2 New Customs finished for Spencer and Eric

Great looking boards!
nice job on the gloss! that is so much work!

Really dig'n that shorty

 

Super nice work!

 

Nothing but sweet there!!! Love the glassed ins and the way pulled in tail on the simmons and everyone needs a good groveler

 

interesting pulled tail on the simmons. what was the reasoning behind that rather than leaving it wide?

 

The boards look great. I will say that what makes a Simmons a Simmons is that wide tail with the keels, fins or whatever set way out on the edge and a very parallel outline. Just like I never understood calling a wide short board a fish just because it had a swallow tail, I think calling any shorter board with a rounded nose a Simmons is not accurate. The wide tail of a Simmons forces the rider to learn control and ride it with style. Pulling in the tail to facilitate more of a short board style of surfing makes it a shortboard. I have ridden Simmons style boards for a long time and have strong opinions on them, lol.

 

nice looking boards...

 

I'd be interested in learning more about what Bob Simmons himself said about the shapes he made.

How many boards did he actually shape and what were typical rough dims and rocker?

I'm just guessing that by now, 10 times more "mini" versions of his boards have been shaped by hundreds of shapers, than Simmons actually shaped himself...is there any real connection in these boards to any shaping concept developed by Simmons?

I seem to recall hearing that he surfed the La Jolla reefs a lot. If so these places don't even really start to break at under chest-head high and have lots of power. Yet his wide tailed design is perceived as a small wave design by most, has to be modified or "modernized" just to ride in many east coast conditions.. most of which are still weaker than a smallish day in LJ.

Lots of questions...anyone know of a good write up? Did Kenvin ever write up his take on the theory? Did Hydrodynamica ever get released in a full length ?

I love the shape, have made two ones myself, but personally hate calling them Mini Simmons because it makes me feel like I'm relating my shape to something I know very little about

 

Sorry to hijack the thread by the way...your boards all look well made and I love the bottle tint. Its a classic.

 

Yeah Man, kinda in the middle of a bit of everything at the moment. I look foward to seeing your latest pics. Inspiring.

 

This is exactly what I love about these threads. Backyard soul, passion, query, and inspiration. The exchanges are amazing and priceless. Mitchell Im familiar with you from swaylocks and your input contributes greatly.

 

Your boards are looking nice A2Tall. I had the same question about the pulled in tail when I saw them. What is the width at the tail block?

@Mitchell
My understanding of Simmons boards are that they were planing hulls based on the book , Naval Architecture and Planing Hulls by Lindsay Lord from the 1940's. Bob Simmons boards were much longer than what is being made now (hence the mini in the name) more in the 8 - 10 foot range made for speed and trim for the LJ reefs and TJ Sloughs waves.

The resurgence was due to some guys (I will stay out of who was first, original etc) in the SD and la jolla area wanting to revisit his ideas in smaller platforms - more modern if you will. They built a few and the design was revisited, and updated smaller, increased turning ability to turn, make a movie, sell some boards hahah etc

There are a couple of key design attributes to them IMHO (tail block min of 10" across, single concave between the fins, keel type fins set way back and out on the rail) to achieve the speed/reduced drag Simmons was concerning himself with - he wasn't looking to do a bunch of turns.

An important point for planing hull is what is called aspect ratio (the following is taken from Swaylocks- submitted by Billywillgo)
Aspect ratio
1) "A" is simply the first step, and that is finding the middle point between the wide point and the nose.
2) After you find the middle point you take the distance from there to the tail to get a value for "B".
3) You then find the middle ground between the wide point "A" and the wide point of your tail to get the value for "C".
4) You then divide "C" into "B" to get the aspect ratio.
(you want between .3 and .5 , .4 is considered optimum for a planing hull)

Damn I have a diagram that does a good job illustrating it but I am having trouble loading it

Anyway now the initial ideas are being mixed with modern updates (quads, twinzers, wings to bring in the tails, vee with doubles through the tail) to create a little bit different rides, expand the envelope etc. John Cherry does some beautiful bigger ones (Simm 21) with some awesome wooden fins.

BTW Mitchell saw some of your ES pics - looks like you guys scored down there!

Good thread
Jim




 

ok. i was just curious. i have a 5'8" bing puck that's very fun...it's less a true mini-simmons & more a step or 2 down (or up or sideways) the evolutionary ladder from a simmons...quad set up, hull/belly roll forward to a flat, almost concave, area from the mid-point back through the fins. VERY side arc tail. i don't think it's particularly hard to control until the surf gets a bit steeper/more powerful. then it's almost TOO fast, if that makes any sense. i have found that w/ the quad set up, all 4 fins being of almost equal size makes it all much more manageable. the puck is probably my current favorite board in my quiver. it's a great log alternative in small surf & blast in stomach-chest high waves, too.

 

also, to be a proper mini-simmons, it should be a shrunken down version of the board on the right in this picture: . i believe the hydrodynamica guys' boards started out that way, then the idea just evolved from there, merging w/ fish templates, shortboard templates, etc...until you wind up w/ something almost entirely, but not completely, unlike anything bob simmons ever imagined. i seem to recall reading an interview (or maybe it was in a film) w/ greg noll where he said that simmons' boards were pains in the ass to shape b/c there was just so much going on: step decks, rolled bottoms that transition into deep single concaves, not to mention the twin keels set way back on the tail. the things were decades ahead of their time!

 

Andrew -Making boards guys are stoked to ride is what it is all about, you seem to have that going no matter what model/type/genre gets hung on them. Keep posting the pictures.
Jim