Dutchman

Length is the engine on a glider — every inch beyond 10 feet is paddle power and glide. For most riders 150–190 pounds, an 11'0" is a strong starting point. Lighter riders (under 150) and faster-wave specialists can drop to 10'6"–10'8". Heavier riders (200+ pounds) or anyone whose home break is consistently soft and flat should look at 11'4"–12'0". On a glider, when you're between sizes, size up — the longer board paddles better, glides further, and trims cleaner. Talk to Blake before you lock the dim.

The single fin is what makes a glider a glider. It gives the board authority through a long arc, has the cleanest connection between rail and bottom, and adds no extra surface area to drag in the flat section between turns. The contour diagram shows a 10" center box with optional 2+1 side-bite positions 12" off each rail — single-fin stock, 2+1 available at custom checkout for surfers who want trim plus the option to hold a longer arc on a steeper face.

You can see both in the contour diagram — and the combination is the design move that defines the Dutchman. Low entry rocker through the nose lets the board catch a wave before the lip exists; the nose drops cleanly onto the water without pearling, and you're paddling through swells a 9'6" longboard would miss. High exit rocker keeps the tail alive off the top — the board is not locked into pure trim, it can still turn when the wave asks. Together, they let one board handle both the paddle-and-glide opening and the section-redirect at the end of a long ride.

Soft, peeling point waves — knee-to-shoulder-high. Think San Onofre on a soft south, Doheny at dawn, Cardiff Reef when the summer pulse opens up the inside, Saladita on a clean morning, Punta Mita on a soft swell. The Dutchman wants wave count, not wave size — a glassy face it can draw a long line across. It is not the board for Lowers on a head-high day or for hollow, heavy surf. The trade-off is length-for-snap: paddle, glide, and trim authority in exchange for top-turn snap and tube-hunting.

Same family. The Bonneville (Christenson), Vaquero (Andreini), and Eagle (Frye/Harbour) define the modern SoCal glider center of gravity — narrow templates, low rocker, single-fin authority, pintail hold. The Dutchman shares that hydrodynamic premise. The differences are the ones you specify at custom checkout: tail shape (pin / round-pin / diamond), fin box brand, glass schedule, finish tier. Designed in CAD by Blake; CNC-cut and finished by Jack Sykes in San Clemente.

The proposed default for an 11-foot board is 8oz + 6oz volan on the deck and 6oz volan on the bottom — a heavier deck for foot-traffic durability, a single bottom layer to keep weight reasonable across 11 feet of board. Stringer is 3/8" basswood for longitudinal stiffness. Foam is PU (US Blanks); EPS is not recommended for this category. All defaults are tunable at custom checkout — see the glassing schedules guide for the trade-offs.

4–6 weeks on a clear-sanded build, 6–8 weeks on gloss-and-polish, 8–10 weeks on tint-sanded. Long boards take longer to glass and sand than shortboards, so add a week if you're between tiers and deciding. Turnaround reflects current queue — confirmed when you place the order. Lock your slot with a 25% deposit.

We don't run a formal demo program for gliders — at 11 feet, demo boards are hard to keep on the rack and harder to ship. What we do: book a paddle session at San Onofre with Blake, and ride whichever Dutchman or comparable single-fin glider is on hand. If you're local to SoCal, message ahead. If you're not, the closest non-demo path is to read the descriptions and the contour diagram together, message Blake your weight + home break + experience, and size from there. On a custom glider, the spec conversation is the demo.