Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

beauty is in the eye...aus boards look and ride like fat standups. Hi trowt - That seems to contradict a (general) consensus that the 5'10-6'3' Australian-built, fins fwd designs are consisdered the SOTA at this time in KB design. Can you elaborate a little on the benefits to the San Diego style bo...

["[/quote] Makes me wish more of these shapers were more into the exporting biz.[/quote] Amen to that brother. I contacted D. Parkes but the price w/. shipping is just too high . Maybe in the future. I didn't hear back from Island; and, FP doesn't seem to have an e-mail address. Doesn't matter ...

Beeline - with apologies to the member that PM'd me the following recommendations for Parkes, Flashpoint and Island boards - strictly anonymous, however: "But if I try to not be biased, I would say that it all depends on your level of experience. If you often surf in heavy rips and need a board...

Thanks guys for all the great advice and recommendations. I'm going to look into a custom from a CA shaper that a member was kind enough to PM me with contact info. If that doesn't work out, my next option is a Freeline or a Cleary (if he is still shaping and if he does the Aus. fins fwd design - I ...

I dont know who would do that. Especially since finish shaping can muck the whole thing up. Rail foil in kneeboards(fins forward) is appreciably different than stand up boards. Set a standup shaper to finish shape the board without a model reference and it may be a dissapointment depending upon how...

Not sure if the Aussie guys use a shaping machine but have them send a CAD file to one of the their affiliates in the US to shape in machine and then to hand finish. I have had all the Aussie boards but I am partial to Flashpoint. Thats a great idea! I wonder who would be a US contact to receive th...

Dean Cleary seems to have retired from shaping. . Really, when? I read on his website a bit back that he is ramping down his shaping and only occasionally will shape a board for a friend or past customer. Did anyone hear otherwise? I gather that Cleary and Romo do not shape the new Australian desig...

I started experimenting with fins forward at Freeline in the mid-1980's. I'm very happy with John's shapes/fin placement, whether I'm riding my 6'0" x 23 1/2 5 fin pin or a 5'8" x 22 3/4" double wing swallow (front fins at 21"). Plus John always has quite a few KBs you can demo....

Just order from the Aussies That's probably the best advice - but how much does the shipping and customs/duties add to the price? Any distrubutors in the US? Best to just order direct from OZ? I kinda wanted to keep it somewhat reasonable dollar wise. Oh yeah - what swim fins do you guys use? Thank...

Paging Beeline / Red / Geeno / et. al. to the white courtesy phone Hi - Newbie here but after reading through lots of posts I am leaning toward the more modern, progressive (so they say) Australian fins forward style of kneeboard rather then the 20-30 yr old fins back San Diego fish designs. I see t...