Mid Length design for a new board

[odedshankar]

Hi Guys,

I am planning to purchase a Mid Length board, most likely through one of the local shapers on the gold coast or Byron nearby, but i want to design the main characteristics which suits me first.
Some background - i am currently 44 yo, 1.7 and 80kg. Started surfing 2 years ago on longboards, trying to do 2-3 sessions of 2 hours a week. Most of this time i surfed quite gentle peeling point breaks on logs and with time i progressed and surfed also the powerful days at the points, and i can say that i am feeling quite comfortable these days with anywhere between 2-6 ft point waves also the quite strong ones. I am quite confident on angled drop ins and cruising the green face up and down with cut backs to adjust and bottom turn so probably at this initial intermediate level.
I am living few minutes from quite a rough beach break, that i never surfed until 3 months ago as it was way to hard for me even just to paddle in to the lineup, but during the COVID Isolation time i had no other option so started to try and surf few times a week in this beach break, it was a nightmare initially but slowly i started to adjust and feeling a bit more confident now, and had few great sessions there on few good surfing sessions in wonderful winter swell of 3-5 foot of relatively clean and quite powerful waves. I started to feel the adrenaline rush of steep drops and strong fast waves - very different to the nicely peeling points. Short rides but packed with adrenaline, and now i find it a bit dull on the points unless its really good and I am attracted to the beach break - surprising for me - never thought it will happen at this stage of my life.
What i found is that boards that worked well for the points do not work quite well on the beach break, which i kind off new from reading but now i felt it. I found that i need a board with nice amount of rocker to survive the steep drops and pointy boards works better to drop in 45 degrees directly into the face as early as possible as it closes down very quickly in most of the days.
So now i decided to buy a new board using a shaper or maybe order one of the brands as long as it will be suitable, i would love to hear you ideas about what would be a suitable mid length board design with still decent volume 54-60 ltr for these type of conditions in terms of shape nose and tail, bottom contours, glassing, rail type, EPS or PU and fin setup.
The 2 boards that i used there that i actaully enjoyed the most were Blair big guy quad(8'7x24x3.75), for 3-4 ft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81xCdYDdiFI
And when it was a big bigger and steeper 4-6 ft a DVS 8.9 quad gun(8'9x21.5x3.25) - see attached images.
The Gun made me very comfortable on the steep drops - i was quite scared initially but it gave me confident that i didn't have with other boards i tried. So both were quite fun - the Blair was harder to maneuver due to the width - only thing i could do was a cutback, the gun was easier to handle and was very responsive and fun but still is very long and hard to maneuver in these quickly closing waves - what i found is that it is very fast speeding on the face which helps in these conditions.
So what i am after is a shorter board in the mid length range maybe 7'6-7'11 with some decent enough rocker to help me drop into these waves giving me the confidence like the gun, but will be easier to move around due to less length and still an easy paddler within the limitation - and still have some glide and speed in it. I am not looking to do lip work - i am not advanced enough for that and probably would never be.
Was looking at shapes like those:
https://shop.surfindustries.com/au/surf ... rength-tt/
https://www.lostsurfboards.com.au/smooth-operator
https://www.mctavish.com.au/collections/trackers

Those boards are quite expensive but i can get a shaper to do something close enough i believe.
What do you guys think?

Thanks

[krustyburger]

Sounds like that break you are describing is a pretty exciting place to surf. I would add the Christenson C-Bucket to that list of mid-lengths. I know a guy that rides one as a single fin in that 7'6 - 8'0 length and he surfs really well in similar beach break conditions. I would also guess he is about the same size and age as you. I can't speak to your more specific shape and bottom contour questions as I am not that knowledgeable. But the C-Bucket seems similar to the McTavish Tracker, with the wide point further towards the front of the board than on the Tracker.

[oldmansurfer]

well I really like the look of the Chilli but most likely any of those would work. There are skills that you can learn with the boards you are currently using that would make them work for that break as well. But it's likely a shorter board would be easier. The Mctavish has a narrower tail which would help with taking steeper drops. Narrow tails help to turn the board sooner or at a higher point on the wave. I use custom made boards so that would be my final recommendation if you can find a shaper familiar with boards that work for the waves you intend to use the board in and surfers of your skill level (which I would say you're still a beginner.) It's important when communicating with the shaper to describe exactly what you can or can't do.

[IB_Surfer]

Looks like you are looking for a California fun, not a longboard. Fun boards, good for small surf, great for big days

[odedshankar]

Thanks Guys, will look at the C-Bucket shape as well, looks like a nice shape. It can be an exciting break but in most of the days it can be terrible and messy, need to find the right day.
oldmansurf, yes that what I was thinking as well, I am tending towards the chilli in 8'0 size, looks like a nice board. That what I was thinking about the pin tail, I felt it when riding the red gun, like the tail digs in and gives you a hold.
Cheers

[dtc]

The classic board that meets your requirement is the M13 CI. Which is close to the chilli board

I’m sure there are some great shapers where you live; if you want a not quite local recommendation give Grant Miller a call. He makes boards specifically for us older heavier guys (although he is in Sth NSW - so you need to consider logistics)(disclosure: he has made all my boards)

http://www.grantmillersurfboards.com.au/home/index

[odedshankar]

Thanks dtc, appreciate the input, we'll look into it.
Cheers

[IB_Surfer]

I have an 8ft Bruce Jones hybrid I take out when the surf is weak, mushy or small. Probably meant as a big wave board for a husky guy but I use it as a funboard with a performance side

[odedshankar]

Looks like a very nice board IB_Surfer.
I spoke with few shapers in the past few days and eventually ordered the Chilli mid strength in 8'0 size in Epoxy. Should get it in few days, very excited looks like exactly what I need, I'll get it from Sydney and will report back after I had few sessions with it. On the meantime I used the red gun from the pictures here in the past few days on 2 glorious days and had lots of fun, I'm surely getting used to this spot and feeling more confident on the bigger steeper waves. It was so nice here in the weekends 3-5 ft strong swell but quite clean, got a mixture of good waves and epic wipeouts

[IB_Surfer]

Great ending, stoked for you

[odedshankar]

Thx mate.