Hi all - firstly, all the best for the New Year...hope it is a good one for you all.
Now down to business! Getting a 7ft 6 egg made for me for use on beach breaks - not decided yet on which fin set up to go with. The shaper has suggested a 2 +1 offers more variety long term but says a thruster will work just as well and may make it easier to turn the board from the middle.
Any thoughts or advice welcome.
7'6" hws, my first and only bonzer, currently my favorite board
and 7'4" single fin, another favorite
If we’re voting then I vote for almost anything other than a thruster on a midsized egg.
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If we're voting then I vote for almost anything other than a thruster on a midsized egg.
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So why not the thruster?
If you’re actually trying to turn the board from the middle the first thing I’d say is don’t, that is, unless you’re doing full-rail carves on a single fin displacement hull. Other than that, the position to turn a board from is usually as close to the tail as you can get.
As far as thrusters on midlengths and eggs, the thing to remember about them is that a midlength is not a shortboard nor are they designed to move in those arcs. The people who do cut those tight turns on such boards are doing it by overpowering the rail and length and working against their primary attribute, which is all that rail line and surface area and natural trim speed. More power than flow, which itself is impressive to some people but beyond the reach of most novice and intermediate longboarders.
I just don’t think most of the people who surf those boards constantly and actively pump the fin cluster to create their own speed, which is what thrusters are all about. If you’re not actively pumping a thruster I think the setup actually slows you down a little when compared to the others.
In my opinion, single fins are the loosest and are the most amenable to being ridden from a more forward position, followed by the twins - which hardly anyone uses on longboards. Then it’s the quad or the 2+1, with the thrusters coming in dead last. If you really like the look of the little fins and you’re working on ripping a 7’6" egg then I think a quad setup would do more for you than a thruster. That’s because a quad generates more down-the-line speed and quickness with less effort. They’re a little looser and a little more forgiving on rear foot position, too. It’s like cheating.
You’d pick the single fin to smooth out your style and learn how to better read the wave and make the most of it; you’d pick the 2+1 because it is more versatile and has a wider range; and you’d pick the quad if you’re working on getting more aggressive. The wrinkle is that your shaper somewhat has to match your rocker with your fin setup, or if the blank is already cut they have to match your fit setup with their rocker.
Of course, you know what they say about opinions - everybody has one.
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If you're actually trying to turn the board from the middle the first thing I'd say is don't, that is, unless you're doing full-rail carves on a single fin displacement hull. Other than that, the position to turn a board from is usually as close to the tail as you can get.
As far as thrusters on midlengths and eggs, the thing to remember about them is that a midlength is not a shortboard nor are they designed to move in those arcs. The people who do cut those tight turns on such boards are doing it by overpowering the rail and length and working against their primary attribute, which is all that rail line and surface area and natural trim speed. More power than flow, which itself is impressive to some people but beyond the reach of most novice and intermediate longboarders.
I just don't think most of the people who surf those boards constantly and actively pump the fin cluster to create their own speed, which is what thrusters are all about. If you're not actively pumping a thruster I think the setup actually slows you down a little when compared to the others.
In my opinion, single fins are the loosest and are the most amenable to being ridden from a more forward position, followed by the twins - which hardly anyone uses on longboards. Then it's the quad or the 2+1, with the thrusters coming in dead last. If you really like the look of the little fins and you're working on ripping a 7'6" egg then I think a quad setup would do more for you than a thruster. That's because a quad generates more down-the-line speed and quickness with less effort. They're a little looser and a little more forgiving on rear foot position, too. It's like cheating.
You'd pick the single fin to smooth out your style and learn how to better read the wave and make the most of it; you'd pick the 2+1 because it is more versatile and has a wider range; and you'd pick the quad if you're working on getting more aggressive. The wrinkle is that your shaper somewhat has to match your rocker with your fin setup, or if the blank is already cut they have to match your fit setup with their rocker.
Of course, you know what they say about opinions - everybody has one.
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Many thanks Gdaddy - that's a full explanation and chimes with the shapers general advice.I'm no ripper so a quad would be wasted on me! Think the 2 +1 gives me the best all round. Thanks again.
A properly shaped egg bears many similarities to a hull. it is my opinion that a deep, flexy single fin is the right choice for a true egg. Looking at Huck’s photos, above, I would not call either of those shapes an “egg”. Look more like mini-mals, to me.
It looks like your definition of an egg is as narrow as the ones you use for fish or hull. Maybe you’re right. I’ve seen people use the term egg for everything from the pumpkin seed templates to the Tudor Karma to the Cooperfish Comet and everything in between.
FTR, I favor singlefins for the midlengths I surf.
I have always understood an egg to more or less be a "double ender" - very similar from end to end in that rounded way.
I'd be interested to hear if many folk surf the 8ft eggs in overhead surfor if they leave that to the smaller eggs?
That’s one way to phrase it. Another interpretation might be that I know one shape from another, and the differences between them.
PS: I don’t ever recall attempting to define a “hull” on this forum.
Pretty much true. Though, the early eggs tended to have the wide point forward, and a marked yet balanced difference in width re: nose vs tail. The main element of a true egg is “soft all the way”. No points, edges, sharp transitions, etc… That’s why they call them EGGS.
I don't really want to get into semantics here, seems like I go down this road every time I post a pic of my egg-ish boards,
http://www2.swaylocks.com/comment/1380489/Re-SammyA-egg-thread-lets-see-them.
The original post said "Any thoughts or advice welcome," so I took it at face value. I just posted pics because I thought the o.p. might want to know what fin configurations have worked for me in the general size and shape category he mentioned. Your mileage may vary.
I rode a 7’10 beachbreak speed egg with front future boxes and rear 9", and went back and forth from a full thruster set-up with 4.5" fins, and a 2+1 setup with 3" front fins and a 6" rear fin. The thruster set-up was more vert with plenty drive, the 2+1 setup was smooth and drivy but lacked the punch the thruster provided coming off the bottom…so I had it reshaped into a full thruster with the fin cluster moved/opened to 5" and 13", which provided plenty of punch from further back and a nice sweet spot for speeding down the line from further up…
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Guys - is there a limit in how big an egg can be or is it just the shape? I take it when you go towards the nine feet it becomes a longboard...or do eggs go longer? Thanks
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Guys - is there a limit in how big an egg can be or is it just the shape? I take it when you go towards the nine feet it becomes a longboard...or do eggs go longer? Thanks
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Why the fixation with tags? Ride the shape you like, call it a "frog" board! Its all about the ride, not the name.
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Guys - is there a limit in how big an egg can be or is it just the shape? I take it when you go towards the nine feet it becomes a longboard...or do eggs go longer? Thanks
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Why the fixation with tags? Ride the shape you like, call it a "frog" board! Its all about the ride, not the name.
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No fixation Huck....just interested. There's the old debate about when a fish is a "true fish" and when longer ones are not.and I wondered if the same thing goes on re eggs. As you say - surf what you want but I'm just interested in opinions - some folk have said to me when you go above a certain size then the egg shape doesn;t work too well and you need to look elsewhere. BTW - like your boards...eggs or not - they look fun.
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shorter, longer, all featuring pretty much constant curve…like, uh, you know…an egg… 