Boats, Bikes and Boards...

I'm a big guy... Not big in the freakish sense but just somewhat bigger than average and it becomes problematic when buying jeans, bikes and surfboards. I guess we all have our own crosses to bear and being 6'5" in a 5' 10" world is mine.

Of course you notice the 5'10" real world view and dynamic when you do the boat thing right away as most yacht designers don't really design for people much above six feet (of course they think they do) headroom being the obvious area that comes to mind but as headroom is a much over-rated thing when it comes down to it, my area of contention is berth length. A couple of years back, I remember having a discussion with a multihull designer from Oz who could not compute why I wanted to move a couple of bulkheads a foot further apart as he just did not understand the reason anyone would actually need a berth longer than 6'2"... "Just bend your legs when you go to sleep"!

Yeah right!

Back when I was designing mountaineering and backpacking equipment I went to work for a company who had previously had a designer who was 5'4" and had designed the previous range around the world height average which made him at 5'4" "average" of course the backpacks in the line only fit kids, women and smallish men and they did that very well. But it goes to show that unless you actually experience something you may not get the need for something. So shortish yacht designers design in ample headroom but forget that folks of a certain stature just might need a longer bed...

Same on surfboards and bikes. as most of the great bike racers and top surfers are not very tall (that low center of gravity advantage rocks!) and as a result the tall folk get left out to an extent... You find bike frames geared towards that middle ground and the fix is simply to use a longer seat post which is all kinds of wrong but sadly a fact of life these days. Surfboards are problematic as well, every so often I find a board that I'd love to have only to find out they simply do not make it in a size that would fit...

Just something to think about for NA's, frame builders and surfboard shapers looking for a niche that needs dealing with!