ok, yes i did a search, but there isn’t a real cornocopia of info there on the actual performance of this design.
anyone got feedback/real experience with this design?
my thoughts is it will be basically the same as a swallow tail(two points recessed towards the stringer) but wondered if anyone here is riding one?
thanks.
ps any pointers for doing a search would be cool too, thanks.
I’ve been wondering about the same thing, as it applies to kneelo designs. Seeing as bodyboards work so well in steep situations and barrels, it seems to me that the crescent tail would also translate to working well for both standup and kneelo. Just a thought…
Standups, the fin or fins provide most of the directional stability.
Boogie boards only use the fins on the rider.
Actual tail shape makes little difference, as any fish with the swallows squared off would work just fine, with enough fin.
Saw plenty of crescent tails back before 1966.
A shaper friend of mine has recently started putting them on his own boards as he was getting sick of rounded square tails. He regards it as a cross between a rounded pin and a swallow alternative. His crescent or half moon tails are pulled in just like a rounded pin but as if the last part of the pin has been cut away. Hope that males sense to you.
tail shapes on a bodyboard do effect the ride cresents are a bit stiffer on a sponge than either bat or round tail but they do hold in the barrel better. and Lee when in the barrell if you look at photos of me from when i would sponge my feet are out of the water and all the weight is shifted to the inside rail. i made barrels none of my friends who bodyboarded would make becuase they draged their legs.
thanks to all for replying to this thread.
i assume that there just aren’t that many people doing/riding these… maybe a reason for that?
thanks again, will be making one soon i hope, so will report back anything of significance.
thanks again,
Makes a tiny bit of difference in feel and hold, while multiplying the glassing, sanding, shaping, and polishing hassles.
Mandala has made a board called the Dark Cloud that is a combination of crescent/swallow style tail which Alex Kopps thought up. I have shaped/glassed a similar board and will say, although it looks beautiful and really cool, glassing the tail was quite difficult. Sanding, and shaping was really enjoyable. No hassles on that part. I would say it performs close to a fish or square tail but just a little looser. Less thrust on turns obviously.
To me it looks like it would be similar to a rounded square more than a swallow i.e an in between tailsahpe that has some of the turning of a rounded square with a bit more bite(sharper corner) but just guessing…
