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Robert is a pro rider from Oahu
who is about 6'3" and 230 lbs. Robert has had many boards made
by custom manufacturers and brought many of them for me to
review. Some of these 51 inch boards were heavy because they had
5 stringers!! and x-flex material in them. He even had a
CNC computer printout of his outline template and the
corresponding printout of the widths in inches and fractions of
an inch(32) ---and wanted it exactly to the specs. It had to
have precisely done sharp diamond rails and a 1/4" sanded
in tunnel channel that runs from almost the tip of the nose to
the tail.---whew! This
is the first foam top board I have made in probably 5 years.
This board is 51 inches tall and is 2 1/8" thick (very thin).
The nose area was also very thin and tapered. When you
have a long thin board and a big heavy guy--you must design in
strength. He wanted something unusual from me--a board where the
rear 2/3 of the board is stiff and then he wanted to bend the
hell out of the nose. I usually make boards with a longer
stiffening plate that locks in a nose curve and never has a
wrinkle. I warned him that by scaling the top stiffening plate
back, I can make the rear stiff and locked in, but there will be
a mean wrinkle right in front of the plate from aggressively
bending the nose--there is no way around it. Most foam top
boards have stringers and /or X-flex material which distribute
the bending force throughout the length of the board. My
stiffening plate locks in a super stiffness and if you have
something bending in front of it--there will be a wrinkle! He
didn't mind the wrinkle and just wanted performance, strength,
tail flatness and speed---and the ability to bend the hell out
of the nose.
He asked if I have ever made
a board with a full width and length top plate---yes I have,
hundreds of them for Turbo Surf. If you make the top plate full
width and length, the board will be a little heavier and SUPER
STRONG and super stiff. He asked about making the top plate
longer to the nose area but having the front plate area a little
narrower so the nose could bend----no that won't work
either--the board will have a stiff nose because of even the
narrow plate, but that area won't be strong and will eventually
buckle and fail where the narrow area meets the wider plate area
when you try to pull aggressively on the nose--by a big strong
heavy guy.
Anyway, he's going to try
this board out and see if it suits him, but I already have an
idea for a possible solution for his variable nose flex dream
board that may be incorporated into his next board--it's a
secret--sorry, can't tell you!
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