Check out this Dave Parmenter 5'10 Fish

Aloha-

I need some Swaylockian critiques of ths unique board.

I bought this Parmenter 5’10" fish new a while ago, and I’m still having difficulty figuring it out the design concept, as well as surfing it smoothly.

It has a full length distinctive beveled rail from nose to tail and even in the swallow. Why?

The deck has a significant concave: very kneeboardish for a stand-up board. Why?

Classic outline, but does not really surf like other classic fishes I have.

BTW: “I`A AUANA” means new fish.

The attachments show the beveled rails and the specs.

Help would be awesome!



Do you like the way it rides ?

What feels different ?

The 5’8 single fin fish I had also had fairly bevelled rails …maybe it was something from the '70s Dave just wanted to re-explore.

Does it float you okay with the concave deck …what are YOUR dimensions ?

How do the fins and fin placement , cant and toe compare to the other classic fishes you have ? Are those twin KEELED ?

WAS it designed as a kneeboard …if so , have you tried kneeboarding it ? Maybe the lower centre of gravity will give it a different feel through turns ?

Lastly , what sort of size and shape waves are you mainly riding it in ?

…sorry to “answer” your questions with lots of others , but the information might be helpful in giving us some idea .

thanks !

ben

Sorry , I’m not quite sure if I read the dimensions right [I found it a bit hard to see …could be my eyes or my ‘screen’…

is this right …?

16.35n x 5’10 x 21.375 x 16.5t

and these numbers …1.75 [?tail rocker?]

2.375 [? nose rocker?]

what are the 4.115 and the 1.5 numbers then ?

Also … is the last number “8.5” , which I assume is the tail tip to tip measurement / [‘pod’] ? (it looks wider to me ?)

 thanks  



    ben

chipfish-

I will try to answer your questions:

The board is for stand-up surfing.

The board floats me alright.

Fins are canted towards the pin of each tail. Fins are toed out slightly.

They are wide-based modern fiberglass fins, not keel-style.

I have tried in 2 types of waves: 1.) Head high Diamond Head- Rolly, reef break and 2.) Concessions: Fast playful, sometimes ledgy wave. Both waves here on South Shore and on my frontside.

Dave is a highly intelligent man that knows how to design. Maybe I just need 80+ more waves to figure it out!

You have to admire how Parmenter puts all of those specs on the stringer. If I could interpret them, I might understand the board better. I have no clue as to what the numbers mean aside from the length, width, thickness, nose, and tail measurements. Your speculations could very well be right with the rest, though. One thing I have noticed in most classic fishes, is that the widest point is usually forward of center. In this board, it appears dead center. Also, the rocker seems excessive compared to my other fishes.

Perhaps the last 3 values: 4.115, 1.5, 8.5 (distal of fin to pin of tail?) refer to fin placements, or fin specs. I want to know, so I’ll go take a measuring tape to the board tomorrow.

I’m 170 lbs, 5’11.

The board does not transition rail-to-rail as well as I had hoped. It appears as if the rocker is in excess compared to what I usually ride.

What are your thoughts on the full-length unsmoothed bevel?

I’m not really sure about the beveled rail …anyone else ?

The rail to rail thing might be more to do with the width of the board…all my fishes have only been 20" wide max.

I’d be keen to hear what those other measurements are … you mention it seems a bit more rockered …perhaps the 4" whatever measurement is the nose rocker ??

ben

Just trust that he knows what he’s doing… There’s alot of us that do…

Looks like that fish I saw made in AUS with the curved out tail just doesn’t have the radical fins.

I think it was highlighted in either Glass Love or Hydrodynamica… Chip I think you posted the link a while back

Dave started with his “malolo” fish 4-5 years ago and this looks like a major design improvement.

I love his boards they’ve never let me down always top performing boards. Don’t worry you’ll figure this out soon at those two spots… (you like concessions better than courts?)

Did you get this at Surf Garage?

I heard there was a DP 5-footish fish on sale($$$) there…

It’ll be a good match for the vector… The vector will paddle like a tanker compared to that.

I’m sure that if you could get Parmenter on the horn, he could fill a book of long-winded explanation concerning this board and the “Advanced” theory behind it. He even writes a book on the stringer. Call Moondogies’ in San Luis Obispo, Cal. They’ll know how to get ahold of him. Like I said he is long-winded so if you print his email make sure you’ve got lots of paper in the printer. Those of us who lived thru the '60’s-'70’s and built boards back then discarded these tracking little twinners when we all bought cars and stopped hitch-hiking. McDing

…in between patients, and checking Swaylocks on Sat morning. How great is that? This will have to be a short one.

I bought the fish off of a friend who had a 12 batch order made from DP. Cost me a very reasonable $280 new. Can’t beat that anywhere…

…I like the Concession wave on smaller days, cause I just can’t compete with the boys on their 10 footers at Courts. If I ride a longboard, then it’s another story…

Oneula-

Courts: when it’s head high plus is so much fun with all of that speed behind you. I’ll post a pic I took last summer when I get home.

When was the DP at Surf Garage? They have some nice boards, but way out of our league sometime. $1750 for a new Takayama Model T? $850 for a used one? Auwe! I’ve take some of my “brand name” boards over there to sell used, and I always get more money there than I would anywhere else. I almost feel guilty.

I did the surf shop tour on Good Friday: Stopped by RVs yesterday. My semiannual trip. Not much.

Saw a Parmenter widow Maker with Blue resin swirl at Classic Longboards.

Tropical Blends had some nice boards, too. Jim over there is really cool, and will shoot the breeze/talk story about boards, etc.

I meant Jim from Tropical Blends…

…looking forward to checking out your vector.

I know a guy here who is a Very Good shortboarder and he has a Parmenter board with fully chined rails. Although it looks weird he says the thing works great. It is NOT a fish by any stretch of the imagination, more of a standard shortboard - but definitely fully chined rails nose-to-tail. So, they appear to function well, or at least not impede the performance of his board. What they add (or subtract) to your mod-fish, I can’t begin to say.

If I were you I’d ride it a bunch more and then see what you think… at least the price was right for an experiment.

Hey side,

Your board maybe one of those “learn to like” boards. I had an Aipa fish in '73 that when I first rode I almost hated. I just could’nt get that thing to go. I put it on the side, let friends ride it, basically ignored it. Then one day while a friend was using it in some gutless waves at Ewa Beach, iwe switched boards and it just clicked. I did this one cutback on it that was so fast and came back around so smooth. That’s when I started to really get into that board and for waves under shoulder high, I would’nt think of riding anything else. Hopefully yours will turn out like that one.

I have a Lis fish that although ordered to be a replica of an early 70s fish, has a bit more rocker than I thought it would, and looks very wide point centered too. I was a bit skeptical looking at it before I rode it, but once I got it out in the water, all that did’nt matter. It rides just fine. While checking out the boards at Surf n Sea yesterday, I came across a Merrick fish, which I thought was much to thick and two Surf N Sea fishes shaped by Yban, I think he’s Peruvian, that were sweet, a 5’8" and 6’0". They both had single to double concaved bottoms, minimal rocker and beaked noses and keel fins. I don’t usually come across boards in shops that I would consider buying, but these two were the first I have come across that I would. Really top notch tint laps and gloss finishes too. What are your other fishes like?

FD

Yeah

I wouldn’t buy anything from Surf Garage, RussK, or the Waikiki Local Motion other than a t-shirt or a trinket as their target market is either visiting Japanese tourists or rich Kahala/Hawaii Loa Ridge/Hawaii Kai folks…

Kind of like buying a bottle of water or hot dog at the airport

If you look around there’s some gem shops in the outlying neighborhoods like RVs,Cippy’s, Kimo’s etc. The factory in Kalopei has some deals as well, especially on boards that don’t get picked up… Just watch out for the chinese imports… they’re everywhere.

For Surftechs ( I know you had one) here I understand the place to go is Koa Boardsports behind Waikiki… Gabby Makalena and crew price boards reasonably and way less than from a place like SurfnSea.

Dave from Surfco (he used to be a distributor) clued me in on this a while back.

Quote:

“…Looks like that fish I saw made in AUS with the curved out tail, it just doesn’t have the radical fins…Chip I think you posted … a while back …”

I think these are referred to as “chine” rails ?

…LeeV , is this also similar to your ‘edge’ bottom boards, I wonder ?

ben

Happy Easter, a few things, the concave deck is for strength aka less pressure dings/dents fiberglass dents and pressures easy on a dome surface, everybody has these boards, concave the center of the board is thinner and that leaves girth towards the rails and so you can only do this type of rails, I know this looks like my N0. 1 board i did last year, after 30 yrs of slacking, but mine has a fish tail not a giant swallowtail, I put Red X w/XT-1 system in for adjustability (3/4") the small trailing fin helped I guess. the numbers look like demsions 16 nose/tail common in fish size, 2.3" thick of rail/board. I was wondering what are it’s problems, aka traking, short/long radius turns, pivot off the lips, the pump(1-2 or more to develop speed), is the nose catching on take off or cutback? I’ve figured my boards out now and am now on N0.7 all getting better everytime, with my home grown naked girl fins (keels) they down right rip, so R.I.P. brother Aloha, the winds suck!!!

maybe it’s my eyes. i don’t see the chine on the bottom rail of the board. looks flat to me. but i’ll take your word for it.

my take on fish. i never liked them. always pulling the fins out on turns. but then i stuck a trailing fin on the back. mmmmmmmmm.

with the thruster type fins you have in your board, i’d go to a trailer about the same size to start with. use a fin system insert so you can interchange until you find the combo that’s right.

much acceleration, no fin pull out, paddles better than a regular thruster 6" longer.

my two.