Dimple Bottoms ???

[pridmore]

anybody ridden one or seen one ? cant find any images on net, keen to hear your thoughts, reckon its worth a play around with myself....

[davee]

The Willis brothers in Haleiwa Ohau used to make dimple bottom boards, but that was longer ago than I care to remember....late 80's - early 90's.
Theory was that they held air pockets under the board reducing friction, hence greater speed.
Problem with the one I had was it was glassed with 4 oz and didnt see the season out.
Snapped it at 9th hole Kahuku. Big swim back and lucky to make it to shore.........

[munch]

I think lic was dabbling in the dimple bottoms a while ago, best youse ask him me thinks

[oldman]

G'day Mark,

There's a guy who has a little surf shop in Bronte called Point Break surfing company.

He's a nice bloke, helpful as anything, and he has a batch of dimple bottom boards and has for at least 5 years, maybe 10 (as long as I have been aware of him). Look great and he also has great graphics drawn on the boards (so they must be good!!!)

Never had a go myself, but he swears by them.

Don't know if he has a website.

His name is Woody and his phone number is Sydney (02) 9360 4194 or maybe 9369 3966. Sorry, I have two numbers for him and not sure which one is current.

I also have an email address of [email protected], but I've never contacted him on that address so I can only give you what I have on his business card.

google Point Break Surfing Co and you will find he has a bunch on things selling on ebay. Don't let the guitars for sale put you off, he is a fair dinkum surfer, definitely one of a kind.

[pridmore]

thanks oldman, will check it out.... I had a mate who's older bro came back from hawaii with a willis brothers dimple bottom and he swore by it. He rode it all the time even at 3 ft sunny coast and it was close to 7ft, it always interested me and I always thought I would shape one....so doing a bit of research and mite have a crack soon...Just got too many diff shapes on the go ATM with the Swinger, 6 finner so might research for a while....although I am doin myself a board tomorrow....

[channels]

A label called Stone (I think) which was based in Geraldton, other side of the country to you Pridmore I know, used to do them in the late 80's and early 90's. Had a go but they didn't seem much different performance wise to me from my hazy memory back then. This was also when boards were fairly wide flat and thick and before Slater, Herring et al cut down on volume so maybe with a modern rocker template the performance may be different.

[pridmore]

thanks alot guys for the info...anyone got any pics ? I am trying to see where they positioned them, I have a fair idea but would be good to see a pic....cant find anything on the net...will look again later coz its probably out there somewhere.....

[channels]

Positioning on the one I rode were starting at the entry point and covered a foot to a foot and a half with maybe eight to ten dimples. Eaxh one was maybe 10cms in diameter and about 1.5 to 2cms in depth. As said before this was 15 years ago I last saw one so allow for my memory lapses in your designs.

[silvynn]

Back in '89 when I was a snotty grom I had a Pipedream Jet bottom. Looked real flash, and I convinced myself it went faster than other boards, but in reality it was a dog and was real hard to turn. A mate had a PD dimple bottom. Dimples started about half way down the board and stopped between the front fins. Rode it a couple of times, I thought it went alright, certainly better than the jet bottom.

I would hate to have been be the poor glasser/sander working on those boards back then.

[ric_vidal]

I think lic was dabbling in the dimple bottoms a while ago, best youse ask him me thinks

Yep, had Sean Wilde do a mal (9'+) for a mate based on a design we did (before I started shaping). And before NC chimes in about credit where credit is due, I am not claiming to be the originator of diamond bottoms, but where our designs come from is beyond most people’s belief system. As Davee said and I think NC mentioned once before, they originated in Hawai’i so if Davee says Willis Bros so be it. Nothing in the encyc. of surfing.

Big diamond shaped pattern of oval dimples, see if I can drag up the design... nup, thrown. The board still exists but is battered, bruised and got almost completely snapped at Lohis. Think it resides in a shed somewhere.

I rode it a few times and it turned extremely easily which was the purpose as the guy who it was intended is tall and bit of a back problem.

They were positioned in a diamond pattern under where he stood when he first got up. About 110 mm long x 80 mm wide per oval and they were meant to be deeper at the back than the front but not sure that that happened. Relatively shallow (10mm). Think there was about 10 of them in the shape, maybe laid out over a length of 700 mm. Pretty vague but it was 7 odd years ago.

Theory, dimples give lift (same as concave) and hence their use on golf balls. This just concentrated it to an area.

Sorry Mark I am guessing at a lot of this. Will see if I can get my hands on it.

[channels]

Memory is coming back now.... the design was called phaser bottoms..

Search for phaser bottoms on the swaylocks design forum for more info..

Not quite a phaser but this is a glassers nightmare http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000223.html

[ric_vidal]

Not quite a phaser but this is a glassers nightmare http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000223.html

Jeeeezus and I thought I struggled with some pesky deck channels yesterday?

[oldman]

They were positioned in a diamond pattern under where he stood when he first got up. About 110 mm long x 80 mm wide per oval and they were meant to be deeper at the back than the front but not sure that that happened. Relatively shallow (10mm). Think there was about 10 of them in the shape, maybe laid out over a length of 700 mm.

Pretty much describes the patterns and depths the fellow at Point Break was riding. They were shallow dimples as Ric says, I can't recall his being deeper at the back but may have been. I'll try to get over to his shop later in the week and post some photos.

[clinker]

Back in '89 when I was a snotty grom I had a Pipedream Jet bottom. Looked real flash, and I convinced myself it went faster than other boards, but in reality it was a dog and was real hard to turn. A mate had a PD dimple bottom. Dimples started about half way down the board and stopped between the front fins. Rode it a couple of times, I thought it went alright, certainly better than the jet bottom.

I would hate to have been be the poor glasser/sander working on those boards back then.

It might have been shaped by Earl Pedersen, the "something or other "Jet Bottom.( I can"t recall the actual name.)
I think the glassing and sanding issues may have been some of the reasons the design
did not experience widespread popularity.

[bohdidontsurf]

Not quite a phaser but this is a glassers nightmare http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000223.html

Jeeeezus and I thought I struggled with some pesky deck channels yesterday?

Why you doing deck channels? I have them on my Stretch boards. Who is shaping boards with deck channels?

[diggerdickson]

I remember dimple bottoms, always thought that they came out from america, Im sure I saw a photo in a mag and a article about them and danny kwock was riding them at the time ( hey showing my age now ). Cant remember who was shaping them and I might be totally wrong but that was a long time ago and I alwys wondered if they were a gimick, and yes, the article did point to the idea that it came from a golf ball and the way it would gain natual lift and move faster along the wave by capturing natural air pockets sort of like what happens with downhill speed snow skiing.

[ric_vidal]

Not quite a phaser but this is a glassers nightmare http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000223.html

Jeeeezus and I thought I struggled with some pesky deck channels yesterday?

Why you doing deck channels? I have them on my Stretch boards. Who is shaping boards with deck channels?

Just for reinforcement, Bohds - think corrugated roofing. I mean theoretically without a stringer the board will wash off any pressure over the entire length of the board as opposed to concentrating at the weakest point of a strung one. Least that’s what I have read.

Funnily enough just creased a board with internal carbon reinforcement only, but it happened just at the point on the deck where a 3/4 glass skirt finished, despite the fact it was a curved cut. Concentration of energy at a weaker spot me thinks.

Stringer-less blanks are like a noodle and obviously lighter and more flexi even when glassed. Had this shaped without the channels then thought in the wee hours it might not be a bad idea for insurance. The channels are ‘Stretch’ inspired, the shape Tiger inspired as mentioned in the ‘what is alternative ???’ thread.

Has been an interesting exercise and hope the ride matches.

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[pridmore]

awesome Rv, I have done 2 assymetricals for myself, both were rounded square on my backhand and rounded pin on my forehand, my 2 preferred tail shapes for front or backside at the time and it went great for me. Very different for the times ( early to mid 90's ) , they were very wide and flat but still quite a bit of concave ( as did most things at the time ), something I probably would have done more of except they were not easy to sell after I was finished with them and when you need to sell one to afford the materials for the next then these things come into play and you have to sacrifice creativity for consideration of resaleability unfortunately ( did that make sense ??? ) I have also done a few stringerless boards and quite like the flex and found that when the waves were good and had push, they work well but if you are jumping all over the place as you do in small gutless waves when trying to generate speed they dont perform as well ( just my opinion ). I had one very special ( almost magic ) stringerless 6'3 that was an Aloha copy and we put cloth that had the 6 carbon stringers in the weave on it top and bottom as well as crossed over pieces for front and back foot patches and that reduced the flex just a tiny bit and it was a great board, might be something in that, not sure, maybe with epoxy would have been good coz the carbon works better with epoxy ( or so I have been told, RV will tell me otherwise ), great to see some creativity back on the forums, it was a little dull for a while...