Single Fin? Mid Length or Shortboard

[mj9]

Need some advice on what type of single fin board I should get. Moving to Oahu next year for college and updating my quiver to Hawaii standards. Just came back from north shore and realized I need bigger boards than I'm currently riding. Looking for Single Fin or 2+1 Surfboard that can handle some Hawaiian Country Power. Will be riding at breaks such as Lanis, Jockos, Gas chambers, OTW, V-land, Kammies with this board. Currently looking at Haydenshapes Cannon, Dead Kooks hellhound or christensons Dauntless or C-buckets. Looking to handle some serious wave size from head high to near double overhead faces 10 ft faces. Love the glide feeling. 5'10 145 pounds.

[Big H]

Like this?
http://simonandersonsurfboards.com/au/p ... ingle-fin/

....or this....
http://www.markrichardssurfboards.com/b ... single.php

[mj9]

more of the bottom than the top for sure... maybe something a little shorter than that.

[waikikikichan]

1) what size and what fin set up was the board you felt was under-gunned on the Northshore ?
2) what college will you be attending ?
3) why don't you get a board from a Northshore/Hawaiian shaper ? ( Christensen does shape some boards when he's on Oahu).

[dtc]

https://www.mctavish.com.au/collections/trackers

https://www.mctavish.com.au/collections/bluebirds

(pretty similar to the hellhound I guess)

But, realistically, in Hawaii there must be shapers all over the place who can give you a great board. Certainly they are unlikely to be more expensive than a hayden, for example (and cheaper than the boards linked above)

[mj9]

I didn't feel undergunned because i didn't use any of the boards i owned and took with me because I had the option of using some of my friends boards who live there. I will be attending University of Hawaii at Manoa. Ya was thinking that option might be the best for me. Do you know any good Hawaiian shapers who shape a good single fin? (besides the great gerry lopez)

[waikikikichan]

1) And what are you going to ride when it's flat on the Northshore during the summer South swells ?
2) how do plan to get up to the Northshore during the Winter months ?
3) why don't you get a Dick Brewer ? ( that's who Gerry trusted )
4) you're going to surf OTW on a single ?

[mj9]

During Summer I will ride my Robert August longboard. If I feel like going to bowls i will just ride my normal shortboard. I am also planning on getting a bigger gun for big days above 10 ft face value (6 ft) for sunset/pinballs. Looking at owl chapman and dick brewer surfboards for those deep water waves. Does Dick Brewer also make good single fin mid length or single shortboards? ya maybe on a smaller day I would ride otw on a single? definitely not a bigger day there. would destroy myself and the board.....

[Big H]

I'm curious....y why do you want a single fin?

Lots of reasons, from pursuing classic lines using the power of the wave to topknot/beard hipster to wanting a change every now and then......what is your reason?

[Big H]

FWIW I had a mid length single fin 2+1 that I wound up selling at the end of last season...it was something like what you're talking about, but I found that I was in a no-man's land with that board; the worst of both worlds as DTC put it one time....it was 7'8"x21"x3"....too big to duck dive, too small to paddle fast as a longboard meant getting stuck turtle rolling inside more than I would have on a longboard....shortboard with duck diving you're back on the paddle right away so I'd get outside easier with that as well....so on the bigger days when that board came to life (needed to be about 3ft before it became special) I'd get frustrated and battered around inside more than I would have liked.....catching waves was ok, but again, worst of both worlds, had to catch further inside than on a longer board, but the rocker and size of the board made catching later on bigger hard jacking days more difficult than on a shorter board with less tail volume, length and more rocker.....on the wave it was a star and loads of smooth carving fun, but in the end too many negatives outweighing the positives, last of which is though the smooth style of single fin surfing is admirable, the thruster fin setup innovation is a flat out better system and gives you more grip and ability to draw different lines which is reassuring on days when the waves are hammering down......and your tail doesn't slide out on sharp angled drops......don't have to baby it through the bottom turn.

Last bit is that if I were you I'd look for a local shaper and tell him which wave and what time of year you want that board for.....the board I had worked really well in certain conditions, but definitely was not an all rounder, and it wasn't shaped for me or for where and what conditions I usually surf, so it didn't work out though it was one of the best boards I've owned to date.

In it's place I got the Byrne.....handles the same conditions that the single did, but has a wider range, paddles just as fast but is lighter, smaller, more rocker, can take waves later and is tuflite (f___ing strong!)... low tide reef tuff. And it's a thruster.

[Big H]

Also, I'm 46 years old, 6'1" & 92kg and not that great so don't base your board choice on what an old geezer who needs a little paddle help uses....just showing a personal apples to apples comparison of boards that I used and how I wound up liking a more rockered, shorter, thruster board over the single fin that size wise was out in my personal no man's land between 7' and 9' where it is the worst of both worlds....


For everyone's viewing enjoyment and to tickle the imagination.....here's a wave of the winter entry from OTW (Off the Wall).....FWIW, for this guy he said he went for a 6'8" first then a 6'6".....

[Big H]

Double

[oldmansurfer]

That's Reef McIntosh. He's from Kauai. I think single fins are a fad right now meaningthey are popular but competitive surfers aren't using them in contests because they have more downsides to progressive surfing than upsides however they worked just fine long ago (I learned on a singlefin) I think getting a local shaper to make you something would be the way to go. They could advise you on size for whatever breaks you want to try. One bit of advice is that initially plan on just sitting in the lineup and not catching waves at those popular spots.... unless you are good as the best there it will take a while before they will let you catch waves unmolested.....depending on the day and who is out there.

[mj9]

everytime I'm on oahu in the winter I surf those breaks and get my share of waves unmolested lol... just be respectful and surf the right breaks at the right time an know what your doing and know local people. Anyways irelevant.... Single fins are defintley a fad rn. I think getting a local hawaiian shaper to shape something for me might be the best option at this point. thinking owl chapman boards rn but depends on the price to get it shaped.

[oldmansurfer]

Cool, I went to UH and graduated in 1981. I had a single fin 7'2" board that I used on lots of Oahu breaks at a lot of different sizes. I didn't run into much problems but then I didn't surf the Alamoana Bowl. I did surf Threes a few times and ran into some jerks over there and Fours quite often with no problems and Concessions once on the other side and had problems there initially till I caught a wave and had an exceptional ride. But I am sure things have changed. I surfed Sunset but on a small day and rode a really shallow reef break on the inside that no one was riding and got a few tubes and some reef rash. I surfed Haleiwa when it was good sized , up to 9 foot Hawaiian , and had no problem there with any surfers. I used to surf long ago on what would be called guns now or funguns but they were narrower and thinner than the ones I currently have but they were shortboards back then. I quit surfing for a while and restarted on a 9'6" thruster big wave gun and then a 9'6" longboard with a 2 plus 1 fin setup. What I found is that I needed to learn how to do everything all over again but some instinctive stuff remained and part of that was how to navigate steep drops/waves. What worked for my single fin didn't work for tri fins or quads. It took me a while to where I developed new instincts but one of my boards is made to have a 2 plus 1 or a single fin or a quad. I surf it as a quad and don't want to go back to single fins because I like the multiple fins and don't want to get mixed up between the two.

[mj9]

Thats sick. ya attending uh in couple months. I heard waikiki and south shore used to be super localized until they made it tourist trap central. Now there only remain a few localized "secret" (not so secret) spots there. Damn 9 foot Haleiwa. thats pretty heavy. Current there is a bitch once it gets over 6 foot. pulls you into the impact zone. Surfed Sunset recently and got some good ones on a 9'6. Also looking to get a 9'0 to 9'6 for big Sunset/Pinballs. were you riding at boneyards or the point just really small on the inside? and 7'2 single fin sounds like such a sick board haha.

[RinkyDink]

Don't forget the Submariner shaped by Phil Blostopovich. It could be perfect for inside bowl Sunset.

[oldmansurfer]

I surfed a break called Maili Point 3 times, when the surf was up 6 to 8 foot size and I guess everyone was surfing somewhere else. There was only this one guy out all three times. He would always tell us "I don't want to see you on my waves. What I mean by that is any wave I catch." There were always so many waves we would barely ever see him in the lineup. usually by the time we paddled back out he had caught a wave and was surfing or would shortly. It was a fast tubing left. A little difficult for me to make even though I was fairly good on backside waves. I think I needed to surf it a few more time to figure out how to surf it. You had to paddle over a shallow reef and time it between sets to get outside of the break then paddle out to the point. It was a pretty long tubing wave not sure if people didn't surf it because it was so fast or what but it tubed really nice. I just needed to figure out the sections, which ones to go for a tube and which to pump through.

[oldmansurfer]

I had a friend with a car when I went to UH. He would drive me to go surf usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays when he didn't have classes. I often had classes on those days but in the afternoon so we would go out and come back before my classes although more than once I went to class with sand in my hair and my surf shorts due to lacking time to go take a shower I had some other friends who more rarely would take me surfing and most often I walked to Waikiki on weekends which took me 20 to 30 minutes, although I am a fast walker and I learned the quickest routes. There was a surf bus that allowed you to take a surfboard but it was faster for me to walk. One place that I liked was Diamond Head (friend drove). It has a few breaks and guys seemed friendly and inexplicably there was a break near the shore (a small left break) midway between the shore and the main break which no one was surfing usually and I could get tubed most days I went there. Of course this was long ago.

[oldmansurfer]

Hope you have fun over there. I did. I wouldn't worry too much about the size and get a shaper to pick a size for you. If a few inches difference is going to matter to you then you should already know how big of a board you need. If you are wanting to surf the North shore in the winter or the south shore in the summer then maybe a slightly bigger board would be better than one that gives you the best performance because you will have to compete for the waves with a hoard of surfers. I never liked doing that and preferred to find breaks without many surfers and hoard all the waves to myself Personally I think you can learn to surf a longer board just as well as a shorter board if you spend the time on it....untill you get above average surfing then board length will matter and not just because someone said it would matter.