A calculator for board size? Seriously?

Question

This guy Maliahbell has been posting about a surfboard calculator from this website, about the break. I immediately concluded that this dude was a total kook and the website was bust. But, I gave it a chance and checked it out.

And.......my conclusions were correct! Such a calculator completely violates the spirit of surfing. I'm not totally against technology, just bad technology. Okay, I know a couple shapers, even Merrick, use computer-operated machines to shape boards, which at first I thought was wrong, but with the growing demand and size of the surf industry, its a little understandable. And, Merricks boards are still great. But having a computer tell you which board is right for you is just, well, plain wrong! Your board depends on more than just your height, weight and self-assesment of skill level. My hope is that Maliahbell will see this question and refrain from advertising this crappy website. What you think?

Answer 1

Hey Chris, you are RIGHT! I plugged my info into the magic calculator, and I should be riding a 6'1" squash tail, 18" wide and 3 3/16 thick! First of all, picture a 6'1" board 3 3/16 thick. My 7'8" fish (I know, it's an oddball, custom board, but...) is only 3 1/8 thick!

Also, I gave up my 6'4" twin fin years ago (yes, it is a classic, and yes it was CUSTOM made, and it is 3" thick), but there is just no way I'm going to be able to take off on a 6'1" board. there are guys as big as me, riding boards in the 6' range, but only real fat fish in most cases, not 18" wide squash tails.

Maliahbell may be a nice, sincere guy, but whoever programed that web site is for sure a kook. Technology is great, but common sense and the laws of physics trump that computer program.

Answer 2

i'm 5'7" and 160 sumthin lbs. it said i should be riding a 5'10." i guess i should get rid of my 6'2" and my 10 footer, computers are always right...

Answer 3

uhh wow haha. i can see where your coming from. its not old school and original i guess. but its probably not a horrible thing to check it out and maybe use it as reference to help buy a new shorty

Answer 4

I think it would have been more polite to email him instead of ripping him up on YA.

Answer 5

LOL... Y'all are haters.

I plugged in my stats.

5'10" height

166 lbs weight

skill: intermediate

style: carving

waves: normal

break: head high

And it gave me a board that's:

6' - 1 1/8" height

18 - 7/16" width

2 - 1/2" thick

squashtail

My favorite board is:

6' - 1" x 18 - 1/4" x 2 - 1/4"

So the "calculator" didn't nail it dead on, but it seemed pretty good. I changed intermediate to beginner and it gave me a board a little thicker, wider, and taller. You really don't think this would be helpful for someone who's just starting out and doesn't know what size board to by or what their preference is? Seem's like y'all are hating just because...

I also noticed that none of you put your dimensions into your post. You just said that the boards were off. How do we know that you even know what size of a shortboard your supposed to be riding? For all we know your just kooks your self stuck in the dinosaur age of surfing. Talking about how we need to keep it pure and stay away from technology. Merrick himself said that the best board he ever road came from a computerized shaper.

   Also, to call Maliahbell a he shows a little bit of sexism. Sounds like a female name to me, but whatever. Anyways, I think its pretty lame to criticize someone without providing examples or even a bit of justification. Just cyber slander by cowards who don't have to talk trash to someones face... The only reason this kind of ticks me off is because yesterday I was trying to get some info on the rules of surfing and Maliahbell gave me an answer in like five minutes. So what if it his/Her website was kind of weak, at least he/She is trying to do something other than bash people without just cause from behind a computer. A real man would do one of two things, tell Maliahbell that you think her site is lame in an email or justify their hating...

Maliahbell if you read this, do whatever you want and ignore the real kooks.

Answer 6

To Chris K: Please tell me what exactly went wrong with the calculator so I can fine tune it. Is your only complaint that the right board for a person should be determined by more factors than what's on the site? Well, I agree with that, but a person who knows that wouldn't need a calculator anyways. I made the thing just to see if I could for one, and for two, I thought it would be useful for all of the people that have no clue how to pick a shortboard. I guess with the thing getting this strong of a reaction I may want to spend a little more time refining it, but from what I can tell by your post, you would have bashed the site no matter what because you don't agree with the process.

To John F: Your absolutely right... I need to account for people with unusual body types. I'm guessing that your about 5'10" 220lbs. You have to admit that not many people your height have that much muscle. Thanks for pointing out this flaw in the program.

To SD_Waterman: You shouldn't be riding a 6'2" if your five 5'7" and not a beginner or surfing at least overhead waves. Even my critics would have to agree with me saying that board is too big for you. As for your 10 footer, I was making a calculator that would give a guess to what kind of shortboard you should be riding. So keep the longboard bro, but ditch the oversized shorty =)

To surfammo: I like your site and have a feeling your understanding what it's like to make something and then have people that haven't done anything themselves bash it.

To jen: Thanks for the backup; Glad I could have been helpful; And, I see where your comming from with the sexism thing, but I am a guy actually.

Lovin' the feedback, keep it comming.

http://www.AboutTheBreak.com