Surfing Waves

Hey, im at surfer for oz just got a question concerning body weight.

Im 6'4 currently surf my 6'3 fish, and my two 6'5 shortboards.

I currently wiegh 180lbs (80kg) and am considering putting on more weight upto around 200-210lbs (90-95kg).

Anyway i am hesitant to do so because i dont want it to affect my surfing too much...i understand my board dimensions will change with an increase in weight but is there any other factors i should think about?

increasing that much will definetly affect one or two aspect of surfing. I know losing weight helped me to rip better and have an easier take off.. so i guess gaining weight will be the opposite if you still use the same board that has the dimension.
I would like to see what other people have to say still...!

depends how you put the weight on and how quickly. if you're surfing through it shouldn't be too bad. I've put on about a stone since having one of my boards but as i've been surfing through it i don't feel its effected me badly.

yeah ive put on around 10kg in the last 6 months...as im quite tall and have thin legs and arms i would love to add some bulk to these regions.

I have not noticed any effect on my surfing, i just shaped a new board for myself which has some nice volume and still allows me to whip the turns out.

Oh yeah one good thing of gaining weight is that you can duck dive better.

Greater body mass means more motive power through gravity. Heavier surfers ( all else being equal) can thus accelerate faster and reach higher top speeds than lighter surfers.


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RoyStewart wrote:Greater body mass means more motive power through gravity. Heavier surfers ( all else being equal) can thus accelerate faster and reach higher top speeds than lighter surfers.


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yes it just takes more to get going. If i have the right board i should be fine, im might just struggle more on weak mushy grom waves. ha

Uglystick it doesn't take longer to get going for heavier surfers. . . in fact just the opposite. . . heavier surfers accelerate faster on takeoff., all else being equal. . . . even in small weak waves, provided that your equipment is scaled up in bottom area, buoyancy, and fin size.

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RoyStewart wrote:Uglystick it doesn't take longer to get going for heavier surfers. . . in fact just the opposite. . . heavier surfers accelerate faster on takeoff., all else being equal. . . . even in small weak waves, provided that your equipment is scaled up in bottom area, buoyancy, and fin size.

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i guess what im worried about is that if i did add on 10 kg my boards would change and not allow me to whip them around like i can do currently on small mushy fish waves.

Im starting to think ive nothing to worry about

just needed to talk it through a bit rather then let my concious mind tell me what to do.

Well if we assume that a 10% increase in rider weight needs a 10% increase in planing area and a 10% increase in volume, and that you are starting with a 6 foot board, then scaling up the board for your weight could be done several ways ( the figure are only approximations ) :

1) Widen the board by 2 inches, no increase in length or thickness needed.

2) Widen the board by an inch and lengthen it by 3 inches, no increase in thickness required ( this keeps about the same board proportion as you started with )

3) Lengthen the board by 6 inches, no increase in thickness required.

If your aim is to keep turning well in small waves then (1) or (2) will be the best bet.

Often people try to keep the same length and width and rely on making the board thicker for added buoyancy when adjusting for a heavier person, but it's not a very good idea because it reduces the available planing area per pound of bodyweight. Adding volume addresses the paddling issue but does nothing for the planing area issue. Best to increase the planing area, which also has the happy consequence of increasing volume and thus buoyancy without making the board thicker.

One change which you might experience is due to the exercises done to increase muscle, they tend to be low rep high weight exercises which might reduce your finesse slightly and increase power. Tom Carroll said that he noticed that body building tended to do that. I'm assuming that you are not planning to add 10 kg of fat. I have added a planned 12 kg of bodyweight myself over the last 2 years from 74 to 85kg so have been thinking about the subject quite a bit ( it's muscle and bone not fat btw )

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yeah i agree with what you have said, the board i recently made is 6'5X19 1/4X2 1/2

the reason being is the waves i tend to surf tend to be quite slow breaking waves. I would be able to get away with a scaled down version if i consistenly surfed powerful waves .

I have a feeling that even if i added on the extra kgs this board would still be fine for me.

Yeah ive noticed since i put on 10kg previously my turns feel more powerful..and yes im planning on it been mostly muscle.My bf% is not very high.