Hi Johnmellor,
It’s always nice to hear your thoughts.
Although I agree with you on some aspects, I have a different analisys on that…
For me, if the twin pin allows the board to sink and to turn easier, it means that the board is looser, rather than having more control. The surfer has the capability to change direction really easily and smoothly, whitout many effort.
In the other hand, if the board have more control , it will have more drag on it, and the surfer will have to make more effort to turn direction and it will be easier to draw a longer arch, rather than a quick turn into the pocket.
In my conception, and maybe I’m not being so clear about it, the less we have on tail area, the more control and more hold the board will have. That’s why i made this analises with the swallow tail, since you are cutting off part of your tail area.
But I understand your point… We for sure can have a swallow tail on wide or narrow tail widths.
I made a mini-simmon once, and I didn’t like the board, comparing to a retro fish. The retro seems to be more alive and more likely to performe.
The mini-simmon, in the other hand, with the wide squash tail, seems to be looser than it should be, and also so slippery that undermine your capacity to performe. It’s a fun board for very small surf, but is so hard to turn! I guess the swallow on the retro fish gives you this pivot point that makes it easier to turn, enhance board’s control, like you mentioned…
Have you tried surfing with those different models side by side?
Of course it has the fins placement difference as well, that can change a litlle bit (mini-simmons have more hold also because of the paralel fins and their placement much closer to the outline than in a retro fish)
And about Resinhead’s swallow tail gun, an interesting fact on that… For a gun like that, the tail can sure bring more control. It should work like a pin tail on big waves.
But I understand your point… We for sure can have a swallow tail on wide or narrow tail widths.