I notice most shapers now go with the continuous or rounded templates without a break in the outline.This seems to be standard on todays shortboards.On a recent trip I took a group of South Africans I met all had wings on their boards.They all swore by them.Whats the difference in relation to eachother and why don’t we see wings or hips in modern shotboards here in the U.S.? By the way I like a 14" tail cuz I have a 13" foot and I like the drive off my back foot.Could a wing in the tail work better for me? Thanks!
Wings are a design element that allows the shaper to keep a fuller outline forward and reduce tail volume quickly. They are often, but not always, used in conjuction with swallow tails. Which are also a method of reducing tail volume with fuller outlines. Quite often these types of shapes work best in quick, steep waves where quick acceleration and decelleration are needed.
I disagree that hips and wings are no longer used in the U.S. Channel Islands has hips and wingers on almost all of their shortboard outlines. Wings do seem outdated nowadays and I have also noticed alot of continuous outlines (like the Ratboy series and the Machado templates). I suppose it boils down to what you like. I personally don’t like a wide round outline on my shortboards, and I hate hips on my larger boards. From my personal experience, a board with hips will carve tight, snappy turns when you ride the tail but will trim straight and solid in the steep long sections by shifting your weight ahead of the hip to the straighter part of the outline. A rounded template likes to turn all the all the time if the board is short and wide. For a gun or semi-gun, a smooth template is the norm since you want to draw out your turns and track through barrell. Many semi-guns in my area are ridden from about 6-2 on up. Squash tails give the most surface area for a given tail width, and they generate a lot of accelleration when pumped at the expense of hold in big and hollow waves, but they work well for small waves. I think a round-pin is the most versatile tail outline for a thruster, whether it be a shortboard or a funshape. You can still pump for speed but they hold solid in heavy sections. I have a semigun with a round pin outline, but it has a very narrow squash at the tail and seems to carve much tighter arcs than previous boards of similar dimensions with pins. It’s got just the right amount of “snap” to work on waves up to about double-overhead with no tendancy to want to spin-out in the larger suckouts.
also, the wings and hips, bumps, are designed for have got a pivot point in the “turn area”.
For a big guy (220pounds) and 6 foot tall, would wings and swallow tail arrangement allow me to have a shorter wider board with more volume for paddling. I dont want to surf undervolumed boards but I am looking for improved turning / snapping etc.
Most now are “bumps”: very slight and subtle but still enough to make for all the benefits stated above. I like these for waves up to maybe double overhead, then a straight outline for a gun is all that is required.
l think that the reason for us not using them as much is because we have increased our tail rockers and they have a lot more curve under the back foot, so if you have to much curve or pivot in your outline and tail rocker you lose drive, so it is a matter of give and take when designing a board that will perform on a more allround basis. You can work the other way and have a flatter tail curve and more curve or pivot (flyers or bumps)in your outline, but if you have to much of both in the same formula you then have to make up for it in another area, maybe fins or fin positioning or deck bumps. What l call deck bumps are the top rail line of the deck in the back 1/3 of the board, you can add pivot points on that line and not change the clean outline. It is like hidden flyers and have the same effect because as you lay your board on rail the water flow line follows the top rail shape and you can dictate where you want it to pivot from. Yep l sure wish l could do some sketches on this site to explian things easier. Once again it does make a difference. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
how does your five fin ? what draw backs?? elaborate if you have a chance??
l was ridding 5 fins back not long after the 4 fins came out, because l was a twinfin fanatic when l first saw the 4fins l was on it and the first one l made l could’nt beleive how good it was, sooooo fast and drivier than a twin but they still had their problems with controling tail slide in sucky sections, first l played with trailer fins in a small box but what l found was that it didn’t contol it enough and you had to make the fin bigger and then it felt like a thruster so you were defeating the purpose, l then tried a keel and it worked exactly how l wanted it to, it still maintained the 4fin feel but because of the longer base and low height it controlled the slide , l was hooked, l beleive that they are the perfect combo of the thruster and twin(4)fin feel, the thing that l like with this concept is that you can break tracks with ease (like a twin or 4 fin)and you have the drive and length of turn that a thruster has. The one that is on my site with red fins l took back to the Maldives with me and beleive it to be the best short board that l have riden, l have another one that l’ve had for 7 years that l took there twice and a 6’7 aswell, l have’nt made them for other crew because the glassers and sanders hate them, these onesare all modern style and are more refined than my thrusters in shape because they have so much get up and go. l could keep going on but give it a go, and if you want some fin stats and positioning just ask. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
i was riding with a “single twin” configuration (rear fin bigger, smaller stabilizer fin behind) for about 5 or 6 years…and for a 6´3´´ minimun, is better in several ways to the thruster. 
sorry, this draw is not for here…
My wings are not so much about narrowing the area in the tail as bringing the back foot drive section of the tail further up the board so that it relates to the foot position better :- I learned to surf on single fins and have never been one to get my foot right back over the fin cluster as is best suited to thrusters. The sharp wings I use are intended to act as the point of a chopped squaretail does, but directly in line with the foot. This and a bigger back fin which is set further up than a standard thruster fin helps to make the board feel less like I am dragging the tail fin behind me in turns… http://www.speedneedle.com.au
Hey josh, good to see that you have worked out what works for you, thats what it is all about, l learnt on single fins too and then went to twin fins, it was good going to twin fins because it made you come back over your fins to surf them properly, if you want to become a backfoot surfer try making a laserzap style outline because they force you back onto the tail to be able to surf them, from there you can re-train yourself and your boards to surf on the back foot and then you have two styles of surfing, front foot and backfoot. Moving fins forward makes you surf further up the board and gets to a point that when you step back to jam a turn the fins are to far forward in the pivot and lose hold. Thats what l found anyway, its always good to compare mental notes about theories of reactions with someone else who has a different surfing style to yours, for me it gives me more understanding of what diffrent surfers feel, and it helps you more when taking a custom order. http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw