7’10 WTF

The other day i was nosing in the factory looking for a messed up blank for Seren’s board and i stumbled across a longboard blank that the APS3000 had “attacked” off centre, huge gouged first cut running along the bottom, nose to tail. Totally missed the deck but cut a little rail (again about 3/4”off centre)… so I said to Nige “what the f**k you gonna do with that!” and he said “you want it, you can have it…” Of course i jumped at the chance, there was something kind of familiar in its chopped off nose and the gouge looked like an interesting starting point for something… so Friday I had a few  minutes left after shaping Ant’s 2 Zen Dogs and decide to try some templates.

  Now in the modern shaping room templates are as much there for nostalgia and the odd adjustment, so there wasn’t exactly a load to choose from… but i found some curves that i liked and got started. Felt like it wanted a shovel nose and a twin pin tail… so that was my starting point.

I am still unsure where this board is going… its dimensions are pretty obscure already due to the machine’s influence… 7’10 x 23 x 2 1/2” – so at the end of the day once i have skinned the blank both sides this board wont be any thicker than 2 1/4” is my guess. I think things will become clearer once i know how much foam i actually have to work with.

Fins – not even sure it’s going to have any at this time…

Week off with my daughter now so no more updates until next week.

Asymmetrical 5’8” single fin

      

Look at each half as an individual… you know it makes sense.

5’8” x 20 1/2” x 2 3/8” with double concave spiral V and hull nose.

Will be an Indigo reverse lap single fin + “drifta” style out-riggers.

More asymmetry

    

Atlantic POD for Florida

Merrick’s Atlantic POD bonzer EVO6 6’6” x 20 3/4” x 2 7/8”, Bernoulli concaves, cheek tail, beak nose… very happy with how the shaping went today, especially the concaves which are often tricky to get just right.

Nose & tail blocks

  

More Blue Lava…

Pete’s foam…

#1 Legacy 6’6”

Had fun shaping this one! Flat decks are so  much more challenging to shape as they reveal every imperfection in the rail curve… and this one was more challenging as it came out of the machine a bit squiffy, with some skin on the bottom too… happy with the end result but until it gets the ok from my collaborator, it’s not getting sprayed or glassed!

      

Photos: Adam (ta)

Give me Shelter

Shelter inspired bonzer EVO5 for Maurizio, Italy; 6’2” x 20” x 2 1/2”      

1/10

More on this board to follow – it looks very conventional but is far from… #1 of a limited edition of 10.

5’11” x 19 1/2” x 2 1/2”

   

shaped

Asymmetricity

Getting there…

Asymmetric bonzer

I’d been thinking about an asymmetric for years, then this years Sacred Craft kind of re-excited me… but i have always struggled with the concept for the waves we have. Most times I can’t have a board that is optimised to go only one way and most of the asymmetrics out there seem to be biased to forehand performance, so a longer straighter rail toe-side for better projected bottom turns and a shorter rounder planshape on the outside rail for coming off the top and for cutbacks. For me this was an issue, as backside I’d have to deal with a shorter curvier planshape. I have found I can turn harder off the bottom and top backside so have always been comfortable with a longer board & straighter rail.

So this asymmetric is an experiment, is isn’t the right way round in terms of those who are most expert in these designs. My idea simply takes the primary side of my favourite frontside and backside boards and joins them. So this is my 6’2” Riddler frontside and my 6’4” FreakFish backside… except for the fins. To add drive on the frontside bottom turn and compensate for that curvy planshape I am using my incut keel fin (LokBox) with a single bonzer feeder on the rail. Heelside its all straight forward FreakFish EVO6… I have never had a problem cutting back frontside with the FreakFish, infact it carves a turn as sharp as any, so that longer straighter rail will be no problem. Backside roundhouses should be ridiculously easy and with more drive.

 

A lot going on…

I love this point of the process. Everything cut, squared, flat, symmetrical ready for the fun bits…   

EVO6 Bump stinger 7’11” x 21 7/8” x 2 7/8”…

Spherical rocker, bonzer EVO concaves with feeder channels up front forward of the stings  (based on MCs light vehicle concept). Concave shovel flex nose (same as the Joker) and cheek flex tail (same as the Atlantic POD)…

Last shape of 2011

Hugh’s 6’10” Atlantic POD… Bernoulli concaves and cheeky tail. I LOVED shaping this board.