Forgive my ignorance. Id like to ask a simple question.
What are the pros and cons of stingers/wings/flyers (not sure of their name what I mean is where the curve of the rail line steps in near the tail)?
Sir- in my opinion a Stinger is one of the funnest boards I have ever owned! At age 15-16 I had purchased one not really knowing anything about stinger model. The reason I bought was, I thought it looked cool.
Pros: loose and maneuverable, fast, skatey and the hard big wings create almost a ‘pivot-point’, or helps free up the tail for cut backs and pivoty turns… But in my opinion the stinger should be rode in a zig zaggy fashion- constantly carving turns. Ofcourse you don’t have to, but the design I’m geussing was to make a wide board have a looose feel?
As for wings - I usually set them low above twins, or I’ve had them high like on my old stinger a single fin w /box. Best set-up(single fin w/long box). But wings can be anywhere from a third way up as in stinger or wherever below. Just my .02
But the wings help loosen up a tail I would say. It kinda makes for a sweet spot.
Cons: might be too loose on larger waves? Fyi- I’ve had zero issues on small and med size waves though.
Later I plan to build one.
Sir- the wings I had where kinda huge! Maybe a 3/4" inch knotch? And the curve in outline kinda looked straight but does kinda flow narrower?but Look at Aipa’s stingers man!after all- He’s the guy who designed the model.
A break in the rail from a bump, wing, or sting causes turbulence in it’s wake, and lessens the rails hold. A six foot board with a wing at 12" up only has five feet of working rail, while keeping the rocker and float of the six foot board.
Rocker, rail, bottom contour and length are the most critical attributes of a surfboard. More than flex, weight, width, and thickness.
Wings change one of the “magic four”.
That’s my 2 cents on it.
Turbulence? Maybe? The cut out def loosens the tail tough…fyi- guys, my sting had a flat bottom and some slight vee- goin flatter out a few inches in tail I think…
Nose and tail rocker was low- with just a bit of nose flip.if the ‘devils in the details’, then this board had low rocker front and back. But man oh man! I my board would come alive on those little 2-4’ barrels! Even on some mush-it would skate and zig-zag like a dream… Wave after wave, I caught some rides that seemed to go for awile… I caught some waves on a long walled day that felt slow all the way to the fricken sand? End of story.
Then I actually met a kid traveling from oahu to cali coast and tried a actual- AIPA stinger! A 6’5" x? It was fast, un-fortunately for me, I only tried it once. And I only caught a couple waves as it was kinda flat that week. Atleast I got to try a real orig stinger!?
Fyi- his board had a hard vee in tail, but otherwise was similar to mine.
Great boards man! The only reason I sold mine was: at the time I had a quiver of 3-4 boards, a friend had a pos (pile of cr*@)nmd asked me if I could sell him the sting. I did to help a friend out… Looking back i just moved onto another board? I geuss everything has a life/death, or time frame I suppose? But I did see him surfing like a bat out of hell and havin a good exp! That in itself put a smile on my face.that board really taught me how to surf. And I want to shape one similar. To improve it, I think I could thin it down a bit, maybe go a 6’5"? Now this would be prob perfect?!
Dammit! I better win another $1400.00 on slot poker again… JESUS??? Then I will have sh*tloads of blanks to play with…
stingers ride great going foward.............down the line,but for me......... most of the stingers i owned/rode didn't ride backside for chet! there was a few exceptions,but not many.
herb