catamaran/piclklefork designs

[willli]

Only one picture on the Gemini website really grabbed my attention. scroll to the bottom and look at the skeg placement. It's so close to the quad placement Bud uses, right down to angles of attack, just further back toward the tail. Now imagine a picklefork Blast fish and you've got something a kneelo could probably rip at like 4'6" or 5' in length. I used to build small (up to 9hp) hydroplanes when I was a kid, with a friend and his shop-teacher dad. If you truly want to understand hulls designed to entrain air look there, cause the concepts of the "flying boat" have been around for a long time. Sometimes "innovation" is just being clever enough to take ideas from one place and use them someplace else.

[fooj]

willi wrote: imagine a picklefork Blast fish and you've got something a kneelo could probably rip at like 4'6" or 5' in length.

Yeah, you could tweak the tail a little, tweak the picklefork a little and with some strategic fin placement surf it in either direction.

[DrStrange]

"I ain't got a pickle. Just wanna ride on my motorcycle" [pronounced like pickel]

-Arlo Guthrie

[doc]

"I ain't got a pickle. Just wanna ride on my motorcycle" [pronounced like pickel]

-Arlo Guthrie

"And I don't wanna die. Just wanna ride on my motor-ci.....cle"

Used to ride dirt bikes in the woods with Ray Brock's kids. Good thing I gave that up, was magneticly attracted to wood.

doc.......

[Beeline2.0]

..

[Bryan Jackson]

Beeline I don't know if you were directing your comments at moi or no, because my name is Bryan, not Ryan. And what was that about two hundred ?

Well whatever I still stand by my comments. A Fish may be LIKE a Hobie Cat but it is still NOT a true Cat. Even Alexander, the inventor of the Gemini design (aka Picklefork/Catamaran) does not claim that the Gemini is a true catamaran (and that particular design does have a twin nose and not just a twin tail ) .

Anyway this is all rather esoteric and, as the old saying goes "the proof is in the pudding". Thus having ridden a Fish myself for many years running I can definitely vouch for all that is claimed in your post re Fish performancewise. I love their incredible ability to make critically late drops! To steal a quote from a boxing great, they "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! "

To tell you the truth though, I much prefer the quad Fish over the keel design (which is far too stiff for me).

[Beeline2.0]

..

[surfhorn]

Willli - My dad used to build and race boats in the 1950's so I grew up on the water. While some kids had gocarts, I had a 6 foot hydroplane with a little 5hp outboard with a short, racing lower unit. You'd kneel on a cushion and grab a spring-loaded throttle so, if you flipped the thing, the engine would automatically die.

Maybe thats where my kneeboarding obsession comes from.......

[willli]

ah flipping!! its a wonder I didn't get killed when I pulled that maneuver! ruined my nerve. always ginger with the throttle on any small boat after that. thank god we kids were made of rubber! ended my interest in hydros. helped a friend build a drag boat after but never drove the bloody thing. had a friend at the time who's dad always had tons of cash and when junior asked for and received a donzi, well it was just waterski all day till the tank ran dry! we had the whole thing, slalom course, ramps, starting float. so for me if there was no surf, waterski, too choppy but nice viz, spearfish, wind come up, sail. can't complain about growing up on the water

[Eric Carson]

If you want to see some motorizied surfboards, including a juet board from the 60's, check out www.powerboarding.com.

[Bryan Jackson]

Beeline, I guess that last comment of yours was supposed to be a dig at me, however I take no offense . I am not nor do I claim to be any type of design guru, I just happen to believe that if any type of meaningful discussion/debate is going to take place about any subject whatsoever then any and all terms should be clearly defined and/or agreed upon.

All I was doing was stating the obvious, that a catamaran must have two separate hulls to qualify as a cat, and neither the Gemini (aka Picklefork) nor the Fish have separate hulls and so neither qualifies as true catamarans . Do you disagree with this statement?

[willli]

Eric that is sooo cool. And there you are riding one!!! An absolute line-up cleaner at your local long-board break.

[Bryan Jackson]

If you guys want to go off and play with your gross polluting toys please do so away from the surf zone . We already have enough of a problem with tow-in surfers as it is. But don’t just take my word for it, check out the negative sentiments towards motor assisted surfing on the CORTES BANK TOW-IN topic on this very web site. (On the other hand maybe you should motor into some 50-100 foot waves and see what happens ).

[Beeline2.0]

..