Rusty

Moby Fish

Big Cat

Question: 
I'm interested in the Big Cat or Moby Fish. I was wondering what size you would recommend for a guy like me: 5' 8" and 200 lbs, maybe more with my wetsuit. I'm 57 years old and still in good shape because I snowboard, surf, and rollerblade. I have been surfing since 1965. Had a lot of boards. I want a board that paddles well, but still rides well. I was thinking Big Cat 8' x 23" x 3 1/4". You guys are the first site I've found that gets the idea about boards for a bigger guy. Typically, I have always had a problem with shapers that recommended a smaller board. Usually they were guys 135 to 150 lbs and couldn't relate to a bigger surfer.

Rusty's Answer:
The Moby is more of a small wave design with some range that will allow the rider to enjoy most conditions up to head high. This is a good design to contemplate if you want something other than a longboard for the small days. They paddle like a board a foot longer yet still retain the looseness of a board a little shorter.

The Big Cat is a much more versatile design. It is an update to the Desert Island with much more all around performance. A great candidate for the 5 fin convertible box setup.

PS: The shaper is big and he is 56 years young.

Click here to go to the surfboard site and check out the Moby Fish and Big Cat!

"Oh my gosh! I don't know!? Probably something in art or graphics...I really have a passion for fine art, painting and drawing and things like that and I really enjoy graphics too. In the early days of the company I did a lot of logo design and graphics for the t-shirts and a lot of the ads the first years. That is where I might have ended up...In the early eighties I was seriously considering shifting gears and working for a friend of mine who had a company that made PCs working in graphics and marketing. That would have been different!"

-Rusty

"Once instance comes to mind... Surfing Blacks along time ago, mid '70's, one winter and back then it wasn't that crowded in the winters, so there was only a handful of us out. It was pretty good size, solid six or eight foot and kind of gray cloudy skies and offshore. It was like a storm was coming in and it already had an ominous feel sitting out there in between sets. Looking outside coming in from the North West were a couple of giant dorsal fins, like six feet tall, coming at me - two Killer whales bearing down on me! They were moving like trains! They had a bead on me and came about fifty feet away and turned away. It was one of those things were I couldn't do anything but freeze and stare at them and as soon as they were on me they were gone. I think they were just coming in for a closer look and hung a right turn and went away. It was pretty unnerving."

-Rusty