out.
Mushy, 200 yard paddles, funky rips are the norm here.
Yeah, it gets better sometimes but day in and day out, the local waves are mostly big mushy rollers.
I should move to Kiwanda...

Speaking of Kiwanda...
You want to know how long Karma lasts?

A certain surfer/shaper came through here a few years ago and pissed a few people off. It may have been that he brought 5 guys with him or he simply didn't follow the etiquette one needs to surf a certain spot here.
In any case, one of his boards-attached to a tourist-came through a few days ago.
There was some talk abut waxing the tourists' windows, lighting the guy on fire, stealing his lunch money...etc. (kidding mostly)
The guy looked around a bit for a kind eye but none to be found...
The guy paddles out on his super duper quad finned 6 foot something fish looking thing and flails around.
Just another two digit surfer on a four digit board.
Well, have mercy we said.
But it says a lot about being careful when you travel, especially if you own a business and people know who you are.
It won't matter how well you surf, what you leave behind in terms of bad Karma will last much longer and, like children often do, cause others who may or may not be associated with you to endure the ill will you left behind.
We let the tourist be...but if you know a guy with a new blue Toyota truck with a shell on it and a certain sticker from a shaper with a number on it...I think it was a green/orange looking quad fish, tell him the next time he wanders through SoOr, pull that sticker and tape over that logo on his board.
Karma you know. Through no fault of his own, he came this close to having some issues with a pretty nasty bunch.
Now you know why I have no use for logo's.

But of course, when I travel, I am Mister Smiley Good Time.
Get a wave, let one go, here comes another one.
Anyway, now that I have this bad taste in my mouth...

Another design thing to think about...
When does the rail become a fin?
When you do this...It's why hulls and even Simmons type boards have bladed rails.
Go ahead, try to draw out a high speed bottom turn like that on your chip...can't.


Not much on tap today, getting the Purple Turtle finished up is my only goal.
And, whatever you do, do not Google "making purple".
Who knew?

See ya.


"One wrong move and the Turtle gets it!"