Surfing Waves

Jripper53 was saying on another post that he was deciding against getting a FISH. I subtle warned to reconsider, due in part to the on coming boom of FISH shapes. Fishes were big here in Japan 10 years ago, and then faded to Mini-Simmons then to Mid-Length Single fins. But now you can really feel the 2nd push of Fish shapes.


Some friends out in Chiba.


A Dick Brewer fish shape.


A Glenn Miyasaki shape in Hawaii.


Even Daniel Thompson is making his El Tomo Fish.

( and not to mention Rob Machado's Go Fish )

So hot!

What do you think about a long fish? 6'8"-7' or so? How would it ride? Quad or twin? Is it a worthwhile step for a beginner stepping down from 7'+ funboard?

6’8” - 7’0” ? That’s not a fish, THAT’S A WHALE.

But seriously, that is a open ended question only you yourself can answer.

But I would say a “Beginner” shouldn’t be on anything sub-7 foot ( or honestly 8 foot for that matter) until they can cutback backside consistently.

As for Quads, don’t ride them until you’ve mastered riding a Thruster first.

So Waikikichan, would you recommend a fish for a beginner who wants to go down in size? For a beginner who has no clue? Would you recommend a high performance fish for anyone other than a expert? Or I guess the question should be who do you recommend a fish for? Please expand on your post give us a little more of your knowledge.

oldmansurfer wrote:would you recommend a fish for a beginner who wants to go down in size?

No, because "beginners" ( varied opinions on what that is ) should be riding a board 3 feet over their heads. If they are consistently doing backside cutbacks, then I would say they are not "beginners" anymore. But that said, "a" board is better than "no" board, especially if your reason to down size is because of your car or train ( but not because you want something more maneuverable )

oldmansurfer wrote:Would you recommend a high performance fish for anyone other than a expert?

I would say a true fish is "Anti-High Performance". Directed more towards being smooth and playful.
Not so much these new trend / band wagon fishes coming out currently, but like the old school Lis Fish.
Fishes need to be surfed on rail, from rail to rail constantly. So you don't need to be an expert but have a all around solid base in your surfing technique.

The worst thing I hear is beginners saying they were told " that learning to surf on a Fish is much easier than a Shortboard". There's that one popular "surf like a pro" youtube video that recommends Fishes for beginners, from which I think that thought stems from. But compared to a 8 foot mini-tanker, a Fish is much harder to learn on for a "beginner".

oldmansurfer wrote:For a beginner who has no clue?

Well hopefully at least he/she has the fins facing the right direction and waxes the top of the board, not the bottom. ( I once saw these "beginner" with their Donald Takayama 5'10" Scorpions. Problem was they had all five fins installed. Long center fin in the box and 4 quad fins installed in the fin slots. Yikes! )

All the speed
Deep bottom turns to full arcing top turns
Smooth as silk

This a segment from the movie "Sprout" which was released in 2003. So 17 years later there's another push for fishes. *disclaimer: not all the boards are fishes in this segment*

I think there is a definitional issue - fish for traditionalists vs people who say a fish is just a wider board with a swallow tail. The latter is perhaps just a hybrid or even almost an egg shape, with the same concaves and rocker etc, but gets called a fish due to the tail (I’ve seen people call the addvance a fish!). The latter is easier to learn on than a short board, but calling it a fish is problematic

waikikikichan wrote:

oldmansurfer wrote:would you recommend a fish for a beginner who wants to go down in size?

No, because "beginners" ( varied opinions on what that is ) should be riding a board 3 feet over their heads. If they are consistently doing backside cutbacks, then I would say they are not "beginners" anymore. But that said, "a" board is better than "no" board, especially if your reason to down size is because of your car or train ( but not because you want something more maneuverable )

oldmansurfer wrote:Would you recommend a high performance fish for anyone other than a expert?

I would say a true fish is "Anti-High Performance". Directed more towards being smooth and playful.
Not so much these new trend / band wagon fishes coming out currently, but like the old school Lis Fish.
Fishes need to be surfed on rail, from rail to rail constantly. So you don't need to be an expert but have a all around solid base in your surfing technique.

The worst thing I hear is beginners saying they were told " that learning to surf on a Fish is much easier than a Shortboard". There's that one popular "surf like a pro" youtube video that recommends Fishes for beginners, from which I think that thought stems from. But compared to a 8 foot mini-tanker, a Fish is much harder to learn on for a "beginner".

oldmansurfer wrote:For a beginner who has no clue?

Well hopefully at least he/she has the fins facing the right direction and waxes the top of the board, not the bottom. ( I once saw these "beginner" with their Donald Takayama 5'10" Scorpions. Problem was they had all five fins installed. Long center fin in the box and 4 quad fins installed in the fin slots. Yikes! )

Thanks so much. You are a wealth of information. I knew there was a lot more you could say about fish. I am so clueless when it comes to a variety of things. I only know what I do. I have this idea that maybe beginners can use a fish because it has more flotation and since they can't turn much anyway the wide tail won't matter but I absolutely have no idea if this is true or not. Thanks for sharing your mana'o with us.

It’s all relative. Sure, I agree a Fish is 100% easier to learn on than a HP shortboard. But in comparison of learning on a Fish versus a 8’0”, what is easier then ?
An example would be its easier to get hit by Manny Pacquiao than to be hit by Mike Tyson. But the outcome will be the same, you’re still going to get knocked out !

Great. Informative post. Thanks for this.

I haven't given up on the fish yet! Tax returns are coming.

https://www.steepandcheap.com/nsp-eleme ... 5zcCBmaXNo

Jripper53 wrote:I haven't given up on the fish yet! Tax returns are coming.

https://www.steepandcheap.com/nsp-eleme ... 5zcCBmaXNo

Nicest way to get something back from the government!

Agreed Jaffa!

A fish for all you Hypto Krypto fanatics.