Thrailkill - OBQ

General Discussion
1

I would like to first give sincere thanks to Bill Thrailkill, I only wish I knew more men like him.  I would like to provide the same sincerity in my thanks to Jim Phillips for being involved in this build in more ways than one; a big thanks to Sam Cody for his incredible Falsa work; and to Channin Glassing for flawless glasswork, and I must not forget to thank Kava who posts here for his help with the HI’n translation between the fins.  How does a guy even begin to say thank you for the experience I have had and the end result which is beautiful art expressed as a surfboard?  Well, you just say thank you and hope your words are heard as you wish them to be heard; this has been very humbling for me.

And it all started right here with nothing more than a PM from me to Bill.  I wanted an “all rounder” and I wanted to show some thanks and respect to the Duke and to Hawaii, and I let Bill take the lead, giving him my opinion and input and leaving it more or less completely up to him. 

Board is 8 ft x 23 x 3.125 (?)… approximately…tail is about 16.25-16.50 from what i recall

2-inch chambered balsa stringer

I could go on and on, and I will have more to say, but its late and I will let the board do the talking for now.

 

http://img832.imageshack.us/g/thrailkill13y.jpg/ (I created this slideshow link because I have the hardest time getting pics to show up on posts here)

 

An excerpt from my first session on the board in 4-5 ft fat high tide lefts/rights at my local spot, the remnants of the Igor swell:

 

I dont even have the the fins in correctly and I caught a few glimpses of its ability on that first session, I caught this one left where I was sure the board was not going to make the sections (maybe I was sure I was not going to make the section?) and I found myself completely right in the pocket of the wave completely in control and just zooming with my right hand on rail and left hand not on the wall but mimicking the wall, and the board just ate it up.. and the board continuously accelerating and all i had to do was properly weight the board and it stayed right where I wanted it to....did not get out of my control in the slightest...in fact i came out of the wall into a nice backside carve while weighting the outer rail, and it was all quite effortless
It seems the board has a certain momentum to it, it starts out real soft and glidey on the take off as you are stroking in on your belly, almost too easy to get into the wave, and then you stand up and it really picks up speed and it seems the increase in speed continues... whatever it is that you have done here, I can already tell the board is "automatically maximizing" the wave's energy...honestly, I've been on the thing about 100 mins and can already tell its unlike anything I have surfed on 
More on this: 
"I dont even have the the fins in correctly..."
Try getting your head around putting in the fins with foil to the inside and flat surface to the outside; Bill and I even talked about it weeks earlier, but as I was in the back of my car putting the fins in to the board, it’s like my mind refused, I remembered the conversation, and I even had a moment where I was like “how the hell do you get the foil to the inside?”  It was a real mental war, so I mounted them as we all know how, foil out, flat in and went surfing; fins have since been properly mounted and board is waiting for its next proper go out
Much thanks again to Bill, Jim, Sam, Channin, Kava...and Swaylocks.
Enjoy,
Warren
 

 

 

 

2

I want one. Lovely looking board, keep the ride reports coming.

What wave size did you have in mind with it?

3

Wave size in mind for it… pretty much everything until the surf gets too small to draw my interest and I want to go bike riding, or wash my car… to as big as I have the gumption to paddle into; I can already tell the board will handle a giant wave with no problem, and having only one session on it so far in shoulder to head high waves, I’m instantly satisfied and even more intrigued by its speed potential… combined with its ease of use.  It’s going to be a very fun board to dial in and get to know.  After that first session on it, I told Bill “Can I take everything back I ever said about larger boards being cruisers??”

Living in NE FL, I have surf typically from waist high to maybe 2 feet overhead…sand bottom beach break; hurricanes bring the occassional larger swell; I’m not one that is afforded surf trips, but should I take one (might have to visit on old high school buddy in La Jolla who’s backyard is Blacks) this board will be coming with me

Me: 225 lbs, 6 ft tall, 40 yrs old, surfing most my life

The actual slide show here:

http://img832.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img832/7626/12855910755vi.smil

The original link in the original post is of an ‘album’… I’m not the most tech savvy guy in the room.

Thanks for looking.

Warren

4

Who made the board? Bill, Jim, somebody named Falsa, or Kava Kava?

5

[quote="$1"]

Who made the board? Bill, Jim, somebody named Falsa, or Kava Kava?

[/quote]

I went to the slide show, and checked the Lam on the bottom of the board.    Just as I thought, I made it!

6

Good one Bill.

Sorry if I was not clear enough on the subject of who actually made the board; Bill made it and was gracious enough to get all the other parties involved to make a truly one of a kind board

Warren

7

Nice board!! You did a great job man.

You said it about Bill Thrailkill. Few people who have so much experience are so humble and willing to lend a hand.

C

 

8

Warren,

As a point of interest, the PRIMO label is the same age you are.   Forty years old.

9

Thrailkill...............who the hell is that?

 

It took you 40 years to drink that beer? WTF...wasn't it stale?

10

I don't care what the seal lover (well, he loves them once they're cut into small pieces) says, that thing has mojo, provenance, and craftmanship.

11

Beautiful, Warren. That foil shot is perfect. 

 

Bill, well, you still got it.  Just beautiful.

12

the twin centers are dreamy…the primo label is the icing!

13

[quote="$1"]

Warren,

As a point of interest, the PRIMO label is the same age you are.   Forty years old.

[/quote]

 

Just as your friend at Channin's doing the buffing has been buffing for 39 years... you just can't make this stuff up

_______________

for all others...

I had "a moment" after I got it out of the box, I'll leave it at that... I could barely express myself to Bill as I was standing over the board in the grass at the airport terminal with the cell phone in my hand.

14

Wow beautiful board! It sounds like it is going to surf as good as it looks. 

15

    Howzit Bill, I scored a poster with a copy of the first Primo label a couple of years ago, now if I can find it I will take a pic and post it. The original stuff was pretty nasty and what a hang over but that was because it was green beer (as in still fermenting). The stuff they call Primo beer now doesn't even come close to the real thing. Aloha,Kokua

16

[quote="$1"]

 The stuff they call Primo beer now doesn't even come close to the real thing.

[/quote]

Believe me when I say I know!    The older stuff was hard to tolorate.

17

   Howzit Bill, I hear you on that but it was cheap and we drank what we could afford back then. I remember whenwe couldn't gt Coors in Hi but as you got near Lax you could but it by the case and they had it ready to put on the plane as extra baggage. I had a lady friend who was a stewardess for TWA and she would bring me a case every couple of weeks. We could also get Heineken for $6.10 a a case from the military base back in the early 70's. On another note, whenever one of us got injured surfig and had to go to Kahuku for stiches, we would roll a couple of big ones and grab a couple of San Miguel Darks and off to the hospital we went. We used to call it proper prepreation and by the time we got to the hospital we were not feeling any pain. Gee those were the days.Aloha,Kokua

18

Way back in the late 60’s or early 70’s my father took my beat up Dextra pop out and fixed all the dings. He painted it with a 2 tone blue, then masked off and painted the image of Kamehameha from the primo label. He added several pounds when he was done, but I had one cool looking board. I don’t remember how long it lasted, because shoreline at Sharkcountry loved to eat boards before we had leashes. or as we called them ding strings.  

Primo used to buy back the empty bottles and everyone we knew used to “recycle” them at the Waiau brewery. There would be lines of pickups with the bed stacked so high you couldn’t see out the back window. The first time I drove a standard shift anywhere was to take a truckload of Primo bottles to Waiau. The new “recipe” Schlitz brought out killed Primo, (at least that’s what my Dad said). Then it was Olympia, and Coors. I think in Hawaii the key was “low cost”.  

That board is soo cool with the double fin setup. My double fin has been sitting under the house for too long, I should probably get it in the water again.

19

     Howzit sharkcountry, Gees I had forgot about Primo recycling their bottles which means they had to be the first beer company to do so, did they charge a deposit like is done these days or like soda bottles back then? I am trying to remeber when they started selling Coors in Hawaii legally in stores. I know you could get it at a certain liquor store in Hanalei but is cost an arm and aleg since it was not licensed to sell there yet. I thinkBud was still around $3.50 a sixer and Coors was around $ 6.00 a sixer.Never beena coors guy anyways. I can remember reading that Bud had somethng like 46% of the beer business in the US which means the other 54%  is divided among all the other beer brands out there. Aloha,Kokua

20

you know I bet if i dig around here I can find one of those macrome(sp?) woven primo can floppy hats that was the all the rage to have back then. Remember those? We used to think we were so cool walking around in those hats.

I know I saw an Oly one lying around the other day…

talk about the weird 70’s