Are you a Longboarder thinking about going a bit shorter? I highly recommend it.

The BobSled & CarverFish are great starting points. The 7'4 to 7'10 range is a great starting point too. Adjust width and thickness to suit your weight and preference. Don't be afraid to stay wide and thick for comfortable paddling power, almost as good as your longboard.

www.mctavish.com.au/surfboard/bobsled
http://www.mctavish.com.au/surfboard/carver-fish

If you're already getting to your feet really fast, and making at least 9/10 take-offs on your Malibu (9+ footer), and if you don't have something shorter, you should think about these dimensions... 7'8 x 21 x 3". That would suit someone around 6 foot, and 90 kilos. If you are shorter/lighter, or heavier/taller, think along the lines of either 7'2 x 20"3/4 x 2"7/8 or 7'11 x 21"1/2 x 3"1/8. (or 3" but retain foam volume elsewhere).

They will slide down the line like a log can, in knee high / above knee high point breaks. But when it gets head high and a bit more punch, they will zip off the bottom, pivot hard off the top, and you can also allow them to do beautiful long drawn out bottom turns too. Play around with the fins... Have fun!

Mine is a Golden Dawn from Bells Beach.

PS - semi recycling these photos from April... Just trying to inject something into the beloved Longboard Room!!

nice board mate i was looking at the bobsled for a bit. i cant really get of my 8ball atm an the egg has hardly seen water am taking a big triple stringer log out tomz for a test run my way of thought was the 8ball for all round fun,the egg for much the same as the 8ball and log for when its too small to catch waves on the other two...and nose ride the big fat biatch

then again i might get rid of the 8ball for a nice 9"1 all rounder like the fire ball,but it wont be a mct,keep the egg and buy a log, i think then my quiver would be complete. i could buy heaps off other boards i like,but those 3 boards would cover pretty much all conditions and the extras would just confuse me

That 8ball works well for you chrispy,check the UFO 8 out I think you will liove it!

^^^looks like a run of the mill mini mal but its a quad and goes like the clappers. Its sitting in my garage gatheing dust. It will be out again some day.

Yep, I've ridden Miller's and they go very well. I've never owned one, but they do go very well.

I went down from a 9'1 to a 7'2 recently, and haven't looked back! I was struggling on the beachies here in Perth on the mal, especially when they got hollow. This board is brilliant to paddle, and turns sharply too. Just got back from a trip up north and she was a ripper

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Simondo said...

Yep, I've ridden Miller's and they go very well. I've never owned one, but they do go very well.

I've had a few off him Simondo and he makes good boards for bigger blokes. He's got a fair bit of experience starting out at Hot Buttered in the 70's and going on his own before a 10 year stint shaping around San Diego in California. He's been on holidays since July in Indo and Mexico and wont be shaping till some time next year. What a life.
I like the quad set ups on midlengths because it seems to liven the board up a lot.

We're having a little run of clean smallish waves at the moment. I'm going to try The Bonzer Fins tomorrow... (pic loading up)...

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Simondo said...

We're having a little run of clean smallish waves at the moment. I'm going to try The Bonzer Fins tomorrow... (pic loading up)...

yeh your little is like 12 foot faces mate

Nah, head high and under! You make a good point though.

Bonzer;

Here's medium !

This was also medium!

Love midlengths..I have a couple at the moment, great fun in anything.
single fin egg about 7ft by 21 1/4 and 2 5/8th, pretty much the 9 fter measurements but with 2 feet cut off.

And also a short board type shape 7'5 thrusters set up with a swallow tail, pretty sure it's 2.5 ish by 20 or 20.5, for the occasional bigger day where paddling the lb looks like too much hard work:)

And another 7'6 fun board / minimal, that was a dumpster diver after a bloke snapped the nose off, it's about 20.5 by 2 7/8th from memory

Also had a few other over years, including a miller water skate, as said above really nice boards. Also had one of the older mctavish carvers that was the wood deck model I'm guessing mid 90s nice looking board but started to delaminate in the heat, fun board to surf.

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Simondo said...

Here's medium !

shhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttim only surfing with you when its flat then mate

The Bonzer experiment....

Firstly, the board was NOT designed as a Bonzer. It was fun though. Went quite similar to the quad set-up, similar drive. Except it felt "sticky" on the rail to rail release. probably something to do with those weird fin angles, and long bases.

Didn't flow very well through the tighter turns...

But, it went like a rocket in the pocket. After a cutback it would start to stall a little bit, and you get sucked back into the pocket, and then it would come back to life again.

Today, visually, my Bonzer Board kind of reminded me of the MP Moon Rocket / Fang Tail, except the fins are the fangs!

A fun session anyway.... But I've already swapped the fins out.... But I will definitely try them again. Next time, big Bonzers up front.

Here's my beloved 7'10 Rincon '68 Dream Machine by McTavish.

Here's 2 beautiful native sea grasses from down our way. The pink one is great to eat, raw. The green one is nice also. The green one can be found only on sections of reef that are in the 0.0 to 0.40 low tide range. The pink one is most prolific from now through to April / May. When the water is warmer.



^ iPhone shadow!