Stumbled across some short vids about the Lis Fish today.
Some interesting tidbits…
(Guess you have to log into Instagram for the second link?)
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These 2 Instagram videos give an idea what the modern Steve Lis Fish looks like.
Wondering if Stevie Lis got the fish right in the first popular interation? Are some things better left alone,don’t fix it if it ain’t broken.
Mark Richards humbly stated that he got his twin fin right the first time.
Kinda wondering if that’s true with the Steve Lis Fish?
Well I don’t know if he got it right first time. But I remember seeing him in the water on one at Sunset Cliffs in ‘69–70 or there-abouts . Of course he was prone and knee as I remember. David N. was one of the first and best to stand up on those under six foot Fish.
Often, the first guess is the best guess.
Well, to this day, Steve Lis says the Fish was designed to be a kneeboard.
Lis lent his 4-7 Fish kneeboard to Jeff Ching who rode it stand up. As the story goes, Steve made a 5-5 for Ching so Ching would stop borrowing it.
And the Fish surfboard was born…
The boards Lis has been doing for quite a while have been quads. My brother and I went to Kauai a couple time about a decade ago, and some of the people we met up with are close friends of Steve, they said he was riding quads. I think the clips on Bird’s Shed show Lis with new Quads.
Yeah heard he was a “Black Pot” guy.
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Monday night quarterbacking is easy, so I have to say, Stevie created a simple design if you think about how he came up with it.
Listen to Lis discus how he came up with it. Then listen to shapers/designers of today’s designs over verbosely describe their designs with there finger gestures drawing out cartoonish exagwrated lines with there index and middle fingers twitching back and forthw drawing lines on a wave that probably only Jonh John can draw on a wave. And every model have a new description of what it’s meant to do. However, even the best board testers keep riding the waves the same way.
When you see how different the Steve Lis fish rode compared to other boards of it’s time, you could see a big difference in performance. Granted, the boards back then were very different.
I still think shapers today jack jaw too much about their designs. No disrespect to them, they need to make a living. I see no need for a surfer to have a 7 board quiver with board lengths from 6’0 to ‘6’4”.
In the end, when a shapers is honest, and they say, “On a trip, if you are to take one board, bring a fish”. That really says it right there.
That the Fish still remains a viable performance shape almost 60 years later says it all. A 4-7/5-5 surfcraft in 1967 was disruptively iconic.
A design I ignored for years has given me a platform/inspiration base for my design work. It allows me to incorporate multiple concepts with/in one shape.
10–4. Design theory and all those weird names. How about RP for Rounded Pin? 
These days shapers are calling rounded off tails round pin, even the top guys who were in the Stab in the Dark. My take is that if it is rounded off it isn’t a pin.
I was out surfing once during a south swell maybe 30 years ago. Tony Moniz came out and surfed with us. I remember him telling me I wish I had my ? I asked him how big the board he was riding and it was only an inch or 2 different. The top pros can feel a difference in just an inch or 2.
Problem with the short fish is that older guys can’t get to their feet. I have fish from 5-3 to 7-0. My favorites are 5-10 and 6-0 and they are quads, but I love the way a full keel feels.
Yeah if I don’t call a board what it is 9’2” Square tail. 6’2” Squash etc; I attach a caliber to it. 5.56, .38 Special, 9 mm Luger etc.