the "rediscovery" of quad fins

[KneeBumps]

Back in the 60's we rode wooden surf rescue boats in big waves using four oars to steer-
= The first QUAD?
But (slightly) more seriously, what we call a quad/twinzer now is not what was shaped in the 70's or even 80's. Combis of wings, channels and fin placement tweaks have given us boards that are so much more responsive and have so much more accel... We are really lucky folks these days as our shapers provide us with better and better toys...

[Jack Beresford]

I just read the SURFER story on 4-fins. One word comes to mind:

V-I-N-D-I-C-A-T-I-O-N

Jack
(On all 4s since 1986)

[Jimbo]

Was just watching Danny Fuller charge 10 ft Pipe on a Quad.

[SFKneelo]

And, you mean RIGHT now!

http://monster07.billabongpro.com/webcast.php

[szrbloke]

Pelican Point on the NSW Central Coast, mid 1980s and Glen Winton ruled the place on his 5 fin boards. I was there and saw at first hand how great this guy was....One of the most innovative surfers, along with Cheyne never to win the title.

I was riding an Aware Knees 3 fin at the time, having just come off the Aware Knees twin I started on. I thought about getting a board like Badens, but couldn't justify going so far out on a limb.

[hart]

Hey Scott

Pelican Point on the NSW Central Coast, mid 1980s and Glen Winton ruled the place on his 5 fin boards.

Are you sure he was surfing with 5

Glen Winton went OFF on his quadfins, huh

I was riding an Aware Knees 3 fin at the time

And you can thank Novakov for that

regards from Sydney

hart

don't get too depressed in the Old Dart now will ya

[szrbloke]

Well Bruce it might have been a quad he was moving very fast you know!! Pelicans was the place, along with North Entrance, where we used to go all the time...Me, Jeff K, and Troy M all on 3 fin Aware Knees and a guy I only remember as "Dewey" because he rode a Mountain Dew quad all rammed into my 78 Corona station wagon. Then something happened after a big storm and Pelo was never quite the same after that.

Yes I used to scan Tracks for Kneelo stuff, at one time there used to be quite a bit, but now....its only fit to put under a Triumph to catch the oil drips!

I loved that Aware Knees, bought if from Rick Julliennes' shop near the movie theatre in Gosford. I used to hang out there a bit chatting to his brother, or Pino or anyone who came into the shop.

[Smokin Rock]

Didn't the quad develop from a standard twin fin

IMO all multi-fin boards are the bastard progeny of the twin. every setup is a twin fin with either one or multiple trailing fins.

i think everyone who has gotten a good barrel on a fish type quad will notice how impossibly high and tight you can get and the resulting speed which can blow you out of some mean situations. (it's what i live for) when you get to that point only your inside rail and two of the quads are how would you say....interfacing with the water surface. in that situation, the board is a double single fin or something like that.
i may be suffering from tropical delusions but it seems my quads take on a different personality when you get those shoreward fins out of contact and sometimes it's like star wars (when they go into hyperspace).....all the stars become lines. all of the sudden you're going way faster.
i liked what Bruce said about quads being rail boards and tris being bottom boards. it would be good to be able to ride both designs with some proficiency. i guess i need a bottom board.

[hart]

IMO all multi-fin boards are the bastard progeny of the twin. every setup is a twin fin with either one or multiple trailing fins.

2 True

[Bob]

Good stuff...always like reading Hart's thoughts.

[red]

When I moved to the US in '84 I took a couple of quads I'd been riding for a few years (actually I think I rode them there in that "Springbok" tour of '83). I rode quads at the J Bay champs to qualify for the US tour, so that must have been in '82. So I guess I moved from twin to quads in '81 or so. Since they had the twin heritage I reckon they were proper quaddies, not just 4 finners.

Be nice if someone found that old Larmont (shaped by Dean Cleary) under a house somewhere. The only board I've ever pulled an aerial barrel roll on (Horseshoes, San Diego ~87 or so). (Sighs reminiscently)

[KenM]

Gilligan said it's a " double single fin or something like that."
Well, don't forget, the fish is a double pintail (or something like that).

[Smokin Rock]

yes. a fish can be thought of as two boards in one. when you think of it in that context...it's not four fins, it's two and the inherent speed of a quad might just be the the relationship of those two fins with each other. are there any examples of inline multi-fin setups...like a single fin with a trailer.
i don't know why but the idea of a more classic single fin is appealing. if they could only turn faster.

[loonylen]

The old Tuck 4 fin was an extention of a twin fin the way Dave Parkes explained the theory back in the eighties when I bought my first Quad of him,is that the smaller forward fins are designed to extend the size of the main fins getting a larger area of fin in the water, If you look at the shape of the smaller fins they are very different to normal fins and if you look at a old quad side on you can see that the smaller fin does follow the curve of the larger fin. I really enjoyed riding them, so much so i had fcs plugs put in that position on my new board and use a pair of turbo thruster mal stabalisers when a want a really loose fun session.