love it colin
Do you think there is just one ideal fin setup for every board, or just that any board can be improved by tinkering with the fin(s)? I know there is an absolute best fin set for a board , that is why I have done all this work . Once you feel it and become aware of it , you seek it for every board .
This is my Rocket Model that I have been making for the last 17 years
This one is 7’4" x 21 3/4" x 2 3/4" and has my 5 fin set up
Rocker and Foil - slight beak in the nose for fun .
Rail line
Custom sized and placed fins
A board like this will work in any size wave and has .
Thats part of the design .
I had an 8-0 rocket from Greg. Loved it. Oneula has it now.
But mid lengths can be troublesome. Too short to paddle like a LB and too long to fall into the wave like a SB.
Hey Greg,
I completely agree that midlengths don’t maintain certain characteristics of a shortboard or a longboard. I really love riding mine on lined up point breaks, frontside or backside. Sloped out waves really work well for these boards as you can get through softer sections but still turn hard and cut some nice arcs without having to lug around a 9ft plust board. Alternatively, I find these boards are my go-to when its bigger and hollow. You can really get a nice chip in early and in my experience they are more stable deeper in the barrel than a regular shortboard. But hey, different strokes for different folks. I think the most important thing is to change your approach and style to fit whatever board you choose!
Colin
Yeah Zack. I’m stoked off your work too. Keep it up.
Colin
In The arena of mid lenghts I am hearing a lot of buzz on Ryan Lovelace’s V Bowl. It’s an interesting looking board and the few videos make it look like fun ride in knee high to head high surf. Does anyone have any time on a V Bowl?
Artz,
Havn’t ridden one, but there is a wealth of information about them online and on other forums. People are pretty stoked about them in general and I’ve seen guys push them in some pretty crazy conditions.
Interesting. I looked it up online, kinda “piggish” shape, relaxed rocker, single fin… very retro looking shape.
double post
I have been reading up on them. Here in sweltering armpit backwater known as Florida. I happen to be in the worse part of that back water the gulf coast. But this isn’t about me whining. Just a realization that it is hard to get a first hand look at newer board concepts and designs coming out of Hawaii or California, unless it is the lastest beening pushed by the big boy mass producers. A board like that could be very good in east coast surf. A quick turning slippery planing surface should work well in short weaker beach break waves.
Got to hold a V-bowls one day.
We used to call that kinda shape “Over-shaped”.
Like there was no foam left to shape.
Rolled bottom and domed deck.
Not say they don’t work.
Just kinda wonky looking.
Barry, my take too, but I don’t know much. I still recoil over the cornice.
all the best
Barry Thanks., I was wondering if The V Bowls was a throw back with some modren up dates in rocker and foiling and planing surface or simply a re-hash of a 1969 copy of a copy of something that someone said Wayne Lynch would shape. I do think in many respects when it comes to advancing the surfboard we tend to toss out the baby with the bathwater. Some good ideas and sound designs get lost when dump an old design for the new. Looking back with misty nostalgia is all well and fine But there has been a lot learned in the past 45 years. For instance There area lot of people re creating Nat Young’s Magic Sam, good well done faithful copies with lighter materials. I don’t blame shapers for this trip back in time as much as I do the aging surfing population. After all the shaper is also a guy that has to pay bills and can only afford so much for doing his own experiments. If the customer wants a retro board then that is what pays the bills. Looking Back is all well and good Lots of people need to also take look at that basic retro board and give it some new modern touches.Better rocker and bottom contours play with fins Lets see if Magic Sam and all the other way-back boards like the Pig, can be more then just a trip back in time. I was hoping that the V Bowls was more then a step back and more of a forward thinking concept of blending past and present.
Can you clarify “troublesome”? I like the way longboards paddle, but don’t think all boards have to paddle that way. And since its been years since I’ve ridden a true “shortboard” I don’t even know about falling into waves. I like that shortboards turn easier than a longboard, and are quicker reacting, and often just flat out faster. Seems like they handle late drops and hollower waves better too.
I always kinda felt the midlength was a way to move closer to the shortboard in performance for situations where you can’t or don’t want to ride a shortboard. Longboards have their place, I have a few and love 'em, but sometimes its good to experience some of those short(er) board sensations.
I really can’t ride a typical hpsb in most situations. I think I could if I was being towed in, but its the paddling and catching the wave and popping up that’s the problem, once up and riding I think the shortness would be less of an issue. Or if I surfed good waves without crowds - I think I could ride a shorter board, 'cuz I wouldn’t have to be paddle-battling the mob for every decent wave that comes through.
So I just try to adapt to my situation, age and strength wise, and crowd wise, and I find myself gravitating to mid lengths. I see younger guys on them too, which is fine, I like to see people trying different sizes and shapes regardless of their age. I did paddle out into some decent waves on a shortboard awhile back to see if it was all in my head, and I really did have a difficult time, not a fun session at all. After that I took my longboard out, and had fun. Then next go out was on a midlength, and I had a blast!
I made this board about 6 months before the v.bowls started showing up Lovelace’s blog - 7-0 x 22, wide point back but with a really flat rocker. I’ve always maintained at least a couple of singlefin midlengths at my place since 2001 so I have a lot of experience surfing them, and this design has been - by far - my favorite out of all of them. It’s not a versatile design at all, and it’s not very noob friendly - you have to be able to deal with a flat rocker. But in small and weak conditions it’s a lot of fun.
This is one of the boards that set me off on this design track:
Gdaddy looks good what are the numbers?
Huck I hear you on paddle battles If I were surfing without a crowd I could go shorter But have to reconize my limitaions
7-0 x 22" x 2.75", 17" nose w/3.25" rocker; 17.5" tail w/ <2" rocker. Wide point is about 5" behind center, belly in the entry fading to a somewhat rolled tri-plane (flat up the center) extending all the way through the middle and tail. More like a domed vee in the tail than a panel vee, but with a sharp release. Finbox set at 7" from the tail and I was running the fin in the middle of the box. My favorite fin for that board was a 10" Velzy Classic.
So yeah, that's a fat ass with a flatter tail rocker, but it rolls over really smoothly.
I built the board with a stringerless 1.5" EPS core and 4# PU rails and finbox insert, covered with bamboo veneers and a layer of 4oz top and bottom . It originally came out a little too light for a singlefin so after a couple weeks and a rail ding I came back later and added a second layer to get a little more weight/carry out of it, which was just right. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes gluing the rails on and ended up getting a ding at one of the joints prior to putting the 2nd layer on, so the board sucked a bunch of water and discolored the veneer (now looks like sht); so that was a mistake I never made again.
I ended up selling the board to one of the regulars on the other forum and he surfed it a lot for about a year before i built him another board; then he sold it to one of my neighbors last year, who still uses it for small conditions. So I still get to ride it once in a while if we surf together. The cosmetics are for sht due to my screwup, but the board still surfs great. The veneers held up, too - only very shallow deck dents.
barry- in regards to v-bowl i agree. it’s all internet/ you -tube hype. get some footage of a couple good surfers on a junk board who can make it look good and the frenzy is on.
That board looks fun gdaddy. I like wide tail boards with flatter rocker. In weaker surf you can stand back there, turn it and then kind of just let the wave angle you forwards and downwards again and it goes. At least that’s my experience. It’s good fun.
Is the v bowls obviously influenced by some now older model of board? I’m young so I wasn’t around. I mean I know pigs had that hips back shape, but maybe not the same bottom contours or length.
Edit: just googled wayne lynch evolution so that sort of answers my question. What’s the idea with that? Like a pig, but shorter and without the giant d fin so it’s more managable? Different bottom contours as well? So it’d still turn quickly from the back and pivot but not be 10ft long.
i had a good session on the board in my avatar photo last monday. It’s not as wide as gdaddy’s but it’s sort of got the wide point back. No belly or convex bottoms though.