Fish and minisimmons

Oh and as far as a fish goes, I love them. Great for smaller surf, but not as great for truely tiny surf in my opinion.

 

I got in the habit of bringing both my 5'7" beanbag and my 8' minimal with me when conditions are waist and below. I'll surf the smaller board for about two hours, and switch it up and longboard for the last hour or two.

 

That's dope Mitchell. Would like to get jiggy wit it, thems my kinda dims. Would work well at the harbor. I really want to shape a minisimmons. My Zamora zimmsimm was one of the best bards I've ever owned. What kind of fins are those and how wide are the nose and tail?

 

Thanks man...i rode it for the first time yesterday afternoon...loved it. It's gonna be in heavy rotation in mushy knee -waist high waves.

The nose (a foot back) is 17 1/2" - 18" wide. When it comes to nose width, i'm not holding back on these things. Not sure about tail.

Pkovo - agree that for TRULY gutless small surf, a very wide squared off tail rules. I've already got a couple of alt. boards for 1 foot waves, and they are for sure wider in the tail. This board (and i'm sure that Warner board above with the stepped in tail) are meant to be a bit more versatile and fun in a variety of small to small-medium sized waves.

 

Agreed... Keeping the nose wide does a lot of things, one of the most important (IMO) is that it keeps the rails parallel through the middle - super important in boards for small/weak waves.

 

From what I've seen shorter with more volume doesn't help Much in thigh knee high gutless surf. You need more surface area like a funboard. Check out some of the WRV shapes like their nugget. I've see guys on Simmons when I'm out in my shortboard and they having just as much problems as I'm having in small surf. Now get a performance funboard like 6'10 7 7'2 and you'll have a blast!

 

Minisimmons have been the best thing to happen to my surfing ever - I have never went faster and depending on the shape they can be incredibly loose. I have a 5'8", 6'2", and a 6'10" which is so much more fun to me than a longboard in knee to thigh high surf. I grew up shortboarding so i longboard really ugly - I truly appreciate someone who rides a longboard with grace and style - just not willing to invest the time. The minisimmons specifically vernors ( i have tried others and they just do not have the drive and looseness to me) allows me to ride micro waves and do some lateral turns quicker than on a longboard. so in my opinion as someone who rides a minisimmons 80% of the time and a tomo evo whenthe wave s are better - get one and enjoy the experience.

 

That board looks fun as he11. I imagine that tail (not sure exactly what to call it...reverse arc??) gives a bit of needed hold on the steeper or slightly bigger faces. That's where mine just falls flat. I have to seriously nurse my wide tail in a slow calculated bottom turn, or just cheat and take-off on an extreme angle. It can be amusing, but usually just makes me want to grab another board.

 

This is the one I was referring to as not looking like it has a great tailshape for really tiny gutless waves. On the flip side, I'm sure it's more versatile when the waves get bigger or juicier. I imagine that stepped down tail keeps it civil on bottom turns.

My disc normally comes with a tail kind of like this, two "wings" or whatever you call them. I had them just do the one further up instead, but still that stepped down tail makes the board have a much better upper range than it seems it should. That board was supposed to be my lower end board, and before losing weight, it was a solid daily driver up to shoulder high.

I could be way off too. I'm sure no expert when it comes to design.

 

No, your not.
And yes, you might be... you just don't know it. Your intuition is solid.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

I don't know why. Or how. I guess this is subjective to personal taste and opinion. But my mini has the type of tail you'd expect on a mini. Big wide square tail. I don't feel i have to nurse it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not surfing this thing super vertical or anything. And i do take off on a slight angle. But i don't find it limiting. Every time i ride it I'm surprised at some of the turns i can pull off on it. Before putting in the order i heard/read that to pull off a more "radical" torn you got to really step on the corners. I don't find that the case with mine.

Now i know what I'm doing on a board, but I'm no super shredder. Im your average Joe who's been surfing the majority of his life. I didn't shape the board but it makes me wonder why i can push mine harder than i expected.

Vee maybe? Mine also had a little flip in the first couple inches of the nose. Maybe this helps? I'd be more inclined to blame the vee. But regardless. I actually like my mini in bigger than its originally intended conditions. Chest high and not super steep but not fat either. It works in fat stuff. But the conditions i described are my favorite for that board

 

Exactly. Except maybe for the keel fins. At least not the deep keel fins one often associates with fish shapes. Small keels. The fins also tend to be more parallel to the stringer and close to the rail rather than toe-in like on a short board thruster.