Blood Sweat & Tears

5’11 x 20 3/4 x 2 7/16 Kevlar/carbon, wood, eps FreakFish.

This was a prototype – lots learnt through blood sweat and tears. Pretty pleased with the end result. Learning points are all visible and will make the next one lighter with a more perfect finish.

It will be super robust with the tulipwood rails (beautifully thicknessed to 3.2mm strips by Beech Bros of Exeter), birch ply deck, Kevlar carbon bottom. Weight is more than a PU or EPS conventional but it is still a spritely 8lbs and the added weight should give it loads more flow and quicker take offs.

         

This one will be ridden a few times and then for sale. It is a prototype so it’s imperfections will be reflected in the price at £450 ex fins.

Custom orders will be £700 inc fins.

Frying time

This is the board I am working on for the Fry BUT epoxy cure times are now totally stuffing me and with 2 days left and 3 days curing time required it’s not ,looking promising… so it is touch and go if it will be showing, if so probably without fins!

Nose & tail blocks

  

Parabolic

Glued up and ready for nose and tail blocks before rail shaping.

Weird things a gwaan

This is the 5’11 Freak Fish with kevlar/carbon bottom. Wood parabolic rails, wood deck with an epoxy wrap. Here i had just glassed a strip along the rails and deck to give the parabolics something firm to adhere to. Next week I get some wood on.

Kevlar Carbon Freak

Back on track… rails glassing tomorrow… then we get woody

Asymmetric bonzer

I’d been thinking about an asymmetric for years, then this years Sacred Craft kind of re-excited me… but i have always struggled with the concept for the waves we have. Most times I can’t have a board that is optimised to go only one way and most of the asymmetrics out there seem to be biased to forehand performance, so a longer straighter rail toe-side for better projected bottom turns and a shorter rounder planshape on the outside rail for coming off the top and for cutbacks. For me this was an issue, as backside I’d have to deal with a shorter curvier planshape. I have found I can turn harder off the bottom and top backside so have always been comfortable with a longer board & straighter rail.

So this asymmetric is an experiment, is isn’t the right way round in terms of those who are most expert in these designs. My idea simply takes the primary side of my favourite frontside and backside boards and joins them. So this is my 6’2” Riddler frontside and my 6’4” FreakFish backside… except for the fins. To add drive on the frontside bottom turn and compensate for that curvy planshape I am using my incut keel fin (LokBox) with a single bonzer feeder on the rail. Heelside its all straight forward FreakFish EVO6… I have never had a problem cutting back frontside with the FreakFish, infact it carves a turn as sharp as any, so that longer straighter rail will be no problem. Backside roundhouses should be ridiculously easy and with more drive.

 

Rising Sun

    

Rising-Sun

I am so excited about this board – there is a lot going on with it and it represents some tweaks that I have wanted to add for a while, the hull nose, carbon reinforced rail in the tail, extra 10% inside foil on the rear fins, and Bernoulli concaves… next it gets really fun as I am starting the Rising Sun artwork, which will be a deconstructed resin-band-inkwork combo… maybe pinlines too. Domo arigato Hajime.

  

Foils of The Rising Sun

These are Hajime’s fins for his Rising Sun FreakFish. American Ash bonzer runners together with aircraft ply and glass layup for the rear FreakFish cut-aways… 

A complex foil to hand shape, but rewarding.

   

#1 Rising Sun Freakfish EVO6 bonzer

Hajime’s 5’11” x 20 1/4” x 2 3/8” FreakFish. Rising sun deconstructed resin band to follow…

  
My favourite tool – the Lie Nielsen convex sole hand plane.  

Foiling the fins next week.

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)