very impressive ,to be put up by your peers …is the greatest honour…truly beautiful work . regards BERT
Paul these need to go in Surfers Journal.Really nice job old Buddy.
Paul - It’s pretty much all been said but you know I have to kick in my .02 - WELL DONE!!! Your meticulous craftsmanship show through in every detail. From the design to the framing right on through to the beautiful finished product - first rate all the way!
Beauty, eh? Like the modern Viking longship; slick, beautiful, alive.
one word-AWESOME!!! i know that thing is going to HAUL ASS!Paul-you’ve done it once again, and, as SC GARY suggested, kneeboard spoon would be something to see- go forth my friend!
Paul, Nice work! How about a wood inflatable mat?!!! Cheers, Gary
Paul, You probably already know what I think, but I want to say it in public - “Great job”! As to future suggestions:1. The frame would look great exposed if there is a clear material available with enough strenght. 2. Someone with some extra cash and a love of surfcraft should buy this board if it is up for sale. Take care. Patrick
Someone wrote: “Beauty, eh? Like the modern Viking longship; slick, beautiful, alive.” Nah, the vikingships had a more pulled in nose and tail. More gunny. regards, Håvard
Excellent work Paul, you’ve set a new standard for wooden surfboards. regards, Håvard
!!! INSPIRED !!!
I hope you have an apprentice, craftsmanship like that should not be lost.
The weight of the early Lis fishes was pretty substantial .They were glassed double six on deck with kneepatch and single six on bottom with opaque usually .They carried their speed pretty good with all that.Ride your board in some quality surf Paul, preferably in offshore texture, so you can hear that speed chatter!!! NICE BOARD!!!
Paul, Please promise you’ll come down this summer so I can give it a try? Pretty please??? You are one of a kind my friend. Swaylock
Those measurements have taken the fish to the absolute extremities or its design and purpose. You have to bring them back a bit to achieve a balance. There are some beautiful designers of the fish around. The Mandala website has possibly the most visually appealing outlines I Have seen of most keel fin fish. If the wooden surfboard was replaced with a foam blank to stop the ooh ahh factor of timber, a surfboard with those dimensions would be ugly, plain and simple.
Ugly ,plain and simple???What about a fast ,down the line bullet??dave you need a thin narrow thruster, so you will LOOK fast.Nice to see such craftsmenship Paul!The Lis template is proven by time.
So, Isn’t the “old school fish” a kneeboard???So all you kooks now ride kneeboards??So how many guys that have been giving kneeboarders a hard time, in the water, have jumped on basically kneeboards?Kinda funny isn’t it?
Yes… Yes… Yes… …The Fish design developed by Steve Lis in San Diego California. Steve was trying a kneeboard version of the pintail surfboard. His flippers were causing too much drag hanging off the sides of the narrow tail. He reasoned that having 2 pintails would let him retain the width necessary to keep his flippers from dragging off the sides and still give the benefit of the bite and hold of the pintail. The resulting designs were bullet shaped with the tail divided into 2 separate pin tails. The board’s outline had very little tail curve and this helped tremendously allowing these boards to draw out longer turns. Two large keel fins were placed 6" from tip of each tail. They were set parallel to the stringer without any tilt. This provided solid drive and allowed the rider to project the board out of turns covering great distances with reducing speed. The Lis Fish was best suited for steep waves with clean conditions. Their relative lack of surface area and the placement of the 2 broad-based keels made them extremely fast but too stiff and “tracky” for weak or sloppy surf. One could ride the basic Lis Fish in any decent California waves 2ft and up. Then take the same board to the North Shore and charge 10ft. Pipe. Slightly longer versions were built for places like Sunset and Laniakea. They were built for speed and really turned on as the waves got longer, faster, cleaner and hollower. If you wanted to rocket from deep behind the bowl, power through and make seemingly impossible barrels or track a blistering speed run on a super lined up wall, these little bullets couldn’t be beat. The basic dimensions of a Lis Fish were 5’5" X 16" nose X 20" wide X 16" tail. The fish was ridden with the rider sitting more on the tail of the board. To extract the most drive possible from the large keels, the rider crouched low with one hand stretched forward holding and pulling on the outside rail, while applying his weight and the strength of his legs over the fins. …From www.blasthawaii.com http://www.blasthawaii.com/Art_FishesSlabs.htm 
It’s kinda funny how in Santa Cruz now you see guys riding standup boards that look just like kneeboards. When walking to the water the only why you can tell if a guy is a kneeboarder or not is if he’s carrying swim fins but there are a number of kneeboarders who only arm paddle and don’t use swim fins. So it’s interesting how the two aspects of surfing seem to be merging.
That pic is of Rex Huffman.He is still at it 30 plus trips to tavarua and counting.He rides a Toby quad fish now,still tears it up , unbelievable kneeboarder on ugly, stubby fish!! haha