Long Fish...should I pull the trigger?

Never ridin one but it looks awesome for small summer days

 

Whoa, I'm sure that's fun just like every board is capable of being fun but I don't understand the purpose of it. You could just ride a mini mal for the same ride? Maybe I'm not getting it, what would that do that a short long board wouldn't?

 

You're getting it, brother... there's really no need to have a "fish" that long. It un-does everything a fish is supposed to do. It's long... it's a thruster... it's got a hip... it's got a bonzer type bottom. Take the fish tail off it and you've got a beautifully resin tinted version of a funboard.

Nothing wrong with it... if you're into funboards.

 

A good fish should ride like a skateboard, real loose. That board does not look like it will do that - too narrow. A big fish IMO is 6' to 6"8 and real wide, with a swallow tail of course. Maybe 2.6" to 3" thick with tail rocker and a big flat spot for speed on mushy waves. Give it more tail rocker and nose rocker and you get a rocket fish, good for steeper bowly sections as well as mushburgers. The best shape for typical east coast random beachbreak.

 

Looks cool, probably a fun ride, but like others have said, it kinda has too much going on to have much of an identity. I would take it for a spin for sure though.

 

But you could still catch every wave if you cut 2 feet off and it would be way more maneuverable wouldn't it? Just don't get the length and that stretched out profile for small waves. If you had said, "I want this board for those days in late august when the groundswells start coming" I might understand it a little more. Either way, a board and the fun you will have on it is as much up to the rider as it is to the equipment. I'm sure if your head is there you will enjoy it.

 

That is a very nice shape, no doubt about it...but I'm with LBCrew on this one. A *real* fish should be ridden shorter (under 6 feet) or it loses the distinctly "fishy" characteristics. 5'6" to 5'10" is a more typical fish dimension.

That being said, some of the best fish shapers in the world like Pavel, Lis and Frye are making the same shapes like the Josh Hall pictured above. If guys like that are making fishes that large, who the fark am I to say what is "best"?

Personally, I don't care if you ride a LB, short board, kneeboard or a sponge. If you ride it well and it brings a smile to your face, then just ride it. The best surfer in the water is the guy having the most fun.

P.S.---that glassed-on leash holder is "soul".

 

You must be an enormous dude to even think about riding that monster fish. You would have to be real heavy and have to stand directly over the inside rail to hold it down on a hard bottom turn. Why the thruster set up on a big trim style board? Highly doubt that it will be ridden hard top to bottom off the tail like a thruster. If you are a 280lb. guy and you have to have a godzilla fish I would suggest getting glassed on twin keels aimed real close to parallel and lose the hip in the outline to benefit trim speed. I can't help but think where that beast wants to be is high trim on clean surf with drawn out turns, very limited to down the line soft carves. IMHO. Why don't you post pictures of the side view? Concrete floors with swallow tail surfboards perched on them make my butt pucker. Please be nice to that girl, get her a soft place to rest.

 

I ride a Mark Richards Flyin' Fish at 7'6". Its a beast and can glide on those summer ankle biters. I kind of wish it were one of the 6'6" but it was my first board so I went bigger to make it a little easier on me.

 

I got stuck renting a 7s superfish xl in la jolla once, I think it was a 7'4 or something. Surprisingly fun on lined up chest high surf, but, what isn't?

 

not sure??

try before buy.
go ahead smear it w/wax...

 

Why are people calling $hit like this "simmons" does anyone even know what's up with the og simmons model? They're short (5'-6') twin fins. NOT thrusters, and definitely NOT greater than 6'. if you're going to ride a fish that tall, it oughta be a twinnie to still kick the tail when desired. that board could be fun but you've got all the wrong titles on it. I think the one dude nailed it in calling it a very nicely glassed fun board. and nothing more. It's cool . . . if you're into fun boards.

 

The original simmons were 9'6" to 10ft + & made in the 50's by Bob Simmons. Everything now of days using the name simmons refers to boards that have design traits that can be traced back to Bob's original board. The Mini Simmons of today take the design pricinples of bob's work & apply it to a smaller version. The first mini shaped by Joe Bauguss for Richard Kenvin is a true mini simmons taking most of its elements from Bob's early boards. You can have a simmons influenced board of any length does have to be short.

This board was designed to trim & be turned off the tail. Ideal conditions for a board like this to excel would be stomach high & above and on a nice point break where it could be ridden off the tail. Riding it in 2ft surf wouldn't do this board any justice. Guys like Joel Tudor or Devon Howard have plenty of midlengths in their quiver & they are designed to be ridden in certain conditions only, similar to this board. If that what you are looking for then go for it.

 

This would be a do not buy in my opinion. There are way too many other crafts that would be just as much or more fun on the type of days you are planning to use this. It looks a little gimmicky for my taste. But if you were drawing some nice long lines on a 8-10 foot face, this might be the magic stick. You would need some weight to get the nice fishy leaned back turns on this bad boy. Plus I'm not too into resin tints, they look weird and heavier(though they are not heavier) to me.

 

Preach! This is true. We're only focusing on a small part of Simmons' work lately but his main ideas were planing hulls, concave, relatively flat profile, squared off tail and twin fins set on or near the tail. There's an article from a '94 Surfer's Journal called The Enigma of Simmons. I've got a pdf but I can't remember where I found it.

The only comparable features this board has to a Simmons is the full concave.

 

I think you're confusing the simmons with a true fish. In which theres a few schools of thought, i however stick to the Lis Fish as being the standard as do most fish enthusiasts. The dims of the Lis are pretty strict at under 6', no less than 21" wide, a tail of at least 11" at the points, and the swallow cut being at least 5" deep.

The idea behind the larger fishes is they are taking the proportions of the smaller fishes and applying them to the larger models with the appropriate adjustments.