I just thought I would put them all together , on one thread ....
Dr. Jekyll, in the lab
I rode this setup today , in head high lefts . Everyone else was catching the rights further down the beach , so ....
hi Tom !!
yep , but of course I jinxed it , posting those ...
today ??
it's strong onshore , raining , cold ...
a week more of this is forecast , too
[....well, it IS WINTER , after all, just in case we thought spring had er 'sprung' , early ??]
cheers !
ben
Pretty hard to comlain about that aye. All these photos seem to make WA seem like a good place to visit.
...and...
today [saturday 11th august ] ....
"
- Effective from: Sat 11 Aug 07:11AM
- Surf: clean 2-3ft
- Wind: calm E
- Weather: mild
- Swell Direction: WSW
- Tides: Low 04:10PM High 05:17AM
- Rating: 6/10
Light east winds making for almost glassy like conditions. The swell is slightly more west today and we have 2 foot waves with the odd bigger set around. 10 or so guys out at Scarborough at this early stage "
.....it could be 'okay', too , hopefully ? There are some slightly less 'straight' banks , 'up the beach', a bit ...
:)
fun fun FUN !!
Firstly , a bit about the 'Bushfire Fish " board...
16 1/2" n x 5'7 [deck , 5'8 bottom measurement] x 21 1/2" [yes , it WAS a stripped and reshaped WIDE kneeboard!] x c. 2 1/2" x 17 1/2" [!!] tail . 9" pod , 3" 'butt crack'
fins ...
sideys... M 7 type sideys , at 11" up ...4 1/2" base x 4 3/4" depth , c. 2" rake
back fin....at 6 1/4" up [!] ..4" base x 4 7/8" depth , c 1 1/2" rake
[from rear of side fins to front of back fin = 1/2" ?!]
Rowan ...
5'8 x 65 kilograms [multiply by 2.2 , to get 'lbs' ]
... low centre of gravity , wide stance , brought up on thrusters , 'front foot' surfer [if there IS such a thing , really ? ]
He said that today's fin setup was his favourite , so far .
' IF 'it gets bigger and more hollow than today , although he is also light , we think we will try the slightly larger Occy template , for all THREE fins , to hold in such a wide tail [he is keen to jam it off the bottom and hit the lip quite square ...we shall see , eh ?]. Bigger swell is forecast this week , we will just wait for the winds to be favourable with / after it !
today's testing ground ...waist to chest high , with the 'occassional bigger one' ...
peaky , fun !!
A beautiful , glassy day ...5 knots of wind , maximum , all day .
....A REALLY nice winter's day ! [I had a fun surf this morning , on the high tide , on my 9'4 'Cooloola' mal , with the 'gull wing' back fin , and two smallish homemade sideys . The gullwing fin has now been returned to Ross / 'P-Co' !]
Rowan is putting the 'Bushfire Fish' to good use , so I'm STOKED !!
a frother ...[like him !]
however , MOST were like THIS ....
....to be continued ....
...not ridden with all FOUR yet , but hopefully soon . Just waiting / need the wind / swell / tide / crowd factor [lack of !] to co-operate , and we're on !
(I still want to ride the Walden 'CD4's setup pictured in the post above , at some stage , too ... )
" ....hockey 1 , hockey 2 , hockey 3 , hockey FOUR ! ...."
These were inspired by Josh Dowling [aka: "speedneedle" here ]....he sent me the templates for these , following his recent templating of the two "resin swirl " panels I had sent him ? a year or more ? ago ...
you're WELCOME , huck !
hope it motivates OTHERS to make some and post photos !
cheers
ben
nice pictures, interesting fin work, thanks for sharing!
again , he also took out his Colin Earle 'truster' , with the swirled side fins that I gave him , last year ....
ha ! Probably worth TRYING , though ...why NOT, eh ? "speeeed to burrrrnnnn , maaaan ! " :)
I reckon he might have to try this board with a 'widowmaker'-type setup next , as he also doesn't ride single fins much at all ....
cheers !
ben
friday , august 3rd , pm / evening session . The 'Bushfire Fish' , with large 'hockey sticks' back SIDE fins , and smaller conventional front side fins [all carbon fibre inlay , also ]
This was the first time Rowan has ever ridden a quad !
" paddled okay for a small board , it felt very buoyant ! " was his first impression , today and the other day....
he sat on the fatter [but empty !] inside section for a while , just to get a feel for what the four fins would do ...
before venturing 'out the back'...
the temptation to attempt a noseride on a wide-nosed board is always there ! ... [glad it's not just ME , after all ?]
....And , a fullish left [backhand] ....
I have ten different templates of hockey stick fins to try out , so far.
Previous ones I tried [which I still have ] ,
were the fcs G10 material M7 template , which I modified into a small hockey stick like tip.
I couldn't feel MUCH difference , compared to the 'normal' template , so the next lot have larger hockey stick 'heads?' on them , inspired by 'speedneedle's templates , that he very kindly sent me [THANKS , Josh , cheers mate !! * ]
I'm figuring I may be able to feel more 'grab' / 'bite' , when turning these larger 'headed' ones . I was watching some dvd footage recently of young dan thompson , riding his homemade carbon fibre [ with huuge twinnies !] twin fin , in some quality vicco , and also , lennox surf [his home break , poor lad ! :) ]
He also rides them as quads , and as thrusters [yes , I DO have a couple of [small] double-foiled BACK hockeys [again , they are cutdowns ...this time from glasson thruster side fins]
..... the tinkering , to be continued ...
* Josh calls them mini "hatchet " fins , which I guess they ARE a kinda similar template , come to think of it
cheers !
ben
carbon fibre quad setup ....
rowan has never surfed a quad . Neither has big Daz , so if I can't paddle the bushfire any more [? not sure ...only one way to find out , I guess ...] , another mate , Mike [33 years younger than me ] might have to give it a go , I reckon ! I've seen photos of him standing up on a boogie board [yes!] , so I know he could do it !
Also , I wasn't 100 % happy with the carbon fibre hockeys , first post on this thread , so I further modified them ...
before , and after [left , and right ] ....
It 'could' be interesting to try these as a quad setup , combined with the large orangey red / carbon hockeys ...probably in the 6'6 walden , though, as I feel these would be too much fin area on the 5'8 bushy ... (it's only a li'l feller , after all !!)
cheers !
ben
From about ? June 2006 ? , when I first rode the "Bushfire Fish" , as a FIVE finner ...
I'm keen to revisit it [hopefully] soon , as a thruster-type setup...
I'd like my mate Daz to give it a go , sometime , as he is currently riding one of those little stubby thruster things , the JS 'pier pony' model , that seem to be all the rage at the moment since the days when kelly did the curren [riding short fat boards in bigger waves]....
Over the last six years , the 'Bushy' has also been ridden as ....
a quad , a twin fin , a twin keel , a single fin , an inline single fin , a widowmaker , twinny with trailer , and 5 +1 setup.
For those wondering .... the finbox is so enormous , because this board was made from a stripped 1970s Tony Hardy kneeboard , a slab. [THAT is the original finbox that was in the kneelo, in other words ]
cheers !
ben
I rode this setup today , in head high lefts . Everyone else was catching the rights further down the beach , so …
fools hahaha
1986 ....
too much fin , too little board .....and , NO shaping skills whatsoever !
hi Tom !
well , part of me wanted to tell them
" hey guys , it's much better over here !"
..but , you know how it goes , though , eh ?! .....
:)
" serious business " hahahaha
These are 'glo' [in the dark] twinnys , and a 'nubster' [?] rear stabiliser , from 'Nocean's templates he sent me , to make him the same [only his were brown fabric inlay , he also sent the fabric , thanks , Noe !]
[this setup I REALLY enjoyed , just enough back finlet to help the fat arse tail hold in a bit ....a fun small wave summer alternative to my mal ]
whereas ...
THIS thing ?
hmmm.... Definately not my greatest moment in history ha
It was made at hicksy's shed , c. 2005 ... and , snapped after only three waves ....
stringerless. [yep , that line was drawn on ?!]
The "board" was spraypainted by his three daughters , who were about ? 7 years old or so , at the time ....
This is a frame grab of video I shot of Shane , the irish coloured side fins I made him are just visible . He now lives near noosa ...
my brother , pointing to his board [the middle girl's] , and my fins [the closest girl's . I had walked past this poster for probably about a year . When Simon visited , he pointed the fins out to me.
Ted Grambeau took the shot. .Simon assists him sometimes , if Ted calls him up for the yearly Rip Curl photo shoots.
Frank's 1970s "Comet" swallowtail...
