Double Ended Asym Surfboard

Some small scale models of the board. The fin position is at the bottom of the pic. Models downloadable from the thingiverse website here

 

Full size double ended Asymmetrical Shape in 3d cad.

Some design inspiration from my brother Richard's.......

homemade, handcarved......

Wooden Handski.

Fil from Jucsurf, I showed him my current carbon fibre asym board, (left) and he brought along a Juc Surf Carbon fibre reinforced model. My Asym is a reworked Trigger Brothers Windsurfer as documented here. Some of the design process for the new board is here.

Back in the day (ok, about 1990) at the same beach - a Mailibu (8 foot and over) surfing comp at the same beach - Left to right, Alan Atkins, Steve Hughes, Howard Hughes, Phil Trigger

Hi

For a long time I have been a surfer, and into my 30's I was over-obsessed by it.  It was only when I realised I could never when a world championship, and that travelling a 260k round trip to go surfing wasn't helping family life that I slowed down my surfing and became more involved in building bikes.

But my surfing has never stopped entirely, and I still try to make it down for a surf if I have the time and the waves look good.

Anyway, without bothering with too much yammering, I've now ordered a double ended asymmetrical surfboard from Jucsurf,  who make surfboards using recycled carbon fibre reinforcement.

I'd had the idea of the double ended Asym for a while. When you're surfing, the front bit of the board doesn't do anything, it just sticks out in the free air - so if you're going to make an asym board - which lessens the difference between toe and heel side surfing - why not make one end suit goofys (right foot forward surfers) and the other to suit naturals (left foot forward surfers). 

And the asym never caught on, maybe because conventional symmetry allows a board to be made and sold which suits goofys and naturals equally well, and needs no complex explaining. Well - the new board will suit goofys and naturals equally, as long as you switch the fin from one end to the other - but the complex explaining will become necessary! 

A post about a vintage Asym board from Shred Sledz puts some of this into perspective. Some of the post needs to be translated from "surfboard language" into "English" which most people will have some hope of understanding!

Shred Sledz: "The Carl Ekstrom asymmetrical surfboard measures in at 7’10” x 23 1/2″ x 4″. Wave count is not an issue on this thing!"

English: The surfboard is long and thick and so floats well. This means that for most people the board will float you out of the water, and most experienced surfers should be able to paddle it easily, and catch waves easily too"   

For this board: My board will be longer and just as thick at the Ekstrom which means it should be easy to paddle and catch waves. I am a bit old (60) and a bit heavy (83kg) but moderately fit and it was designed for me. See pic 6, some boards are much smaller!

Shred Sledz: "Unfortunately for me and all the other regularfoots out there, the tail on the Carl Ekstrom asymmetrical surfboard is designed for goofyfoot surfers. It’ll be hard enough finding another one of these boards in great condition, much less with the right tail configuration."

English: Even if I could borrow this board and have a go on it, its tail configuration would not suit me. With my left foot forward surfing the toe side rail is shorter. Asyms work in reverse, the toe side rail should be longer which evens out the ability of the board to turn on toe and heel sides.

For this board: With fin boxes on each end of the board, and the right sort of tail configurations, the fin position of my board will be adjustable between "suits goofy / right foot forward surfers" and "suits regular / natural / left foot forward surfers. This will involve swapping fin postions, a 2 - 3 minute job. See pic 1 of some existing models.

Regards Steve Nurse

Update April2, 2014: The story continues here with a completed, full sized board, and a thingiverse file available for the surfboard shape.

Best Wishes