Fish Rails

Howsit,

i just had a fish made for me 6.0 * 21 * 2, 3/4. (I’m 85 kg) After only two surfs in 3’ garbage its obviously way too early to evaluate but this thing has very chunky rails thru the tail area, and seem to have to be really nursed and responds poorly thru a bottom turn or it (me) just wigs out. Apart from that its the fastest board I have ever ridden - and seems like it will really smooth out the style after 20 years of surfing typical thrusters.

The question is what sort of rails do the proven/typical fish (Lis/Frye et al) designs have. My elementary board design knowledge suggest really low/hard rails thru the tail area for bite would be the ticket??

Any ideas - or do I just have to do a bottom turn like its a much longer board??

TIA

Toot - I think the fact that it’s got one less fin than your last board is why it has to be nursed through bottom turns.

Toot,

The answer might be the 3’ chunky garbage. My fishes struggle in junk(what board doesn’t?) They excel in smooth fast faces(what board doesn’t?). What type of fin does it have and where are they placed? Bunch of the local kids got fishes last summer. It did smooth out their syle. Until they got back on the potatoe chips again. I know some excellent surfers who can’t ride or do not like the ride of a fish. Mike

The rails on my fish, a 6’4" Lis, are medium tapered, a soft edge till the last third, where it gets harder. The tail is tapered and on the thin side. I requested a traditional fin set up, wooden keels (7"x5"), no toe in or cant. I’ve never felt like I had to nurse my turns. I basically surf it like I would a thruster, but I’ve noticed that I don’t have to push it as hard to get it going.

Howsit,

The fins are glass and 210 by 130 mm. Seem to have a little more toe in than average.

Tail width is 265mm, and very blocky rails.

Will post a photo when i can get the camera to do low res. shots that can upload.

Just trying to get general info tho, do many variables of this design have hard/low rails on the tail or blocky??

It’s only been a few surfs on this new board and of course it will take some getting used to, but the possibilities are awesome and I’ve never had a board that had such initial speed and acceleration out of a turn in small waves without doing some pretty hard work.

cheers

toot

PS I was in the city (Sydney) this arvo and met the great Brian Wilson walking down the street.!!! Seeing his show on Tuesday nite! WWHHHOOOOOO!!!

This is my experience on fishes and thrusters. I also recently started riding a fish. This Thursday and today have been chest to head glassy barrels… my fish had lots of speed and didn’t seem to have much trouble bottom turning. The first few barrels had kind of sketchy drop ins, but I was able to get in there early and go deep on some. It seems to be all in where you put your feet… After a few waves I was did a few grab rail turns and able to work up alot of speed. Well, halfway thru the session today I decided to switch over to my 5’11 thruster after getting worked on a bomb set ( I can’t duckdive worth shit in the winter, with wetsuits and on that thick fish). It was an awkward feel at first, but I noticed that it was alot easier to change directions and do really hard pumps. I guess its because the fish is so wide and my thruster is a chip. The bottom turns felt alot easier too. Maybe I didnt notice how much more concentration a fish takes cause i havent surfed in a while. I guess its becuase the wide fish kind of holds closer to the steep faces? Maybe that doesnt make sense. I don’t know if this paragraph really applies to this thread, just sharing my information.