I made a finless fish a while back now…6’6" x 20 1/2" x 2 3/4" i think. Its pretty rough around the edges and i think it has too much tail rocker. I’ve been thinking about making another finless board soon so thought i’d revisit this one first as its been neglected for a good few months.
Don’t know how to embed videos so apologies for the link, some gopro footage from the other day trying to get to grips with it again…
http://www.mattmade.blogspot.com/2012/02/finlessness.html
I surfed mine today totally finless and it was a real blast, but very very hard. The takeoff is so important to get right when surfing fully finless, you really need to get in early, keep it pretty flat, get your drip in angle, get your foot placement all just right in a small amount of time. Otherwise its sideways before you even get to your feet, and even if you do then its sideways down the drop. After a few waves I was getting the hang of it and getting some nice trims, but then if I wasn’t standing right in the middle of the board I had very little rail control. I was going sideways a lot when I wasn’t intending to at all. Going fully finless only seems to suit very flat and fat waves at the moment.
I think the great thing about the semi-finless option is you can do very much the same surfing but its far more forgiving in terms of foot placement, take off angle, etc. Its still important, but its a lot easier to get yourself into a nice trim to start with.
I ended up plopping some three tab keels into the same board at the end of the session turning into a proper mini simmons with a forward fin placement compared to the traditional. I hate to say, it felt might slow compared to going fully finless, its amazing how much fins slow you down. If it were compared to any other finned board I would probably be really blown away by the glide and drive through turns, but when going from finless to fully finned it just felt slow.
Since surfing semi-finless amlost every surf for the past two months I’ve started surfing with smaller fins in my normal HPS that I use when the waves are workable. I usually use M3/G1000 in a McKee placement quad, now I’m using M3/MR-TX(rears). Its made me a lot more sensitive to using the rail and concaves when trimming and turning, great fun!
Thanks Mr. Pridmore for sharing the stoke 
I know what ya mean Captn…you put full size keels in the FF ? Wow, how did it turn and feel besides slow mate ? Stoked you are really enjoyin the Fish-Finger, I got my newy with dimples next week, Tuesday so very keen for that one…if ya get the time and can be bothered, I’d be stoked to hear any feedback on fins and stuff that you have learnt, coz atm its just me and my feedback, not alot of other crew riding them so any info would be interested, like to see if your thoughts line up with my own…and fins really do slow a board down…but sometimes on my finless, I wanna slow down for sections so have to do stalls or slides but then again, sometimes just going as friggin fast as ya can is bloody fun…
It was a little one dimensional to turn, but it could definately do some slow-ish wraps and cutbacks. The waves didn’t allow for much else though. It was super fast and drivey though, very simmons like. It only felt slow because finless feels so much faster on the same board.
At the moment I’ve been surfing with the large part of the fin backwards in the rear-most tab so the fin ends abruptly but still has a bit of hold right on the rail. I found the large part forwards in the rear-most tabs leaving the long thin tip trailing far behind felt like too much hold for small waves. It was very forgiving though, maybe a good introduction to someone who wants a little control.
I tried the fins with the large part forwards and in the forwards most tab and it was only the second or third surf and I hadn’t totally gotten used to it all yet. Its hard to comment yet but I’ll give that set-up another try soon now that I’m getting a taste for the slip and slide.
I haven’t tried any other small fins in it either, so not much else to comment.
I have to admit, I’m enjoying going fully finless in weak and flat waves. Its a lot more of a challenge in a good way, and forces me to be a lot more sensitive to small changes of weight onto the rail. It was good fun today, but I took a lot of poundings and made the crew wonder why I was wasting so many waves. haha
So what’s the story with the disks on the bottom Pridmore?
easier if ya go to my web-site www.moresurfboards.com and go to the NEWS page, scroll down to the ‘Turbulators’ speil, they bloody work…
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I know it has fins but, on occasion I like to ride by Campbell bros. bonzer with no center fin and man does it fly, gets really loose too.
latest Fish-Finger…heaps of foam, little training keels arent FINished yet, might post them when I have finished them…lots goin on…
…tweaking my “training keels” alot and just finding whats the best for the type of surfing I want these boards to do… these ones feel good…
hard to see…this ones been on loan for a few months to a mate who is a semi pro longboarder and an alternative board nut, he loved it but was time for it to come back home…my 13 yr old sons been enjoying it in tiny beachies…
My good friend and neighbor John W. recently finished this board.
Johnny is a very well known artist and SanO fixture. He worked for Hobie for years back in the day and is still known by some as the King of Cottons.
He worked up the dimensions and had the guys at Wave Tools rough out the massive blank with the Machine and then he finished the shaping, had them glass it and then he installed his custom made fin box and carbon fiber flex keel fin.
He likes big boards with small fins.
Taking out my less fin tomorrow. Rode it last week and had a blast. It’s a fun change of pace on days when finned surfing bogs down. Keep the fun going…
Fun session today. Surfed a reef break with clean summer surf, surprising 3 - 4 ft sets. Rode the less fin. Had a blast.
What amazes me about this type of surfing is how fast the board goes on a nothing wave. A couple of my best rides were on inside waves that were passed on. Still haven’t learned how to spin, sort of tasted the idea today. Seems like you have to whip the board really fast . Almost counter intuitive as subtle turns feel more stable for riding. I assumed to fast of a turn would cause the board to slide out.
Not sure the date of this post, the guy I shaped it for has stolen my logo, my boss, not really, a young guy helping me market, wrote the stuff on here etc, won’t let me post on facebook about it, he has an angle, well if you guys are my mates , you know it was here a while ago,
cheers H.
sorry here it is, I hope, 
I’m curious about how would this board ride. My board has deep channels and its hard to spin ! Do you need a flatter bottom for these kinds of moves ?
... so...
are there any updates on finless / 'less finned ' boards , anyone ?
cheers
ben
