I too was lucky enough to know Frank Emerson, I was just a little kid. I knew his daughter(Heather?) we went to RB Hunt (school) together. For my 12th Birthday my dad had Frank make me a 5’0" single fin pintail that was perfect for me. It was that board that formed my surfing confidence and skills growing up, a great start. Lots of fun lots of firsts, got my first tube riding it @Blowhole. Frank Emerson and Joe Beach were a big help on my surfing. Thanks for that flashback. :)
DSS
These little history nuggets are one of my favorite things about sways, welcome aboard.
I was hoping someone on here would know what Frank ended up doing in Oz. Those roundtail twins were ahead of their time, IMO.
I have been doing expirements on a fish template over the last year. I have been making small adjustments to rocker, width and fin placement with each new board. Lately I have been thinking what this board would feel like with a round tail. It seems that by changing the straighter fish rail to a round rail at the back may cuase a loss of drive. With all other details being the same, I suspect this could be compensated for by lowering/flattening the rocker a little in the tail. I am open to feedback on this.
Currently the board is 5'6",17.25"N, 21.25" 17.5"T , 3" being ridden with FCS FK-2 fins. I am 6', 215 lbs.
I love the photos of the board with pencil marks and numbers written all over the bottom - several of my boards end up this way also.
Hey mate, i made myself a little egg, 5'8''. Was going to be a fish, but a planer incident meant i lost half of one of the swallows, and some rail. It ended up as an egg, except for a baby swallow. I definately think i lost some drive having curve in the back compared to my old fish. It is a fun board for sure, but it doesnt have the drive like a straight outline'd fish does. It also has less than 2' tail rocker and a 17'' tail. Like i said, its a fun board, but not as drivy as my old fish. I have been thinking of making the same board, but straightening the tail out, like a round nose fish. I think it would work sweet.
Cheers. let us know how it goes mate.
Here are a few templates I have been thinking about. All three measure out to 5’6"x 22". Thickness will be in the 2 3/4" range. I imagine that thinning the nose and leaving volume in the tail to equal out buoyancy between the wide nose and narrow tail will be helpful as well as a flat tail rocker(1") to compensate for the shorter, curvier rail line. It seems I usually see things like this with a single fin set up, but I will probably do a combo of boxes to experiment with. This is all speculation. All that is left is to shape it and then start tinkering with details.
If anyone has anything like this they have made and are pleased with(or not), I would appreciate input.
5'8 x 17n x 21 ( middle ) x 17 1/8 tail. Flat to slight v in the tail.
I like it a lot. Just sanded a bit of a harde edge through the fins hoping for a little more release.
I like the planshape on the far right
Oh, rocker is 3n x 1 3/4 tail.
planshape curve and rocker are the keys I think for this shape, especially if you are doing a twinny, you need to get your drive from the rocker I think....I'd be putting alot of thought into fin placement and rocker as well as the tail curves to compliment them....the flyer could work well there, maybe reduce max width and that'll staraighten outline a little, then with the flyer also, you can carry the width further back with a straighter drivier planshape, then with a nice rocker curve and sweet big based twins placed right to give you drive and hold, while still being lively and loose as twinnies usually are.....could be a super fun shape but I reckon it could be an easy one to get a little wrong.....best of luck and keen to see any pics.....