I met Joe in Brooklyn last July at an art opening and premier of Patrick Trefz' film "Thread"at the Mollusk NYC shop and we got to talking about quad fishes and the lack thereof in his quiver. He wanted a 5'6" with marine-ply CQCs, which would suit him better since he's accustomed to surfing a twin keel (see Thread and One California Day.)
The stringerless is a bit faster than my quad fish with a tapered stringer as they're shaped with a bit less tail rocker. Once you go into a big turn, the board flexes and twists, adding tail rocker and storing energy which is released coming out of turns. As you go down the line you can feel the board finding its own path of least resistance, with the fins and board flexing together. I glass them with 6+6 deck/6+6 bottom, as the extra weight is negligible relative to that feeling of flight.
More photos to come...
10.08.2007
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6 comments:
manny,
are hese eps blanks then?
the way they're finnished they look like poly...
Superfly TNT!
These are US Blanks poly...
Hello Mani,
Maybe is stupid to comparing with the flex in longboard skatboards, unlike most people, I prefer stiffer boards, because I like to use gravity and body weight/un-weight to generate propulsion.
I understand that 4 layers of 6OZ overlapped on rails will create some rigidity acting like a structure.
How much does it flex, and how much that interfere the ride?! It's something very noticeable or you just fell more liveness on the board.
On tapered string blanks I notice that I generate speed easier and i fell more liveness, I don’t know if this is due the flex, shape itself, or everything combined.
To finish, this shape caught my attention for his minimalist look and clean lines, no wings, no stringer… Very, very interesting!
Cheers
Flex is everything. Surfing a mat is an extremely fast way of finding your way down the line, as the mat is bending with the shape of the wave to find the path of least resistance, i.e. the fastest line on the wave.
The stringerless does a similar job as the mat, as it also flexes an twists. The extra glass on the rails adds some rigidity, but not as much as a stringer does. The board isn't floppy at all, and your foot placement acts as a fulcrum from which the flex is actuated.
There's a guy on Long Island who swears by his 5'5" stringerless, and if you see him in the water you might be able to see the benefits of the design...
Manny,
Love your shapes and have been checking them out for a while now! This fish looks insane and would like to have one shaped if possible to the same dimensions. How much are you backed up on customs? Will be out in SF around turkeyday maybe could meet up to chat?
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