Well, I said I might say some things a few years ago on Kauai when The Sally Seven was new.
Many Summers before, on Kauai, there was a guy ripping Acid Drops on a stand-up paddle board, in the earliest years, of SUPs, and I stood at the hedge and listened to him talk to his shaper about the way the board worked for him, and realized that compared to many of the big fat stand up paddles I saw that didn’t seem to perform that well, this guy was combining sort of a regular, you know, tail, with the big thick body to be able to stand up on, so I went home and did the first “deck belly” board which became the Sally one.
Then a couple years later I had a long phone conversation with Robin Mair and he shared some data with me via PDF, and I never looked back from quads after that (I had previously tried the McKee, what I dubbed the “split the difference” set up, and the “tight cluster, edge set up,” as I refer to my interpretation of the Mair layout is substantially faster and more responsive for me.)
One last thing. Over the whiles recently (Thanks to Stoneburner and Lemat!) I came to the step - post shaping pre-glassing - of making many many micro perforations with that pinwheel, and then a glass bead putty, and I was very stoked with the blue glass bead putty, and the white, other than the fact that it seems like that white color additive made it just a little bit harder to sand which is not my preference!
The other thing that’s come up over the years is the massive tail rocker and Vee in my boards. That was my path to dealing with the speed of the quad fin setup. When I switched some of my earlier boards to quads I couldn’t slow those things down to get barreled when I wanted to all the time, so I went with more kick in the tail and it’s worked wonderfully.
Yeah, I got started with RedX years ago thanks to “Uncle Ambrose,” who’d won then at an early Swayloholics Anonymous gathering.
Super strong boxes - lost lots of fins to the rocks over the years, but not one damaged box, and the fore/aft adjustability is a game changer.
Which has lead, in part, to my asymmetrical layout.
For me, the toe side fins being further forward helps more easily/early engage the rail, and further back under the heels helps handle the heel “power.”
The “foot stop” is just that…
I’m a kook and can’t always be sure my foot is far enough back, so I just shove it back till I feel the stopper… Ha!
Great shots! Love the tube ride, you’re really tucked up tight in that pocket. When I originally asked that I was picturing you sitting with a paddle, ala surf kayak, lol, now I get it.
The carbon in that bottom shot makes it appear that you put the leash loop in the very back of the tail on that one. Also looks less asymmetrical, or not at all, but hard to tell. And looks to have a channel on the bottom, something also a bit different from this one.
The raised deck shot is great too. If this is the 8th iteration I don’t know how I could be so unaware of the design, but I am becoming familiar. I love that you have gone down the rabbit hole with this design, and are really exploring the options and possibilities.
I really gotta go dig out my wood experiment board.
Thanks for the ol’ pics John.
The one with the deep, wide channel is pre-Sally, and the one on side view with the “deck belly” is the “Sally 2,” so it’s been a few changes since then.
The name, and style, comes from the one and only tattoo I have, which I got on Kauai the same summer I had my mini-epiphany after the sup experience. Hence coming home and making “The Sally” - my first deck-belly board.
That’s the Acid Drops picture I remember you posting. McD commented.
And I believe I said, “Looks like Sally can dance.”
Remembering what I said, I found your thread;
No, just 'cuz it’s not necessary.
I used to, 'cuz I used two as hot wire guides, and glued one in the middle, but there seems to be good science behind not needing one, and I have several sets of curves through the length of the board, and I use a heavy glass schedule - 4x4oz with 45/45 (weave orientation turned 45 degrees) patches: deck belly and tail/foot area, and fin box/tail on the bottom, and full rail lap so there’s 8 layers on the rails.
Granted, no stringer is why I have a unique construction method, and use the integrity of the foam, leaving the deck side full thickness and blocky when I shape and glass the bottom…
