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Tux said..

RoyStuart said..
In have a bit of video of the sesh, it's not really worth showing though but I'll put it up if you fellows want to see it... just a bloke under the weather on some small bumpy close outs.

Anyway five 11 foot blanks cut to this profile are due to be delivered this week, thickness I took down to 3.25":

Does this show the rocker after shaping (Or close to)?

That's exactly how the blanks are cut and I'll be taking little if anything off the deck, bottom will have a light single concave but will remain essentially the same. Bottom and deck are subtly modified circular arcs, the tail rocker flattens almost impereceptibly and has an equally slight nose flip.

Give me a minute or so and I'll post the video.

Woohoo blanks arrived, I forgot that I'd ordered them at 2.75" thick, they look sweet.

Remember I warned you that this video is not much:

I might have missed the point but wasn't this board meant to be suitable for huge waves on consequence

It just looks really lose in even the small waves you've just posted, how will it handle in 15' plus waves with the serious speed

Only asking incase i missed something along the line

Hi Roy, enjoyed that vid, the board looked fast and fun, certainly not bothered too much by the chop, I look forward to some more footage

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jbshack said..
I might have missed the point but wasn't this board meant to be suitable for huge waves on consequence

It just looks really lose in even the small waves you've just posted, how will it handle in 15' plus waves with the serious speed

Only asking incase i missed something along the line

Yeah mate, you might have missed something. Roy explained this surf session in a post on the previous page. Cheers...

Board looks fast down the line in the clip. And I could have sworn Roy missed that wave, and then... shazzam!

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jbshack said..
I might have missed the point but wasn't this board meant to be suitable for huge waves on consequence

It just looks really lose in even the small waves you've just posted, how will it handle in 15' plus waves with the serious speed

Only asking incase i missed something along the line

The nature of these shapes is that their handling doesn't change much with variations in speed, so the board should be fine, although I think that she's on the short side for really big waves is and thicker than I prefer. Camel is also in favour of going as thin as possible, hence the upcoming 11 footers at 2.75" thick.

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wavelength said..


Board looks fast down the line in the clip. And I could have sworn Roy missed that wave, and then... shazzam!

She has potential, I'll have to give her a run at the points. Wave catching ability is pretty outrageous, which is part of what we are after.

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wavelength said..

jbshack said..
I might have missed the point but wasn't this board meant to be suitable for huge waves on consequence

It just looks really lose in even the small waves you've just posted, how will it handle in 15' plus waves with the serious speed

Only asking incase i missed something along the line

Yeah mate, you might have missed something. Roy explained this surf session in a post on the previous page. Cheers...

Board looks fast down the line in the clip. And I could have sworn Roy missed that wave, and then... shazzam!

Sorry i understood the waves were only smaller in the video. Its just seemed to be loose/unstable in those waves and i would have thought with more speed it would be even more unstable. Surfing in Hawaii last year (Nothing of any substance for most but big for me) i was stunned at the speed achieved just taking a bigger drop. In fact half the trouble i had was simply surviving the drop and the speed chatter

Either way I'm still looking forward to see it in some big waves Roy..

I wish you had gone for a longer drive Roy - this place is not that far from you. There were a couple of days of great waves around - it would have been nice to see how your new board went in some decent waves. Its not often that coast lights up like that - a shame you missed it. Seems a missed opportunity.

Sick vid ted!
Regular punters giving it a nudge yeww

Nice vid Ted, not sure that it was the same day I was out as there was a serious cross swell to contend with. I know the spot, but due to a serious staph infection was lucky to get out at all.

Here's the first 11 footer with rocker, deck, and planshape cut out. It's the 64A-017 ( these obscure sounding numbers are to do with the origin of the planshape curve and proportion... 'A' refers to a straight section in the tail planshape and 17 is the width to length proportion, in round figures)... anyway 11' by 23" by 2.75" with a tail measurement of 4.5" and a nose at 14".

Widepoint is 40% aft. Stringerless this time.

Spotted at Mount Maunganui... here's James' ride report on the 9'5" 64A-017:

"It's good, paddles like a demon, easy enough to control, on take off you can just rotate it from the center. I got it moving pretty fast but you have to work it up and down the face a bit more than a tunnel finned board. Its very easy to ride, Easy to catch waves on, I clicked with it straight away just miss the tunnel. Got some good waves too.

This thread isn't about hollow boards, the 'Gun Project' is all about EPS and glass boards.

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jbshack said..


i would have thought with more speed it would be even more unstable.

Stability and responsiveness both increase with speed with these shapes, unlike the standard big wave guns which have the pitch fulcrum too far aft and due to their tail design, are too unstable fore and aft. Countless videos are out there showing riders eating it due to this problem.

The 9-6 doesn't feel unstable, it's just very responsive, I've also been riding bigger boards so have to dial in to the shorter length and narrower width. Of course thickness does decrease stability somewhat, I'm going to wind it back thinner and see if we still have sufficient buoyancy... we really need more than sufficient buoyancy the trick is to get it while keeping the board as thin as possible.

You mentioned speed chatter, it causes major problems with the standard designs but the displacement tailed pins just handle it without problem... the board still looks like its chattering over bumps but in the riding position one doesn't feel it due to the stable fulcrum and harmonic node under the rider's feet... the tail dampens the pitching motion too... the boards are almost 'self tending' which is very important when making the wave is the number one priority.

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Either way I'm still looking forward to see it in some big waves Roy.

This one's just the beginning, to test the increased thickness. The eleven to 12 footers will be the size to go for I think. Dialling the volume/thickness is what we have to get right first, the designs themselves in terms of shape are already worked out and well tested, although we'll be trying a few new tweaks like the incut tail.

Once the single fins are sorted and we have a dozen or so of them then we'll start on the tunnel finned boards, that's when it's going to get even more interesting.

I'm happy with the new foam, it's much better than the US Blanks stuff which seems to have a lower melting point... (starts to melt when cutting it out with a hand saw) the local foam has no such issues.

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RoyStuart said..


Spotted at Mount Maunganui... here's James' ride report on the 9'5" 64A-017:

"It's good, paddles like a demon, easy enough to control, on take off you can just rotate it from the center. I got it moving pretty fast but you have to work it up and down the face a bit more than a tunnel finned board. Its very easy to ride, Easy to catch waves on, I clicked with it straight away just miss the tunnel. Got some good waves too.

Whats that other board on the car Roy
and whats with the number plate

My son's car, the woody is his 9'4" pretty cool plate isn't it?

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RoyStuart said..
My son's car, the woody is his 9'4" pretty cool plate isn't it?

Is it the National NZ boxing champions wheels Roy,its a cool wagon,what do the plates say?

No That James' car, he's 24 and will be a father soon.

The plates say 'Devios'.

Every time I read the thread title this song comes to mind.

Roy for all your physics gusto I would like to hear your thoughts on tomo surfboards. Is he a genius?
And please play nice my good sir..no calling people fat bastards who glutton beer and pies.

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Ctngoodvibes said..
Roy for all your physics gusto I would like to hear your thoughts on tomo surfboards. Is he a genius?
And please play nice my good sir..no calling people fat bastards who glutton beer and pies.

I can't make a call on the genius idea as it's supposed to be based on an IQ test.

Tomo's boards are obviously well thought out and do what's intended, he's getting better at explaining them too.

I can't call Tomo fat because he isn't.

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Cuttlefish said..

RoyStuart said..
No That James' car, he's 24 and will be a father soon.

The plates say 'Devios'.

Is he handicapped?

Anyway I've recovered from the serious Staph infection which I had in my leg and which had me laid up for ten days, so more progress coming up.

Still in the seemingly endless fairing phase on the 66-021, another week should see it done.

Can I ask what is the point of that tail design? (Serious question Roy - what are you trying to achieve with this design ?)

Thanks for asking.

It's a development or extrapolation of my existing displacement tail designs ( or 'sinker tails' as they are sometimes called).

There are three 'features' of this shape:

1) The tail sinks under pressure, this has a similar effect to increasing the rocker and it has some nice effects on the handling,... it keeps the pitch fulcrum ( rather like the hinge on a seesaw) of the board in a stable position, so the rider doesn't feel chop as much and the board's reaction to input remains predictable.

Planing surfaces increase lift by the square as speed increases, with conventional designs this has the effect of shifting the wetted surface area and planing area back on the board as speed increases, this moves the fulcrum back towards the tail, making the board unbalanced and causing handling issues. With displacement based lift speed makes no difference, the tail response stays more or less the same.

That's the basic idea of the displacement tail, this '66' series shape makes the effect more extreme by reducing planing area even more.

2) Water exit or 'release'. With a displacement tail the water leaves at the very tip of the tail, rather than over a horizontal hard planing edge as is the case with conventional boards. By having an incut on the tail the rails of the board are more parallel at the exit ( this makes for more efficient flow mixing as the water leaves) and the 'stream' in the direction of the water flow more closely.

3) There's a hip in the planshape cause by the incut, which should give a nice turning section of the rail close to the rider.

I could say that the board is like a pig shape complete with pigtail but I won't.

I haven't ridden a planshape with incut yet so we shall see, I can say with confidence that she'll float, paddle well, and will definitely catch waves, for the rest I'll report back when we get the machine wet.

The board would no doubt work finless too.