short fat and wide tale fun boards for small waves
I think the name gives it away. 'Dumpster Diver' means a design like on an old board found in the dumpster.
These boards are modern versions of boards from the late 80's before Kelly had us change over to thin, rockered and highly concaved boards.
As far as Al Merrick starting it all I had one of these designs about 6 months before that Trestles event shaped by Skye Bourton. Nothing new, just retracing designs that worked from the past.
not much new in surf design. just tweaks here and there. i believe pro surfing has helped to stop any realistic design advances as every 1 who can surf good wants to do what the pros are doing and those who cant want the lable on the beach. its good to see differnt boards and approaches to riding a wave even if it dosent fit with asp criteria.
There's no reason why if you find designs by these big name shapers that you like, you can't get a local shaper to make you a board along similar dimensions........more suited to you
hard to do anything totally new, its all been done but there is alot of refining and modifying of older designs , blending old and new to get a FUNctional board for todays surfing, great times for design...so many fun options out there at the moment and almost every shaper has several alternative shapes in his range, some are almost all alternative, so much so, that alternative has nearly become mainstream....
yep, for sure 2 dogs but one 75 kg surfer can require very different volume for another 75 kg surfers, there isnt one stnadard ratio or number, every surfer is an individual and some discussion between shaper and surfer is important to get this right coz like you say, it is pretty key, no much point having a nice board of the right design if it doesnt float enough to get waves on....or the other way, too much foam and it has lost reposniveness or feels corky....it is an important variable in design, but then again they are all important to creating a special sled...
I am currently refining and modifying some mini-simmons shapes to get more performance from them for how todays surfers wanna surf, it is super fun and really liking the shape, it has so much potential for modifying and tweaking, but so does any design really....
Im the same, majority of the time surfing small beachies, especially throughout summer ive got two fish's in my quiver
5'10 Warner Twinfin
5'6 DHD Fanning Swivel model (thruster)
Also going to pick up a quaddie in the coming months. This boards have improved my surfing and always easy to have fun on when the surf is rubbish.
dim-SIM
couple of fat wide ones I am really enjoying.....
Timmsy, interested in what design quad you are gettin ?
Lookin at getting a hayden shapes fibreflex 5'8 quad, had a ride of a mates, and its probably the funnest board ive ever riden, so fast and turns are sharp and fast due to the quads, how does that board go with the fins so far back? and the finless! would be insane!
the one with the fins right back is a mini-simmons, or my version of it, I call it the dim-SIM, they are super super fun, you'll see more of them around soon... check out my site for a bit of a speil...hoping to get some good footage of me and others surfing on them soon too....the finless actually has some very tiny little flexy fins but they are clear so very hard to see in that pic....but they are also fun, a whole different level of fun, very challenging but so enjoyable to do new stuff and to just have so little control...or at leastuntil you get it sussed and learn to gain some control by using weight and rails and not just relying on big fins....got a bit of footage on my site if you are interested....I've improved quite a bit since the footage but you'll see how it can be fun especially when the waves arent good enough for a standard board or even a fat-fishy type board...enough from me....
dan macdonald told me about the mini simmons years ago while i was raving about ideas of an advanced standup boog to him. i ignored him not realising at the moment what they were. good shit ´more´ the more peeps see an alternative to pretending to be a hot surfer the happier our lineups will be!. i shape and am ashamed to do whats been done and after nearly 10 years still havent had 1 crack at a finless or advanced st up boog yet. cause of these fucking things called $s and working hours.
yep, know what ya mean but once you do, the fun levels outweigh the $$$ and you find a way....the mini-sims are a great little slab of fun, so surprised they go so well, hard to imagine what they can do on a wave, shows theres soo much to learn for all surfers and shapers, thats half the fun of it I think for me, the constant learning curve....and surfers are finally catching on to the endless alternatives out there that are fully functional and alot of the time can increase their enjoyment and surfing levels....
Double-D , 5'10" x 20" x 2 9/16"
5'11" x 20 1/2" x 2 5/8" Fat-Bat, super fast, high perf semi-fish quad....
6'2" x 20 1/4" x 2 11/16" Quadfather, high volume all rounder but still heaps of perf, good paddler, stable, fast....
5'4" x 21" x 2 3/4" dim-SIM.....
http://www.vimeo.com/21367087
some short boards with wide arse tails here...if interested....
that 6'2" quadfather looks very good mr More. whats the concave(s) and rocker like?and what weight and type of surfer is it designed for?
the Quadfather is designed for guys who want a perormance board but dont want a ultra narrow and refined board, it is wider for stability, thicker so you can catch a shitload of waves, quad for speed, less rocker again for speed ( drive ), round tail for pivot and tight arcs, bottom shape is single to double usually, sometimes a little vee out the back, an easier, user friendly high perf board that can be for the average surfer, they can be tweaked for anyone and alot of people are loving them for good waves, been doin a few for Indo and similar....
yes, good stuff.
finally, surfers & the surf industry are starting to realise that to have a bit of fun in the slow, full stuff - you need a board that is thicker than 2 1/4" & wider than 18 1/2".
but the more stubborn still think that you are "compromising" for something or are heading towards the "beginner/old guy/unfit guy board" types such as mini mals.
the sam egan rocket fish is a pearler.
5'3" x 19 1/8" x 2 5/16"
Fat-Bat Quad
Bob Simmons made some amazing advances for modern surfboard design, he was commonly referred to as the "Father of the modern surfboard". Such a tragedy that he died at such a young age, only 35. In 1954 he went out for a surf in 6-8 foot, which was not beyond his skill as he was an absolute ripper. Apparently he had a bad day with Huey, something quirky happened and he did not survive.
Can you imagine what directions he would have been able to shift surfboard design with just another 10 creative years.
He was an absolute maths wiz. He had all sorts of crazy mathematical calculations, but these got lost when he died. It would be awesome if someone found them in an old garage box one day.
It would of been interesting to see him team up with some of this generations stylers like Machado and Craig Anderson.
Who knows what kind of speed sleds he could of engineered for the aerial generation.
Let's just be thankful for what he was able to give us, and throw some spray for him.
yep, totally agree..the 'SIM' in my models name," the dim-SIM" is to give cred and respect to him.....
Mark you have a great style going. Keep it up. Keep it alternative and exciting. Big ups.
thanx Dave, appreciate it... I really like my alternative stuff but its gotta go great too, be fully FUNctional....doin a newy called "The Dumpling" atm, its a hybrid between an egg and the dim-SIM and should be super fun...
few recent pics, sorry bout the shameless self promo but I just love what I do...
5'2", 5'3" and the red tint and polish 5'6" diamond tail....
5'3" x 19 1/8" x 2 3/16" for a skinny grommy, very light and really hard crisp rail edges in back third, this thing should get a grom stoked when its small...
Fat-Bat
"The Dumpling" - 5'11" x 21 3/4" x 2 11/16"
the Dumpling evolves....5'5" x 20 1/2" x 2 3/4"
Since when did tail become tale?
It's a long story .... I mean a long tail
dim-SIMs and a Dumpling...
Double-Ds'
6'0" Dumpling... "Show us ya TinTS "
few recent ones
Double-D's
dim-SIM's
5'4" Bat-SIM custom with bonzer concaves, 5 finner
a 5'6" and a 5'8" 'dim-SIM'
5'4" Dumpling 5 finner.....
Nice work Mark, some great looking boards in there. Hard to believe we're riding boards just 5'4" these days, eh? Imagine someone asking for a 5'4" ten years ago, you would've thought it was for his kid!
yep, for sure, I had this discussion with a mate yesterday when he picked up his new 5'8", a year ago I made him a 6'0", then we did him a 5'11", then 5'10", he loves the 5'10 to bits but we did him a 5'8" quaddy and we were talking bout how when we were smaller, younder and lighter we rode 6'2's and 6'3"s and wondered why, what if we were on 5'8s back then, maybe we would have been doing much bigger turns, surfers really follow trends and what the pros ride, it really is stupid when ya think about it...but think these days its much better thankfully....I cant even imagine riding a 6'3" x 19 " x 2 1/2" thruster now in 1 ft waves...my 5'4" x 20 1/2" x 2 5/8" 5 finner EPS does the job much better.... wonder what we will be sayin in another 10 yrs ???....
when ya gunna let me shape ya something Stu ?....
My 'go to' board these days is a 5'10 Al Merrick Pod in anything up to 4-5ft.
It's just got so much more speed and drive than my 6'1 shorty and I'll always take it out unless it starts to get real hollow.
The movement towards shortening boards but keeping the volume the same is great and you just have so much more fun in the surf with these designs.
I know I'm catching more waves then ever and also enjoying my surfing more than ever!
Hey MP,
Love what you're doing but my partner gave birth to twins just three days ago, the last thing I can buy is a new board. For the next year I'm gonna be knee deep in nappies, bottles etc etc etc.
Stu...you forgot to mention sleep deprivation...for the next 5 years or so!!! Congratulations.
Cheers. I already know about the sleep deprivation though as I've got a 20-month old. So that's 3 kids under 2 years, all of 'em boys. Might be worth buying shares in Vittoria coffee, they're about to cop some big purchases.
And MP, when I've got 'em swimming I might hit you up for a bulk order. One board each and one for me. Talk to me about discounts, I'll pay cash.
Some of the newer shapes look like a kneeboard,and to think how much those guys have been hassled over the years for their choice of surfcraft.
I say stuff all those guys who hassle people for riding something a little different, or alot different for that matter... I have always been drawn to the different stuff as long as its FUNctional...
BIG CONGRATS on the new groms Stu...kids are awesome, kinda wish I had MORE sometimes....
be stoked to do you a sweet sled some time......
DD quad, hex tail...
few randoms...
www.MOREsurfboards.com
Short, wide, thick enough to float and as many fins as necessary for the width of the tail.
Pretty simple really.
How do we post photos? On the wide/short pictured in more 'random' - I would like to see a 24" deep single fin on that middle board for a test drive!
Loving that DD quad.....
On the short fat and wide theme, has anyone tried both the Firewire sweet potato and the newer baked potato? Thinking about shelling some skins out for one of these and tried a 5'6" and 5'2" sweet potato, and wondering what the difference in performance is actually like on the baked potato?
At 6 foot and 90+ kgs never thought I would be having fun in 1 foot windblown junk on a 5'2" board. Loving the short fat boards everyone is working on at the moment.
The Baked Potato surfs tighter in the pocket, more performance than the sweet potato, I reackon it catches wave a little easier as well. I'm 6' 1" 92kg and ride a 5'7" BP, Luv It
at first i thought whats the deal with all these short and fat fun boards with fat tales and flat rockers e.g. channel islands dumpster diver, js black box.so i did my research and i found that the dumpster diver was the first one of its kind and it all started when Dane Renolds asked for a fun board with a super wide tale to ride in trestles. everyone who had one said that they were the best boards ever and they would be perfect for me since i live in bondi and surf junk so i had to by one, i got myself a similar board from maddog up in byron and it is the best thing thats ever happened to my surfing, they rip in junk waves. i used to ride a performance board but you just cant ride a tooth pick in junk. the point i am trying to make is that if you surf a beach break get yourself one of these boards!