Liddle in New Jersey (Displacement Hulls on Big Days)

Looking to see if a Liddle burrito can handle the bigger days in New Jersey/ New York. General consensus for our fast, beach break barreling days is either a shortboard or fish.

I recently tried a 6’8’ single fin (4A at 8’) on a pretty darn good day around Christmas time. But occasionally, it would skip out from under my back foot…

So I was wondering if less foam, side bites, and a true displacement hull might just do the trick?

Is the 6’ 8” a Liddle or? If so, what planshape is it? 

Hi Matt,

The 6’8" is a Mencel (shaper out of Manasquan, NJ).

Kind of a pin tail style. A rounded hull (?).

Single fin set back for tubes, no side bite option…

And to clarify, I drop in almost ready to go fourth gear cheater 5 style. Rarely am I looking to cutback, rarely use back foot.

 

Thanks for your time!



Liddle’s designs are/were specific to the conditions at those spots, Malibu being one of them.   Lined up, real makeable, slow enough that a single fin will be keep up without getting too far out in front.    There aren’t even that many spots on the West Coast that have conditions like that, which is why you won’t commonly see a Liddle-style hull at most spots.   

Moreover, they’re not designed for big days.  Their sweet spot in size is hip to head high.  The upright and narrow based flex fins will break loose in overhead conditions unless you really baby them.    When run as a singlefin, even a 4A will let loose if there’s a ton of energy.    Which from your description above sounds like what happened to you.    

The board in the pic looks more similar to a Christenson C-Bucket, which will handle larger conditions, but it still won’t keep up with a fast wave.   

If you want to retain the singlefin point-and-shoot style in fast conditions then maybe a Bonzer or a Widowmaker or a channel bottom would do that for you.    And a stiffer fin.    But definitely not a hull.    

 Dave Parmenter is a big proponent for singlefin and related designs in faster conditions.  Check his site out

Beautiful! Great feedback and intel. Now with all that said, what fin would you throw on that 6’8"?

I wouldn’t surf that board in the conditions you’re describing.  I’d go with a 2+1 or a quad.   

I surf midlength singlefins a lot.   But in the slower and mushier conditions for which they are suited.     For conditions that are bigger or faster or in dumpy conditions i swith it up to designs that have fins out at the rail and I surf the board more actively.   

If you WERE to surf that board in bigger conditions then a Brewer-type fin would be a good choice.   A Bonzer template would be good, although those tend to run a bit small for a board this size.  The Parrish full base single fin would be a good choice.    Depending on your tail width my preference would be a custom 7.5" or even 8" Bonzer template.   

https://www.brewersurfboards.com/shop-fins

https://www.trueames.com/collections/single-fins-1/products/tom-parrish-single-fin

 

Others here may have different suggestions.   For that board in faster conditions I think you would need a relatively stiff fin with a full base chord.   

I would add a couple of those single plug/tab sidebites like are made by Rainbow and True Ames.  Just get them in the right spot and they will make all the difference in the World.    I wouldn’t set them so far forward that your board becomes a “Widow Maker”.  Depending on your center fin position, placing them too far forward could ruin that board.  Without any measurements;  I am going to guesstimate placement at somewhere in the front half or third of your center box.  

Hello; why do you suppose that a Liddle design could be better into a toob or steeped wave than that egg? I see a good outline and possible a good shape; but the photos do not show the other curves.

I am a big proponent of single fin shapes and please do not confuse a single fin board with those 70 s shapes only. Around mid 90s I surfed 3 years with a 6 1 or so with a contemporary HP shape of that time with a single fin an a trailer inline. Extremelly good board; fast and without that thruster recovery after you smashed the lip. Then around mid 00 s I built a 5 10 bonzer that have 2700 waves surfed. A bonzer is like a single fin on steroids.

A 2 + 1 set up is a pretty good one; one also that is more user friendly than a thruster for surfers that not put the rear foot too far back.

So, if you have problems with that board sliding on the tail in those toobs is the fin choise or the position or both in relation to your position, stance and type of pressure when you are doing the bottom turn to carve the wave, because those shapes can handle very good a beach break condition.

Check out the Liddle Hawaiian kind model. Made for hanalei bay in Hawaii.had a 7’4” that would handle anything  be it size or type of break…