Fishies, Twinnies, Mini Sims, and Grovelers

Joe, you are surfing Rhode Island, you know Dave Levy makes these types of boards. You posted the picture! Have you seen his personal board of choice? That big wide fish he surfs?

I surfed that same cobblestone spot the last two weekends, in the pre-Joaquin swell on asymmetric fish and last weekend on a vintage 1971 G&S water skate. The water skate is wide and flat and a single fin, like people said, you have to let it flow.

You have a lot of choices for sources for these boards. G&S still make the water skate, for example. Probably a better board now than the old plank I have. Lost makes a ton of them. Matt Kechele makes some.

 

It definitley takes a bit to go from that hp shortboard technique to classic low rocker shape.

Joe, you follow me on IG, That yellow and grey five fin I have is a good in between grovel to get your technique right. I just happened to luck into it first time. Now that I have it I realize alot of these simmons would be to tight for my surfing/enjoyment

Low rockered straight rail boards draw out turns, and depending on your preference could draw out too much and cause for a frustrating session. My advice is demo a variety of different rail lines with flatter rocker and see what works for you best, then go to a shaper and get something drawn up with notes youve taken.

 

Out of all board designs, I've found the fish to be best suited to my style, for exactly the same reasons that have been stated here already. They let you surf with speed and power... flow and style. They're more versatile than you might think. Unless you ride them all the time in all kinds of conditions, you really haven't fully explored their full range of performance. I starting riding fishes back in the late 70's, but went to the thruster exclusively during the late 80's.

Then about 15 years ago I went back to the fish, but... knowing their limitations... starting playing around with the design to open up the performance envelope. After several generations of design tweaks, I settled on what I'm riding now, which still uses the short, full volumed approach, with down rails, twin keels, and deep fish tail.

The key differences are in the bottom and the materials... Deep single to shallow double concave, some panel vee in the entry, and the keels are single foiled and slightly toed and canted. I've also gone to eps/epoxy, and the results are amazing. They're much more responsive than the old school fishes of the '70s, and work in bigger, better, hollower surf than the original designs. They don't spin out as easily, which means you can bury the rail and add some power to those big, looping, open face turns fish are known for.

As for transitioning back to a hpsb, the fact that you're surfing with such speed and flow actually HELPS you surf a shortboard better. This last tropical swell is a great example. I had been surfing nothing but the fish for months, then on the first clean(ish) day, with overhead peaks and spitting tubes, I grabbed my shortboard and it didn't take a single wave to get the feel back. No transition trouble at all.

 

This is prior to sanding.

 

You break it down nice. Having grown up riding twin fin fishes in the mid to late 70s on everything from waist to DOH, and now riding a fish with eps/epoxy construction and modern bottom contours, the fishes of today are way more easy to surf in all conditions than the old school fishes. And as far as transitioning to a hpsb in good surf, that has never been a problem for me. Like LBCrew said, it helps my style and makes the short board easier to ride.

 

Been building these for 3+years.
Shipped a few of these to the East Coast this year.
Hitchcock Model.
One of my best selling small wave designs.
This is my"anti-simmons model".
Most Simmons style boards just plain don't turn.
Great for just going down the line.
But at some point, you want to turn.
This board does.
Shorter outline fits well in wave.
Catches waves with ease.
Diamond Tail shortens rail-line.
Med rocker.
Pretty complex bottom. Flat to mild center Concave
to deep Double Concave inside a heavy Vee off the tail. (Spiral-Vee) This helps this board go on rail.
Bottom also features a fairly wide Beveled rail. This helps board turn and also thins rail thickness.
Thin boxy rails.
Very thin tail for a sensitive feel.
Wide point @ centre.
Average length is 5'4".

 

I dig that "Stretch"-esque squared off nose!

 

As an "old timer"....I cannot get used to the square nose!! Lord knows I am trying, but I can't!! I just can't!!

 

Another old timer here...the squared off nose kind of suddenly made sense to me a few years ago trying to shape a board that would have all of the paddle power and glide for gutless summer waves, but without the extra length/swing weight that mostly hampers turns on soft 1-3 foot waves. The way I look at it, squaring off the nose easily turns a 5'6" - 5'8" into a 5'2" and that front few inches of the board wasn't doing anything anyway in mushy surf.

 

Yeah, ok. But I need the pointed nose to tell me which direction I am going.....

 

The other surfers on more pointy nosed boards that you are catching up to and passing will indicate your forward vector just fine!

 

Fish

Simms

Grov/Fish

Groveler

Alternative

http://barrysnyderdesigns.com