Musing Hot Buttered Surfboard Design

Musing Hot Buttered Surfboard Design

Pages

Sunday, October 24, 2010

2 + 1 | Modern Double Wing Swallow



Many a surfing folk will pick up a Single Fin relic, water logged, wide point too far forward, combined with long straight rails, and walk away from their Single Fin surfing experience with a miss conception, that Single Fins don't turn.
79, 80 , 81 Double Wings, in many variations, were incorporated into many a high performance surfboard of the time. Especially in Australia. The Australian surfing mentality was uber aggressive in the water, almost fever pitch. Surfing was about attack , and shortening the rail length as well as pulling in the tail with a Double Wing combo, it became easier to pivot tight in a powerful, critical pocket.
Single Fin design was reaching a performance pinnacle with the Double Wing design, only to be dashed by the Tri Fin in 81 . Almost a shame, as further Single Fin Design development became somewhat pale in significance.

The idea behind the 2 + 1 Fin set up in the Double Wing Swallow is to take the board a step further into design progression, a step forward in time that the Double Wing Swallow never really got to take.

The Medium Sides and the Small Single Fin draws the board a lot closer to a Tri Fin feel. Out of the tail, little extra squirt. Downside, a little extra squirrel. A small variation to the base of the side fins, reducing the surface area, increased the waters free release feel off the side fins and through the forward wing seemed to bolster a smoother flow that i was looking from this particular 2 + 1 Fin Set.

The experiment re affirmed that Terry's boards are high performance vehicles when surfed with the right mind set. Which is the "Attack the Lip" mind set of the early 80's.








Sunday, October 10, 2010

Terry Fitzgerald Contest Results

During the 70's Terry was seen as the most devoted Australian Surfer / Shaper, in regards to refining his boards to suit the Hawaiian juice. The Wing Pin Single Fin, was the one design of many, that transferred easily between Hawaii and the vast Australian coastline. The versatility of the Wing Pin therefor resulted in many successful competitive campaigns on a professional level for Terry, in both Australia and Hawaii.

1972 Bells Beach Contest
1st Terry Fitzgerald
2nd Peter Drouyn

1973 Hang Ten , Hawaii
1st Jeff Hackman
2nd Ian Cairns
3rd Michael Peterson
4th Paul Neilson
5th Terry Fitzgerald

1974 Lightning Bolt Contest, Hawaii
1st Terry Fitzgerald

1975 Austalian Titles, Victor Harbour South Australia
1st Terry Fitzgerald

1976 World Cup Contest, Hawaii
1st Mark Richards
2nd Terry Fitzgerald

Terry Fitz doing his thing at 'Sunset'
Photo: Jeff Divine

Friday, October 1, 2010

Surfboard Design | Classic Drifta

Classic Drifta

The whole Drifta thing was a design divergence in the hunt for a combination of speed and points per turn. At the time (1980), rounding off noses, made a lot of design sense, when 3, 4, 5 inches were lopped off…..voilá, you have a shorter board with no nose weight, that can be stood up, vertical with less effort….but, still hold longer board lines on the rail…strike 1.

By taking the old double wing swallow tail templates and widening the front wing the boards had impressive planning area, speeding over flat spots and skating down the line. In stepping down real tail width with two wings, the narrowed tail held in when it mattered, biting deep into the wall….strike 2.

Ten years of concave work had provided the engine…single concave under the front foot – lean forward and accelerate, double under the back - lean back and turn, a wide based single fin and two smaller trailer fins focused on the front wing release points….strike 3.


Terry Fitzgerald