I don’t think trying to copy the bottom on your larry mabile is going to work on a single fin design. I’ve ridden a bunch of Chris’ singles and they all work by using ‘roll’ in the bottom. he does a similar bottom in his thrusters also, using a double concave down the length of the board, deepening in the tail. Its almost similar to the GG triplane, but something Chris has been refining for years and years. He terms his boards ‘Hybrids’, which really sums them up well. When you look at the hull shape of these boards you can see the amount of detail and complexity in them. I own 3 of Chris’ boards (2 short boards and a 9’6 noserider) and have ridden many others. A flat bottom is not the way to go on a single if you want something that will ride well in the pocket and draw big sweeping turns on. It’ll plane fast and tend to ‘skid’ on the turn as it will want to turn flatter. Especially if you intend on using a soft rail shape, there will just be no bite when turning. I would recommend trying to blend a double concave if intending to keep the rails soft. It won’t have the planing speed of a flatter bottom, but for a board like this its not really needed anyhow. You’ll find that if anything you’ll want to slow the board down to keep it in the pocket rather than have it speed up.
Its funny reading this as I have been talking about ordering a board very similar to what you are wanting off Chris for about 18 months now. And after talking through some of the design aspects with him I’ve got a fair idea of what to get. Now reading this thread I’m inspired to put the money down and get it on order! i was looking for something that would ride well in the pocket, but intended for more down the line waves like Crescent Head. Unfortunately single don’t perform too well on beachies as you just don’t get that clean predictable line. But still, its always good having a variety of boards to try out. Just keeps surfing fun!
Regarding the bottom contours would it be possible to replace the concaves with channels, channels would give more hold to that extremly wide tail then the concaves…
Cheers guys, think a mate of mine has beleive, it has some other intresting clips with the Fitz bros, Kidman and Purchase Jr. Shame about the music, seems that if a surf movie doesent have crappy skatepunk or emo it’s acoustic folk songs. Why not throw in something like this instead., Old groundhogs song revamped, board design has come a long way but they sure made better music in the seventies IMHO. Laid back music doesent always have too mean just an acoustic guitar singer songwriter stuff, only surfer that rely shines musicaly is Curren, get Tom’s album if you already havent.
Back on track, I’ve seen that GG shaped flexy before, would be fantastic to see that foootage of them in Tahiti! Here are some shots of Brock’s modern boards there is one pick with a ruler where you can see the triplane quite well.
Bumping this thread after gathering some more info, does anyone have any idea regarding chris size and the length of the MOTE board. I’m 6’2 and weigh about 220 with winter armour, so I was thinking of makinfg one in the 6’4-6’8 range.
The boards that Gary Keyes and Chris surf in the end of the point or angouire scene in sea of joy, look very similiar to the MOTE board. The rocker shot of a wilderness stubbie from the TSJ article thread showed next to zero tail rocker. Will try to dig it out for reference. Even though the MOTE board was a flextail, the abscence of tail rocker should work just fine in our softer waves.
