Uncle bruddah Rick Thomas and Leleo Kinimaka. Good times! A Preliminary Look at Standup Paddle Surfboard Design
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Scott Bass He didn’t know me. I didn’t know him. We traded design ideas about our surfboards for five minutes or so and it was as if we had both received the same Christmas present. His name was Dave: Dave from Maui. It is an exciting time in the world of standup paddleboard (SUB) design. Highly respected shapers such as Ron House, Dave Parmenter, Al Merrick, and Bob Pearson energize the scene. The Hobie shop in Dana Point has masters Terry Martin and Gary Larson carving out aquatic gems. Creative juices flow from decades of surf craft design reference. Dave from Maui, seeing my SUB on my truck, stopped and started up a dialogue regarding the intricacies of SUB design. Ed Angulo had just shaped Dave a SUB. The tone of genuine, sincere stoke was obvious as we talked about rocker and width and bottom contours. Two strangers. Bonding. Sounds corny, I know, but new surfboard design ideas create stoke. Of course it’s the custom SUB orders where the design metamorphosis is happening. Thanks in no small part to the amount of EPS foam available. The Clark 12’3�, a commodity of extreme value following Blank Monday (or is it Black Monday?), now seems, dare I say it, obsolete. Foam is readily available and the SUB sub-culture is taking flight. 
Nary a session goes by that I don’t get asked about the dimensions of my SUB. Usually the inquiry revolves around the length of the board. But length is only a portion of the equation, worthless without understanding and considering the subtleties of the numerous design components. The SUB, like its brother the longboard, and, for that matter, all marine craft, is a unique proposition. A proposition that boils down to a question, ‘What do you want it to do?’
The SUB maintains certain surfboard design concepts that need to be accentuated, and some that need to be regulated. But of course all of the design elements must work together to blend a unique and functional craft. Below is some insight I’ve gained from my five years of involvement with the SUB craft. These insights are just that, insights. Thoughts from a surfer in the SUB design trenches. I’ve surfed ‘Beach Boy’ style in Baja, Hawaii, Indonesia and Southern California. Nevertheless, I am not a shaper. Nor do I play one on the internet. As with all surfboards, you should contact your local shaper and discuss the subtleties of SUB design. Many shapers may balk at my insights. Use the information below as a catalyst for discussion. Blame the ignorance on me. Length
Todd Bradley, the craftsman behind the Pohaku carbon fiber blades, is riding a 9’ 6�. Pretty damn short. Some are even cutting down more foam, as short as 9-feet (Rob Machado’s Merrick Monster Fish comes to mind). If you want to rip you’ll want a shorter board, but that means wider and thicker. How short you can go really depends on how much thickness you can carry through the board while still being able to bury the rail. There is no performance surfing without the rail being buried. For more relaxed ‘Beach Boy’ cruising of the point and shoot variety, I’d suggest a 12-footer; no bigger, no smaller. You can add stability through width and thickness. Anything longer than 12-feet and you’re going to struggle when dropping in on the wave. If you’re of the open-ocean, downwind, long-distance cruising ilk, well, these boards are an altogether different beast. The Hawaiian contingent: Brian Keaulana, Archie Kalepa, Todd Bradley, Dave Parmenter, Kevin Horgan and Jack Gillian (among others) are using 14 to 15-feet of board. These guys are leading the way -- literally. If you ever go on a downwind run with them, you’ll see what I mean. They’ll leave you in their wake. Width
Design your board around the width, not the length--nothing less than 26 inches. Your outline needs to be somewhat parallel; otherwise you get a ‘yawing’ effect when you pull through the water with the paddle. Yawing is when your board doesn’t hold a straight line of direction through the paddle dig. More curve in the outline equals more yaw, so if you go wider in the middle and create more outline curve, you will accentuate the yawing effect. Not a bad thing (especially if you are skilled with the paddle), just something to be aware of. . 
Thickness
Thickness depends on your weight and the weight of the board. The lighter the board the less water displacement, thus more float. More float means you don’t need as much volume. I suggest 4 inches thick as a starting point, minimum. You may want to carry the thickness out to the rail, or taper it. The important thing is that you can bury the rail and also maintain on top of the water planing speed while paddling. Rocker
Go low bro. Probably the most important feature (and often overlooked from what I’ve seen) is low nose rocker. Flatten her up a bit. And as you do that add some tail rocker. Flattening the nose rocker will help your SUP sit and glide nice and flush on the water. Adding some tail rocker will help you turn the board, compensating for the lower than average nose rocker. As you turn you’ll also be burying the paddle, which helps compensate for a flatter nose. If your board is longer you can get away with a little more nose rocker. But you still want to avoid standard nose rocker, as you’ll end up pushing water and not gliding into swells. Maybe try a little kick at the very front (I think I’ll add some kick on my next one). Bottom
I’d recommend a nice flat area in the middle of the board for planing. But generally the bottom contours of a surfboard and their vagaries are way beyond my sphere of understanding; more than any other area on your board, defer to your shaper. I recently examined one of Parmenter’s short (9’ 6�) SUBs and he incorporated a large defined flat section in the middle that lacked continues curve (on purpose) from the tail and nose. From what I could gather during my examination, the board’s bottom maintained three distinctive bottom planing segments. For longer SUBs my preference is continuous curve flat bottoms with normal vee in the tail (thanks to a talk with Ron House). My Hobie (Gary Larson shaped) has a bit of spoon in the nose, which goes against my craving for effortless glide, as spoon tends to suck the board to the water. I like to noseride and a little spoon helps. Give and take: the underlying theme of all surfboards. A flat nose area with a slight rail chime may be the call. I’m still experimenting. Again, it’s an exciting time. 
Weight
Laird Hamilton once told me that heavier was better, and he’s right in regards to dealing with the windy situations he finds in Maui. I’m not here to begrudge Mr. Hamilton, however, I’ve since come to the realization that light is right; at least in glassy California. Plus, America’s Cup boat designers aim for lightness (I think yacht architects know what’s up). Apples and oranges perhaps, nevertheless my ultra-light (21 lb) Hobie is very responsive to the whims of my paddle. And with floatation being a byproduct of weight, lighter means you can go thinner without giving up glide. STARTING OUT
Before ordering a custom board check out the SurfTech Mickey Munoz 11’ or 12’. The Munoz has too much nose rocker in my opinion, but it should be noted that Mickey didn’t design the board for standup paddling (Mickey has some new SUB design plans in the works). I used an 11’ MM SurfTech in my first two years of SUB surfing. It filled the bill until my skill level required more from my SUB. If you can pick up a used SUB or MM SurfTech on eBay, Swaylocks.com or Surfermag.com classifieds, this should be your first stop, and best bet economically. The new SurfTech Laird model SUB is something worth mentioning too. I have yet to see this design, but I understand it’s rather large. It should go great for the relaxed fit entry-level crowd. Once hooked with ‘beach boy’ fever you’ll probably venture into the custom SUB market. Below are few shapers you can trust. SUB SHAPERS Gary Larsen / Hobie - Terry Martin influenced. Gary made the board I’m riding now, and it is awesome. Light is right. By the way, legendary shaper Terry Martin works in the next stall over is one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet. Chris Christensen– Perhaps no SUB I’ve ridden glides as effortlessly as Chris’s, and with a shaping bay next to Skip Frye it’s no wonder. Look for some interesting new SUB concepts from CC. Ron House - He is the man for the SUB surfers in the San Clemente region. He also makes Laird’s custom boards. Super nice guy who will dial you right in on a great SUB. Ron House Surfboards Website. Dave Parmenter - I rode one of Dave’s SUBs in Hawaii last winter. It’s wide and full tail area required powerful legs (not my chicken legs) but guys like Brian Keaulana are ripping Makaha point surf on them, and far be it from me to question Brian or Dave. Standup paddle builder Todd Bradley swears by Dave’s SUB designs. Parmenter has the SUB torch in hand and it glows brightly. Cutting edge SUB design. Bob Pearson / Pearson Arrow – Bob’s making quite a few boards for guys in Santa Cruz and beyond. I paddled one of his boards in the Mentawais. It was a big cruiser. Pearson is a legendary shaper in Nor Cal who knows his way around a big chunk o’ foam, and small chunks too. Bob is a great surfer; always a plus. Bruce Jones - He’s been making big boards for the big Hawaiians for years. He too knows his way around a big blank. My mentor Rick Thomas stumbled upon Bruce’s big boards and they quickly became the baseline in custom SUB for Rick and I as we embarked on custom orders (to our wifes’ dismay). Rick now owns two Bruce Jones 11-footers. Al Merrick / Channel Islands- From what I‘ve been told, he’s out there paddling with the best of them. His credentials are pretty good too. I’ve seen and paddled two of Al’s SUB designs. They are…brazen. Kudos to Al for going into new design areas. Blane Chambers - Like Parmenter, Blane is really testing the limits of SUB design. Shorter, ultra high performance boards (think Bonga) for Hawaiian power surfing. PaddleSurfHawaii is Blane’s company and standup paddle surfing is all they do. Check them out. | 
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