Got you going on the “hot seat” thread. So now I guess it’s time for your expertise. How you drug Michael Hynson into a thread on the Mystical and rarely seen “Spiral V” is beyond me. Show me something besides a computer graphic of such a V. Maybe put a straight edge on it. I carry a Louisville Slugger in my travel shaping bag for double barrel concaves. Where’s the “Spiral” or the V in that??
Slight roll across the bottom in the forward part of the board - a wide arc
going toward the tail that arc narrows forming vee panels at the tail - Small arc at center
Wide arc Spiralling down to a small arc in the center of the botom .
Believe what you want .
Greg, by a small arc in the center, you mean on each side of the stringer right?
That’s how I understood the concept.
Wide arc forward spiralling down to the small arc that is the peak of the vee , change in shape down the center of the board . Wide then ending small like a cone .
This lasted for about 6 months and off everyone went ,maybe even less .
What’s confusing about the whole thing for me is the word “spiral.” What spiral? I see two deep double concaves going through the fin cluster. Rail line higher than the center vee. Specific language is important when trying to communicate with wordy descriptions. I’m familiar with the double concave out the tail on Brewers. No spiral. Mike
A cone is a spiral 
I have had difficulty with the use of the word spiral also.
But if I am interpreting Greg’s description/explanation correctly, the nose of the board has belly, an arc that spans the width of the board, rail-to-rail, up front. The belly becomes narrower (no longer rail-to-rail) as it moves toward the tail. By the time the arc reaches the tail, it has become so narrow, it looks like a ridge/V in the the middle at the tail tip.
I can see use of the word spiral if you can envision a partial slice through the outer portion of a tornado’s wall (a vortex/cone shape) from top to bottom. At the bottom of a long narrow cone slice, the semi-circular surface has become so small/narrow that it creates the appearance of a V.
That is the only way I can see the word spiral describing a V-shape at the end of a tail…
Ha! Ha! You got me brah. I’m smiling, chuckling etc. I ain’t taking this thread in a serious vein.
LOL!!
This ? Same depth/height of belly but progressively greater curvature as it moves rearward and the tail narrows. Still runs from rail to rail the whole way though.
Really don’t want to be a complete ass.
However some “stoke sucker” has shook my cage.
I ask simply this.
Why in the HELL are you going on about something So God damn old?
Move on!
Whom are you speaking to ?
does ANYONE here , among the thousands of 'Swaylock’s audience members , have any **photos **of spiral vee in their board[s] , please ?
a well lit / sidelit photo of said "spiral vee "…would show clearly what is going on .
I first heard of it in terry fitzgerald interviews , in 1971 . [ He no doubt may have talked to brewer who apparently talked to mctavish [who did mctavish talk to ? I wonder ?]
were there ever people before that , using spiral vee ?
for example the ancient hawaiians perhaps.
who knows
but … a photo or two are worth [so much more than ] thousands of words / surmising / assuming / opinions …
cheers
ben
I am a self taught ding repair guy. Without Swaylocks.com I would have never shaped a surfboard. Like many other members I am also an inland kook. I love Greg G and I have learned quite a bit reading his comments and looking at his boards…but…like most inland kooks I have been fed a ton of double speak from the surf industry…for a really long time… Greg nailed it on the double speak with no photo.
I don’t want a photo anymore. I’ll figure it out on my own…Stingray
I think guys like Greg, Huie, Bill, etc have earned the right to “double speak” whenever they want on a forum like this. Their understanding of surfboard design has been hard won over a lifetime of experience. Their occasional “double speak” is actually a great teaching tool for those with the patience to listen and learn. It forces you to think about what is actually being, or not being, said. Just seeing a picture does not have the same effect. Doesn’t engage your brain in the same way. Just my personal opinion, but I would take a thousand informed words over a picture any day.
1976 Bob McTavish ‘short board’
"The bottom shape that really works is like this.
Nose vee, into flat, into tail vee.
But there’s a little more to it.
The tail vee is only a swelling around the fin, due to the straightish rocker into the fin and the radical little tail kick.
So the rail rocker line is a nice curve due to the vee, get it?
Have a look at one closely and you’ll see what I mean.
The vee has gone by the time you get to the very end.
Some people call it the spiral vee.
It’s the only way it can all add up."
[http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1976_McT_Classic_Design_Backdoor_Dec_n12p40.html]
Hi RDM. I think most human beings are visual learners. A picture is more valuable than 1000 spoken words I recon. Everyone has the “right” to speak or double speak regardless of status. Everyone also has the right to ingore. Don’t you think?
Hi Greg. Where is the cone on a surfboard? Perhaps I just lack the imagination? Mike
@ Rooster:
The cone would be if you continue the arc of the bottom contour in 3D. The initial large arc at the beginning of the V goes smaller as u get closer to the tail, if u consider not a simple arc but a full circle u got yourself a cone:
A simple way to define spiral vee would be double concave inside a V ?
My old shaper used to have spiral as standard on his boards, back then I had no idea of anything but the word spiral stuck in my mind.
His boards were, single to double to vee.
Not exactly spiral vee, but its generally what I use myself these days.
On narrower templates I tend to put the double lower than the stringer, on wider templates I raise the stringer higher than the rails.
All that it probably won’t help to clarify anything on this thread.