Well, I guess BK, Jocko, George and Keoni, Reno, and a few of those guys were wasting their time trying to ride narrow tailed singles in bigger Sunset and Pipe.
Maybe I’m a wimp, but my singles were usually around 12" at the most, and even had a twin with that size tail which didn’t seem overfinned for my 140 lbs then.
For sure, I’da caught more waves with a wider board, hustled into position more often, and gotten out to the lineup quicker with a funboard or log.
6’1" 16.5N x 21.5mid x 16tail…got bored/tired of fishes, threw this together 2 weeks ago at my house shaped/sprayed/glassed cause 1-2 month wait at the glasser. Fast as hell w/8.5" TK Flex it boing’s out of bottom turns and pumps like my fish. Causes flashbacks to Summer of Love casulties…70’s upgrades? Concave top and bottom, razor edge last 18" around tail.
the deck(sorry there’s wax on it could’nt wait)… by the way, total cost-- blank $45, backyard art and glass $69., fin $45.
Modern singles work really well, and at that price, it’s a steal!
Lotsa modern single shapes started showing up around '80, just about when Simon came out with the tris and interest just left the one fin idea…
LeeDD,
I presume your mention of George, was a reference to George Downing. As luck would have it, he was in So. Cal. on Friday, and I had a chance to meet with him and talk story about when I lived at Makaha, and some of our mutual friends. He is a fine gentleman. Don’t think for a minute that the board I described was a log, or a funboard. It was a serious all around design. Ninty percent of the surfing I did in Hawaii was on that, or a similar board. For really big Sunset, or 25/30’ Waimea I had a 9’0" X 20" full on needle gun, with a 4" square tail. I don’t think the other fellows were “wasteing thier time”, just on a different path. That path provided more opportunity to ride in more extreme conditions, hence more extreme equipment, and performance. I don’t for a minute believe that a single fin is in any way outdated, just overlooked for the moment. It will be back, and hailed as a breakthrough. Presently I’m dabbling in Twin Fin designs.
the deck.......................oh by the way, total cost-- blank $45, backyard art and glass $69., fin $45.
Want to double your money right now?! (yeah, i know it’s like asking someone to sell their children). That’s a really nice board you shaped there. I need to get or shape a shorter single (mine is 7’4")…
I still believe single fins are the fastest, and you can use the fastest to make turns, get acceleration, travel up and down in front of waves, so singles always in my heart.
Problem is, most need some amount of juice, and with that, comes a chance of spinout, so maybe adding sidebites, biting rails, or some form of holding power tail might be the call.
Yeah, I guess your gen, JeffHakman, rode slightly wider singles too…
6’1" 16.5N x 21.5mid x 16tail…got bored/tired of fishes, threw this together 2 weeks ago at my house shaped/sprayed/glassed cause 1-2 month wait at the glasser. Fast as hell w/8.5" TK Flex it boing’s out of bottom turns and pumps like my fish. Causes flashbacks to Summer of Love casulties…70’s upgrades? Concave top and bottom, razor edge last 18" around tail.
gee… I LIKE that , mate !!
that looks like a board you could have a LOT of fun on !!
did you do the artwork ??
N-I-C-E !!!
ben
How wide would you call a ‘wide’ tail in a single fin? 14"?
Bob, where do you normally surf then on the south coast and post up some photos of your board when it’s done.
KS.
I spoke to you the other day in the shop in southbourne. Come in again and we will talk some more about this board.
Will do and i’ll bring my funboard that i’ll be modifying soon so that i can try it on a single fin.
KS
I still believe single fins are the fastest, and you can use the fastest to make turns, get acceleration, travel up and down in front of waves, so singles always in my heart.Problem is, most need some amount of juice, and with that, comes a chance of spinout, so maybe adding sidebites, biting rails, or some form of holding power tail might be the call.
Yeah, I guess your gen, JeffHakman, rode slightly wider singles too…
Fastest depends on conditions…
Being flung into a bottom turn on a clean head high wave, you gotta turn down the line, and you want to come through that turn with as much speed as possible…
There is no substitute.
15 ft plus and a board 9ft plus and howling winds and a choppy wave face…it doesn’t matter what fins you ride as long as they are all nearly parallel to the stringer, the board is still gonna turn like a Mack truck.
The evolution of performance surfboards has been driven by the former scenario, not the latter.
BTW, my avatar is me on a single fin.
yes i did the art, no real plan, just went with the feeling… That’s wax on the deck, could’nt wait to ride in some summer south swell…
Josh,
If we’re talking about Hawaiian waves, 14" would be considered wide. The boards I rode were typically 7’10" X 21.5" or 22", with 13.5" nose, and 14" tail to a 7" hard square. Wide point at 40% to 42% back from the nose.
The guns I rode for really large waves had a 12" to 12.5" tail.
Bill – Do you have any pics of your old Hawaii boards? Love to see them. I’m sure others would too.
this is good !!
Fatbob , some of the original 1970s boards I have / had , I REALLY liked the templates and sometimes [on my later 70s ones], the foil.
Combined with a modern rocker , rails , and bottom , I think they would perform very well .
Not sure if the board is then a ‘new retro’ , a ‘nowtro’ or what [the ‘label’ / ‘classification’ doesn’t really matter, to me !]
…the performance would be better [for ,me , anyway!] than on my original 1970s boards .
Wildy has , of course , been saying something worth doing too, for ages …that a modern thruster blank / template works well as a single fin too. Not ‘retro’ , but more ‘performance’ orientated [ie: able to do more critical at speed turns , in the critical parts of waves]
Greg , if you’re there …your take on all this , please ?
interesting thread , Fatbob , thanks !
ben
Easternpacific,
The WHSA website, www.windanseasurfer.org, has a larger version of my avitar photo, taken by Tex Wilson in 1968, of me at Sunset on a 10’3" pintail gun. There is also a photo of me taken in the backyard of my house at Sunset Beach in 1963. The board in that photo is a 10’5" X 21", 38 1/2 pound gun, with a 4" wide bundle of redwood and balsa as the stringer. The board is a bright red with a black diagonal “competition stripe”, fashionable in the day. I don’t have any photos of the later 7’10" series of boards, though I will have one of them, made in 1981, at the Windansea Luau on this Saturday Sept. 10. I’ll try to get photos and post them to you.
Hey Ben and all.
Interesting subject.
Before I get canned for not respecting the past, my take on the retro thing is not negative. I just don’t like rehashing old fashioned boards. They were the cutting edge…in their day. Learn from it for sure, but keep moving ahead.
I can understand why people are revisiting the older designs, and my guess is it’s mainly because they, the people revisiting the design, need to experience the characteristics to learn from them. Try everything, learn from everything.
The single fin itself is not retro. It’s design, shape and function, just like the surfboard, can be construed as retro. It’s just a simple pure design that has still many facets to be exploited fully. And in it’s simplicity comes the difficulty of proper design.
Which is why easier to ride fin systems are available. But sometimes, most of the time for me, they do not give the rider the pure sensation they are looking for.
Retro is not a bad thing if people learn from it.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be called retro, but retry.
