No offense intended but…
Fish
Not a fish. Not even a little bit
Surfing a fish has really done wonders for my surfing. I’m 43 now and I reckon I’m surfing a lot better than I was ten years ago. (I don’t claim to be a good surfer, only that I have improved!) I used to only surf one board in waves below double head height. Getting the fish was a revelation. Suddenly I could do turns! Now I’m enjoying my shortboard a lot more as I’ve really been thinking about the mechanics of turning. The flip side of all this though is the dilemma of deciding what board to surf. I find myself switching boards mid session some times.
Anyway, my next move is to make something exactly half way between the fish and the shortboard. The one I made a couple of years ago doesn’t really work that well. Maybe it’s a matter of double concaves or the like?
I see a fish in GDaddy’s post. No fish in the other photos. That bat wing stuff sold a few boards…ha, ha.Surfing is fun…wish I had more time for surfing…I’m going to dust off my old man “6’8” Quad not quite a fish" and ride it Sunday at Terramar…Total Stingray kook out…Have fun, keep surfing!
6’8" x 22" x 3"
That looks like a really fun, functional 2 board quiver. I’m intrigued by your problem. Without wanting to question your surfing, do you think it could be as simple as not adjusting your stance?
Looking at your boards I wonder if your fish’s design might lend itself to backfooted pumping rather than the forward trim you said you prefer?
Ahh… I see!
Your “fish” has a curvier rail line than your shortboard. Easier to hold a high line with a straight rail.
Let’s face it… wide shortboard ≠ fish!
No offense taken. Yeah, I see what you mean, I guess if you’re calling that top one a fish then what I’m calling a fish is probably something different. Here in NZ most people would call it a fish, and your one a retro-fish, but we are a bit of a backwater here so I defer to your definition. Just out of interest, what would you call my board?
At any rate, and putting regional variations in semantics aside, what I’m talking about is a short, wide, thickish and low rockered board compared to a longer, narrow, thin and more rockered board.
I think when I surf for an entire session on one particular board I probably do tend to adjust my stance and style accordingly. The difference is most evident when I change board mid way through a session. If I’m changing to a board more suited to the conditions then the change is an easy one. When it’s the other way round like the other day then it’s a difficult change. That said, I will try the more back-footed style for size.
Having surfed both a Steve Liz syle fish and a modern “fish” the latter is a WAY better board, fish or no
Yeah, I wasn’t going to say anything, but usually only the NZ/AU guys refer to everything wider than 18" as a fish.
The only reason the distinction comes into play in this discussion is because most people wouldn’t really use a signficantly different approach to surfing either of your boards; I mean, it wouldn’t be as different as how they approach a traditional fish or a singlefin or a a longboard.
The way a traditional fish is normally surfed is way different than how you surf a thruster, whether wide or narrow. It’s arguably much closer to how a singlefin is surfed: way more about trim/flow and getting the looong carve and not at all about squaring off your turns to get the snap and break the fins loose.
Good/bad doesn’t enter into the judgement calls that comprise a person’s preference. The two design concepts are simply way different from each other. You cannot surf the thruster well by using the same technique that is optimized for a fish and vice-versa.
I wonder how long advice to ‘ride 2-4" shorter and 1/2-3/4 wider than your standard shortboard’ will last. As this becomes the standard.
Spuddup - are you a goofy foot?
Width can be detrimental for many reasons. When the whole Mini-simms took off and had customer request them, I had to make myself one. Needing to ride every model I shape, I went with the dims and contours of shapers I respected. Concave off the tail, big wide tailblock, flatter deck. Two words, hated it. Could not turn that thing for shit. Now, I’m a big guy, 6’4" 215 lbs. With a size 13 paw. So hard to get up on rail. I then realized why people surf those the way they do. Sold it. Back to the drawing board.
Mini’s have a very straight outline, added some curviture. Diamond tail. Shorter rail line. Also squared off the nose. So I incorporated what I know about shortboards. I rode Tri’s in the early 80’s, wide tails. They had Vee. I also added more tail rocker. Not too much, but more. foiled out the entire tail area thin. I also realized that wide boards and deep concave did’nt turn all that good. So I shallowed the concave in the center, and began to run a wide beveled edge 3.5" or so, from nose to tail. Still kept the standard shortboard tucked edge. What a difference. This board turns on a dime.
This model became my Hitchcock model. One of my best selling boards.
Yeah Huck, I’m a goofy. Good observation. Did you spot the location of my leash plugs?
First: Barry just dropped good info. I ride something similar, but flat bottomed. I always thought iteration 2 could use some vee. I’d like to try with a more shortboard type rail and a bit of double concave too. Your model is probably awesome.
I like wide boards. My usual rides are 5’4"x20.75 and 5’5"x19". There’s definitely drawbacks to wider shapes, but I think of them as differences, not negatives. I don’t think my style would vary too much on the two boards in question here. They’re both very shortboard like, one’s probably just a little flatter, has a bit more foam and a few other things. It’s not a huge difference like a real fish vs a 3 fin shortboard potato chip. I don’t even think my style varies too much on my two usual rides. The shorter one is certainly a lot stubbier, flatter and straighter, so there’s a bit less pumping and shortboard hopping. But it’s not as drastic as going from a real fish to a short 3 fin.
I think people just call wider boards in general fishes sometimes. Especially beginners around here, everyhting that’s not a wct potato chip in terms of width is a fish, proper lis type fish or not. Or people call the wide, flat, swallow tailed but modern board a fish and the lis style fish a retro fish.
Foot wells
The short board has more rocker than the “fish”.
The short board has less volume than the “fish”.
If you’re not riding that “fish” as a quad you might want to have it modified…the term Retro is useless…think Fiat 500.
Stingray