Lis style fish kneeboard

lowrider · Post by **lowrider** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 12:53 pm

ok, thanks!
a young shaper, Dain Thomas, here in OZ has the Lis templates from
Lis's visit earlier this year.
He builds a lovely board.
Let you know how it goes...

W.G. Facenda · Post by **W.G. Facenda** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:29 pm

Yeah!! I heard Lis was there really going over his designs with him! He was in oz for a few months i guess. You should be more than happy, post a pic when it's done.

tomway · Post by **tomway** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 9:27 am

I've just made my first lis-style twin keel album_showpage.php?pic_id=4760
and I'm really really happy! I'd only surfed single-fins up to now, and though I'm not going to be throwing them away I don't reckon they're gonna see much action over the next few months. Its a revelation! How fast do these things go? It's hard to stay in the pocket sometimes... often when I sit back on the tail to try and slow down a bit, it just starts going faster.

Thanks to every one that contributed to this thread which was my main reference for shaping - especially to Bud for the detailed descriptions and Marky v for starting it off. I'd never seen a real lis-fish style kneeboard before and would've been lost without these posts.
Cheers!

Beeline2.0 · Post by **Beeline2.0** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 11:01 am

W.G. Facenda · Post by **W.G. Facenda** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 12:02 pm

On my Lis fish the real speed is kneeling 1/3 up and leaning forward and pressing on deck just forward of middle. Basically the classic fish style.They were designed for the lost art of speed surfing.

lowrider · Post by **lowrider** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 12:42 pm

This is timely!
I've had my new fish in the water twice (bumpy 3-4' point waves)
First impression was ' feels weird-too stiff-don't like it'
Yesterday, started feeling the possibilites...
I was going to post a question about how to ride these things!
From riding Friar Tuck / Flashpoint where I'm more upright ( I think !)
and pivotting; the fish felt better If I kept a low posture, put it on a rail and banked through turns

Being a mere slip of a board (5'6"); it duck-dives really well.
Thanks, john for the description; looking forward to some quality waves.
cheers,
Andy

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 12:46 pm

Jawa is the indonesian spelling for JAVA.
Some great waves just South of Jakarta.
Excellent area for "fish-ing" (pun intended)

Some very core kneeboard surfers live in that part of the world.

One of them pioneered surfing the Mentawai islands.

Imagine all those spots to yourself for over 10 years.

Dave Schiller , Lances Rights (15 yrs ago), photo by Bud McCray

He confessed to me once that his greatest regret in life was to divulge it's secrets, while drunk, to Martin Daly, Capt. of the Indies Trader.

markgnome · Post by **markgnome** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 12:53 pm

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:10 pm

tomway,

Correct me if I'm wrong about your location.

If you are indeed in Java and near Jakarta, PM me and I might be able to get you in touch with Dave Schiller.
He's got a pile of Fish boards for you to inspect.
He's got a penthouse in the city and a beach house down South.

He's working as a sedimentologist, doing core sample testing for oil and gas etc.

A wetsuit isn't a bad idea for the reefs in Indo and for the occasional COLD water upwellings that can occur.

I always bring a spring suit to G-Land just in case.
July 03 had very cold water while I was there.
Those without a suit were sorry they did'nt have one.

W.G. Facenda · Post by **W.G. Facenda** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:43 pm

Dave stayed at my house about 15 yrs ago with Toby and we went to the Ranch. He was a cool guy living in Java at the time. He told me of incredible wave discoveries but NOTHING at all in details. I saw a video with Martin daly finding a old Toby fish in the jungle near the hole--I laughed when I saw the Choice logo! I surfed Lance's in 2000 and it was far from empty. Awesome wave though !
Riding a fish is a different style,but once mastered is very addicting.

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:02 pm

I saw a video with Martin Daly finding a old Toby fish in the jungle near the hole--I laughed when I saw the Choice logo!

Oh man!, you got me busting a gut!

Here's how that Toby board ended up in the "Hole" video.

My mate Bill Garnet a.k.a. "Om Pahon" (uncle tree in Indonesian, he's 6'8"

kneeboards

),
Garrett MacNamara, myself and Dave S. took His boat the "Dani Putri", a 28' rat infested, indo fishing scow with a 1 banger Yanmar diesel engine, out of Sikakap Pagai Utara island.

Dave brought that board with him even though it'd been broken 3 times.
The last repair was semi botched and it had slightly negative rocker from the poor join at the break. (I rode it and it seemed to work fine though

)

We were celebrating one night with a bottle of Patron tequila and other various celebratory items. It'd gone really small that afternoon and I convinced Dave we needed to sacrifice it to the surf gods.

At first he didn't want to but I told him he'd be getting a new one from me soon enough. Everyone including his boat crew were cheering the idea and we soon had the board off the boat to starboard and covered in diesel fuel oil.
We were throwing matches at it but it wouldn't light. Dave nearly fell overboard a couple times trying to ignite it. I took command of the situation, added some tinder and it finally caught fire, nearly singing my eyebrows off.
I nearly fell in as I gave it a good shove to set sailing off away from the boat. Garrett saved me by grabbing the waist band of my shorts.

One of the crew "Tobing" had gotten impatient waiting for us "bules" (pronounced boo-lay) to get it blazing. He'd opened the gas can for the dingy and as it drifted passed him near the stern he started to shake gas on it.
We were screaming, "STOP DON'T". But too late!
It f---king nearly blew all of us up as the gas ignited and flames ran up stream to the can.

The board was now ablaze and we howled and cheered it on, as it drifted away and disapeared into the night.

I've got it all on HI-8 video!
Absolutely CLASSIC!

The deck pad was the only thing that actually burnt, so it survived.
It apparently had been retrieved by some locals. So ended up in that film a few years after, when they, Tom Carrol and crew, went ashore and saw it.

Here's how the surf gods shined their love on us for our sacrifice to them.

Lances Right, photo Bud McCray

tomway · Post by **tomway** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:57 pm

Beeline, yes its java - as Bud says, the Indo spelling. I'm pretty skinny and the trades in July and August really cool the water off. The rice diet doesn't help the body fat situation much either!

The real speed is leaning forward slightly on the knees, but in a punchy part of the wave if I sit up with more weight centred on the tail, the board feels like it gets a little kind of 'updraft'... it kind of rises off the water a bit and accelerates. Actually I like it. It turns a lot better than my single-fins so I'll just have to learn to hook into the pocket from behind instead of waiting for it down the bottom like on the single.

I did put a small concave (1/8" - to the best/worst of my abilities as a shaper) in, but it stops just short of the fins. Do you reckon that could have something to do with it?

Bud, I live in the East of Java, so I usually surf in that area. The positive side is the lack of crowds, but I don't meet any knee-riders. I don't mind surfing alone, but beginning to realise that I'm missing out because of that - the only 'real' kneeboards I've seen have been brief encounters in the line-ups of Bali and G-land. All my own boards are guesses at what the real thing should be. If you could put me in touch with any kneelos here I would definitely make the effort to go and meet them.

Overjoyed with this one and already making plans for the next. Wonder what four fins feels like?!

Cheers![/i]

finger · Post by **finger** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:24 am

thank you gentle men for a great read

from one how likes to dream

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:31 am

Lowrider.

Check out these pictures of some of the old Steve Lis crew riding.

It shows the correct riding posture.

Actually I like it. It turns a lot better than my single-fins so I'll just have to learn to hook into the pocket from behind instead of waiting for it down the bottom like on the single.

Tomway,
That's the beauty of the things. You can go so insanely FAST.

Too many people never take the time to learn to ride the things right. But when you learn to approach the wave with the speed these things allow. A whole new realm of possibilities opens up.

They don't whip turns easily, but you'll find yourself tracking all over the place with speed to spare.

You can get them to snap in the hook but you'll do it with incredible power and authority coming from way behind sections. Just learn to let these things run and use the speed to cover more area of the wave.

Use the speed to break free of the wave face and fly out ahead of the wave to the flats, then drive it around straight back at the on coming wave.
You can even go over the top and ride on the back of waves then drive back over onto the face.
The longer faster and cleaner the wave the better they go.

I use to purposely try to find sand banks that were so fast, lined up and hollow, nobody else would surf them.
I would gleefully gorge on speed runs through barrels for hours with no people in the way, all the while the other easier more obvious setups along the beach by would be packed.

John is right it's addicting!
You'll become a speed freak!

K-man · Post by **K-man** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 5:45 am

bud,upper pic...what's the right hand doing??Looks like it's stuck in the wave?Or some kind of reverse rail grab?

K

Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

Lis style fish kneeboard

I love my fish!

jawa

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