i just got a 7’6" 70’s (80’s maybe ) single fin pintail gun. it’s pretty thick (about 4" maybe), super wide up front relative to the very narrow pointed pintail. i’m sure you guys have seen the type before. i’ve never ridden a board like this before and i hope you guys wouldn’t mind giving a couple of pointers. most of the time i turn from the tail, but with all that width up front are these boards meant to be surfed more from more of a forward position in a rail to rail style? i’m sure i’ll figure it out soon enough but you guys always give such good advice that i thought i’d see if i could chop a few hours off of the learning curve tryign to figure out this board. thanks, roger
I have a O’Neill gun about 7’4" single fin pin that sounds similar to your board and I ride rail to rail turning from mid section with alot of leg drive. You can turn from the tail but then the board doesn’t really get the speed going since the tail sinks too much. Mine just flies down the line making high speed drawn out turns when planing out, ala Terry Fitzgerald.
I always rode them pretty far back. The real difference in riding a single is building speed. 3 fins do have more speed and acceleration built into the designs. If your faced with hollow surf the things ride pretty good. Rail to rail is excellent and tube riding is as good as on a 3. In flatter faced waves I always found that a little top turn before my first drop would give me a bit more speed to work with. Remember also that the speed that is built into those boards has to do with the flatter rocker and thickness. Trim is therefore very important since this is a place your going to get much of your speed. Acceleration just isn’t quite up to today’s high performance boards so don’t expect that. Lastly, cutbacks are difficult, especially the full roundhouse variety. Don’t be bummed if you have problems there… everybody did. And one more thing, if the board has a fin box, changing fins will give you much more versatility.
…YOUR going to have to learn to walk a shorter/narrower board.It will also require a bigger and /or faster wave for that design to work.As Greg said learning where to stand for maximum plane area vs.turning spot will be your first major goal,as the single w/ a narrow pintail gains little energy on its own.Herb
Yea, Herb is right. I forgot. The trim area is actually not where you turn from, but further up. So a bit of footwork is needed.