pau…aloha and mahalo!
Short twin keel fish. See clips of Neal Purchase riding one and Derek Hynd riding one. On a thread near you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1878xCREBg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nl8a4ZRU6A
EDIT: Actually I was thinking of this clip of MP and a guy riding a flared tail fish, not the Neal Purchase thing. Oh but how about hulls? You have good clean waves?
watch morning of the earth and see what moves you! their very narrow stance was one of the first things i noticed…and i dig it.
Have you seen the Biscut, ridden by Rob M? It’s a short, wide, thick, “thumb” type thruster that you could ride with your feet pretty close together because it’s so short. But, it’s a modern design and looks like it would be a lot of fun.
Or… how about one of those Merrick single fins buit for Rob, with the deep double concaves off the tail?
Then there’s longboard variations… minimals and such.
Go to bonzer5.com/bonzerworld and go back a few pages (“previous entries”) until you come to some film footage titled “Grow Fins Tour Film” and “Changing the Flow”
http://bonzer5.com/bonzerworld/index.php?paged=7
http://bonzer5.com/bonzerworld/index.php?paged=8
You’ll see some nice footage of Russ Short. He’s got a kind of narrow stance, maybe not quite “less than shoulder width”, but still pretty narrow. And I like the lines he draws.
I’m all obsessed about the bonzer even thought I haven’t ridden one in 20 years. I’m going to make one this summer and am sucking up as much info as I can. I guess everything I’ve read (and my distant memories) say, “more drivey, carvy , smooth, etc., etc…” Something between a single fin and thruster…
Of course in the “Changing the Flow” film there’s one wave at Honolua that Hakman rides that makes me want to go back and try a tear drop, beak nose , pintail! Either that or go ride Honolua.
My 2 cents.
pau…aloha and mahalo!
howzit!
a shaper once told me i had singlefinitis.
he recommended a forward vee into a single concave thru the fins.
that design really changed the way i surfed the modern surfboard, i think it was my third tri fin, probably in the mid to late 80’s.
a big thanks to RTL of HB!
you have a single fin mentality chandler!!!
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha !!!
look at some displacement hulls.
Don’t fight what you know Oneula, maybe just complement it in some way. I would think a widowmaker set up with a similar outline and modern rails would be a pretty interesting ride for you. Maybe move that wide point just a touch in front of center, the old beak nose pintails seem to have it pretty far up. Maybe a quad would be interesting as well. Both designs will give you a less restricted feel, but also some stability through turns with more fin on the rail than you’re used to. Nothing else will have that really low drag feel like a single, just a different feel altogether. I’ve found when I surf boards over 6’8" in waves under DOH that my stance goes upright and narrow, my style changes from pumping to trimming. It just feels right for the size of board. Some experiences have been on a 6’10 widow setup with the center fin just slightly back of the rails fins with more of a modern SG shape WP 2 inches forward slightly flatter rocker than an SG. Surfed well with a narrow stance soul arch style in juicy 6 ft. (Hawaiian) Sadly it is broken and gone now.
If my memory serves correct you’ve experimented with many setups and probably these included. Wasn’t it you that had that Griffin 5 and nothing but good things to say about it? I could be off.
pau…aloha and mahalo!
7’ x 21" x 2 1/2" egg 2+1 setup. Flatter rocker, slight concave to flat to vee bottom, full boxy rails.
The problem you have is too many boards. You don’t spend enough time on any one board to really get used to it. You know as well as I do that not all boards are going to work in all conditions, unless you go to a longboard full time.
We will never surf like those kids today, and they’ll never glide like we do. They live to make that perfect verticle snap and don’t care if that’s all they do, we prefer to make it all the way through to the sand.
Your quest for the perfect board leads to no where. You have the gemini, the grif, the mandala quad, the flyer, firewire, etc. Nuff already.
pau…aloha and mahalo!
This post made me smile. I am a relatively young surfer (26) but i grew up surfing single fin longboards and just cant seem to get my feet more than shoulder width apart when i surf. I do tons of yoga, stretching and visualizing to try and get it “right,”–whatever that is-- to no avail. I predominately ride shorter boards now (single fin discs, eggs, the occasional fish) and just cant ever seem to get in the flow when riding anything with three fins or a high performance design element to it… I surfed the other day with a friend who posts here often and is an insane shaper. He couldn’t help but laugh at my “kooky style” when I attempted to surf one of his high performance egg setups. Now i have a retort: “I’m not kooky, I’m ‘old fashioned.’” hahahaha. I have to say that my friend made some brilliant observations and promises to help me “correct” my shortcomings with his infinite design knowledge. 
I don’t feel like I surf the way I do in some purposeful display of style or homage to the old school, however, being a younger surfer I feel the pressure to surf in the race down the line, bust an air style, which is definitely not in my scope of ability or desire. In my own ponderings about my style I feel like it stems from a milieu of factors: I’m rather tall for a surfer-6’2"-have always been lanky and, as I said before, grew up surfing single fin longboards.
Thanks for this thread. It is nice to see that their are others who ponder such things. I look forward to seeing the replies.
A question/idea to add to this thread: can you be “old fashioned” and young without demonstrating kookiness?
Thanks again for this thread. Sways rules!
Quote:
7’ x 21" x 2 1/2" egg 2+1 setup. Flatter rocker, slight concave to flat to vee bottom, full boxy rails.
Bingo!
Bernie- I agree with your brother. You really should try this design out. I’ve been riding this board since 01 and have found a really sweet setup for it. Here’s the dims on mine. BTW I’ve also added Probox side fin boxes with FCS GX’s and use a Yater 7" single by TA. 7’2" X 16"N x 21.5" x 15"T 2.75"thick with low rails and domed deck. Slight concave under nose and flat through the bottom. I’ve ridden this board in everything from waist high beach break to well overhead point surf. Fin combos and placement are really key. Oh yeah, glass is 6/4/6.
These are old pics but they’ll still give you a good idea of what the board looks like. BTW- those palms behind me are now 12’ and the grass has been mowed since.
Hey thanks for the throw back thread . . . helps a new entry to surfing scene type of guy like me.
I hope this helps . . .
I notice on my Ksmall, it works best with a wider stance (the ksmall is several inches larger than its supposed to be for my size / weight). I noticed the reason is the sweet spot is closer to the nose, and since I feel for the tail pad, my stance gets wide.
The other day I’m using a borrowed 90’s era Al Merrick took off on lefts (for some reason they were the best choice that day), and the wide stance would bog it . . . My friend says, ‘quit stink buggin’ it, narrow your stance." So I adjust and my stance was narrow, but both feet was in the section behind the center point to in front of the tail pad . . . and the board worked fine, I was pumping and laying down turns and it was working fine. That board was harder to ride, and I kept getting bucked and diggin rails . . . until my friend told me to ride it narrow.
Looking at the foil , the thick part is in that area of the board, and the balance point is centered over the area.
The foil for the ksmall, the foil and rocker are set from center to the start of the tail fins, its hard to spot but it covers a wider area . . .
I guess maybe when shaping the board, set up the rocker and foil so the sweet spot will be tighter (but it will make the board less forgiving).
Here is a 1980 Herbie planshape.
id hardly say that modern shortboards require a stinkbug stance, but definately a lowered center of gravity and usually wider stance. bruce brown illustrates the stinkbug perfectly in ‘endless summer’ right at the overture in the beginning. your narrow stance is a crusier stance perfect for a mellower style of surfing. if you want to get gnar and surf high performance boards effectively youll probably need a stacne suited to that style.
find a really long hill and get a skateboard. spend an hour just focusing on your stance as you carve. dont worry about going fast and bombing the hill, just really hard carves like your bottom turns and cutbacks on a surfboard. youll be able to fit in hundreds of turns and hours of focus on your stance over a few days as opposed to surfing. surfing there is alot more going through your mind that keeps you from entirely focusing on your stance.
but then aghain you can just say screw this all and surf older single fins and logs and surf them in all kinds of surf and get your stoke that way.
Hi Oneula,
Sounds like we share a similar affliction.
I have also searched long and hard for the perfect modern board for this sort of condition.
Without wanting to sound like a McCoy tragic, the Nugget is the only board that really gives me the feeling I’m after. I have sold all my other boards now and just own the two McCoys (6’10 thruster and 7’0" single). I have just ordered a semi-gun from Geoff that I should be getting in the next couple of weeks (7’4" x 19 3/4"x13 1/2"Tx12 3/4"Nx3"). Very subjective I know and Geoff’s boards will not be everyones cup of tea but they are certainly mine.
I will post photos of the semi-gun when I get it if you would like.
Quote:
Here is a 1980 Herbie planshape.
…just what i had in mind
Bernie,
I suffer from toomanyboarditis, as much as I try the next big thing or different fins, it all comes back to 1 board, my Bonzer egg(7’6"). It continues to suprise me in all situations. As Rich Pavel said to me about it, “its dee…ceptively High performance”. (If you’ve ever talked to Toby you’ll get the punctuation)
Eggs rule.
Bonzer Eggs rule all OK.
I have a 6’4" Bonzer egg on the way next month.