Desert Storm surfboard
Thanks Drodders, that's the great thing about a fin box you can experiment with fin placement and fins, yeah keep us posted from time to time.
Stopped at Webby's this morning and had a chat about a future Desert Storm. I was keen on a stubbier one, but he had a 7'4 x 19 1/4 sitting there waiting for a lucky customer, and it was so sleek and beautiful.
He shapes some shithot looking boards.
Had the blue 6’10 out in some solid left handers on Wednesday in the Illawarra, secret spot for me and the 30 others in the water. First thing I want to say is the crowd was fantastic, friendly, courteous and happy, lots of waves, not joking either it was very relaxed.
Anyway back to the 6’10, rode it with 3D Josh Kerr quads (the ones with the dimples, very good fins feel low drag but good control and drive, small fins), it was unreal, fast smooth and fun. Session started with waves in the 4-6ft range (on the inside), very clean with the odd barrel section, DS killed it, caught waves easily, plenty of speed and easy to control and turn. It does not feel like it is 6’10 when you are on a wave, more like my previous 6’6, but definitely much easier than that board.
The swell really started to kick in along with the wind about 11 am, with sets pushing 2.5 OH with the odd bigger bomb, the ‘little DS’ was amazing, caught waves almost as well as the 7’6, handled chop really well and also with the 8” less board was much easier to swing for a wave as opportunity arose (you know old mate getting pitched etc.).
Last wave I caught was a solid 6 footer covered in foam from the bomb before and the whole set up was even good on that, good hold could turn with confidence and generate speed.
In summary as a 2+1 surfs well from waist high to OH, as a quad amazing for the waves it was designed for 4-8ft, I am sure it would easily handle 3xOH plus, but if it’s that big I will be on the 7’6. The 7’6 will be my board of choice for 6ft plus outside bank beach breaks and bombies where you need to cover lots of ground, but for reefs and points where the take-off point is well defined the 6’10 is the go.
Thanks for the update Drodders, sounds like a great session. Got me thinking about a DS in earnest!
Saw a great looking 6"8 webster......a bit thinner and lighter......but still thick threw the nose big paddler for sure....... the Desertstorm thruster pro model....
Do any of you know where I can buy a stretch or sock style board cover for my 9'6" x 21' gun?
I'd prefer to buy one rather than pay someone to re-shape a longboard cover.
Have any of you ridden/fondled both a Desert Storm and Black Hula? I'm curious about the differences, and I forgot to ask Webby when I was there.
Island bay ,
The black hula vs the desert storm differences .
The BH is originally Grant twig bakers designs and webby was in partnership designing them for him, Thats the origin of it .
Webby was shaping his boards for a few years but they parted business and webby continued to shape them under his own name black hula.
Because he had put a lot of work into his design with twig surfboards at the time he continued on , just dropping the "Twig" logo .
They are both very high volume shapes but the DS is slightly more volume on average (per foot ).
Grant was a bit smaller & lighter size human than me (and probably still is).
The first board that webby shaped me was a twigs design 10"10 , and i asked webby to change a few things and there was lots of changes. The board was great and so next time got another order going more designing was done.
So many changes from a BH that webby said lets create a separate model, becos the changes were so extreme .
Twig is a front foot surfer and his design reflected that . The rocker , outline & fin positions.
My design requests was all about back foot surfing and the design reflected that.
The outline of a DS has wide point further back than twigs / BH .
The rocker also, BH is for front foot and DS is for back footer .
The ds is a longer entry rocker, and the fins a bit closer to the tail, than a bh .
Front foot vs back foot outline and rocker .
A front foot rocker should have the fulcrum further forward whereas a back foot its further back ( in my opinion ).
The DS has a slightly wider tail , and it has a narrower nose , than a bh .
The Ds is thicker in the forward nose area ending in a beaked or rounded off beaked nose cone . The bh nose is more standard / normal.
Both designs use a vee or double conc vee .
Twig /BH has large fins and designing was based off his use of big thruster fins "twig fins".
The DS design is for using with small fins , and much designing & trialing was done on fibreglass futures quad fins.
To compensate for the small fins the shape of the rails particularly should have a slight flatter vertical section like a vacuum rail .
The rear fin positions are closer to the tail end giving grip at the back .
The DS also should be glassed heavily but with a small stringer to enable a bit of flex and give a lively feel .
The BH and typically many guns use big strong stringers , but i personally feel a heavy stringer doesnt perform as good as a thinner stringer.
The DS is a top end max volume board no matter if its a 6"4 to 11"6 .
Most often people will need to adjust the volume customized for their ability to deal with riding a pumped up volume craft. Depending on the experiences of the rider .
The design is based on the idea to target the biggest wave thats going to come in at the surf spot your surfing.
No missing sets because your not out far enough .
You will have a board that will put you in the spot to catch the set of the day with a DS . Especially in conditions that might be windy or rough , this design is suited for these conditions .
Avoiding crowds is part of this design, you can sit further out and you can paddle faster than most of the other surfers . It can put you in a different zone catching waves of a different size separating you from other surfers
Hope this helps, and ask further questions if you have any ?
Thank you, Camel. Very generous of you to give us all that info, and so interesting to read and geek out on.
Cheers!
That orange 6'2 looks incredible. There's a couple of spots around here that would it would suit to a tee.
Wasn't The Shaun riding one of these types of shapes for his normal board? It was sort of featured a couple of years ago at Trestles I think when he was there for the contest. It seemed to have that 70's, high volume beaky front end. He is a front foot surfer so makes sense and he said it was ideal for an old fart as he reckons he couldn't ride a typical comp board these days. I just wonder if they would be too corky for a smaller wave board. You could certainly catch waves but probably couldn't do much on them.
Long time lurker of this thread but the recent article tipped me over the edge and I've ordered a very chunky 8'0 DS, I'm very excited to see it. Hoping there is enough swell to justify taking it to indo in August - otherwise looking forward to some swell at home finally!
Would the little ones like 6'2 be too floaty for barreling slabs?
Luke69 i think the 6"2 would have limits depending on your paddling ability. If the waves were big you might want a bit more paddle speed than a 6"2 allows. Check out Websters "sniper" perhaps ?
Udo the foil pictures are on his webby website under gun models..
Yep Clam i have seen those..i would like to see DS foil pic on his insta of each board
i have heard some ask for a custom DS minus the Beak nose or a toned down Beak.
6'10 x 19 3/4 x 3 DS coming up soon. Getting hard to contain the froth!
I have gone with FCS2 - against Caml's gospel - as my other boards are FCS/FCS2. Will try medium AM quads first, but would be very keen to hear your suggestions.
Udo , Anyone that wants a pointed nose on their desert storm has ruined the design .
That i suppose is their choice to create a deadly weapon. It will lose all safety warranty (just joking) and they cant call it a desert storm- They can rename it a desert spear.
The problems not only can you stab yourself, it can stab someone else in the surf and thats a bit rude to have it hit someone else . If its a heavy glassed board..a deadly weapon sharp nose, sharp fins .
Be careful and just round em all off please. Less injuries all around for everyone
Yes i agree ..what i meant was a bit finer nose in thickness but still keeping the rounded safety side of it
Although the Big Beaks are growing on me.
That 2 inch of nose point does nothing except be a Dangerous Projectile...time for a World Wide round nose safety standard in the industry .
Udo ok yeah that would work no worries. Most of the DS webbys making are refined unless you ask for the full maximum proportions.
A lot of board designs have a blunt or round nose nowadays, they're everywhere you look . it is much better to wrestle with the board during a wipeout.
Yeah i agree udo , although they look faster. its not so cool in crowded surf when others could get stabbed really.
If its not an important part of performance design why bother. Our fins have to be fairly sharp to work so not so much of a choice there unfortunately. There is options but thats for another time / subject
...
3 d-storms ,
i helped to design these recently.
with my prefered thinner ply stringers for a bit of flex on lightweight gun mode. Glassed with double layer cloth both sides with ( 6+6 + 6 /4 on smaller one) but 6+6/6+6 for bigger ones
future/5 box combo.
The 3 sizes spaced, by more than 5 litres
It is, Udo. 6’10 x 19 3/4 x 3, but the rails feel good. Whack it under your arm, and it feels like a normal board, but yes there’s some meat in there.
First surf on the 6'10 DS today.
Conditions really should have been better, but I couldn't wait to give it a go. 4ft and quite powerful, but 25kt onshore with lots of lump and bump.
The DS really is a Cadillac; so silky smooth and stable, gliding through anything in front of it. Gives me great hope for when my local looks perfect from shore, but in reality has 25kt offshores and massive chop.
What surprised the most was how nimble it was, easily laying into full RH cutbacks when I thought it might have bogged or felt 'tracky'.
I can still be duck dived, although it'd be hard work in relentless beach break.
Paddles like a dream, feeling more like a 7'6.
Good to hear...saw a old pic on Ross Marshalls insta which made me think of a chunky DS and its beak.
cabacronulla insta
Two sessions on the 6'10 today.
First one solid 4-5ft groundy, with a hint of devil wind at times, but mostly clean. Ooowee, that was fun! Solid drives off the bottom, very satisfying carves off the top, and lots of time to set up a good cover up over the dry inside section. Great to finally surf it in really powerful waves, and nice to feel that I'm far from finding its limits.
Second session inco 3-4ft, howling devil wind, blinding low winter sun. Normally I wouldn't bother with my local in these conditions, as the takeoff is impossible, and you can't get going through the chop anyway, but the DS is such a good chop buster, that I actually had a really fun time. I was hoping it would handle these awful conditions, and it did.
6 surfs on it so far, and it's been a hoot. Dreaming of a sleeker 6'4, and an 8'something too.
Discussion about the
"Desert Storm" shaped by Wayne Webster
Ridden and designed by the "Camel"