That photo is radical. Who is it and did he make it? Mike
…it’s THIS guy … [ " Mr. Switch "…hehehe…]
WEIRD how that guy was right in the way on both the left and the right drop , eh ?
…maybe EVERYONE had black hair and red boards at Pipe in those days ?? [“the inner circle” , kinda thing, perhaps]
here’s a thruster a mate Russ made , back in 1997.
6’3 x 18" x 2 1/4" " . He is 5’9 and about 155lbs . So far , he has ridden up to double head high with it , on our south coast.
Nowadays he uses Futures systems for his fins . He has made a couple of quad fins for himself using this outline too , which he says he is really enjoying at the moment … .
ben
nice gun!
Hi Bill,Hope your still on this thread. That photo is radical. Who is it and did he make it? Mike
That would be yours truly. Dec 1972 if I recall properly.
That particular day was outsanding and one of the most perfect pipe days I can remember. Because it was so clean and we were able to ride so many waves at the critical level, I don’t really recall that particular one. But my friend Mark Tunno sp? from Oregon was visiting and he was swiming in the channel that day to watch. This was fairly common, even my wife used to do it.
Anyway he says…that I made the drop by reconnecting with my board. You’ll notice my front foot is way off the deck as the board was dropping in just like it was supposed to but my shoulder had gotten caught in the lip and was almost pulling me off. He says that I made it to the bottom but had lost a lot of my forward speed and I was left standing in a huge gaping tube and not moving forward fast enough as the wave went freight training right on past me. I wish I could tell a more glorious story, but that’s the facts a I know them.
Bill,
Did you make the board you were riding? Love that photo. Mike
Actually Gerry Lopez shaped that one for me. It was a 7’6", pipeliner pintail, single fin. I glassed it. It had an orange deck, with no logo or Bolt, that lapped orange to the bottom. Bottom was clear with a huge orange Bolt that went from Nose to Tail. It was an excellent board. And survived a winter of pipeline without breaking.
kia ora bill! nice to read your contributions, and to hear your stories… I’m going to have my two newest indo guns ready for pics soon. i’d love to compare notes. There are very few gun riders/shapers here in NZ, yet we get more swell than anywhere i’ve ever been ( bunch of pussies here i say!) i reckon the hawaiian formula would translate well into some of my designs. would appreciate your comments when i post …
yo to everyone else on this interesting thread
i’ve been off the sway for a couple of days now.
As if my back pain wasnt enough, some boy-racer cleaned me out in a super heavy head on collision a few days ago!
my truck is history, his holden sports car had the engine in his passenger seat!! and he went to hospital with some gnarly injuries… i hopped out without a scratch. The cops couldnt believe it, he lost control at well over 100 kph and i was doing 50 k in the other direction, they didnt reckon either of us should have survived that one.
Moral: drive a big ass truck, and dont trust any other idiot on the road.
anyhow im working on posting my gay little spreadsheet… if i can sus it, it will be on the end of this post, otherwise i’ll manage it down the thread a bit more.
that looks sooooo rude, i ended up scanning a physical sheet that i was gonna pump into my computer later… sometimes i wish i knew what i was doing on a computer, i will try and get my missus ( who’s a mac op in advertising) to help me post a clear one!!! later when she gets home
btw chip, nice lookin stick your mate russ has there… “swallows” all the way for me too, love that rail to rail transition they give eh dude?
…glad to hear you survived Heist !
I’ve not ridden a board like the one Russ is holding in that photo I posted …but may , one day in the [hopefully] not to distant future…
Meanwhile , from around 1980 , here’s Mike Ho , “high performance surfing” at Burleigh Heads…
So what really made your board so good?
jimmy.
hey jimmy,
its fast, loose, light and strong… 
seriously, its mostly thru good design…its a cleaner all arounder as compared to my previous boards…superlight makes it go on the slightest command…
its not much different than a well made thruster that you would find in a good surf shop…the biggest difference is my rails…i like more release so my rails are boxy with a tucked under edge…that and the weight…flex is about the same
plus the waves were super good at my favorite break and i had the place to myself…i built the board just for those conditions…everything was in synch…just doesnt get any better
I’m 44 too and had been riding a 6-10 for years. I just went to a 6-4 x 19 3/8 x 2 1/2. It still feels a little too floaty. It rides like a longboard. I can even do cheater 5’s all day long. It seems to paddle just as well as my 6-10. I’m going shorter. I just want to turn harder and go faster… so I’m experimenting. My R+D is limited by my budget but I’ve already shaped a 6-2 x 18 1/2 x 2 3/8. we’ll see how that goes. After that I’m going EPS and even thinner.
Q.What makes a high performance surfboard? A. The surfer riding it.
I am glad that was said,
Q.What makes a high performance surfboard? A. The surfer riding it.
1978… short , thick, heavy single fin + Dane Kealoha = buckets of spray in small waves ! [“high performance in marginal surf , 70s style”]
Next to Cheyne…I think Dane was one of the most under rated surfers in the sport. One of the fastest surfers I have ever seen. I thought he surfed twinnies better than M.R. and in bigger surf.
Looking at that picture of Dane I think what makes a high performance surfboard is big thigh muscles. Damn! That means all my boards are low performance!
