...the smaller 'curveys' .....

chippy61 · April 12, 2012, 6:42am

....today , I rode THESE , finally ! They are the ones I made [a while ago now] ,

.... rode them in good head high sets this morning . Just Karl and I , and one longboarder , on the best bank for almost an hour , early ...not bad for school holidays !!

After riding a set of four of the fcs Greg Webber 'CRV' template , [all curved inwards] , as a quad , for the last month or two , it was nice to try something different , with my curveys !

I was glad I put in the 5 1/2" deep back fin I made , too , as I needed it for hold , on a couple of late drop lefts I caught !

....the next pair [?or set of FOUR??] of these I make , I will lay up on a template / jig that good ol' Marty has made . It will sure save mucking around with trying to add a tab later . THAT is a LOT of extra work , trust me !!

Next , I will try this setup the "right" way round [ curving inwards ], combined with the M7 back fin ...

So , then I can feel even MORE what the curveys are doing ...[it was , after all, only the second time that I had used the blue tint fin as a thruster / "2+1" setup back fin ??!! ....]

....to be continued ....

cheers !

ben

pridmore · April 12, 2012, 7:42am

howd they go with the curves outwards ? a guy I know tried my curves that way and only lasted 3 waves before he changed em back, said they were very weird and he couldnt really get the board going along the wave…but they sure work the other way around…hahaha…good to sea you trying sooo many fins, hope you got a book with all this written down, would be a wealth of knowledge for future designs…

chippy61 · April 12, 2012, 9:33am

hiya Mark !

thanks for the reply !

well, being used to previously having four larger curved fins [ inwards curved !] , and no back fin ...

I expected this to feel totally different . And , yes ... it sure DID !!

it felt good going to the bottom and back up the face and off the lip [ as the bigger , curved inwards one do , also ! ]

it felt weird , as your friend commented , backhand trying to go straight across [eg: pigdogging late drops.]

But I persevered [as I hadn't brought the allen key with me , anyway ! oops]

after a few waves , it started to feel good , as long as I kept turning ! it took a bit to adjust my surfing ...

I DID hear 'hum' on a couple of the bigger , faster rights , which at least meant the board was hitting a good speed , I guess ?! :)

which is why I want to try them again , with an fcs production back fin , the M7 , to eliminate the option of it being the BACK single fin that was humming ... [I know the M7 doesn't hum , not for me yet , at least ...maybe it's shy ??]

" hope you got a book with all this written down, would be a wealth of knowledge for future designs..."

Well, when I remember , I DO try to write in my 'board diary' , from time to time.

but I reckon a video of each different setup would save a million words ...I mean , HOW can WORDS really explain the FEELING different fins give you , and the feel of the fins ?

only problem there is ...[besides silly me] , WHO is going to sit on the beach for hours on end , filming someone else surfing ?!

.... unless they are going to make $ out of it ?!

....not many will do it [or anything much else , for that matter !] for 'LOVE' , nowadays ??

I wish the "swaylocks video" existed ... I'd rather look at pictures , moving or otherwise , than read through pages and pages of stuff

but really , I suppose this is really just for our OWN benefit , anyway , as you say ...hopefully , just something of a general ?"baseline'? to work from , for the "next batch of fins"??

posting a ride report of every session on every board and fin setup , would bore people to tears , and smack of self-aggrandisement / self-indulgence , yes ?

but , having said that ....I LOVE seeing photos and movies of OTHERS riding their creations !

cheers Mark !

ben

chippy61 · April 13, 2012, 12:57pm

THIS is what I hope to ride them in tomorrow , the 6'11" Richie West 'Bullitt' [last years ' 50th birthday present' , from my brother ....STOKED as !]

[ yes , it IS a Richie West board ... Simon added the 'Island Surfboards' sticker ! ]

off to bed now , in readiness for the dawno tomorrow ....

ciao !

ben

chippy61 · April 14, 2012, 1:35am

WOOHOOO !

I just got back from a nice 2 1/2 hour surf on the 6'11 pictured above , with the fin setup shown .

it was still head-high , with occassionally slightly bigger bombs ....

I was glad to have been on it really early , as it filled up with people by 8am. Nice and glassy , mostly righthanders , and a few guys were absolutely ripping ! [of course , because ...I was surfing , NOT taking photos , today !]

so, today ...got much more speed out of the 6'11 , and with the fins the 'right ' way around this time , it was certainly more controlled off the bottom and the lip . It was really nice to get some longer , faster rights , and be able to get a few turns in per wave. The swell seemed to have almost a north [?] angle to it , so was pushing DOWN the beach [southwards] , making for some decent length of rides . Marty and Karl both got a few crackers ! I took a few late drop beatings ...6'11 x 20" x 2 7/8" being a lot of rail and volume for a 62kg , 5'9 , 51 year old [who paddles a bit slowly , at times ! ]

I think I need to ride this board more , to get me used to the narrower tail and nose [than the mal and the walden ].... in order to work towards riding the narrower and shorter Gunther Rohn pintail [6'6 x 19"] , and the Island rounded square [6'3 x 19" ] , in readiness for winter.

Riding the mal and the walden for so long has made me a lazier paddler , I noticed today . I had to put my head down and take one or two extra paddles to make sure I was dropping DOWN the face , before jumping to my feet . [ I tend to do a lot of 'double paddle' takeoffs on the 9'4 mal , and the 6'6 [walden] ]

Also , there is much more rocker to take into consideration , with the 6'11. I was glad it was glassy today , kinda helped with getting into them , and FEELING the fins cut through the water .

....I'd like to ride it in some lefts next , please , mr. wavemaker ?!

[ I shall see what tomorrow brings , eh ?! Another EARLY session , no doubt ...]

cheers !

ben