Thought I would share a Board that Matt Bettis shaped and Aloha Glassing glassed for a customer.
It was fun to have shared in the project for the customer, making these Bamboo Fins using the Greenlight material.
Hope you enjoy a step back in time.
Mahalo,Larry
Details?
Hi Bill, Will get some information from Matt Bettis on details surrounding this board or better yet have Matt come on the forum. Mahalo,Larry
Hi Larry,
Are the fins canted or toed? Any placement numbers you could share? I just finished foiling fins for my second attempt at a board like this. Tommorrow I’ll laminate them, glass them on, and hotcoat the board. I have numbers from another Sway friend,but I am very interested in the fin placement for the board you posted, too, if possible. The fins are awesome, of course. Puts mine to shame. Mike
Was a similar board to this one in a recent issue of Surfers Journal? Yes please share some dims. It looks pretty much like a fish with no swallow tail.
The copies are getting better looking but I wonder how much of the Simmons subtleties are there on these boards made by people who’ve never seen an original? Check http://hydrodynamica.blogspot.com -he’s got the new Journal article posted there. Larry’s fins look on the money, really nice. Someone needs to slap a set on a more ‘normal’ board and see how it rides.
Steve at Aloha does awesome work. Did he get moved into his new shop yet?
http://www.fishbrotherhood.net/2007/12/blog-fishing.html
And there’s still one clip of RK riding Casper left on the internest.
Consafos is spot on in my case. I have never seen or held a Simmons, original or inspired. My outline was done using a Greeno template mailed to me four or five years ago by another Sways friend. From the Internet I see a S deck, single concave between rounded off keel fins. The fins look too far back to my eye, but what I like is they seem to be a relatively easy board to surf. Like a fish. RK appears to be standing way back on those fins when he surfs his. I’m no RK that’s for sure. We’ll see. I’d love to get my hands on one of Mr. Baugess’s or Martin’s boards and check out the curves. Someday. It took me a lot of tries before I could shape a fish I liked. Going mostly by memory at first and then more and more of the boards in the line-up for me to see. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to a couple mini-Simmons boards,soon. Mike
Rooster,
no disrespect intended to you or any other of the garage magicians- it’s the guys who all of a sudden are flogging Mini Sims like they’ve spent the time looking at the originals, talking to Elwell and so on. But that’s how it works- the guys who made the most money during the Fish boom seemed to be guys who had never bothered with them until they became the board of the moment. These guys will hopefully move on to the bat nose or whatever comes next. The Simmons design is great so hopefully some of these hybrids will send surfboards on an entertaining new path. I strongly recommend checking the Shelter Surf shop site, they have a Brian Hilbers shaped board on there that owes as much to Greenough as to Bob S. No idea how if it works but it’s awesome looking! Oh yeah, the clip is great- it’s Joe Curren and Chris del Moro last December on the 6’ and 5’5" boards.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, kirk. Glad your posting, too. I always check your entries because we seem to enjoy the same type of surfing and surfboards. Mike
mike- if you want to come to this side of the bay you are welcome to check out this baugess shaped mini-simmons. 5’7", everyone who rides it loves it. it was loaned to my son and he was sad he couldn’t take it with him back to school. PM me if you want to come by. cheers, steiny
any one know when Kenvin’s movie will be out. When people see him killin it on his mini-simmons…should be very interesting…
rogelio
Proneman,
In your avatar there is a simmons-esque board. How does it go with those fins vs rounded keels?
Steiny,
What are the dims on that board? How large a surfer can it accomodate and what sorts of waves? It looks like the tail pinches in a bit right after the fins. Otherwise, pretty straight.
Also,
What kind of bottom contours would make a board like this magic? I recall descriptions of pretty complex stuff going on with these on the bottom.
Thanks!
C-Slug
Kirk?
yeah, couldn’t agree more with what you’re saying. But, the sad thing is in this ‘enlightened’ age of information, people can’t even call a fish a FISH…
anyway, I’m pretty stoked on my bastard mini, and while I know they’re not original, some of the offspring/evolutions have been inspiring, much like the 3 fin thing RK had on his blog.
I’ve heard theyre slightly bellied to some degree of concave out the back,
but I wonder where the rocker is positioned
and how crucial the concave or contours are, or if a flattish bottom approach would work.
I know theyre totally fun to draw and imagine riding… I’m gonna sand one out for personal use.
i’ve seen a few original simmons and have seen these new, short, “simmons inspired” boards. the only connection i see is the template and fins, otherwise that’s it. some roll in nose-not much. boxy rails, no s- deck, a crude kinda step deck, etc. honestly, if you want a board that incorporates all of the simmons aspects, put a liddle or paul gross board next to one, then you’ll see the the dedication to the design and it’s concepts…
thank you
just call it a twinfin
5’7" long
23" wide
20" tail
19" nose
16.5 across tailblock
and thick 3"? (sorry, no calipers)
my son is 6’5" and about 185 and he loved it but said he could have easily surfed a much smaller one. he surfed this in some punchy beachbreak and had to work to duck dive it. there is a lot going on with this board, lots of subtleties.
