Photo E-mail Play slideshow | Download images Re: [DaleSolomonson] Australian flextails
Samiam,
I think those were the author’s words, not Mark Thomson’s. Mark is an experienced standing surfer, shaper and filmmaker… the father of Daniel Thomson, who is featured in Richard Kenvin’s upcoming film, “Hydrodynamica” (http://www.hydrodynamica.com/).
http://www.allaboutsurf.com/…rodynamica/index.php
Also see “Frame Grabs from Mark Thomson”, The Surfer’s Journal, Volume 13, No. 5, Winter 2004.
Interestingly, Mark is also a highly skilled mat surfer, well aware of how to use efficient flexibility. I custom build his surf mats which feature very light weight (about 16 oz.), extremely supple deck and bottom surfaces that function separately. The entire vehicle operates as an independent (air) suspension system for a prone rider’s body. Much of Mark’s inspiration for surfboard design is derived from his mat surfing experiences.
Anyway, traditional open panel flextails combined with a separate, suspended deck, are free to respond to the wave much more efficiently, uninhibited by the rider… as an independent suspension system. It’s also important to maintain buoyancy and a tapered rail profile through the tail… aspects neglected in most flextails.
Design origins… along with his development of (right angle template) paddle fins, George Greenough has used a “false deck” suspended over the flexible tails of his carbon sailboards for many years………………………
Opps Again ; There is need for some truth in flex History here. Please read as required reading on flex design innovation of the splitplane independent deck and flex panel solution invented by Bob Tinkler in applying functional flex to stand up surfboards. Bob Tinkler his TinklerTail design and it’s history, “The only proven solution for stand up surfing. 1969-2006 credit where credit is due”
FYI some Q&A flex design info. and clarifications on flex designs i.e. BobTinkler’s splitplane the original flextail solution for standing up surfing Rewrite: From an Interview in "windsurfing magazine "with George Greenough, about his flexible spoon concept.
Interviewer: What’s the spoon’s hull shape like?
George: I built two different styles of spoons 1965 to 1970 –built for powerful rotating types of waves like Rincon and Honolua Bay. In 1970 the design was changed to work well in all types of waves. This is the design that I blew up for the windsurfing spoon. The windsurfing one is basically the same except the single concave runs right through. Remember the hull deforms under load depending on how you load it. archived photos by TTail 
Interviewer: How are they built?
George: The spoon is built from the bottom up. This is real good for testing the flex, as I build two boards, the first one set up with a good guess on the amount of flex I mite need. This worked well. The second board, I went more and less flex as a check. The first two were S-glass/epoxy, mostly solid glass except for the solid foam beam glassed down the center and foam rim, these rode well .Then I went to carbon fiber in the mid 1970’s .
Interviewer: Of all the spoons you’ve built, which is your favorite one?
George: The 6’7”
Interviewer: Why?
George: I get the biggest rush off it.
Interviewer: what do the pros think of it?
George: Well the best one is “ It would be faster sideways than forwards.” Most of the ones I’ve heard are: “ It won’t work; the tail’s too wide” They ‘re used to riding a blown-up surfboard; I’m using a blown-up spoon kneeboard. My mast is mounted further aft and stepped on the bottom; Theirs is stepped on the deck and further forward. I’m standing on the bottom; they stand on the top.
Interviewer: How does the spoon work compared to Bob Tinkler’s FlexTail concept?
George: Well the Tinkler Tail uses springs to control the flex in the tail; that can be adjusted by the surfer’s to suit a person’s weight and wave conditions and the fins are glassed on to a bottom panel that the three springs bear against, and are mounted in it’s over hanging deck design.
The spoon on the other hand has a box-shaped section glassed down the center ,to carry the fore and aft loading, as well as the torque from the fin. With the center beam carrying the fins side loading, the two sides will flex independently of each other and aren’t, affected by the fin loading. There are no springs used to control the flex; this is done with how the sides are tapered. Watch how a fish swims and flexes his fin; that’s how the sides flex. The fin flex matches the sides; otherwise you’ve got control problems.
THE END.
and
THE NEW BEGINNING OF THE FLEXREVOLUTION by Bob TinklerTail.
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