From my expirences surfing single fins. the only thing the don’t do as well is backhand re-entrys and cutbacks due to th elack of rail fins.
everything else you do on a single fin i like better than a thruster.
Hi Josh. When you say they can’t do backhand reos as good as a thruster do you mean when you set up the reo with your backside bottom hand turn or do you mean when you come off the top?
I’m looking at getting into this single fin thing not to be “retro” but just out of curiousity and to exprience glide
rather than drive. Ohh yeah and where I surf I think I’ll catch more waves that way.
adious
JD
I feel they don’t come off the top aswell backside.
Just shape into it all of the modern characteristics you want for the performance and look you want, throw on a single fin, or two, and push it as hard as you can.
You’ll do things you can’t do on other boards. Good fun.
first of all they arn’t ment to be surfed like the modern chippy thruster more carvy flowyness. and they don’t work well in weak shitty waves, they rely oon the wave for power not you. there for by deducing this barrels and clean fast long walls. yea to modernize a single bring wide point between .5 behind center to 2 icnhes forward (really wide range yes but just listen or read w/e) keep the nose under 14 inches and if it’s for the waves i recomended above, just keep the tail on the narrower side. lower rocker(3 1/2-4 1/4 nose not a lot of tail). this is just what i do when i desogn modernized singles
This is what I think when I think modern single fin.
I think its time to throw the rules and titles out the F-in window.
Its all surfing who really gives a shit…I mean really…
All I can think of is from that old fable Gulliver’s Travels where the 2 kingdoms hated each other because one kingdom cracked there eggs from a different end then the other ones. (How that for obscure)
Sorry but I’m sick of the debating about the different shapes and that so and so type of riders suck…
I heard one young guy say today “All those Kane Garden riders are cheaters”.
What kind of medieval mindset is that crap especially from someone that I think is 22 ???
Thrusters are great…I love them but, they are not everything and if you thought they were…Well ok cool, but in the big picture no matter what anyone likes
the big answer is…So freakin what…Who cares and if you do care…Well take a good hard look in the mirror, because I’m sure you have much bigger issues than that.
I always thought that surf equipment prejudice was silly
The above photo looks like an excellent, functional, single fin design. Modern? Well, almost. The outline could easily have been drawn in 1970. Typical board of the period that I was making would have had a 5" nose rocker, and 1 3/4" tail rocker. Single fin in an FU box, for fine tuning. Sizes would range from 6’ to 8’. The most common size people seemed to prefer was 7’ 2", plus or minus a few inches. Your board looks like an excellent all around design. You are on the right track.
Hey Bill I went with about 2 1/4" tail rocker. So a touch more. You are correct its not the most modern (but pretty close…LOL) however I think its really very functional. It has the same nose rocker at 5".
I know that you have a ton of exsperinance so if you don’t mind me tapping into that I’m cuious just for my own knowledge what would make it more “Modern”.
The increased tail rocker, lighter glass schedule, and lighter foam than in that day. The irony is that what is being called, and accepted as modern today, had been done before. A 7’ 2" board in 1970 would have had a finished weight of about 12 pounds, plus or minus one pound, depending on stringer,board thickness, and glassing schedule.
The increased tail rocker, lighter glass schedule, and lighter foam than in that day. The irony is that what is being called, and accepted as modern today, had been done before. A 7’ 2" board in 1970 would have had a finished weight of about 12 pounds, plus or minus one pound, depending on stringer,board thickness, and glassing schedule.
Intresting because I did go with higher than what you had, yet still relatvily low.
I did not go super light with this.
I’m basicially going with semi-gun style with wieght. This was cut from a super Green and will have a 6-4 top 6 bottom all S.
In retrospect I could have go a little lighter but I like that combination. The boards last a lot longer for minumn wieght gain.
Plus the extra pound I might haave added works better through the soup.
I ride a lot of single fins, mid 7 footers from shapers that have been doing them for years. You ride them for the turning arc, smoothness and stall-ability in the pocket as well as stretched out bottom turns and cutties. “Retro” means nothing to me. It’s an instrument, nothing more, nothing less. You gonna tell a violin player his get up is retro?
True Lazarus, but that tucked under edge all the way up as with MP’s singes for Kirra back when can be trouble and not work so well in conditions I get on a regular basis here in SD. Down here, for me anyway, the classic San Diego Egg works better. I run a Mitsven “Magic” single that’s very Frye-esq with a deep Dbbl Con out the ass end for drive like a bonzer as well as a Christenson C-Buckett even more “eggishly” turned. WP forward is important, surfed well it’s like a gas peddle and If I were in more steep and deep more of the time I would tuck that edge further up. I’m not so much into vert surfing so a single is my deal, especially after getting spoiled with speed and drive on demand from keel and quad fishes, it’s fun to slow down a bit and enjoy the ride hanging in the pocket.
What would happen if you took a modern semi gun board like the Al merrick MSG (the merrick semi gun) at 7’0 and had a single fin on that? It is obviously thinner and more performancy than a typical single fin. What kind of size fin would you use?
Something like a 7" or 7.5" is what I’d try first, moving it around in the box to get it dialed in. Check out the Gerry Lopez fin from Rainbow for starters.
