Friday, December 20, 2013

7' Funfish comes to life.

This board is a copy of one of my favorites.  It's going to be mostly balsa with some cedar.  The idea is to keep it light.  The frame is luan and cedar.  It's great to work with balsa.  The cedar is good too.






Thursday, December 5, 2013

It's over before you know it.


There is one thing that can be said about the waves here in central Florida, its over in a matter of moments most of the time.  To have any chance for a ride on these short period waves, the rider needs the right board.  When I first started surfing the Florida east coast.  I used a Ron Jon 7' funboard.  It actually worked alright, if the tide was kinda high and there wasn't much chop.  If it was low tide.  The conditions were much more challenging for that board.


Well experience has taught me a few things about finding that small window of good waves.  Because the sandbars seem to be constantly changing.  It makes the waves fairly tide sensitive.  Another words, you got to be there when there is the right amount of water and swell hitting the bar.  That means lots of surf checks and knowing the tidal conditions.  For me having a board that can handle a variety of conditions is pretty important.


The weekend crowd usually confirm my thoughts about having the right board for the local conditions.  When there's a swell on a weekend, there are usually guys in the line up with longboards.  Most of the time these guys see a set wave and start to paddle for it.  Then they realize that it's going to be a pretty steep drop and a long wall, so they back out.  I love to jump on these because I know my board is fast enough and has enough fins to handle that kind of wave.  Anyways, this why my current build is a 7' fish.  It's a copy of one of my favorite boards.  More details to follow.