the old man and the sea

Awesome work on that step up for Dustin, looking fine!  I'll try to get some more specifics on a ride report for the 8-8, but so far easy into the waves, fast down the line, and holds well in steep sections.  I haven't run it with my good quads yet, and am still a bit tenuous as I always am with a new board, but will eventually spend some quality time with it.  Right now I'm still in the honeymoon stage with my new Gordita, and very stoked.  Ran it with 5 fins tonight and had a blast, who knew?

I'm feeling so confident with this thing I'm almost ready to try shaping a 6-10.  That would be so awesome for me, if I could shape a 6-10 I could actually ride.  Man, I would almost want to throw a party for that!

Probably stay with the same big boy blank I used for the 7-2 Gordita, pull in the nose just a little, pull in the tail just a little, squash instead of bat, add a tiny bit more rocker just because (even 'tho Gordita rocker working great), keep it fat and sassy like Gordita, rail channels and concave deck again because I'm so happy with that arrangement.  I have drawn it a hundred different ways (well, a lot of different ways), and I have a drawing in front of me that looks just right to my eyes.

I'm thinking maybe quad option and single fin, thruster just doesn't seem to appeal to me like quad and singles.  Must be that old school blood in my veins (do you have iron poor tired blood....?)

Thanks all for keeping this thread alive, so stoked to have a venue to pursue / discuss the design of surfboards for the senior years, its taken years off my surfing!

BTW, just read this insane passage in the Miki Dora biography A Few Perfect Waves, where he, and another guy who was out, describe Miki getting the ride of his life at J-Bay so. Africa, at 64 years old!!!

Ha yeah, I don't really think of it like that, but don't deny it either. This one has been in my head for awhile, long before the last board, just keep mentally refining it.  Template shape probably related to my 7-6 green frog board of a few years back.

For some time I have wanted to make a short board (under 7') that I could ride, you know, comfortably - even in a crowded lineup. The stubby was an attempt, but I wasn't feeling the love on that one. Happy to have the 8-8 in its stead.

But the Gordita at 7-2 has given me the confidence that maybe I could do it after all. Just drop 4" in length, make a few changes, but keep a lot of the features that make it such a good paddler / wave catcher.

To be honest, I like the rail channels so much I can't really envision making a board without them at this point.

Eventually I plan to take a break from shaping, and focus on making and trying various fin shapes and configurations with the boards I have. But not quite yet, lol.

Unfortunately, most my boards are outside the box and would be difficult to sell. And a lot of them I like and ride, part of my quiver I'm not interested in parting with. So I find the sell em to make room for more doesn't fit so well for me. Meaning at some point I reach critical mass, and have to quit.

I'm not so enamored with knifey rails as a "must". I like them, they do work well, but right now it's popular to praise them as the only performance shape out there, I'm more open to thicker rails, and believe they can work very well also.

Dustin's board is looking good, sounds like he'll be testing it in some heavy stuff before long. Curious to see how he likes the thicker shape with more volume.

BTW, I gotta ask, am I the only one who finds it significant that Miki Dora, self proclaimed "king of Malibu", who spent a lifetime traveling the globe in search of perfect waves, got the ultimate ride of his life at age 64?

haha yeah, I just thought it worth noting that his best wave he was well into his sixties, so many things decline after 50, apparently not the ability to catch and ride great waves.  To me that was interesting.

As far as the rest, well, he was a charismatic and adventurous guy, but with a very confused or maybe just unorthodox moral compass. Did seem to mellow somewhat in his senior years.

OK, I'll wander off a bit on this tangent (Dora), having just finished the Perfect Waves biography. He was a talented and troubled soul, for sure. Rascal seems like an appropriate term for his youthful antics, but he became more sinister in his crimes as he matured. In old age, however, he seemed to question / regret some of his life choices, and to try to make amends to some of his victims. He forged more meaningful relationships. Through it all, the love of surfing, and the talent remained and never faltered.

As I came to know him through the biography (I don't have that history at the 'bu like you, only the photos films and stuff I read in Surfer mag over the years), I could feel for his pain of childhood rejection and abuse, his moral and religious confusion, his hatred of the things he saw (more clearly than others) that were happening to society and the environment, his love of nature and of simple people of the land, and his puzzlement and conflict at the adulation he received, fostered, loved, hated, but never understood.

He couldn't be molded to society's expectations even if he tried, which he didn't. He had style and flamboyance and a wicked sense of humor.  But he hurt and took advantage of a lot of people who tried to befriend and help him, he burned bridges relentlessy without forethought or remorse, his pathological addiction to lying and stealing brought a lot of pain and and tribulation and loneliness and unhappiness on himself and others. A really gifted but conflicted soul with a wild and adventurous spirit, maybe even a bit of a genius, who seemed to find a bit of inner peace only as his approaching death began to soften those defenses hardened over a lifetime.

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The new board looks great, hope Dustin finds it the perfect El Nino sled! And inspiration will come when and how it comes, sometimes its good to step away and come back later with a fresh perspective.

I can't claim to being a convert, exactly, or to knowing what it is I might be converted to, haha, after two sessions on my hplb, but I already find myself making a mental note to go over the shape with a fine tooth comb to see just what exactly you did there. It has a different feel to it, and will take me awhile to process, but the first and most obvious impression is the speed. It has some stuff going on, for sure!