Surfing Waves

So after much searching on what i would like my surfboard painted with i narrowed it down to two choices. I was looking for something great but simple so i ended up browsing a lot of the vintage lighting bolt models.


Finally my two choices are to make a copy of the model below with the team light bolt graphics and all, minus the barnfield name which will be replaced with the name of my shaper in another place of the board. (sorry for the large image)





Or make it like the one on the left or right maybe with a different colour scheme, yellow and red like the other maybe.





The board will be a retro fish or hybrid fish shape, around 6 6 - 6 8.


I like them both, one is more of a replica and the other looks more like an inspired design but not necessarily a copy, although it is.

Well as i cant make up my mind other surfers opinion will help. Thanks.

This may be me, but the second designs look a little like 'man parts' - which, if they are boards from the 70s, is probably completely intentional...

I like a lot of colour on my boards so I would pick the first

Ok thats a good point

I myself like the team bolt better too, but was a bit hesitant to copy someone elses board, but unless more opinions appear i will go with that one for sure.

I lost my board once and had to swim a half mile to go retrieve it because it was white and I couldn't see it in the whitewater. I promised myself I would never get another all white board no matter how nice they look. So I would pick a board color that was easy to spot in the water

Thats good advice i didnt know about, in the subject of that just out of curiosity, is it true that black painted boards are a bad idea due to they attracting a lot of sun heat or is it just a myth and is it more or less the same than any other colour? I heard that while searching for different graphics and never really found any more info on the subject.

My boards had black pin lines which never had a problem but not so sure about a black board. The only black board I ever saw was a tank, built with 4 layers of 8 pound glass. You could drop it on the rocks and it wouldn't ding. I am pretty sure that any color will decrease the lifespan of the board at least if it is polyester resin (not sure about epoxy). Probably the darker the more rapidly it will deteriorate in the sun. But I have only seen the one black board so not sure how it goes.

When I got my last board made the shaper recommended against dark colours because they show up board imperfections a lot more (whether during the shaping process or dings or pressure dents etc); whereas with light colours you dont notice them as much. He also said that colours will tend to fade over time (regardless of the colour) but the darker the colour the more obvious this would be (as old man says).

So its pretty much an aesthetic thing. I'm sure dark boards do get hotter, but thats only an issue out of the water (eg if you leave the board in the car not in a board cover), as in the water its either nice if they are warmer or, more realistically, the cooling water and moving around and laying down etc will make any darker colour effect totally insignificant.

If you want dark, go dark. Potentially it wont keep looking 'as good' as a lighter colour down the track but (in my experience), you kind of forget the colour scheme after a while. It is what it is. Not to say you shouldnt think about it and get one you like, do that by all means (its one of the fun things with buying surfboards). But dont get too worried about it.