Early 80’s tri-fin boards seemd to have a nice balance of foam under the chest and outline to go verticle. Some of todays tri-fins seem to have the wide point so far back it’s like a lazer zap or paddleing on top of a a toothpick. Did the early 80’s boards have a center point foreward or did it start out at center and move back?Can someone give me a history lesson on center points?
I like these new retro shapes with foam up front now. Gives me some hope for the future.
wide points were further forward in the eighties but not sure its the wide point that is the problem when it comes to floatation, sure if the board is a fuller template thru the nose , there is more foam and stabler too, but with the wide points still back were they are mostly atm , it is about dispersing the foam correctly IMO...I try to hide foam further forward especially when it is a bigger guy trying to stay on boards that are truly too refined for his weight, you dont have to go thicker really, just hide it in there discreetly.....The wide point is a crucial part of design that alot of people dont even consider when ordering a custom board...shame coz it plays a huge part even when you only slighly move it either way.....I played around with wide points alot a few years back to get things just right for a design of mine so I learned the old way, by mistakes...truly is the best way too learn...accidentally discovered a few other things along the way....
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Being a beginner board designer, it’s taken me ages to figure how to build a board (I’ve been (re)designingthe same model for 6 years) with the wide point at centre (along with rocker low point), but with the foam pushed forward (using a curved top rocker). My idea is to achieve gunny drive (by pushing volume forward) with shorty looseness. It seems like such an easy concept but I struggled to achieve it without wobbles in the deck line (particularly at the rails).
Apologies, doesn’t help the original question. Over the past 30 years my experience from talking to shapers has been “push the wide point forward in a gun”, “bring it back in a shorty.” I don’t think there’s been a gradual migration back, but I guess there was experimentation that led to quantum leaps of ideas.
i posted pics last night they have gone cant find them ???
** seems like this site wont suport old images
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Funny that you think 'now' they look like a Lazer Zap because that is exactly what the first
thrusters were based upon.
Simon was interested in the McCoy no nose boards that Cheyne was riding and built
his single fins with a similar outline before going the next step and putting 3 fins on
them.
But yeah, definetely lots less volumne in a high performance thruster of same length
these days, but there are also lots designs available now that have plenty of foam
and even wide points further forward which is the direction that I am going in myself.
interesting bit of info there Paulboardman.
if Simon had experimented with his tri-fin setup on a more traditional single fin type template,
it probably woudn't have gone as well. yes? seems like history could have been very
different.
ekim heres a cple from the east coast aus. 1981-82 the gromes were all over it
the older surfers were still coming out off the seventys’[img_assist|nid=1045165|title=early eightys|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=392|height=640][img_assist|nid=1045164|title=early eightys std thruster|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=458]
Looks like a lazorzap on the top picture.Hips seem to be more common on early 80’s boards too. Things I like about early 80’s boards were: good paddling , they surfed off the front foot better than todays boards, they did the corking takeoff better than todays boards. Besides the Rusty '84, who makes modern versions of early 80’s boards?
The very first tri-fins were widepoint back. Then they crept to center by mid-80s. The big change was that, after 1981 or so, tail widths exceeded nose widths as a standard. Before that there was an unwritten ''law'' that noses were wider than tails. So the locus of mass in the board moved back regardless of exactly where the wp was.
IMO widepoints are best left near center. Anything too far forward or back gets weird in one way or another.
Lots of people build 80s style boards. Just have to ask 'em. Many of them are updated a little because we continue to learn. 12''-20''-15'' and 2.5'' or more thick are the throwback dims.
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12''-20''-15'' and 2.5'' or more thick are the throwback dims.
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wow, almost exactly the dimensions i ride. i guess im a throwback!
very good question and topic
Hahahaha - as soon as I saw you'd posted I knew you were going to say that. The 80s boards didn't have corecell skins and 5 G-10 fins, so I think you've ''updated'' just a little.
I keep something along those lines in my quiver too. Mine's updated in a bunch of ways also. Modern rockers, bottoms, and rails work good on those dims. As well as a little composite wizardry by the Braz twins to help out.