High performance surfing, twirling in the air or laying down some rail, whatever brings you joy.
That is mr. Liddle himself testing out what he builds.
That first clip you posted titled smoothies is mr. LiddlesurfboardsLiddlesurfboards
So what fin does that look like (around 1:42 of last clip I posted)?
My best guess is a 10 " or 10.5" Greenough 4-A (based on the recurve at the leading edge of the base), but the rake looks kinda too upright to be one of those. Maybe he makes his own.
The hull guys usually favor flex fins, often with narrow bases. Some have less rake than others. I think Greenough had one that was more upright than the 4a but I don’t remember which model it is.
4C.
True Ames website has them.
Also some other nice flex fins.
if they’re too stiff, it makes it harder to get it on rail it seems like, plus you lose a springing sensation out of turns. although I do use a 4c on “displacement hulls” when the waves get bigger.
on a side note, I surf beachbreaks 90% of the time and ride a “displacement hulls” very very frequently. I believe that any board works better on a pointbreak, and I have had nothing but positive experiences on these designs at a beach break contrary to other’s opinions. they make sections that you would never make on another board, and if you like surfing fast, horizontally, from the middle to front of a surfboard, then you might give one a go. as for “ripping” on these boards…I get waves with no one in sight about 1/2 of the time, so when I surf, I am more concerned with how the board feels and how efficient it is than how it looks from the beach. some of these designs are more forgiving, and others not so much. outlines seem to make the biggest difference in how forgiving they are, although foil and rocker play a role too. it definately causes you to think differently, and i notice that I enjoy seeing how fast I can go and seeing how much distance I can cover in a single wave than doing sharp, pivoty, verticle maneuvers and missing a significant portion of the wave.
this is only based on my limited experience with self built and surfed boards…there are many other people with much more knowlege on the subject
good luck
this is where it all began are they relavent to day’’ who knows up to the rider i guess?
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**cheers huie
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That’s a beaut, huie**.**
**“**200+ pages of hull pics on this site”
Where, exactly, would those be?
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“surfing fast, horizontally, from the middle to front of a surfboard”
That’s definitely the impression I’m getting about this design from watching what little footage of them being surfed that I can find. The rails appear to be catchier and “less forgiving” than those of what I think of as a more conventional “egg”.
“It definately causes you to think differently”. Riding them seems to be much more about trimming than carving/pumping for speed. In that sense, they seem to require an approach that has more in common with surfing late-60s longboards than with contemporary shortboards.
some of them can be them can be foiled thin as a knife and are less forgiving, others have the rail volume of a “normal” surfboard. I have seen a few of marc andreini’s and they seem to have more rail volume and an overall thicker foil as an example to check out.also check out the 200+ pages of hull pics onthis site
definately not pumping for speed but rather carving hard off the bottom and trimming fast in the part of the wave with the most energy…it can kinda pull you into this part of the wave if you loose speed. I’m sure that you can kinda pump the 6’ and under ones, but I enjoy mid 7’ boards personally. the ride is unlike any other board… regardless of the fin setup as some people might think.
When I brought my Hull I recieved 2 fins with the board one is the standard fare the other has like a large lump at the base or the fin kinda like a set of balls. Anyway I firstly tried the standard greenough i guess stage who knows what, it looked right in the board, the board was fast as hell, but as tempremental as an Asian hooker. Those rails wanted to catch no matter how I babied that board, I just figured that was how it was, anyway after owning the board for near a year, I figured I would try the other fin I had it kind of looked so off beat, I also wondered about drag.
Anyway i rode the board with that fin and to my great surprise I was no longer catching edge I had forgiveness I could surf on my backhand, I was truely amazing how much better the board went. Now this is my theory and if you fin and hull guys know better I would love to hear what is the real story.
I figured that the board was so designed for speed, with the near zero rocker, super foiled hard edges etc, it needed some softening up and dare I say it some drag, and a little turbulance underneath to allow the board to roll on to the rail. The boards ride is so much softer with this fin that I think drag is often what these boards need to make them more functional.
Wonder if anyone else uses one of these fins?
Here are a couple of pictures of the fin mentioned.
Thanks for the links! Those PICs helped me get a much clearer idea about hull rails, bottom contours, rocker, etc.. Most of the shots I'd previously seen revealed mainly the plan shape. Man, those rails are REALLY knifey!
Pucker up? That fin has some serious fat lip! Would love to hear others chime on it.
Huie, that looks like 1" 1/4 … is it more than that?
Finorrhoids…
tombstone
do you have a picture of the entire board? thanks
also, the greenough fins are much stiffer than the typical flex fins that belong on a hull. the 4a is very wide on the base so the fin must be thick down there. maybe that was your original problem. these boards take some getting used to. i guess if you found a fin you like, then that is all that matters… keep experimenting with different fins and placements of those fins though. it will make a very significant change to how the board surfs. I have enjoyed fins with a pretty tense flex that comes from the entire depth of the fin, not just the middle to the tip because with a flimsier tip I seem to feel a delay in response when I come out of turns. Although in bigger surf it helps me to have a little less flex…, plus a narrower tail helps me to get it on rail with a stiffer flex fin. it helps to surf a fin that you like for a while and find a good placement and then adjust the foil if it is too stiff, but you can’t reverse this so be careful
gene cooper has a bulbous fin like that for his speed hull i believe… he comes on here sometimes and might be able to give you some insight
sorry if my train of thought is a little jumpy, i tried to write this fast. hope it makes sense. good luck
Some long time hull riders will tell you that their boards are the logical extension of the longboard,as it existed in circa’67.so yeah, a lot in common with the longboard from that time.