they look like lots of fun for summer mush, so i've been checking them out - i went into a local surf shop (Hot Wax in Wilmington) to look for one and was surprised that the staff had absolutely no idea what i was talking about (staff: "no, we don't carry that brand"...me:"well, actually it's a shape"...staff: "huh?").
maybe I just went to the wrong shop or maybe the mini-Simmons is more of a West coast phenomenon? anyway, anybody own one? know any local shapers who have experience making them?
Well, the problem with the simmons inspired boards is that you see a lot of them around-BUT, majority of them do not have the design principles that need to be there to really make them work. There are some shapers in the area that make them, but if I were you, I would go directly to Greg Eavey. He has been doing displacement hull boards for a good while and he makes a good 'mini simmons.' He kind of blends the original designs with some catered to our waves a bit more. Talk to Greg though if you are really thinking about one. Here are a few cool links that make for good reading on these boards....
http://press.hydrodynamica.com/2008/tjsvol17no6/
Here is one about Bob Simmons. This one is really cool and gives some good history on Simmons:
http://files.legendarysurfers.com/su...nds/ls15.shtml
Last edited by respecttheocean; Oct 21, 2011 at 11:02 PM.
yup, i wondered about that...i know a couple of first-class shapers here, but i don't want to be the firstOriginally Posted by respecttheocean
person they make one for, with all due respect to their abilities.
your links are a little whacked, but that's ok coz i've seen most of that stuff on Bob Simmons - the original Surf Nerd :-) - great reads (in fact, that whole legendarysurfers.com site is fascinating - i'm a big Tom Blake fan, but that's a subject for another thread). anyway, thanks for the input - i'll check Greg out when i'm a little closer to making a decision.
here's another cool Bob Simmons link - video from an aerospace industry retrospective commemorating links between pioneer surfers and the aerospace industry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-JHA...layer_embedded
I will check out that link to the video. Thanks. Yeah, the legendarysurfers.com site is rad and interesting to read. The other site I was trying to post was http://hydrodynamica.com/. It's a good read as well.
In a nutshell, as written on hydrodynamica.com: "By looking into the origin and influence of Simmons’ 1940s surfboard designs, which he called ‘hydrodynamic planing hulls’, we discover a narrative thread that connects Western science, design, and popular culture to the centuries old finless planing boards of Hawaii and Oceana. Through Simmons, the compelling story of the Planing Totem, the ancient and deceptively simple root of modern board riding, is revealed."
wow, very nice - great link, thanks! funny that what is really old becomes new again, huh?
i've been interested in these boards for a while now myself. I really like the similarities they seem to share with a longboard and how they're surfed.
What design principles are different between the west coast and east coast? From everything i've heard about them they perform well in small sloppy waves. Maybe it's a semantics thing and the west coast folks don't know the east coast definition of "small sloppy waves".
The original design caters to more of a long point break style wave where you can really utilize the flow and the feel of the board. Our waves require quicker direction changes and usually break faster than that style of wave. The extreme shortness of the boards you see people riding are what makes them better adaptable to our type of surf, along with changes local shapers are doing to the bottoms. There is a lot of info out there on these boards, what they evolved from, and the different things shapers are doing with them. Liddle has some good info on his site as well: http://www.liddlesurfboards.com/intro.html .
What I was saying is that there is more to these boards than just cutting the shape out and calling it a 'mini simmons.' I just happen to like what Eavey is doing with them.
Last edited by respecttheocean; Oct 22, 2011 at 03:14 PM.
yup, this is not California!
Yes they are really better for lined up waves and tend to spin, slide and otherwise bounce around in chop, wind and sectioning surf. The simmons is basically the front end of a long board with unique bottom contours, fins and rails. The shape alone does not make the board perform the way most people talk about them. Same thing holds true for the Alaia. Great fun for small peeling waves but a mess in our local type surf 99% of the time. Get a fish, Biscuit, Dumpster Diver type shortboard and you will have the most fun round here.
Reading the responses to the OP I am wondering if anyone has actually ridden a MS? The responses seem more from an analytical/academic POV than a experience perspective? Who has actually ridden one and who shaped it? What was your impression of it?
JN
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