i can’t wait to try the thinner hemp ones next , but unfortunately we have a week of howling onshores to deal with first.
outta here
cheers
ben
…i will be giving ‘sways’ a break for a while as “photobucket” is giving me the complete and utter shits , not letting me upload photos here at all, lately…i have spent pointless HOURS trying !] so, as i can no longer post photos here , i don’t really have much else i can contribute .
anyways , catchyas at some stage in the future , eh ?! [and hopefully , my daily post count will also go right down , too, so i don’t appear such a swaylocks addict !! ]
Ben .... .... Tried the board (which was a 6'2" or thereabouts) with it's 'keel' setup and it was OK- bigger than I like and felt kind of boggy even though the waves were better size-wise than I've seen in weeks (waist to chest, more on the chest high end but a bit on the closeout side.) I genuinely love riding fish in those conditions but this one didn't feel comfortable really. I switched out to the cutaways and after a few waves I have to say I was feeling the improvement. Board still felt boggy but it seemed looser and the turns felt good. I even got one nice run down the line and ended it with a full power gouge at the closeout whitewater and the keels didn't feel like they were slipping at all. I definitely want to try them on another board or in slightly better waves- keepers for sure. The regular fins are on my big thrashed board which I've been riding a bit the last few weeks and they work great, I'll definitely pull that thing out on a bigger day this winter as it's fun as hell to ride in head high waves- maybe I'll try the keels on that with a Greenough center fin? I LOVE playing with this stuff- thanks again mightily mate! Kirk
My guess it that it helps with regards to positioning of the boxes. If you see the really longbase fins, unless the plugs where set specifically with the length of keel in mind you may have the trailing end of the fin going to the rail edge, this would imho not be good and may be a source of cavitation. By cutting away the base, they water can flow easily past the bottom/fin area without rail flow being affected. But this is just my guessing and I haven’t actually tried cutaway keels.
anyone recall berts cutaway base fins? They should reduce turbulence as the chord increases and go through higher AOA’s. also a little less resistance to the motion from less base being there.
well, simon , my brother, has now returned from his annual overseas jaunt ,
and was fortunate enough to have been photographed surfing his green ‘Island Surfboards’ [oz] board , complete with cutaway keel side fins ?!! yeehaaa !!!
…i eagerly await seeing the photos , when he has them copied
cheers
ben
and , it will be GREAT to see him in FRONT of the lens , for a change !!
well, simon , my brother, has now returned from his annual overseas jaunt ,
and was fortunate enough to have been photographed surfing his green ‘Island Surfboards’ [oz] eggy type board , complete with cutaway keel side fins ?!! yeehaaa !!!
…i eagerly await seeing the photos , when he has them copied
cheers
ben
and , it will be GREAT to see him in FRONT of the lens , for a change !!
here’s a few Simon has sent me , so far …‘Wildy’ , this could bring back some memories of Simon for you , eh , mate ??
…All photos are by Paul Gallegos , used without permission [sorry !]
[note that he had only the cutaway keels , no back fin , as that was knocked out of the plugs , ? as he was paddling out?]
as we ‘used to’ [not so long ago] here in west australia ,
'fin blanks were available in our surf suppliers .
knowing the work [and $$$$$] that goes into laying up even , say, an 8x10" multi-coloured panel , i guess it was only a matter of time before it was deemed uneconomical …hence my ?obsession? with experimenting with making my own . i still prefer a fibreglass fin to plastic , any day !!
cheers
ben
home made fins …it is my hope that , through forums like this , it will not become a lost art …
I think the most important thing about Rasta’s DVS keels is that they have tons of area and thus drive while yet being freed up with the reduced base …
and the flex forgives the area of the fin and the stiffness of the carbon fish, like someone said, allowing more latitude in the attitude . … really cool stuff if that’s what’s going on–huge fins worth of drive with little enough base to be free and flex to flow and not stall
maybe
hey i dunno
greg
PS I think you could go bigger with 'em, ben–I myself would just copy the DVS ones and see what’s up
