Fish stance

General Discussion
1

Hi all,

just got myself a Fish and having surfed it a couple of times

it seems to me that I have to adjust my normal stance/position

in order to get the board to perform.

The drop in length to 5’8" from my normal 6’3"- 6’5" seems to have pushed me

to the back of the board (maybe due to the reduced amount of board in front of me?),

in fact on the first few waves I found that I was actually standing with my back foot

across the buttcrack!!

I’ve gradually managed to adjust so that I’m standing further forward and as

a result I’ve had a couple of waves where the board has seemed to “come alive”

and give me a glimpse of its potential (Gunned a massive section at warp 10

then into the sweetest roundhouse cutback I’ve ever pulled!!).

Anyways, what I wanted to ask you guys is where is the optimum position for

the back foot? Should it be mid way of the keels? In front of the keels?

Back of the keels? I’ve never seen anyone at my local surfing a twin keel

fish so I’ve not got much to go on. Looking at vids of Machado/Malloy/Rasta

they all seem to have a fair bit of space between their back foot and the

apex of the buttcrack.

I think I’m gonna stick a tail pad on it to help me get into the correct

stance but I’m not sure where it should go. Any advice much appreciated

Me 6’0" 165lbs

Board 5’8" x 21-1/2" x 2-3/4"

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2

i would riding forwar d of where the keels are

3

Malcatron,

Your stance is going to vary depending on the type of fish you ride. For instance, I have three completely different types of fish and my rear foot is in a different position on each board. It’s on top of the keels on my traditional fish. Ahead of the fins on my Yancy Spencer and farther back on my RocketFish.

It looks like you’ve already determined the location on your board. Stick with what feels comfortable for you and not what other people do.

BTW, beautiful board you have there. The lams around the tail look really clean!

4

Nice board - Paul G shape if I read the signature right?

And the clean lams that SrPato is admiring would be the work of Alby?

5

Hi Welsh Water,

You’re not wrong, got the board from Odd in Porthcawl a couple of weeks ago. I think it is the first one they’ve made that short other than for Dan (Alby’s son). However Alby told me that he had orders for 7 more on the go so expect to see a few in the water this summer. Great guys to deal with very friendly and enthusiastic. Second time out at Llangenith I finished a particularly nice wave with a big floater on the close out and almost landed on the Gill who was paddling out, he seemed stoked that I was having so much fun on his shape…

6

Hey Sr Pato,

Thanks for your reply. I think your right about standing on top of the keels as any further back and the board gets loose, I was just curious to know if there was a well defined position that worked best for a twin keel fish.

It’s strange that I’m tending to stand so far back cos on my thrusters I tend to stand with my back foot pretty much between the two front fins, maybe it’s just the short length that I need to adjust to?

I have to agree with you about the board being a beauty, the tint, laps and gloss were outstanding - broke my heart to put wax on it!! Alby at Odd (http://www.oddsurfboards.com) did a stella job.

7

If it broke your heart to put wax on it just think what will happen if you add a “shower mat” to it. Mike

8

hi Malcatron !

that’s also an interesting fcs plug configuration on the keels …did those guys also make the custom keels to fit that setup ? [or vice versa]

I have only ever ridden one twin keel fish [don’t see many here in west australia] . Because the keels were 8" from the tail tips , and my normal twin fin fish has the fins [not twin keels] 11 1/2" up from the tail tips , I found myself having to stand with my back foot well in front of the twin keels on the fish I borrowed , or it felt too ‘squirelly’ through turns .

ben

9

I would say that theres no cut and dried place for your feet to be. That sweet spot that you’re looking for can only be found after constant use. You might want to consider taking a quick look down at your feet when the board feels sweet and take it from there. Nice board by the way…

10

Hi ben,

Cheers for your input on the stance. I too found the board was extremely loose in my natural position (which was kinda fun in very small mush) so i guess I have to just keep adjusting foward until I find the sweet spot.

The fin plug set up was an attempt to provide a solid enough base for the extra pressures of a keel. The rear plug is slotted to the standard FCS dimension so Alby used that to take the strain of the largest part of the keel and then stuck a single FCS plug at the front to take up the strain from the smaller part of the fin.

Here in the UK we don’t have a lot of the products available elsewhere (never seen a Lokbox set up over here) so we have to adapt what we do have. Seems to work so far!!

BTW I have a mate who emigrated to Perth a few years ago - if you see a short Welsh guy in the lineup called Rob say G’day from me.

Foamdust : Yeah i guess it’s just a case of suck it and see. - Stoked people seem to like my new baby!

Rooster : Not a full “shower mat” just a tailblock to guide me - can always be removed when I no longer need it!

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