i'm 5'9" 160 and i've got several fishes, but my go to twin fin is a 5'10" x 21" x 2 1/2" I shaped about 3 years ago... Love: it's crazy fast, holds in punchy waves, paddles/floats great in 5mm. winter rubber. Hate: not really a hate, but flat rockered twin keel fin fishes like this are kind of stiff and "tracky" for riding small summer lumps. These really aren't good grovel boards.
Mitchell, What's in that guitar case? Sorry I missed you the other day. I got 4 hours of perfect surf down here and was spent by 4pm.
no worries...yeah that was some fun sh!t Friday. Thats a cheap bass...drum set off to the right, got a strat too. wanna annoy my neighbors some time?
The only thing I don't like about fishes is that they don't work well in hollow/steep waves. This is due to their generally wide tails. The wave will lift the tail and cause you to nosedive almost everytime. It can also be very difficult to ride the tube because it is so hard to stall the tail.
agree 100% wide tails i can't do steep hollow drops,once i make the drop if i make it i'm ok but low-tide suckouts i suck-out.good surfers might not have that problem;i see photos/videos of guy ripping barrels on 'em,but i lose it off the bottom when i drop in.need a narrow tail for steep hollow low-tide dropping in
Here is a link to my old threadm reviewing the Quad Fish setup... http://www.swellinfo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9783&highlight=merrick+quad The only thing i really didn't try, which I see guys out doing all the time, is putting the larger quad fins on the back/tail slots, and keeping the shorter ones up front... I have been taking notice of a lot of guys doing that. I will give it a try on my new fish when I use it in the right conditions sometime.
exactly how small does a wave have to be for a fish to not be worth it? i want to buy a board for really mushy small waves but a longboard wont fit in my car.
There are a lot of things you can do to make a fish work better in better surf. I've been building and riding fishes for a very long time, and I'm a huge fan. Subtle changes in bottom contours and rocker can improve performance considerably. And don't believe everything you hear about "they don't go backside" either!
There are a lot of fishy boards out there that are fun in waves down to knee-thigh high....i just dont think a "retro" fish with keel fins is the board for that kind of mush. Twin pin tails and big keel fins pointed straight ahead mean fast and down the line to me... If you're mainly interested in a small wide board to skate around on 1-2 foot mush, if go more for a shape like this with a big wide nose and a wide square tail or diamond tail. not necessarily the ...Lost but just for example..
The ...Lost Plank has been "improved" and has evloved into the Uber Plank... which looks a lot more like a fish! It's still flat... wide... wide nose and tail... but the bottom and fin setup is totally different. I'd like to give one a go.
Theres some great feedback in this thread thanks for everyones input! Zippy - All those boards look sick, thats the perfect way to experiment by shaping them yourself and trying out creative shapes like that. I give you props on that, when Im done renting and get a house with a garage or little shed I cant wait to start shaping boards for myself. Zach - I remember that thread now that you mention it, Im gonna go back and read through it again to check out all your feedback. Thanks for digging it up. Im torn now. I found a 5'6" CI Biscuit for a good price which was my original plan for my next board and now I cant decide between that or the 5'6" quad fish I found. Ive got a lot of board reviews to go over in the next few days haha...
Have you thought about maybe a Fiscuit? I plan on getting one of them next cause I love my retro but I want something that will handle a steeper drop but still forgiving in paddling and maneuvering
i've been fighting off the taunts of a 5'8" fishcuit at the shop since the beginning of last summer. i have a negative history w/ quads, & that's pretty much the only thing stopping me from grabbing that board. unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the view you take) i think i may have found a solution to my quad lameness...so i may be picking up a fishcuit sooner rather than later.
yeah there is a 5'8 and a 5'11 Wynn fiscuit at Woodys right now and havent decide which one I want yet . I like Quads they fit my glide and groove style so I tend to never ride a thruster.
I broke under pressure! I'm having a custom fish made. Selling off some toys I don't or didn't use! That being said..... For Sale Brand New Arbor Blunt Longboard (09 model) $159.99, going up on ebay tomorrow.
Zippy, how hard is it to glass on the fins , i been shaping my own boards and just use the fcs fin plugs
Glass ons are easy just kinda messy. They require a bunch of sanding when done well even more if your sloppy like me. My glass ons are rock solid and I have only had one fin break off. That was a fin that I layed the glass cloth that goes over the rope only a 3rd of the way up the fin. My last few boards had futures boxes because I got lazy and didn't want to deal with the all the mess. When I make a board I want to look special I do glass ons.
Heres another vote for RNF I ride a tommy more RNF its a 5 fin set up and i love it with regular medium sized front fins and a small trailer. My favortie board, its 5'-5 x 19 1/4" x 2-3/8". ITs basically the same thing as the orignal RNF from ...lost. My favortie board chest high and under when i dont have 15lbs of rubber of on. Its definitly more a high performance fish, though, nowhere near the foil and width and thickness of a retro fish. If you looking for a groveler there are a ton of options out there now. Look at ...lost new grovel board models the Plank and Uber plank are so much fun, they turn as easy as a high performcane fish and paddle and catch waves like a mini longboard
I just thought I'd update this thread if anyone's interested. I ended up getting the quad fish, its 5'6" x 20 1/4" x 2 1/2". I got a chance to take it out this past weekend while I was down south in some glassy waist to chest A frames. They were real soft and just crumbling down the line nice and slow. My first impressions of the board: paddles awesome and catches waves easier than anything I've ever ridden which is just what I was looking for. Once you pop up this thing wants to go, I would basically pop up, immediately shoot out onto the shoulder and have to cut back to the white water. The board was perfect for the conditions, it could catch the mushy waves easily but would still generate some good speed. It definitely has a gas pedal underneath your front foot. I would tend to get hung up a little on some top turns due to the soft lips and where I would normally get stuck on a shortboard if I just put my weight on my front foot this thing would take off right back down the face. It seemed to handle going backside well too, I didn't have any problems at all on the few lefts I got. Anyway, I think the conditions were perfect for a fish and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I can't wait to give it a try in some punchier surf. Here's a couple pics:
my channel islands skinny fish is one of my favorite boards. you get easy wave catching, great speed and control as well as great turning and performance due to the skinny rails. im 6" 1' and ride it 5' 8"
