Channels?

General Discussion
21

WOW, that’s an offer!

I LOVE my wannabe Griffin 5 fins. Go for it GDaddy!

Lookin’ forward to trying the twin setup.

22

channels equals candy for the eyes, so nice........  Im thinking of getting a 6'8 step up rounded pin channeled board for my extended surf trip around oz, something for those 5 foot plus super hollow days, for some reasons they just give me confidence in those sort of conditions, more mind over matter I believe.

23

Hey Greg,  Have you ever tried Four Way Fin System?  Four Way Fin System

24

Wow, I’m overwhelmed and I don’t know what else to say.  I was stoked just for the chance to leech some more design info off you but this is over the top.  It’s an offer I literally cannot refuse.   Now I have to set out to come up with a board to do it justice.  

25

Email me

 

griffinsurfboard@aol.com

I need your address for the fins

These are sized for my modern fish 1 or 2

 

26

The first problem I see is that the G-10 is slightly inconsistant in thickness and I grind the screw side of the tab down to fit freely in the plug.

It would be tricky with this 1 tab .

You need to leave the opposite side untouched for it to sit against the wall of the plug hole to have the desired angle of the plug.

If I milled the whole plug with a special setup it would be fine.

27

So, back to channels…can anyone who’s had experience with them describe the difference of riding a board with and without channels? has anyone ridden 2 boards that are identical except that one has channels? if not, i feel this should be done by someone who has more experience shaping/riding such boards than myself. channels have always interested me but i dont have the guts to make them hee hee

 

 

 

28

I have made the same board with and without channels

 

The channel bottom with the right fins is way more FUN. :slight_smile:

 

These have a similar feel with no production problems + even more . :slight_smile:

 

The Review 

I've had 5 good sessions on the new Griffin so I thought I'd post a report. I was riding this last Oahu south swell in head high and some overhead size (3' to rare 4'). It's wrong to compare riding the shortboard to the modfish since they're so different, but aesthetically it's impossible not to. Both have flat bottoms with a tell tale edge along the rail running up to the nose, Greg's trademark swallow tail, extra glass patch under the back foot, and the custom five-fins. That's where the similarity stops.

Compared to other shortboards about the same dims, the Griffin feels like it carries a bit more volume. It paddles as expected, and I experimented with some late steep takeoffs (augmented by Frankenstein-like slow pop-ups), and never once fell over the front or sank the nose. Once the back foot was planted over the fins it was stable and fast, and I think FAST is the dominate trait of this board (exactly what I had said I was looking for). The surprise really happens once up and into the first push with the back foot. I guess Greg would explain that the volume, rails, bottom, and fins all interact together along with a bunch of other details for that effect, but all I can say is that the board moves! I've heard people critique boards as being too fast but never understood the argument, since I think fast is good and dropping energy is a lot easier (and more fun) than building it. That same speed trait holds up backside on this thing better than all my previous boards, and I'm guessing it's the five-fin setup to credit most. Usually I lag behind into the avalanche when riding backside, but with this board the speed doesn't vanish as much in that direction. It's a goofyfooter's world and I'm not, so this board will help on trips to Bali and all the other great lefts out there. 

I owe a big thanks to Greg for another great board. I really appreciate how he holds firm to his proven but yet so unconventional concepts. You can't get boards like these from anyone else, and there aren't many shapers left who take such meticulous care into understanding what their customer is looking for, and then tweak every little aspect of the board into symmetry to get that effect. I'll be back for more, no doubt! 

Oh, and the fins might look a little better with the green glass, but the khaki's good too. I'll take performance over color any day! 
 

 

 

 

 

The Green Kine

29

30

Greg I've been working on channeling Bill Caster to get his take on Channels, He made some really beautiful channeled Boards in his time. So far he hasn't come forward. Guess he still wants to Rest in Peace.  The Campbell Brothers have a lot to say on channels. Lucky for us they are still in the line up. We are also lucky to have you in line up; You do seem to have tapped into some magic.  Glassers also have a lot to say on channels, most can't be repeated in a family friendly forum.

Walking down the beach one day with a seriously channeled board i rather stoned looking surfer with his average looking run of the mill short board. He looked at my board and said" Are those channels" No I replied "They are more or less canals" " Really?" he replied.  There is more to the concave then riding the nose

31

i ve had channel bottom boards…  the #1  trait i rember is thee bottom turn…  lots more speed and  thrust…  other than that i didnt notice much difference…

32

My experience has been what others have said… more speed, plus more drive through turns. Shorter based fins are a must.

To add to the discussion… has anyone felt you can go shorter with channel bottoms? I have found that I can go much shorter with a 6 channel, with the channels being the typical wedge shaped channels… not the round groove type. Has anyone else made this observation?

33

and you make these channels with a router and template just like fin boxes?