Curious as to what the purpose of a swallow tail is? Why not just a square?
Curious as to what the purpose of a swallow tail is? Why not just a > square? It allows the tail to be wide but still hold well in the face of the wave.
It allows the tail to be wide but still hold well in the face of the wave. Swallowtails basically handle the same as a squaretail, but they look ‘way’ more ominous, the first one i saw was on Jeff Crawfords singlefin board in the mid seventies(as he was dropping in on me, the punk!), and I’ve liked them ever since! Nothing more serious looking than a double wing swallow with 4 channels, but really they don’t do anything a squaretail can’t do on a 3-fin with the normal modern tail width(13.5"-14."), Now everybody wants a ‘wider thruster’ called a Fish, and they just kind of go hand in hand with a swallow/dove tail for appearance sake, anyways!
Swallowtails basically handle the same as a squaretail, but they look > ‘way’ more ominous, the first one i saw was on Jeff Crawfords singlefin > board in the mid seventies(as he was dropping in on me, the punk!), and > I’ve liked them ever since! Nothing more serious looking than a double > wing swallow with 4 channels, but really they don’t do anything a > squaretail can’t do on a 3-fin with the normal modern tail > width(13.5"-14."), Now everybody wants a ‘wider thruster’ called > a Fish, and they just kind of go hand in hand with a swallow/dove tail for > appearance sake, anyways! In general, width for width, deeper swallowtails (especially thin ones) have much more holding power through turns and high up in the pocket than squaretails… they also feel more precise and a bit less punchy, when driving rail to rail. But, as the depth of cut increases in this design, a tendancy to not release quite as quickly and smoothly as a squaretail or roundpin often results… all contingent upon the remainder of the board
s shape, how its finned, your fav waves and style of surfing as to whether or not that`s a desirable characteristic. “Moderation in all things” is very applicable in surfcraft, too. Dale
They can also be used as a volume balance: by taking a wedge of foam out of the tail, you can sink a wider, straighter template easier or move the “sweet spot” towards the nose. Once the tail block gets much narrower than 5 inches or so, I don’t think they do much at all. Back in the “day” we used to ride some boards based on the rider’s foot size. Nat Young had huge pups and could ride ridiculously wide boards. One way of letting someone with smaller feet ride a wider board was to go with a swallow tail…