Bob works in one of the local surf shops near to me i’ll point him back in the direction of his thread if he hasn’t already done so by the weekend.
cheers mate !
The 1970s certainly had some good variety in terms of surfboard designs ridden , and the way they were surfed …very evident in movies like many classic moments , free ride , going surfing , crystal voyager , five summer stories , style masters , and many others .
ben
Hi all.
Thanks for all the help and advice that you have all given. I did not know that this was such a contentious subject. All of the ideas of what a single fin should be have been useful. I just want to ride some old style boards (with or without a modern twist to them). I see this era as more fun, the people in the water now have so much aggression I just long for days when people realise that everybody is after the same thing to carch waves and have fun. This maybe a very nostalgic veiw of the 70’s, but I think that it must have been just fun with no kooks to deal with.
Still looking. fatbob
FB:
Just my take on updated retro boards vs. old boards… I think the new takes on old designs are great - fish, singles, quads… I’m having such a blast on these boards. Yesterday I rode a modern single fin shortboard (shaped by Mr. meecrafty himself) in shoulder high glass and was just loving it. And there have been so many sessions in crappy surf where my little fish has had me flying when I would have been sinking on a conventional 6’4 thruster.
As for the old boards themselves, I don’t have a whole lot of experience on them but I do have a 6’6 single fin from about 1975 or so that I’ve ridden a couple of times. It was built by a pretty well known local shaper (still in business today) and I think it’s fairly representative of boards of its type from that era. Basically, the board has given me a great appreciation for design advances over the last 30 years. Its just not a board you would choose to ride for any other reason than to experiment.
On another note, I watched the video Stylemasters the other night, which is a really good recent release of footage of Hawaiian surfing from the mid-70’s, and while I love the film I couldn’t ignore how these guys were held back by the equipment they were riding.
So anyway, my much meandered-to point is, retro is great but go for the current designs rather than the originals… and pick up a copy of Stylemasters.
I thought I’d write a quick follow up about the modern single fin I was riding as I read a few early posts to this thread that I had missed and there seems to be some interest in applying a single fin to a thruster shape. The board is based on the CI Black Beauty template with a rounded pintail and I don’t think Dave (meecrafty) made much in the way of modifications to accomodate a single fin, rather than thruster, set up.
Basically, the board cooks. It is hyper fast and it feels very responsive for a board of its size (its a 7’0 which is about 8" longer than I would typically ride in medium size surf). I wasn’t going to take it out yesterday but the waves were breaking so fast that I decided the extra length would come in handy to get me in to waves early. It was a great experience and it got me to thinking about finding a big enough fcs fin to try one of my thrusters as a single.
Anyone tried that?
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It was a great experience and it got me to thinking about finding a big enough fcs fin to try one of my thrusters as a single.
Anyone tried that?
yep , I have the fcs fins to do that …old single fins taken from dumped broken boards , refoiled, and then fcs tabbed …
good fun !
ben
just to add an afterthought , Jeff …
you might want / need to add a couple of extra fcs plugs , so you can move the fin forward from the usual thruster position …
my boards with back fcs plugs had four plugs .
[That’s why most all of my boards , if thick enough in the tail , normally actually have fins unlimited type finboxes for the back / single fin ]
cheers !
ben
To make a ‘retro’ single, but using modern rocker and or rail shapes, is not retro at all. Why not just make it a modern single like it should be? Planshape, bottom shape, rail shape, make the thing modern, and it will go better.
Thank you Wildy, you’re voicing the ideas that seem exciting to me at least Lynch, Lopez- all those guys have said they stopped riding the old boards because newer stuff worked better (or at least words to that effect) so why not mix the ‘cutting edge’ design concepts with some older but functional ideas? Seems like a no brainer for those lucky enough to be able to build their own boards and try whatever experiments they want, and the rest of us can simply swipe their ideas that work from the Swaylocks posts! It’s a wonderful world at least some of the time.
The way I see it…
Old boards are awesome,
Hybird (old and new) boards are awesome,
New boards are awesome.
it depends on the mood i’m in really.
Just have fun!
I don’t feel old boards are holding me back and I don’t just ride them as an 'experiment.
Another point to take into acount is cutting edge boards, honestly how many of us are cutting edge surfers and shouldn’t a cutting edge surfer be able to rip on a variety of boards.
its all fun, stay stoked!
as Terry Fitzgerald once said [and , HE should know !!]…
“all boards work …some just work better than others” …
ben
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as Terry Fitzgerald once said [and , HE should know !!]…
“all boards work …some just work better than others” …
ben
True, I’d replace “better” with “different” though.
who’s to say new boards go better though, so many old boards went better then that modern singly in thicker than water…
You know what, perhaps we should step back and focus on the definition of what ‘new’ and ‘old’ is here.
Old boards (70’s, 80’s and 90’s!) werent as good, that’s why we moved on. The point was made well when someone said that riding old boards give us appreciation of why design moved forward in the first place. But it’s fun riding them in a driving a cool old car kind of way.
Allow me to compare surfboards to cars for a second, the new cars of today are faster, more efficient and don’t last as long. Sound familiar? Now would you like the sports model or the classic cruiser? The parody here is that cars and surfboards have moved forward and for the vein of the sport that embodies the pursuit of super critical, high performance surfing their progression is paramount. Enter the modern version of the thruster 4oz and all.
I ride everything from a 6’2, 6’4, 6’5, 6’8, 7’0 and 7’4 performance thruster to 9’4 old school single Log with quite a few 70’s singles and twins (modern and retro) as well. I just enjoy riding the right board for the day and maximise the fun I have in every condition. Not pidgeon holing myself and trying to persist with the wrong board because it’s cool this month allows me to enjoy my surfing FULLY! Isn’t that the aim of the game?
And that’s all I have to say about that…
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And that’s all I have to say about that…
…I like them both…
Because surfing is as much an art as it is a sport or science, whenever these discussions of progression in design and old vs. new come up, I think another good parallel to consider is music. Is Miles Davis inferior to Dave Matthews because he played 40 years ago? Is Mozart backward compared to 20th century composers? Is there progression in music? A lot of people like to think so, but much depends upon individual talent. Riders and shapers are like musicians and their designs are like the music they create, whatever the era.
it has only taken twenty five years for the collective concious to get bored with the third fin
IT AINT NEW ANY MORE
the NEW IS BETTER jive
has been repeatedly
overwhelmed by the realities of
the continued testing of designs
new vs old is bull in design criterion
different is different is hard reality
the evolution of fourteen yearolds to rip 1-2’ shorebreak waves
smoothlyyyyyyyy is a delight
it AINT OLD OR NEW its different
because the single fin in the hands of single fin affectionados
has continued to evolve IS facts
the reallity is that because iit has a single fin and round rails
it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaint retro or retry?
clooes for sale
if it isnt regular foam if it didnt get the volan
if its got anything other tthan a roll bottom
I discount the
retro deprecatory remarks*
and continue to APPRECIATE the single fin
in hopes of evolving out of the fin dependance that has dominated
surfing conciousness for three quarters of a century
…ambrose…
ahi have hundreds of fins…ah maybe fifty
revolutionalize that swampy
by the way american classical music is JAZZ,
mozart’s nice but he only had a harpsicord
did that make him a plucker?
*lumping single fins into a catagory
conotating behind the times .
for some time this has not been the case of
tri-fin shapers making ''MEETOOOO"
single fins that just dont work well because of their deadened sensibilities to the careening rail turn action of the single that has been traded for the swivel turn of thetri-fin { try- fun.}
not to be confused with the chow fun noodle from the honolulu noodle factory
as always, ambrose, your wandering prose illustrates the point here well.
i dont think anyone would, or should be on this forum if they weren’t interested in ALL design options.
i am just beginning to experiment with single fins, as a shaper. i hate to admit it, but it is mostly because of movies like sprout, shelter, and those types of films. someone was saying that tudor blows door on others on a single…well hes a pro for a reason. ALL the guys in these films tear it up on a single, and other designs. ability never hurts. therefore, i am not saying the all to familiar - ’ i want to surf like … ’ it just seems that the surfing masses, including pros, have found that thrusters, while they obviously work, are boring, and want a new feeling. does that mean one is better than the other? does that mean that if you eat your favourite meal everyday, it loses its flair? who knows.
personally, i think that this is an exciting time to be getting into the shaping side of things. people seem to be willing to experiment more, and who knows, maybe we are at the vanguard of the next big leap in surf design. like everyone says, with the exception of materials-and those arent that widely accepted, if we are honest - there hasnt been a huge leap in a while.
i would say that those here that say that there is a reason for moving foward(?) and away from the old boards are valid. i am not saying they dont have their own merits, but i have found that when comparing the downrailer type boards, to one with modern evolutions - even the horan designs - i would prefer the modern - if it can be called that itself. isnt anything you just made modern?
in the end does any of this bickering matter? if you paddle out thinking - awh, this old design aint gonna work - well duh? it wont. if you think - i wonder how this thing is gonn work - at least you are being open, and might find a new line, or even enjoy yourself. and, isnt that why we all still surf?
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… if you think - "I wonder how this thing is gonna work ? " - at least you are being open, and might find a new line, or even enjoy yourself. and, isnt that why we all still surf?
yep! [for me , anyway , it is …well said mate !!]
…from surf to surf , and from wave to wave even , I find myself thinking that .
The trick [and challenge !] for me , with a quiver of boards and an even bigger quiver of fins , is to try to match the board to the conditions …and …adapt , if I haven’t "got it right " [if there IS in fact a right board for all the different conditions …in my quiver ?!]
ben
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The trick [and challenge !] for me , with a quiver of boards and an even bigger quiver of fins , is to try to match the board to the conditions …and …adapt ,
Ben,
I agree with you on this one. I don’t believe there is one board and fin setup that will handle all conditions. There are plenty of designs that will handle most conditions but then, not everyone enjoys riding them. For example, one of my favorite designs is Yancy Spencer’s 6’10 fish. It’s full of versatility and can be ridden on just about anything from waist high to several feet overhead. However, an overhead beach break is much different than an overhead point or reef, hence the reason for my quiver. While the fish can be ridden in both, to me, it’s much more suited to the point break. My 6’6" pintail feels better on a sandbar or reef, and my 7’4" Becker speedshape comes out when Rincon is overhead and on fire! My 8’ semi-gun is for those days that The Ventura Overhead is going-off. There’s also another handful of single fins and longboards that I use for varying locations/conditions. “The trick,…, is to try to match the board to the conditions…and …adapt.” Well said Ben!
Retro single fins have their place in the lineup. There are plenty of times that I’ll catch myself spazzing out in the water. The most embarrassing case is when you realize that you’ve just performed a pathetic, bouncing chop hop on a waist high wave just to make it into a close out shorepound that’s likely to ding you and your board. It’s these times that the epiphany strikes… Single fin egg! With the lower rocker and wider outline, the egg will just glide through flat spots and definitely look/feel much smoother than a flailing chop-hop.
I usually grab my single fins when I feel the need to loosen up and work on form. They become a much needed therapy after the vertical lip bashing, airborne flying, out of control wave attacks on my thruster. Besides, they just feel good!
Si Senor Pato, I like what you and Ben have to say.
My biggest quiver was I think four boards, of which I rode around 6’6" most of the time. The other boards got used irregularly, and replaced even more irregularly. I used the larger and smaller ones in the conditions that prevailed.
But due to the versatilty of fins, I found I enjoyed riding the one board, playing with the fins to help it perform in the varying conditions. You could make the board do drawn out turns, and snap or skate when you wanted, just by the choice and tuning of fins.
The drawback of the one board design is most eveident in the extreme large and small surf conditions.
The advantage is being able to adapt it to the most surfed conditions, and those conditions are what most of us surf most of the time. And most surfers only have one board, and would like it to go in the most various conditions.
I didn’t really like having a quiver because sometimes it confused me, too much choice just to go for a surf. If I had a weird surf I would always blame my bad choice of boards.
I like concentrating on one board, and my fins are now reduced to what I know goes for me. And that one board will lead directly to the next one, a better one.