There's no such thing...

Got to work on the board a lot today. The more I watch video clips and read about displacement hulls, the more I wish this board was done and I was riding it, or trying to. Supposedly they are a whole different breed of surfboard, and take some getting used to. I can't wait to start to try to get used to it. Not that my board will definitely behave like they are supposed to, but I've read a lot about these boards and I think at least it will give me a taste. The more I research, it sounds like Greg Liddle is the master of these boards; he's been doing it for 40 plus years and his boards are beautiful. I would love to buy one some day, or at least try one for a while to see how it feels. I know these boards are not the best for a lot of the waves we get around here, but I don't really care. If it goes like it's supposed to, the days when it works will be worth the wait.

Posting that link to Swaylock's above reminded me of something I forgot to do: to mention Swaylock's before this. Swaylock's is a surfboard building forum in which there is probably a collected million years worth of surfboard shaping, glassing, and designing experience. Maybe not a million, but probably close. It really is an indispensable resource. I can't imagine what people did for years before that, lots and lots of trial and error I imagine. Still, that's kind of why doing the hull I'm doing now is so fun, because even though I've got tons of information about it (mostly thanks to Swaylock's), it's still a design that I've never seen and held in my hands. It's pretty exciting. So yeah, huge thanks to Swaylock's, and even if you never plan on building surfboards, it is still worth checking out. I know a lot of the stuff I've learned from there has made me more aware of certain things when I surf.

I love the look of the knifey rails on these boards, and the foiled deck and the way all these curves just come together. When you see pictures of these boards done by the pros, it really is something else.

There's the side profile (not a great picture). I'm almost done shaping, although I think I've got some more deck foiling to do. 

I also love the thin, tapered tail. Supposedly the tail design not only helps cut through sections of whitewater, but it helps to propel the board forward. As water goes up the rail off the back, it kind of pushes the board forward, like when you squeeze a wet watermelon seed between your fingertips.

All the glassing stuff is on the way. I also bought a airbrush from Harbor Freight (on sale for $12.99). I think I'm going to tape off the stringer, and spray the whole blank a solid color. I'm thinking some sort of maroon/burgundy type color.

 

Went out for a surf this afternoon when the wind switched more offshore and lightened up around 2 PM. There were some really long, glassy rights coming in at a nice angle from the south. I took the Dewey Weber out first, and wasn't having the best time on that, so I grabbed 002 and took that out, and still wasn't having a great time. One of those days where there are good waves coming in, you see guys catching them and riding them, but they never seem to come to you. And I felt really hot in my 5 mm Xcel (I'm not gonna be complaining about that in a month or so). Just like on land, sometimes you have good days, and sometimes you have bad days. But you know what they say about a bad day of surfing....