How big is your fish?

[little waves]

Right now I surf a 7'9" funboard. i think i am ready to advance to a short board though - and was thinking of a fish because of the small waves around here (boston, ma).

any reccomendations for fish size, thickness/demensions for a first short board? (i'm 5'3" 130 lbs)

[deathfrog]

5'7 or so REAL fish , 2.5 thick and 20.5 wide

[k mac]

go for a real fish or i reckons a fish hybrid type board .

[little waves]

cool, thanks. thats pretty much what people round here have told me.

people have said a few inches shorter than your short board - i have never ridden a short board though. nice and thick and floaty though would be good for me i think for around here.

[drowningbitbybit]

I've got a 6'6 hybrid fish (two regular fins, and a small (tiny!) stabiliser fin) which is a touch shorter than my shortboard, and I find it real easy to ride in most conditions

I had a 7'4 funboard and the transition was easy. Im quite bit bigger/heavier than you, so anything over 6ft should be good for you.

They're superb for catching small or gutless waves - go for it!

[little waves]

is there a big advantage having 3 fins over two?

have also seen people with quad fins on their fish. why 4 fins?

[deathfrog]

three isn't a fish, and four is a quad, which is completly different than a fish (well not quite) but still... is.


it's like having a twinnie, but never sliding out in a turn, more drive, more thrusterish, but no center fin drag and basicly most of the benifits of a thruster (most).

they work well in big, clean, and fast.
so don't get one


three fins on a 'fish' is just more stable and more drivey and thrusterlike, just trying to add new modifications to an old idea.

[little waves]

ok - that makes sense, thanks

[little waves]

woo hoooo!!! saturday i surfed my first shortboard

i dont think it was a fish, it had more of a square tail. was 6'4", and almost as wide as my fun board, so maybe 19" or so wide. had a blast on it, was catching waves and everything, i even surprised myself

i borrowed it from someone on the beach. it was this guys first time surfing and he had bought the wrong board and was having a difficult time...so being the nice girl i am (and i wanted to try a short board) i offered to trade him for a while was great. he caught a couple waves on my board and had a lot easier time on it. and i found out i love short boards. so much easier to control than my beast of a bic. i didn't find it difficult at all, although i did need to adjust a little. i definately need to get me one of those soon.

[Brent]

Hey, on this topic; so many people question the bestlength of their first shortboard/fish...but really it's the width of the front third of the board and the rocker (how raised the nose is) that makes all the difference in rideability & wave-catching. I'll explain.
Firstly; you do know how to measure "nose width" don't you, you tip the board upside down & get a flexable tape measure or similiar and measure along the bottom from the nose of the board 12" down and make a mark with a pencil. Then measure the width of the board at this point. This is the nose width.

A seriously refined experts shortboard will have a nose of about 10.5"- 11.5" wide. It will turn like a racing car at speed....but is hard to catch waves on due to small surface area. You've got to paddle real hard to get them planing.

A more moderate nose width of 12-13" or so is a good compromise - turns reasonably well but has enough width to catch waves more easily.
A wider nose of about 14.5" id what your average "fish hybrid" has. Still like a shortboard but is more fishy.
A real fish has a mini-mal like nose of about 15.5" or more wide.

The second factor is rocker - if a board has a very flat rocker, especially in the front third of the board...it's easier for a weaker paddler to get enough speed to catch a wave.

So, there you have it. If you're a person coming from a fun-board or a mini-mal wanting to downsize, buy a board with a flat rocker and a nice wide nose and you'll be fine. Much like the currently popular hybrid fish or retro fish. But if buying a retro fish I'd buy one with the facility to put in a third center fin if you desire. The actual length matters less. As long as you don't go stupid with it and buy a 5'6" fish to start with.

[little waves]

very helpful Brent, thanks

[k mac]

would you still have a little bit of rocker brent ? fun board tends to have a fairbit of rocker on them and going to a rockerless board from a funboard would be a bit of a shock IMO !

[Brent]

Good question; this is something I noticed for the first time with Libby's 7' fun-board (mini-mal?)several months ago having never ridden one before in my life. Yes they do have a noticable rocker in the front 1/3. I gather they need it because of the greater length. If a 7' board had little rocker it would pearl all the time I guess. Without wanting to sound like Roy I imagine it's something to do with the radius of the wave as it curls ...the shorter the board within that curving wave the less rocker needed???

I was chatting to quite a well know local retro fish shaper here last Saturday morning in the water, he does 16" noses with almost no rocker and they're way flatter than even my hybrid fishes. Almost none actually. He said also the biggest thing new shortboarders (coming from longer boards) struggle with is having they're bodies (from their thighs back) flailing around in the water when they're trying to paddle & catch waves. This is apparently more of an issue than the low-rocker design aspect of fish that makes then plane & accelerates way quicker than a fun-board.

Good question....anybody else? Anybody gone short?

[k mac]

then it may have somthing to do with the surface area of the nose regarding the use of almost flat rocker ..think longboard has a wider nose area and longboards tend to pearl/nose dive a lot more than a shoter (fishy)board due to higher surface area on the nose im thinking and the shaper your talking to has on his boards the top third quite thin 16"(by my standards anyway fora fish) and it could be due to the displacement of water or/and hyrodynamics e.g less wide nose but samerocker planes easiler within the water where as a log you have to watch how you surf it with more care as if the water hits the nose wrong it has more suface for the water to resist against therefore throwing the board tail over nose ..where as the more shorter less or no rockerd boads nose has last surface for the water to resist against and pearl . i may have made some sense here mabye not but
i think youll see where im trying to get brent ...ill have a look on the swaylocks archive see if i can see anything that relates to this !

[Brent]

I think from my brief experience with Lib's board that they're more prone to pearling simply because they're longer and most funboards offer a turned up nose to counter this. Looking at Libs board now it's really the front 8 inches or so that is turned up yes, but the remainder of the front third of the board's rocker is very flat. A compromise design wise perhaps?

[k mac]

I think from my brief experience with Lib's board

'breif' my arse youve been surfing it with out telling libs ..and i bet youve just been out with it thats why youve got it out

Looking at Libs board now

compromise design wise perhaps

definatley ...not really a rocker as such for turning but for ease of use/less pearling and so on

[k mac]

[k mac]

[Brent]

Fleshin busted. Damn.
Don't tell Doris ;-))

[k mac]

Don't tell Doris

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