LB spot on with his assessment, this is my early 80's single
LB spot on with his assessment, this is my early 80's single
Those boards look pretty classic cool.
yes he could BUT he lost out titles and contests on the single when everybody else was on a thruster. the point being, for an all around board, your are probably better off with a thruster and I would argue a 'fatter' thruster as opposed to a chippy performance board. for fun/different factor to add a quiver, a single fin could be interesting.Originally Posted by MFitz73
Almost ashamed to say after 20+ yrs I've never really experimented with a single fin aside from an ocassional longboard session. After reading your post I might have to try it. My surfing is definately geared more toward the single fin style. After watching guys with different styles ride them they look like a good addition to anyone's quiver.
I have a 6'4" single fin that just sits in the basement. When I first rode it, I hated it. I loved how it paddled into waves but just couldn't turn it. After a while I learned that you really need to ride it different than you would ride a HP shortboard. I eventually grew to like it and had some super fun days on it, but once I went to a new quad, it just doesn't interest me anymore. It taught me a lot about riding something that was loose, but I'm over it.
As for my longboard, single fin is the way to go.
I actually LEARNED to surf on a Challenger Eastern singlefin. What a dog! Flat rocker, widepoint way forward, pinched rails, with a pintail. Even had that hole through the base of the fin for a bungie cord leash, that had a leather strap for you ankle that pinched the he!! out of you. UGH! I was a skinny little kid in 7th grade. Funny... a fresh bar of Zoggs brings me back to that board and those days every time.
I learned on a thruster in about '92 and I never did try new boards. I got locked into that potato chip mentality becuase that's what all the guys were riding back then. Man, it was a struggle to surf sometimes on those types of boards where I was living, and I had nowone mentoring me at the time to slap me in the face and make me try new boards and new styles of riding rail to rail instead of trying to bash the lip after three seconds and think you got a good ride. Of course that was before the internet and all of the modern designs being advertised. I'm just now experimenting with older style boards, interested in just about anything but a high performance board unless I have no choice. You still got that Challenger? Give it to the next kid you see riding a potato chip in waist high mush looking really confused.
Great answer. It depends completely on what kind of surfing you want to do. I have no desire to replicate modern performance surfing. I want smooth rides and long turns etc. I have a Channel Islands Single Fin G2 that I am absolutely in love with. I will say, though, that it's picky. You need good waves. I have only used it in NJ, which is a damn shame and am dying to get the thing onto an airplane to find it the waves it really needs.
if anybody has seen the movie thicker than water, the green board part is insane. it was on a single fin with a super flexy fin. that was one of my favorite parts in that movie. you can rip single fins if you can get a proper one.
here's the part.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUHHGlL2umk
Sounds familiar...one o the boards I learned on was a 70's California Company with a crazy tie died looking resin tint. Same thing thiugh, little rocker, wide point forward and a bungee leash. Except mine attached to a rusty screw eye that someone drove right into the bottom of the board then put resin on it. Found that gem at a barn sale in PA for $25 bucks. It had the old Lavalette surfboard registration stickers on it.
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