Well, Huck beat me to the punch on this one; 'was going to ask the same question. Your broomtail fish is a board I’d been curious to know and understand better for a while now…
What can you tell us about the rider, their ability in the water, needs from the board, conditions they’ll be using it in, etc, and how you’ve tweaked it to suit them (other than what has already been stated)?
Looking forward to seeing and hearing how it turns out.
Cheers!
Aloha L.I.T.,
The rider, my nephew, is a 130 pound young man, two months shy of 20 yrs old. He has been riding several different boards, including one I made for his older sister in 2001. That board is a single fin, 7’ 2’’ custom shape, similar to my OBQ model. He has suffered the pressure of his peers, to ride a ‘‘modern’’ short board. He has had access to that board for about three years. Over this last Christmas, was grumbling about how hard it was to duck dive. Fast forward to three weeks ago, at a family gathering, he stated ‘‘Uncle Bill, I finally get what your board is all about. I love it, it’s sooo fast!’’ He then expressed a desire for a Fish, because he’d heard they were fast. So, here we are, after a discussion about the reasoning about the design, and the fin setup. Having gotten a grip on the 7’ 2’’ board, and why it does what it does, he’s on board for a BroomTail Fish. As far as his ability goes, I’ve not observed him. But, based on our dicussions, I think he’s probably an advanced novice/ intermediate range surfer. The BroomTail will surely step up his game.
…McDing, do you say the 80 90% done with the planer THEN you do the planshape? so do you make the rails by hand? may be you rasp too much…
You always talk out loud; like in many glassing threads etc; but then we did not saw any of your product; only that average board with the Hawaiian isles logo; if I remember right.
Perhaps more than one member speaks loudly (not referring to reverb)…
McD has posted several of his creations over the last couple of years.
This is one of his latest, his cover of the Machado Moonbeam:
Thanks Bill!
Glad to hear your nephew persevered with the 7’2" instead of succumbing to the peer pressure - I can speak from personal experience that trying to improve your riding on a board that’s too advanced and unfriendly to your skill-level will only arrest any improvements to your surfing ability, and can even send it backwards.
The phrase “No-one learns to drive in a Formula One” comes to mind here. And there’s good evidence to support that statement too - if anyone doubts it, just check out the Top Gear episode where Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond each try to drive a Formula One car; and both fail abysmally despite both of them having made a career out of driving seriously fast cars around racetracks for years on end.
Better yet, if his friends keep giving him any further flak about the single fin, he can tell them to go talk to anyone who grew up surfing in the 90’s trying to ride the skinny, hyper-rockered “banana-boards” that Slater, et al, made popular - and which held back the surfing ability and fun had by an entire generation of average-joe surfers.
On the plus-side though, I’m guessing he’d get cred from those same friends with a BroomTail Fish under his arm, as “alternative” surfcraft are trendy these days, and the BTF definitely falls into that category; particularly if it’s got the trailer fins out on the rail behind the main Thrailkill Twingle arrangement (I’m assuming that’s what the fin setup will be), which I’ve read you put on these boards to handle bigger conditions -> that’d make the board look even trippier to them.
Nice work Bill in keeping him on equipment that will make it easy for him to get better - your nephew’s a lucky boy; hope he appreciates that.
Cheers all!
When this thread first popped up it got me wondering about what the finer details of a “Pig” were, other than just a board with a “hip” behind the middle of the board.
A quick google and this clip from SHACC popped up; there’s probably a little more in this clip about what was going on in U.S. surfing history around the time the “Pig” appeared than specifics about the Pig itself, but there’s some good photo’s in there. Figured I’d post the link to it seeing as other users like Monkstar1 who were wondering the same thing as I was might find it interesting.
That did help, thanks for that.
Yes all this discussion but no mention of the Pig being attributed to Dale Velzy. And most likely other influences such as Kivlin and Quigg. No mention of Thrailkill in that Video. “T”. ???
Internet been out down there??
I’ve got to say that without comments and advice from Stoneburner and John Mellor; the task of upscaling this board would have been a lot worse. Without any true measurements, having never seen one before etc I was happy about the end result. It’s either really close or completely different. Not anything I would shape. Even for the same customer. But I took it on as a challenge.
Don’t forget the Weber Pig shortboard from the 70s. I think this is the predecessor of the McCoy nugget style board. I haven’t used a McCoy, but a guy here who was trained by McCoy helped influence Downing’s Slippah model and I like those for a short good paddling hot dog board.
Yes I remember those boards. They were nice for the time and showed some Aussie influence Greenough style. The Wayne Lynch Evo was another wide tail , round narrow nose board of the era.
So what’s the status of these boards? Any updates?
Check your PM’s.
BaHahhhhhh!!!
