Id say the less length the better control because theres greater psi on a smaller board, I feel that Im getting a better grip with a shorter board. This is my latest ride, somewhat traditionally finless.
haha...you really are getting some diff stuff off e-bay, pretty sure I saw that one a few weeks back...keen to see what else you got ?
I have a fat 5'7" I been hinking of trying without fins, might give it a whirl soon to see how the shortness effects things, but it is a curvy planshape so dont have high expectations....also have an 8'8" I am keen to try finless or with my training wheels.....
I am goin to use the finless in a comp coming up soon, just for pure interest to see how the high perf crew react to it, and to see what the judges do when I do 6 spinners on one wave haha.....
Hi Pridmore, I think 'the one' cost me less than $200 ? Its a joy to ride, funky feeling foam. Sart buying 90's boards because they will be the next ones to skyrocket in price. I saw a TCarroll go for 1700 last week.
Ive got a sick grandson, nothing terminal, just not well, so Im going to sell all my boards on ebay to raise money as soon as I get a catalog together.
I thought about going to a SUrf Auction but the auction has a 3% Buyers Premium and a 20% Sellers fee. So all up its almost a 1/4 of the total goes to the auction. I dont know what eBay charges but it cant be 20% can it ?
Good luck with the comp, dont forget your flouro wetsuit.
That's redonkulous! Can't wait to see that finished. Looks like a Jim Phillips project, and I hope you know that's about as high as it goes on my scale.
All this finless talk made me dig around in my shed to find one of my little experiments from 20 years ago. Now I have to shoot some pics and put 'em up here....
4'3'' x 22.75''. I rode it for a while 20 yrs ago, but some of the neighborhood kids loved it so much I ended up loaning it to a family for about 5 years. It sat in their backyard so it could get a suntan. PU/PE, all those crisp edges sanded by Larry Pope.
I've had it back in the water lately (yes, I know I should have fixed the dings first). Kids still like it but I haven't been able to stand up on it anymore, too old. I had a 6'0'' x 170lb guy who's primarily a really good longboarder ride it and he had enough fun that he wanted to ''borrow'' it.
I like it, awesome story too but the story needs to continue, get a ripper on it, maybe a few pics too....ever inspired to do another ?, continue the evoltion 20 yrs down the track ??? c'mon, you can do it.....
What's it got a 17 inch tail? I can see why kids like it, or a younger (lighter?) Mike might have liked it. Given the way its likely to be surfed, someone coming in around 150 plus [or possibly plus plus] might want the full 22.75 to run all the way back, unless their on some pretty big waves.
Also, I have no idea how the contour worked, but damn, it does make a statement. Sort of reminiscent of the razor hair-cuts and hard-edged fashion of the same period when it was made (-i.e. 20 years ago that is).
kc, you'd enjoy the physics of this one - water gets pulled up into the ''tunnel'' with any forward motion, much like some of the modern flats boats that use this principle to allow the prop to run above sea level. On the board it provides a force that holds the tail down, as well as making sure the walls of the tunnel are fully engaged with flow (which provides the lateral stability).
These comments are made for the sake of those who like to push their boards around on flat water, run garden hoses across their fins, or stare at underwater photos for hours; all in that quest to figure out just exactly what is happening down there. IOW, the truly obsessed.
My take, and call me crazy, was that it was likely to operate as a “twinzy-cheater” (I just pulled that term out of the air - at this point its likely to mean little.)
A tail concave is essentially tail-rocker, Much like nose concave is essentially nose-rocker. Admittedly, neither are pure forms of rocker - they're partial forms, but I'd argue that they are both forms of rocker nonetheless.
So my my guess would have been, given the steep walls of the concave, that you'd basically created a sort of bizarre tapered fish with a lot of tail-rocker and really shallow twins – hence the 'twinzy-cheater'.
Of course, the twins won't be of much use (-i.e. perform much in terms of fin function), unless you're sitting on them - i.e. your weight was loaded towards the tail.
But then again, I've been wrong before.,, or to coin a phrase "I'm no Floridian, and I've papers to prove it."
The walls were definitely intended to act as ''fins''. The board does have some lateral stability, but still spins pretty easily. Riding that line is where most finless design is likely to occur, it'll be cool to have someone like you evaluate some of the different approaches.
A few years after doing this one, I was around for the birth of the ''finless'' wakeboard. The bottoms got really crazy then. Some of the current finless surfboards are using very similar contours.
Unreal looking board! I can only imagine the time it took to lay that blank out. The next shot I’d like to see is the board all glassed( along with a shot of the face of the guy just after he did it).
You would be suprised, not that long to shape, my poor glasser mate, different story, though the suncure is the go here, does a bit , has a cuppa,then a bit more, its not my design, I was just the machine
yes old mate, very bored, and I can not see the the reason for not putting fins on boards, at least one. Bill Thrillkill may be able to help us here, who ever invented fins should be respected.
