Single fin shortboards

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Natho
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Natho » Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:26 pm

Kayu when you say singles have more glide it may be more to do with the singles you are riding having flatter rocker, more volume, more width or all of the above compared to the thrusters you have ridden. Having more glide does not have as much to do with the number of fins a board has. And if you think about it a big single fin at the back can in fact add drag.

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steve shearer
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by steve shearer » Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:39 pm

I've seen a lot of single-fin surfing that to my eyes just looks so much more pleasing than alot of the hunched over monkey-pumping that thruster surfing can sometimes engender, even amongst the top pros.

There's a bloke who lives here, lifelong pointbreak surfer, who broke his neck in a work accident and after a long haul out of the water he came back to the Point on a Chris Brock sawn-off single-fin board in the 8foot range. Soft rolled forwards rails with a tucked edge from half way and Brocky's beautiful tri-plane hull which was copied to such devastating commercial effect by Al Merrick.

This bloke gets in early and draws such a pleasing high trim line cutting the wave in half and allowing him the option of a set-up cut-down turn or further speed lines.
His specialty is running the board along the base of a bowling section, allowing the natural curvature and uplift to draw the board up the face whilst in full speed trim then gently weighting the inside rail to draw a line through the barrel. it's an incredibly simple piece of weighting and unweighting in which edge control is paramount the fin supplies the minimum of directional bias.
Very pretty to watch and so much more in tune than some hyped out Gold Coast rooster on an underpowered DHD pumping and bogging.

Singles have the purity of line due to no side fin drag. Pretty simple. If the wave supplies ample down the line speed then they can be a thing of beauty.
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Nick Carroll
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Nick Carroll » Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:45 pm

buzzy wrote:Nick Carroll, my memory might be failing me but I distinctly recall you writing an article for one of the surf mags in the early 80's, probably Tracks, and your thesis was to do proper turns you needed to train on a single fin, and then move on to a thruster. You, my friend, are responsible for me getting a ridiculous G&S Stinger single fin, which was way too big for me and taught me absolutely zero about surfing.

Apropos of not much.
Well I like you have grown a bit since then in my comprehension of surfing technique.

Here's the thing with singlies: they tend to turn off one drag point. It simplifies some things about surfing and complicates others.

Simplified is placement; you really have little choice on a singly but to place your turns so they put you into a position to gain speed. To me this is the value of singlies when incorporated into a surfing diet, they make you bring everything back to what works at a basic level.

Complicated is the multi-fin rider's imagination. You just can't make a single fin go to the same places at the same pace as a multi-fin of any kind really. So the turns you imagine you'd like to do suddenly aren't as available. All the pacing of those turns is changed. This can be pretty frustrating once you move past the initial buzz of making a singly work despite itself.

I think what kayu means by "glide" is a sense of the board moving without much assistance from the rider; thruster technique and turn pacing does appear to demand more effort from the rider, until he/she masters timing, in which case it gets way fcuken easier. (see Parko et al.)

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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by buzzy » Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:55 am

Sadly I haven't learned much about surfing notwithstanding decades of application. But it was interesting to read your article on the passing of your surfing obsession. My obsession first ended in my early twenties (which was pretty common then) and later reactivated as I hit my early 30's. No doubt a lot of my applied learning would have happened in those missing years.

Definitely with singles I find you need to use the power source of the wave - you can't manufacture speed extraneous to the wave itself by pumping the board as you can with a thruster. And I definitely find they go faster in a straight line.

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kayu
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by kayu » Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:09 pm

Natho wrote:Kayu when you say singles have more glide it may be more to do with the singles you are riding having flatter rocker, more volume, more width or all of the above compared to the thrusters you have ridden. Having more glide does not have as much to do with the number of fins a board has. And if you think about it a big single fin at the back can in fact add drag.
I don't totally agree with that Natho. A single fin is in a neutrally transverse position...no cant...no toe-in. The drag produced from a properly foiled single will help you more than hinder you. Pre-thruster surfing was just as dynamic...not better or worse , just a different way....somethings been lost and somethings been gained......toe-in has always been a trade-off between speed and the need for tighter arc surfing IMO.....I didn't try to adapt to thrusters , because I was happy with what I already had.

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Moore
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Moore » Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:40 pm

Had some great singlefin shortboards over the last ten years and the one thing that they all had in common was a good combo of single concave into double/spiral vee out the back.

For me, the forward or centre widepoint is still an important feature, too.

Had a McCoy Nugget single fin shortie, a 6'0" custom, and just could not get it to work in the way I wanted at all. Can't put my finger on it, but the overall feeling could best be described as 'counterintuitive'. I'm not convincd about the Loaded Dome and round rails.... Deep concaves and releasing rails up through the tail are the go IMO :)

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Topher
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Topher » Sun Jun 24, 2012 5:07 pm

I got a 6'6 x 18 3/4 x 2 3/4 singly shaped by Russel Head for sale. Pretty good nick. 150 gold coins. Mad board, loves the tube. It's red ....so it goes faster.

I'm going to get JD to make me a single if I can raise enough capital. :D :D

Beanpole
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Beanpole » Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:06 pm

Nick Carroll wrote:

I think what kayu means by "glide" is a sense of the board moving without much assistance from the rider; thruster technique and turn pacing does appear to demand more effort from the rider, until he/she masters timing, in which case it gets way fcuken easier. (see Parko et al.)
Yeah, I reckon if I surfed like Parko I'd ride a high performance thruster too. :D
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kayu
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by kayu » Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:55 pm

Beanpole wrote:
Nick Carroll wrote:

I think what kayu means by "glide" is a sense of the board moving without much assistance from the rider; thruster technique and turn pacing does appear to demand more effort from the rider, until he/she masters timing, in which case it gets way fcuken easier. (see Parko et al.)
Yeah, I reckon if I surfed like Parko I'd ride a high performance thruster too. :D
Me too Beanpole......but if I surfed like Michael Peterson , I'd be happy with a single.... :shock:

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Topher
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Topher » Tue Jul 03, 2012 4:22 pm

Heres my two single fin shortys in happier days (the yellow HB is all broked now :( ) The red 6'6 is the one for sale.

Image

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Topher
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Topher » Wed Jul 04, 2012 7:48 pm

Had requests for another piccy or two........ I only had this a few months, but it's heaps of fun.

Image

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Moore
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Moore » Sat Jul 07, 2012 5:36 am


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Topher
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Topher » Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:57 am

Moore wrote:Nice clip here:

http://vimeo.com/44835316
Nice, thanks for that.

This DVD is cool. Mostly 70s style boards, not single fin shortys but worth a look.

http://vimeo.com/29077389
http://au.deuscustoms.com/gallery/tracking-trailer/

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Davros
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Davros » Sat Jul 07, 2012 11:02 am

This time the shaper on his own stuff Single in middle clip

Not a bad song to.

http://nealpurchasedesigns-france.com/index-uk.html

pridmore
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by pridmore » Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:41 am

Image
Image
a single fin, Fangtail, EPS-epoxy , 5'9" x 20 1/8" x 2 3/8"

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Cpt.Caveman
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:13 pm

Surfed it yet MP? Looks like the fang tail would have lots of release?
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Davros
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Davros » Mon Jul 09, 2012 3:18 pm

Does anyone have a clip on anyne surfing well on a McCoy from the last 20 years i.e. not Horan. Have never seen but interested to witness.

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Moore
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Re: Single fin shortboards

Post by Moore » Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:56 pm

There's a clip or two of Herro on the McCoy site.

Think he pops a little frontside air on a Starfinned single in one clip, but other than that, I've not seen anything much else apart from Cheyne....

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