Measuring Kneeboards.....?????

[a harris]

Any feedback on fin placement ( measurements ect. ) ? Thanks.

[Beeline2.0]

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[hart]

Paging Mr Stemple,

I've just re-read an old post..and word of the stemple travels fast (only that the spies from OZ have been there)..

Is the jury still out?..How is the new quadfin..or are you still tempted by the tri?

From all I've heard, it would have been cool to catch up with everyone at Santa Cruz..Stapo and the scoop STILL haven't stopped beaming..unfortunately.

Regards, from many new friends in OZ.

[stemple]

I have had this black surf session cloud hanging over my head as of late. Everytime I can get time, the surf sucks. Everytime I have unchangable commitments it pumps. (yes Jon, I would like cheese with my whine) Even this weekend the forecast is calling for DOH long period swell, and I have to go too not 1 but 2, 5 year old birthday parties. You stand around chit chat with other parents and watch your kids blast off on sugar. I need a serious surf Karma adjustment. Don't get me wrong, I still do cherish this time because it is unbeliveable how fast they grow up.

I have not been riding my tri too much lately but I have been switching back forth from my Parkes and Blast Quads. In my humble opinion, the differences I think are described pretty well on Bud's web site. The blast drives very well off the bottom but really prefers abit of a wall to come around off the top quickly. The parkes doesn't drive quite as well but releases off the top and handles softer shoulders abit better. My working theory is that fin cluster placement is driving alot of the handling differences that I am feeling. (my skill level also has a big part in it as well) The parkes fins are clustered closer together and angle towards the stringer more. The blast separates the fin cluster more and has less fin angle towards the stringer as well pitch towards the rail. I believe the spacing of the fins and their position give the blast boards the drive so many people comment on. Plus the two back fins are symetrical as opposed to the Parkes' asymetrical fins.

As for a small to medium wave tri, I am still open. I have been working alot in the Santa Barbra(SB) and Ventura County area as of late so I need a board to keep in my SB office (thats the official line I am sellling to the wife). Taking a board back and forth on the plane is a drag and expensive. I working on a plan to write it off as field supplies!!

I am not too familiar with the surf spots and I have never really seen it pumping but I have seen pictures (like everybody else) of sweeet Rincon and El Capitan both right points. Anybody got any suggestions as too a good tri set up for that neck of the woods for a 220 lb, 6'2" wanker? I have been pondering something in the 6' and 23.75 inch realm, round pin or squash tail. How about a thickness recommendation? What about concaves or channels?

[scoop]

Anybody got any suggestions as too a good tri set up for that neck of the woods for a 220 lb, 6'2" wanker?

SID

your not a wanker matee

talk to bruce hart

Tony

[doc]

I have had this black surf session cloud hanging over my head as of late. Everytime I can get time, the surf sucks. Everytime I have unchangable commitments it pumps. (yes Jon, I would like cheese with my whine) Even this weekend the forecast is calling for DOH long period swell, and I have to go too not 1 but 2, 5 year old birthday parties. You stand around chit chat with other parents and watch your kids blast off on sugar. I need a serious surf Karma adjustment. Don't get me wrong, I still do cherish this time because it is unbeliveable how fast they grow up.

I am not too familiar with the surf spots and I have never really seen it pumping but I have seen pictures (like everybody else) of sweeet Rincon and El Capitan both right points. Anybody got any suggestions as to a good tri set up for that neck of the woods for a 220 lb, 6'2" wanker? ?

Uhmm, in a year or two, birthday presents for yours are new boards and your lines are 'Hey, Kids, wanna have your Bee-day party at the Beach??'

You get to surf with the kids, which is a kick, the adult chitchat is more along the lines of which soccer mom is looking good in a bikini ( and there are those that do...and those that don't and those that really, really don't ) and the kids blast off on an aqueous salt solution instead of sugar and caffeinated soft drinks.

there's always a way

doc.............

[DavidW]

Syd, do what the rest of us do when we are faced with weekend activities during a good swell. Dawn Patrol!! Unless your party starts at 7:00 a.m. you should be able to get 2-3 hours of shack time before you have to talk about whether the new Audi or Volvo XC has better handling. Just think when little Johnnys dad comes up to you to discuss how the new Dockers fit you can nod your head and dream about the last ten tubes your just got spit out of. Remember to take your medicine first and then enjoy the rest of the day.

[hart]

Sid,

Don't go the channels mate...I reckon they're too 80's.

Tommy Carrol's channel bottoms (thru the belly..not the tail) were designed to straighten the rocker just under his front foot (or under our knees)..and put a little quick in our bottoms.

Then the 90's came along and the concave (thru guys like Greg Webber and Merrick) made an amazing come-back assisted by the refinement of shapes in general and better overall rockers.

Concaves do now, what channels did then..but in my opinion, they do it better.

Thicknesses? I reckon you are better off with length, rather than bulk.

Something long and low is more appealing to me than short and fat. But having said that..you could stay around 3" thick easy..and at six-o, it's got to float you..just don't take the full three inches out to the rail, or it wont want to turn.

And being an Aussie Wanker myself, it would have to be a pinny and have three bloody fins!

"Ventura Highway..in the sun shine, where the days are longer......." oh the memories of Rincon!

Good on you mate, go and get wet.

[MWROBERTSON]

Hart-

Can you offer up some design insight on flex tails? I know PC & co. rode them back in the day with radical success.

I have a copy of Nat Young's Surfing Fundamentals book and there is a section dedicated to kneelos. There is a great photo of Peter Crawford with his Slab with a flex tail on it.

Are they still a valid concept and/or can we apply the principal to boards today?

[red]

Mark,
Check out this link for a ton of discussion about flex:
http://www.kneeboardsurfing.co.uk/forum ... c.php?t=38
http://www.kneeboardsurfing.co.uk/forum ... c.php?t=38
There is also info on the thread "want to go fast - real fast"

[hart]

Mark,

If you take a look at the link that Red mentioned, not only will you spend hours reading many differing opinions about flex..you'll also see how successful Aussies are at tying up overseas internet portals.

You could also see my post to Scott at the tail of 'Flashpoint Tri with double wings'..

Peter was such a gifted person..and flextails were his adaptation of Mr Greenough's theories directed to a Sydney Shortboard.

I do think that there is a direction for flex in the modern kneeboard.

I remember buffing Aipa stingers as a kid for Barry Bennett (made under licence).

They had an unusual stringer concept. They had two one-eighth timber veneers glued in a vee formation down from the nose. Like they were together at the tip of the nose, but vee'd out to say 12'' apart at the tail.

I know shapers that have done that again now and say that the amount of inherant flex they feel thru the tail is unbelievable....

The theory is great..but the practice (on a professional level) is flawed.

You would need to rely on the 'Gluer' (the guy who puts the stringer in) to be 100% accurate when cutting the foam..or else the stringers will be 'offset' in the finished product and look terrible.

I've thought of running the stringers out to say a wing in the outline..but again, to get that in the exact position in a blank..really trickey.

Hope it all makes sense..let me know what you think of the discussions on the link.

Regards from OZ.

[stemple]

I am going to post a wild theory or rule of thumb for sizing kneeboard dimensions. (Note: Given my big size, I have come to really embrace width in my boards so take this with a grain of salt) It is way to too simplistic but it may be worth mentioning. I have noticed that generally certain combinations of length and width garner the most praise and comments about favorable handling characteristics for your general, all round, headhigh, solid performer.

6' X 24"
5'10" X 23.5"
5' 8" X 22.75"

They have a ration of width vs length of 0.335 or so. So if you consider your weight, height for board thickness and decide you want a 5' 9" then a reasonable width would be in the 23" to 23.25" category. It would then be up to the shaper to craft the outline, bottom configuration, fin set up, and suitable rail geometry. Obviously boards designed for larger surf would have different ratios. Do pro shapers now this already? What do you think?

[DrStrange]

They have a ration of width vs length of 0.335

Isn't that the Fibonacci number divided by the square root of your age times the time of the next low tide?

[DarcyM]

Strange -

you've got that confused with Avocado's number as the variable constant of mush divided by the DOH Fear Factor, with North and South cancelling out as equal divisions of separate coasts. Not acurately reproduced in island calculations as you have to weigh more heavily on MAX VOLUME and DENSITY of the wave form and subtract substantial penalties for the experiential differential.

E=MC square barrels