Surfing Waves

Got the new Walden Magic Model in PU custom made. Board weighs 21 pounds. Is this too heavy ? It is only 2 7/8 inches thick. Could the airbrushing have added too much weight ? How much should it weigh ? 19 inch nose. 9'6" long. Thanks

Curtistaxi, mate stop worrying about what we think or say you have your board the only criteria now is how it surfs for you
Get the board in the water give it a fair going over and time for you to adjust.
This is my personal rant here , I travel to third world surf spots, I see little children on broken and discarded surfboards of all shapes sizes and degree of damage having a ball. Please don't get precious about whether the airbrush has made it too heavy , go surf, enjoy, have fun, leave all your worries elsewhere, they will sit on the beach and wait for you to come ashore.

By the weigh, (pun intended) it's lighter than any of my 9ft longboards. Stop worrying it leads to brain hernias

Thanks for the reply. I just think that if it is too heavy- I thought modern longboards weighed around 14-16 pounds, that I could send it back to the factory or have them sell it off the rack before I ride it and it becomes nonreturnable/unsellable. It feels about 5 pounds heavier than other boards in the same length that were also airbrushed on the racks at local surf shops. I don't want that weight to hinder off the lips and cutbacks. I know that this board will be substantially lighter than my 46 pound Harbour but my original goal in all of this was to get the most high performance longboard possible with ample noseriding capabilities. So if this board is too heavy I would rather send it back and have em make another one correctly or simply have th shop that received it from Walden for me sell it at full retail. Then I could start over and get a lighter board. I like everything else about the board so if the extra weight is not a hindrance it will be fine. I just want to get some input before I wax it up. I'm a very picky person when I buy things and it has to be exactly right if it's big bucks like this.

If the 46pounder ( sounds like a huge burger) did the job for you before this going to be a revelation and it will only be in the water not under your arm!. You can go ultra light but IMO you will be buying lots of boards as in the end they can't handle the pace, I had one and it snapped just rolling under a small wave. Another thing ultra light is harder to nose ride.

Picture me, my board similar weight 10 kilograms, in fact slightly heavier. I weight 220 pounds.

One of the sequence and I made it down and into the next section

Thanks Jaffa ! I talked to Steve Walden on the phone this morning and he told me that 18-23 pounds is the norm for a board that length and thickness in PU. He said it mostly depends on the glass schedule. Mine was setup for 2- six ounce layers on the deck with additional four ounce "areas' added in critical areas on the tail where you stand when torquing turns and tail edges and the front "main" standing area. The bottom was setup for either four or six ounce. I don't remember clearly because I was driving the taxi when we spoke. I had already worked 76 hours from Monday at that point which is normal for me. So I was quite rundown as usual for Friday. It's my choice though, as I can work as many hours as I want in the cab. My body is the only limitation. And sleep/family needs. So Steve told me that this glass schedule was the standard and I would be happy with the durability. This mirrors to a T what you are saying and your photo well proves that off the lips won't necessarily be hindered by the heavier glass layup. Do you think the maneuverability of modern longboards is mostly related to the shape of the modern longboard or the decreased weight compared to the older log designs ? I would be curious of your opinion on this. I would think it would be mostly related to the shape. This is what I've learned by studying sailboat design and speed.

I started surfing in Australia in 1958, two years after the great the great revelation of American Balsa long boards when American Lifeguards Greg Noll Tommy Zahn and some others I can't remember,changed the face of surfing.
We called the boards Malibus and the name Mal has stuck for all longboards in Australia.
Everything has become refined over the years rail lines and shape of rail where the bite goes in the rail, concaves vees double concave spiral concaves, fluid dynamics are better fins are better, weight and wetted surface lines have changed,
where the widest point on the board is and of course weight.
All this covers the areas where originally shapers worked by trial and error, and could surf their own productions.
Team riders helped tweak the shapes. OK so that's history. here have been a number of reviews based on hull designs for yachts and sailboats but because the working dynamics are in my opinion so different the cross over has not been effective. If you follow through the lines of thought of Tom Blake, Simmons, Steve Liss
Hot curl, fins on boards, planing hulls, fish, multi fins.
When you consider boats are based on either displacement hulls, wave piercing or planing none other the planing relate directly to surfing
Design and shape per se IMO give the speed , lightness allows some athletic enhancement.
What gives speed? the jury is still out and experiments continue, you can get faster boards but you can't turn them.

My recommendations: have a read of surfing history, I think it's fascinating, wade through the ego stuff and who did what first and there are great things to learn.

Thanks Jaffa ! the top shortboard picture is of me in Cabo San Lucas 13 years ago. I couldn't upload more recent surfing pics for some reason. It said invalid.

That board should be enough to get you out of taxi mode and flying, fins good after you get used to it try both as a 2+1 and a single finner, see what you like, it looks like you have the skills to drive the board through any topside maneouvre.
The rear rail set up too should empower your turns. I like diamond tails too.
I 'd be happy with that board..

Thanks Jaffa. I'll give the board a fair shake. I called the surf shop today and again expressed my concerns to the gentleman that ordered the board for me. He said to try it and if too heavy the shop would either through Walden or not somehow accommodate me. It appears Walden might have glassed it a bit out of the schedule that was on the order and added in the 4 ounce areas on the deck. Like you said though maybe the weight will aid in noseriding and certainly durability. I'll see over the next few sessions if I like it or not. I took it out today in fairly large(a bit overhead), non stop-overly consistent, no lulls between sets,super low tide beachbreak and got only one wave, a mushy shoulder high right that I rode all the way in. It was one of those very difficult paddle out days.So when a perfect day comes soon I will take off work for 2-3 hours to see if it's a go or not.

New board works like a charm, Best board I've owned in my life ! Stock center fin much too wide and long and makes board feel like a lemon.

Have to say I told you so but I won't.

Thanks Jaffa ! Ok - time to surf ! On Sunday at least.