Hey Chip, a mate of mine had a couple in the seventies. Borrowed one for a month and rode Burleigh and Kirra. Great for full bore down the line stuff. But not really very inspiring at beach breaks, they don’t turn or cutback very well in anything less than great waves. I handed it back to him and didn’t ride another one. Interesting board though.
That’s almost the same pintail-type of board I rode my keel on in 71-72. Mine was a little more parrish-like with the beak nose and all but same severe pin.
My board was shaped by Harold Iggy at the Surfboard Shaping Company in Pearl City when little Bobby Owens worked the counter. I still have the board although it’s pretty much trashed.
The board rode better than with a single, as I made my keel to fit the standard box so I could switch back and forth. Even tried a variety of flex fins like the feather flex that came out around then too.
With the pin the Keel was alot of fun. Just bury that pintail in hard to cutback. Big arcs coming out of the tube the fin has alot of speed. It definitely needs a needle pin to make it work. The fin and board aren’t for vertical surfing but if you have a decent wall to work, you’ll fly…
Good but old memories… I think I was like a 130lb waterpolo bred fish back then…
Hey Chip, I surfed a lot with Nat when they were doing the movie CV. Nat could REALLY throw that green keel around, mind blowing. Tim Bowler , Shapes and Hulls surfboards made a few keels. I liked them because im goofyfoot and they drew nice long lines at Rincon . You couldnt even ride one today at Rincon, you would kill a 1\2 doz. kooks on one turn!! Hey Chip , just finished an article for the Surfers Journel on STUBBIES !!! Foil the keel with some tip flex.
[I <span style=“font-style:italic”><span style=“font-weight:bold”>love</span></span> this movie , mainly for the contrast between these three completely different board designs !!]…
The cutback problem was due to the templates, most were narrow pintails, Nat could do it cause hes Nat. Bowler made some that only had a 4 to 6 in.glassed on and the rest would FLEX! back and forth like a fishtail.
“That whole keel fin design was about angles against the draw up the face. That was what it was all about, OK. And how you could shift pressures and work with those angles and pressures, and how far back you could get to find all that pressure. It was all about speed and trim. To keep the board moving and adjusting to the face, no matter how deep you end up in the barrel. I was trying to learn how to make the board drive through the deepest parts of the barrel. I hardly even did a turn for 18 months. I had a purpose. I was exploring.” - Wayne Lynch.
