Fish vs Thruster

I’m going to get a new board and I was trying to see what the opinion here is on type which type you prefer fish such as pavel or kg or Al Merrick or Lost thruster. And also which would be the best for a 5’11, 150 pounder. If possible what demensions would you recommend because the two boards I have no seem a little big.

you are my IDENTICAL sive and weight… i just finished my first board… it was a 7’0" thruster. check out post “my first board FINALLY done” all dims and pics are there.

nice board, how does it ride?

havnt had the chance to test it out yet… im land locked… but, i took the outline from a board I used to own and I loved the way it rode… fast down the line but tended to nosedive and then i’d eat whitewater… so, on my board, i increased the nose rocker a bit.

a fish would probably easier to control, but not as fast and not as quick in turns. fish = ride everything nice and relaxed, thruster = burn through the water faster than oprah running after the icecream truck

what about a single fin?

scott what do u ride?

I have ridden every board in all my friends quivers, ranging from 11’6" to 9’0" I had a 7’0" exactly like in the pic, single fins on all longboards cept the 11’6". thruster setup = 3 fins. although sometimes I do a ghetto rigged bonzer setup out of it (slightly larger center fin) my favorite so far was a 9’6" Yater with a 8.5" california classic center fin.

Hey,

Have you checked out the lost round nose fish? it’s seems to have both qualities of a fish and thruster. Good for fish type waves but turns better due to the tri-fin.

Rio

from what i understand the glassing on most lost boards is not that great…?

True or just a rumor?

I have a lost " shark" and all though i didnt shape it , i will admit that it is one of the best boards ive ever ridden. I’ve had it for a couple months now and the deck is no worse than any of my other boards. This board is the way for you to go. I’m 6’2 and 165lbs and the boards increased volume allows you to ride it small . My 6’0 19" and 2"3/8 floats me more than enough and gives me the speed of a fish but you can really lay into the turns on it.

so would u recommend me getting like a 5’8ish or what do u think would be best?

I would say go for the pavel speedialer, if you can afford it…

if you cant I would advise telling us what you want in a thruster… there are endless amounts of designs… each slightly different and meant for slightly different riding techniques… etc…

People may or may not realize it…but a fish requires rider-controlled turning on the single engaged rail fin. They are also clumsy in rail-to-rail transitions because the tail is so wide and both fins are poorly engaged in the middle.

Thrusters in turns are highly controlled…the two fins act synergistically to control and nearly optimize the angle of attack. It takes less skill to turn a thruster well, and at the limit it is a higher performance design.

However…

in small enough waves, a fish will give a thruster a run for its money, as the fish can be ridden with extremely low drag, and the wide tail complements gutless tiny slop very well.

So, for me at least, it really depends on the types of waves. If I KNEW I would ride mushy waist high waves on a board, I’d definitely choose a fish over a thruster. OTOH, if I’m heading into head high performance waves, I want a thruster, not a fish.

Dill,

You’ve got two very different schools you’re trying to work with here. The Fish platform

is built for speed, with the need for big arcing, carving type turns. They tend to be balky

though if you want to throw a really snappy pivot turn.

The Thruster with reduced tail area is easier to push into more vertical “up and down”

snappy turns. The quest here is to be able to get a Thruster which can generate and

carry the speed.

Yes, you can approach the Grail from both sides. Fishes with quad fin setups and wings

to pull in the tail some. Or Thrusters with the right foil and bottom contours to enhance

drive.

As the immortal Bruce Lee once said, “Wass your Style”??

i think i;d prefer the thruster but what board will allow me to make snappy turns yet still have alot of speed?

Quote:

i think i;d prefer the thruster but what board will allow me to make snappy turns yet still have alot of speed?

A few options… a thruster with either a bit of extra width , lower rocker, slightly more length, or a bit of volume … you choose !

[or, maybe , a thruster outline…as a four finner ]

ben

alright, thanks for the info chip

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. It’s all kind of interesting. The popularity of the fish and how people are tweeking the design to get more thruster-type performance and not loose that speed and drive. I walked into the local shop and the owner showed me the latest ‘modern’ fish. I was polite,but thought history is repeating itself. Nothing new here. The board was basically a Beatty type rocket fish, a design that is about 25 years old? Pull the nose in a bit with the wide tail. Others pull the tips together for a McNabb type rocket fish. MR type twin fins are next if not already here. I’m thinking of trying to build one myself. I might be wrong, but I think if you try to tweak a thruster to ride more like a fish or tweak the fish to ride more like a thruster your going to get neither. Kind of like a SUV. It works off road and on the road, but it’s not real good on either surface. I ride a fish because it suits my soul seventies down the line style and they look so goofy. Of course, a lot of the fun in building your own boards is tweaking them to see what happens. My advice to the person who doesn’t know whether to buy a thruster or a fish is to make several of both. It’s all fun. mike