5’8” Spinner flextail bonzer fish

FOR SALE SOLD This board was made for the European Fish Fry. 5’8” x 20 1/4” x 2 5/8” flextail. New EVO4 Fish set up with American Ash Medium front runners and the new TS Foil LokBox cutaway keel-fish fins… Bernoulli double concaves throughout and bonzer feeder channels between the fins… Metallic copper/bronze deck and rails, clear bottom, double pinlines both sides and a full gloss and polish to finish it all off.

This has probably been one of the most complex boards I have done, at every stage from the shaping of the concaves and the tail through to glassing with the metallic pigment and the sanding issues that always follow with reverse laps… the results however I am really pleased with. Big thanks to Adam for help with the LokBox, Daz for sanding an polishing and Chris for the pinlines.

          

The board should fly in everything from waist to a bit overhead and has the wave catching and speed of a fish, but manoeuvrability of a high performance shortboard… Full reviews coming soon if someone doesn't snap it up.

Show price special of £550 (£650 normally with this combination of finish and fins)

New Porpoise

FOR SALE: The New Porpoise which I shaped for the Fish Fry. 6’0 x 22” x 2 5/8” Bernoulli single into double concave with bonzer feeder concave channels. New EVO4 Fish set up with American Ash Medium front runners and the new TS Foil LokBox cutaway keel-fish fins… the fins will add a huge amount of extra drive through the tail and when combined with the flatish tail rocker this board will really fly. Gloss and polish, double pinlines both sides.

The artwork reflects some things on my mind I guess… this March I was about to get on a plane to the Mentawais ; Ant and I had just got to the airport at 5am after driving through the night… and thought (obviously) “why not, we’re on holiday…beer!”… and then the disaster unfolded on the screens in front of us as we sat at the bar, later with Fukushima. It had a profound effect on me… and I guess this board was just my acknowledgement of this. The orcas crept in as I had recently found out that dead Orcas have to be treated as hazardous waste when they die as the blubber is so contaminated… So my thoughts are with all those in Japan… and with our cetacean friends.

       

Get it quick before I can’t resist waxing it up for a wetting… show price of £650 with an extra discount if it is going to Japan or to anyone with anything to do with cetaceans. Looks like this one is on its way to Japan, which is so perfectly fitting. But if it falls through for any reason express your interest now and I’ll get in touch.

new Porpoise

Just finished the new Porpoise. For some reason I’m loving shaping more than ever right now, everything seems to be really flowing; I can’t put my finger on it but everything just seems right…

6’0” x 22” x 2 5/8”. This board came out beautifully with the Bernoulli bottom, this time a single concave into a double… and especially the tail that i wanted to be more mammalian, and that’s exactly how it came out with its subtle blended curves and deep incut…

This board is going to get pretty intense from here on in with an organic blue tint, tubercle fins and I am hoping to find the time to do gloss coat speed channels originally created by Peter St Pierre’s father.

  

Wedges

I have to say that almost a week of clean swell, great light winds and sunshine are pretty rare but it all came together last week. I didn’t get in as often as i would have liked (“responsibilities”) but I got my share. Highlight was at a known beach break I'll call “Wedges” which had a wedging take off and a fast wall with plenty of juice. The freakfish was just awesome and i was stoked to have some guy ask me about it based on how it was surfing… it was handling late-late drops, and then just shooting round the sections into nice big carves and hooks, all backhand. I just loved it.

The porpoise is on the other hand in need of some mods. The biggest issue for me is that it doesn’t seem to get up planing as quickly as i would like. On the plus sides it is very drivey off the bottom and gets round sections beautifully, but it feels stiff off the top.  It’s the projected rake, so I'm going to sand the fins off and place them further up the board by a full inch, remove the EVO3 sides and replace them with EVO5 fronts only… all this should loosen the board up a bit and provide a little less drag which will help a little with wave entry speed too.

Anyways, I'm stoked to build an improved Porpoise, so someone please order one :)

Porpoise christening…

First porpoise with the tubercle fins was tested yesterday at a small but clean Boobys Bay… it was only just big enough to surf but the odd waist high set came through and overcame the stiff offshore NEs. The board absolutely flew – really surprising was how it just loved to get up and go, all rides backside, flying across the face with more speed and lift than i had expected. I made lots of long lefts into the shallows with the board seeming to keep speed and flow throughout. The only drawback so far was on take off, a feeling of the board hanging in the lip, though this may have been the wide nose combined with the wind. Otherwise it felt very fluid especially considering the low rocker and straight tail outline. Pretty difficult to gauge the performance characteristics on such small waves but it definitely is a fun ride, just how different, how drivey, and whether it has any drawbacks we will have to wait until we get some more serious surf… hopefully soon…

on Porpoise...

Porpoise bonzer EVO4 with tubercle fins: 6’0 x 22” x 2 5/8” low entry rocker with concave soft-channel running from the chest and under the front foot (V’d off the rails for roll and the concave for turbulence to overcome the width and enhance rail to rail flow)  into the double concave V with bonzer channels between the fins (guide the water flow)... with a little spiral V kick in the tail to keep it loose... just a little "almost" summer madness...

Demos at the ready…

A little sanding, a little artwork, speed coats, some microgrooves and these three demos will be ready for some aquatics… 

6’0 Porpoise EVO4 in clear and trans blue resin tint, Cleanline 6’4” EVO5 in clear (this one is for Anthony but he says he’ll let people borrow it), Cleanline 6’10” EVO5 in amber tint…

busy week…

3 boards going through at the moment… Demo 6’0” Porpoise EVO4 , Anthony’s 6’4” Cleanline EVO5 (in clear!), and a Demo 6’10” Cleanline EVO5… all due for completion next Friday… pray for surf.

Tubercle porpoise fins - bonzer EVO4

Today I finally finished foiling my new tubercle fins for the 6'0" demo porpoise bonzer EVO4. The panel was a lay-up of 4 x 6oz translucent blue + 6mm aircraft grade birch 12 ply + 4 x 6oz in translucent blue. Really stoked with how they have come out and it will be interesting to see if the fins have the same hydrodynamic energy conversion characteristics that have been found on wind-turbine blades. The design is of course based on nature, coming strait from scientific research into the hump back whale after scientists struggled to understand how the whales could manouvre so tightly at low speeds as they blew their bubble curtains to contain the plankton.

6’0” Porpoise bonzer EVO4

Thought the concept sketch might interest some people…

Bonzer Quad goes east – FreakFish EVO4

Some feedback from North Cornwall surfer Dougal on the FreakFish he took to Indo… thanks Dougz, send us some pics when you get some:)

hey bud,
Yeah freaky has been great heaps of float, was surfing it at a spot called Passe or mushroom point the other day for a couple of days and she flew.
It was so shallow i nicked the fin a couple of times on the bottom turn but nothing major, she got me in and out of some great barrels,
only 2ft but beautiful hollow barrels!! Great fun.
She's kinda like a twinie with a bit more drive and the channels are interesting never surfed with those before.
Glad you had a great trip in mex and thanks a million for the board. She's just the other kinda feel i was searching for.
Sampai jumpa!
Doogz

More freak…

SOLD

    
Resin tint reverse lap with pen artwork on the nose…
Hand made fins from American ash for the EVO fronts and birch ply for the EVO4 rears

Finally freakin!

Finally finished my new board… 5’11” x 21 5/8” x 2 7/8” Freak fish EVO4 bonzer quad…

   

   

Freakfish is coming….