Al picks up his 9' x 22 1/2" x 2.6" 5-fin Nose Channel Longboard

General Discussion
1

Al grew up here and lives in San Diego

He has 5 of my 5-fin boards

He came and picked this board up last week and has ridden it on both sides of the island

It has my 1/8" deep multi plane bottom from the 70’s

3 planes going to 4 then to 2 then flat-1 plane off the tail

This allows such a big board to plane and feel much like a smaller board as well as many other things.

Fins , rocker and template working together to create a perfect balance of Lift-Plane And Release.

Here is his intial Review

Reged: 12/20/06

Posts: 355

Loc: san diexico Re: Al picks up his new boards in Hawaii [Re: Racerx63]

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Ok why am I on this BB while on vacation.

Just had to do a review on this GG 5fin HP Longboard. When I ordered it, I asked GG if he would do a Russ K model and he agreed, also the board was to be picked up on my short vacation.

9-0 x 22.5 x 2.6

Shape by Greg Griffin, airbush by Airworks (Ralph) and glassed by Charlie Walker. GG said this one came out really nice!

first surf was out at chuns reef in shoulder high stuff I kinda knew what to expect from the board as I already have a few 5fin boards from GG. On my first few waves the board performed as expected, it worked just like the other 5fin set-ups I got from GG, after a few waves the crowd was starting to get thick so I sat out further and waited for the set waves, which set me up for being shoulder hopped by everyone along the wave, but whatever I was gonna take off regardless of how many people were gonna drop in. this nice set rolled through about HH and mr. SUP with the video cam helmet was stroking for it, I was deeper than he was and he looked like he was already in when the wave got close to me, so I thought I would go left, and caught the wave. as I stood up the left looked like it wasn’t gonna hold up so I went right instead. I was way behind mr. SUP so I did a couple of quick pumps (while threading the needle through about three or four shortboarders duck diving under me) and the board really took off I cranked into a bottom turn and as the section between me and the SUP feathered I hit the lip and just came straight down!!! Thinking I was gonna pearl for sure I just leaned back and actually pulled it off, so I proned out and went in.

I was stocked on the board and it was just my first session on it.

Next day was the “hyped” opening day. Only it was not hype not for me anyway, double to triple overhead plus bigger on the sets. I opted to not risk breaking a new board or myself for that matter so I surfed at “Gerbers” some people call it that but that is not its real name and they call it that for a reason.

This wave though when the NS is pumping can be all time. my friends and I would surf this place in the late seventies by ourselves usually nice long rights that can stand up and pitch out. Day two was not that kind of day, Some fun HH + rights and soft breaking easy lefts, got to really know the board on this day. This LB wants to be ridden like a shortboard, off the tail so I haven’t had a chance to get a feel on the nose yet and what the nose channels can do, plus I had a leash on.

The waves were fairly mellow for NS standards so I was just taking a right then wait and take a left. The rights had a lot more juice and I was able to compare the boards versatility in different wave conditions. GG’s ‘variable drive’ was quite noticeable in this session. The board really turns on with some juice, really good drive off the bottom and holding speed as it climbs back up for the re-entry. On the re-entrys I was able to hit the lip then let the lip push you back in the wave and also full on step on the tail and carve a tight pivot, well it felt that way anyway, turns on LB’s always feel better than they look. Cutbacks on this board was really easy to set up on the rolling lefts and a blast on the rights.

Todays session is what inspired me to write this review. Surfed at ‘heavenly sky’ good swell direction for this spot it was only HH to solid OH and not perfect so I think a lot of the heavies were passing, and going to work instead, (in SD these conditions would be celebrated as epic and best swell in a decade type excitement) heard it had 3x OH clean up sets last night.

This spot has two main sections and a third one on the inside, you can take off from the east peak and if you make the second section you will have enough speed to connect the third section which is a smoking fast run. This session was a perfect day for experiencing GG’s design concepts in lift and release. Fuggin board just hauled ass!! Unlike longboards I had in the past where turning them at these speeds becomes a hang on and hope the wave doesn’t leave you behind situation, this board took the bottom turns and put me right back in the pocket, board just felt secure on the bottom turns. This wave is sooooo good when its like this you don’t need to generate speed to do maneuvers you’re doing maneuvers to bleed off speed. On three separate occasions while paddling back out after a long run I had guys in the line-up complement my ride as I paddled out past them, now that got me stoked.

This muti plane bottom design of GG’s is just incredible. You guys that just ordered yours are gonna be stoked beyond expectation, I am.

Swell is supposed to drop off today, maybe I’ll be able to get the modfish in the water. But will pick up again Friday and Saturday a new NW and SW is forecasted. Hope to get a surf in with the man, but he’s got orders to fill!!

He told me he got a fresh batch from the glassers and will be fine tuning the boards, maybe he’ll let me test them out, not.

Thanks GG!

There will be updates on Surfermag soon as he has more to say

http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1465836&an=0&page=0#Post1465836

2

Aloha Greg:

Very nice looking board. Any chance of seeing a photo looking down the bottom of the board that shows off the various planes that you mentioned. I find this very intriguing and am curious to see more as I could not tell from the photos.

I especially like those channels in the nose, care to share your thinking on their contribution to the boards performance?

-Robin

3

I did not take any other pictures

Al is leaving today after his final surf in town this morning.

The nose channels are a good way to give the nose more hold while up there.

You can steer through the flats and pull up higher on the face with them.

The planing surface is not changed much like a nose concave does and still rides high without the rails being down in the face as with the concave.

Concave noses ride the nose longer as they push water and slow the board while up there.

These channels are unoticable and give a very clean sense of control.

The bottom contour is 1/8" deep through the whole board.

The front 1/3 is tri planed - raised flat center with 2-3" flats on each side angled to the rail edge

Next 1/3 the side planes begin to drop down in hight making the center plane slightly vee’d 4-planes across now

Back 1/3 side planes drop more to the point they become a vee in front of the fins then flat at the tail.

There are many effects from this.

Straight down the board you have a bottom shape that constantly drops in hight going rearward

The plane shape of the bottom goes from wide flat up front to an increasing angle releasing the plane as you go rearward

The effect of both creates a releasing bottom without any extra rocker and the water naturally wants to go rearward.

You can feel the board rising up on these planes and releasing to the next ones.

This style of bottom was very popular on the best single fins of the 70’s.

4

Aloha Greg:

Mahalo for sharing your thoughts.

Now I understand how the bottom works. I used to make a lot of boards in that era with bottoms like you describe, although on many of them there were concaves on the planes through the middle as well.

Never tried this setup on a longboard though, so I might have to give it a go, looks like it would add a definite performance boost and make the board feel shorter than its actual length.

Definitely going to put the channelled nose to the test as it makes a lot of sense.

One question about the nose: in the photo the rails look fairly neutral close to the nose, is that the case?

I’m wondering how a chamfered nose would work with the channels?

Very nice!

-Robin

5

I normaly make the froward rails soft to go with the longboard theme

This one has the tucked edge like i did for all the Russ K. Makaha boards i did in the 90’s

The front center plane often has a slight concave in in the center but not all the way out to the edge of the flat of that plane.

Soft forward rails hold more water to them and help glue the rail to the face for nose riding.

Al wanted the full shortboard exsperience on this one.

6

This is a truly beautiful board - but I have always wondered about longboards with standard small fin set ups. You have put in the channels in the nose to allow for noseriding, but don’t the fins pop out when you get up front? Don’t you need a box in the back to put a bigger fin that will stay in?

I see a lot of thruster set ups on 9’+ boards around the north shore, but have never tried it. What’s the deal?

Mahalo.

7

These nose ride

They dont do the stick it out the back of the wave type but more in the face type.

Again this is about a longboard with exstreme shortboard capabilities.

Read his review about Lanis and soon about Bowls.

This fin set up makes part of this happen.

Here is Als Email this morning.

smaller surf this morning.

lotta lookers on the board. nose channels really get people’s attention.

one bruddah paddled up and was really looking hard at the nose, then smiled and looked atme and said, Ho brah i thought dat was one mean ding ladat but das channels yeah? i said yea brah das channels, then he said Ho das one Griffin yeah and i said yeah dis one Griffin. he smiled and said das one nice board as he paddled away.

gotta catch a plane.

i think i may be able to catch this same south swell in san diego next week. that would be trippy. Aloha!

8

mean dat bugga!Al,you got me drooling just describing your waves,brah!you good.A few years back,some of my friends were riding boards lidat with channels,no 5 fins ,glassers didn’t like to glass’em.And den,nobody make 'em anymore,dat board looks killas!!!

9

Aloha Greg:

Makes sense.

One other thing I’m curious about with the channels is whether you ever vary the toe-in or do you pretty much stick with the same amount? If you do vary it what is the performance difference as you move it one way or another.

I’d also be curious to know what the difference is between the front of the channels and the back of the channels from the stringer, if you don’t mind sharing?

Mahalo!

-Robin

10

On this width board and this type of nose the outside of the channel starts at 7 1/4"

from center

The inside is 1 1/2" less

I go back 36" on the stringer and end the channel 2 5/8" from the rail

How long you want it controls the toe in

The toe in helps to keep the water flowing in the channel till its end

11

Aloha Greg:

The toe-in definitely makes a lot of sense, mahalo for sharing all the information. I have tried channels similar to these before but only paralleling the string. The toe-in makes so much more sense when you think about it a little more.

Thanks for turning on the light bulb!

-Robin

12

Dont tell your glasser where this light bulb came from.

13

There is a funny line from the Redneck Comedy Tour. The guy who always seems to have a drink in his hand says: You know, when you’ve seen one naked girl…well, you just want to see them all.

How about this: When you have seen one Griff,…well, you just want to ride them all.