This is all so exciting – Seriously, but how can some of us get so down on TE for his idea? As Delbert P. pointed out, and my, oh what do you call a life long, life changing friend (I feel so freaking privileged at this point in my life, and I am making this point to bless you my brother.) friend Dale S. elaborated on, flex may very well be where it is at. Keep on keeping on TE. For those of you who gave some advice encouragement, thanks. I will one day post some pics of the two piece flex tail… in action. tO
I am quite happy with my outdated and rearword thinking surfboards. I am quite capable of making the fastest and longest sections around no problem. I see no need for a surfboard with training wheels like the FP. Might be a good beginner board for someone who can't ride yet, otherwise it is a novelty board loved only by its creator. I think it is time to move on to bigger and better topics.
If you wish to talk to a man who can show you how to achive one way torrsional flex in fibreglass fins..........and 30% more efficiency from a Flow form....and about this 30% when you turn a board you know how much effort you use to get the nose around and you feel some boards do that far easier than others.......well imagine riding shortboard since 1968 and have built over 3000 boards and various types of boards you would get a feel I presume for performance and stylised design variation (custom shaping).......FP take 1/3 less effort to achive the same results and will out run any planing shape......where A friend IN WA Margrets river claims even after riding 8' he did not find a limit to the controled top end performance, which I belive is very significant..... http://www.geocities.com/wunderboyi/ninetysixpercent.html
the best margrets boards ive ever had were the slowest pigs and didnt work anywhere else...margrets is such a powerful wave, speed is the last thing you want its contoled drag....if i ever read a comment from you that contradicts this and you start saying that they go off in small soft waves as well ,,,then you will be condeming yourself with your own words.....as far as a fin with 30% torsional flex one way ...i dont really think that is a problem, maybe the percentages are a little exagerated ....but flex bias fins are nothing new ...not to me anyway...btw what medication are you on ???? do you have some soughta post traumatic stress.?...has the surfing industry dealt you a savage blow from which you never recovered???do you have a split personality....is paul cole and te one in the same???
I sure you do....It seem I may have to ring my friends In WA to pop on to the BB....although you will always know better I feel there are some experienced surfers who will vouch for the performance differences..... OUr friend is requestiing to remain annon........ G'day, Your best bet is to speak to Paul Cole about price for him to make one, the board is more expensive (in Australia our prices are very low considering what the rest of the world pays) than a conventional surfboard as there is an absolute sh.tload more work in them, however in performance and every thing else that matters in a surfboard you will look on it as money well spent. My board was made to plans I purchased from Paul earlier on this year, as I had not shaped a board previously, the board is not to Paul's standards, but it still goes off. I know the claims made on the FP site sound high in the BS factor (they did to me) they are not, if any thing they are a bit conservative, have a close look at the vid's on the site, in particular the speed of the spray. These boards as you can see accelerate really quick and turn like a demon. Anyway enough of my waffle, have a chat with Paul Cole, find someone who has got a board to beg n borrow it to check the claims. Get one and you will be popular at both ends of the spectrum, curiosity factor ...what the hell is that? and pissed of factor as you will be burning more people getting onto waves on the waves and manuvering! All the best in the surf, may they peel good,long n hollow (I'd be happy for any type of wave here on the West coast at the moment). Regards ---------------------------- Nice Question, depends on how you class "a Beginner", myself I've only being doing the standup gig for a little over 4 years now and as I'm now plummeting headlong towards forty, learning hasn't been the easiest of tasks. If you can get up on a board and do you turns you should be right. If any thing the FP will increase your learning curve as everything happens so much quicker ie speed and turns I've yet to actually find out how quick this board can go if I really push it yet with out trying it has surpassed all I've ridden prior without trying. Now that I've said that and got you thinking that it may be a bit much for "a beginner" the speed and turns come with very little effort, that is you don't have to force(muscle/push whatever) the board like what you have to do with a conventional board. Myself, I've zero complaints about the board which I made (yep, mines a Homie). It's a 6'4" and I've ridden it on surf ranging in size from waist high to 10ft (heading towards brown trousers territory there) and after almost a year with the FP I will not go back to a conventional board. I borrowed a mates new 6'8" board which is reputed to be fairly quick and it felt like I was towing a load of weed on my leg rope. With one of these boards you will get some strange looks, but you will also get a hell of a lot of curiosity and interrogations. What will really get you is if you lend your board to a mate(?) in the line up and you struggle to get it back cause they want to catch Just one more wave! Basically my opinion is that the boards great. Hope with my rambling explanation I haven't confused the issue further for you. May the breeze be offshore The waves barrelling and everyone else be at work. Enjoy ------------------- http://www.geocities.com/wunderboyi/ninetysixpercent.html
I havent caught up with the guys over WA yet but these are some of the letters they send me........ ------------------------------- G'day Paul, Further to our discussion the other day regarding a speed challenge for your board as a bit of a gimmick. I was speaking to ##### again and he mentioned they (WA Gov?) undertook speed tests on surfers when building the artificial reef at Leighton beach over here. As far as we know they used standard radar gear and possibly did not need any addition reflection devices on surfers (unconfirmed). I don't know whether you think this would be a good idea to get some exposure on your side of the world you would have to be fairly confident that your board will burn all comers (it should do). Give us a yell when the site gets modified and if I can get the copies of your flyers I can start handing them out over here (sorry to hassle Tony). Remember your worst day surfin is better than your best day workin. Regards -------------------------------------------------------- I built my Penguin based on the plans which I purchased from Paul, I had never built a board before so Paul's help was invaluable. I believe I have the design mostly right although Paul calls my board "Porky Penguin" as it weighs in at 9.9lb (probably about the same weight as your mal). My board is 6'4" x 19-1/2" (wings) x16-3/4" (nose) x 2-1/2" thick. I weigh in at 77kg. I am 37 years old, have been doing the stand up gig properly now for about 3 years now (gone to the darkside from riding lids) I am not quick (or coordinated) at getting to my feet. My normal surf break is down at Melros (Mandurah), I have tried it a couple of times down at South Point (sorry to much hassle at Huzza's) with luck I'll be down there tommorow to enjoy the remnants of the weekend swell. How to describe the Penguin, basically it's a bizare thing both to look at and to ride. This board picks up speed very quick and allows you to get onto a wave early very similar to what your mal does (ie before it starts breaking on your head). Once up the board accelerates easily, the hardest lesson to learn is not to put a lot of effort into the turns, this board turns in about 1/2 the turning circle of a standard thruster, given the normal force used in a turn the board will point back the way it came, this in conjunction with the added speed can hurt (you learn quickly, trust me). Other points is that although the board has a reduced nose width it is actually very stable, transition between the rails is very good (very effortless). Don't let this put you of as with the extra speed you find that instead of going from top to bottom of a wave doing turns you can actually go back an forth on the wave face. Regarding wave size, I've surfed Sth point at head & 1/2+ no probs (3.5m on swell chart). Regarding my fins I have used FCS fin setup, I have a thruster set up of plugs. This give the best of both worlds, I am able to use it as a "Twinny" such as Paul has developed or as a thruster for smaller surf. The fins I use are: Twinny FCS Twinzer fins. Thruster FCS GR These ae at the lager end of the FCS range but with what this board does they are needed, the only thing is unlike a normal board you don't notice the size. With the size of your board, listen to Paul, I was skeptical when he described this board to me and it's performance, bigger is quicker but you have to be able to use it. An example was I had some prat who snaked me as I was getting ready to pop up, I dropped my knees into the water to put the breaks on and still ran up the back of his legs (he didn't do it again), they are very quick, quicker than a normal board but if you go to big they will go ballistic. My personal belief is that you will be very happy with the board, they are expensive to buy but I can assure you it's because there is so much work involved in the damn thing. It took me a full week of nights and 1 weekend to shape it (only), painting and glassing took another week an a half. Ok I'm not a shaper but theres still a bucket load of work in it. You may get the impression I'm sold on these boards, I am, I will be making another when I kill this one. No I don't get any benefit from Fat Penguin for my endorsement, I'm just happy that I was able to get on one of these and to be able to say I had the first one in WA. I believe in what Paul has designed, however as with most designers it is extremely hard to get market support, especially when trying to market to very image conscious surfers (theres a lot of tossers out there). This board is like the next generation like when the first short boards came out against Mals and thrusters against single fins. If you want to have a squizz at my board or give it a burl, I normally do the dawn patrol down at #######, just give us a yell. I feel you are going to have some fun with this. All the best ---------------- http://www.geocities.com/wunderboyi/ninetysixpercent.html
I kept out of this as long as I could and my reasoning is that I have seen a FP because the factory where I was working they had to glass one. Now to me someone who is claiming to have all this knowledge of surfboard reactions must have shaped a lot of boards and i dont mean a couple of hundred, shit it's atleast a couple of thousand before you start being able to see, feel and align the necessary ingriedients. When i saw this thing the theories where wrong for performance surfing (professional standard)and not only that but the shaping work was shocking, dips, bumps, uneven, twists you name it, all signs of an inexperienced shaper. I suggest to FP that before sprouting fin and torque theories that you hone your shaping skills. KR
Swami R&D you need to get up to speed on Greenough R& D! Howlong ago do you think his "heyday" concepts were anyway? Try to make a surf film that surpasses Innermost Limits and Echoes. Something that shocks and rocks todays surf culture worldwide. Then you and FP (Flying Pumpkin) can lay claim to fresh tracks. Talk isnt cheap its free!
This is all so exciting – Seriously, but how can some of us get so down on TE for his idea? As Delbert P. pointed out, and my, oh what do you call a life long, life changing friend (I feel so freaking privileged at this point in my life, and I am making this point to bless you my brother.) friend Dale S. elaborated on, flex may very well be where it is at. Keep on keeping on TE. For those of you who gave some advice encouragement, thanks. I will one day post some pics of the two piece flex tail… in action. tO
I am quite happy with my outdated and rearword thinking surfboards. I am quite capable of making the fastest and longest sections around no problem. I see no need for a surfboard with training wheels like the FP. Might be a good beginner board for someone who can't ride yet, otherwise it is a novelty board loved only by its creator. I think it is time to move on to bigger and better topics.
If you wish to talk to a man who can show you how to achive one way torrsional flex in fibreglass fins..........and 30% more efficiency from a Flow form....and about this 30% when you turn a board you know how much effort you use to get the nose around and you feel some boards do that far easier than others.......well imagine riding shortboard since 1968 and have built over 3000 boards and various types of boards you would get a feel I presume for performance and stylised design variation (custom shaping).......FP take 1/3 less effort to achive the same results and will out run any planing shape......where A friend IN WA Margrets river claims even after riding 8' he did not find a limit to the controled top end performance, which I belive is very significant..... http://www.geocities.com/wunderboyi/ninetysixpercent.html
Tell us how and we'll try and believe it. This forum is about discussing, not claiming.
the best margrets boards ive ever had were the slowest pigs and didnt work anywhere else...margrets is such a powerful wave, speed is the last thing you want its contoled drag....if i ever read a comment from you that contradicts this and you start saying that they go off in small soft waves as well ,,,then you will be condeming yourself with your own words.....as far as a fin with 30% torsional flex one way ...i dont really think that is a problem, maybe the percentages are a little exagerated ....but flex bias fins are nothing new ...not to me anyway...btw what medication are you on ???? do you have some soughta post traumatic stress.?...has the surfing industry dealt you a savage blow from which you never recovered???do you have a split personality....is paul cole and te one in the same???
.....I only want fast/low drag boards.........I get them to work anywhere,anytime.Herb
I sure you do....It seem I may have to ring my friends In WA to pop on to the BB....although you will always know better I feel there are some experienced surfers who will vouch for the performance differences..... OUr friend is requestiing to remain annon........ G'day, Your best bet is to speak to Paul Cole about price for him to make one, the board is more expensive (in Australia our prices are very low considering what the rest of the world pays) than a conventional surfboard as there is an absolute sh.tload more work in them, however in performance and every thing else that matters in a surfboard you will look on it as money well spent. My board was made to plans I purchased from Paul earlier on this year, as I had not shaped a board previously, the board is not to Paul's standards, but it still goes off. I know the claims made on the FP site sound high in the BS factor (they did to me) they are not, if any thing they are a bit conservative, have a close look at the vid's on the site, in particular the speed of the spray. These boards as you can see accelerate really quick and turn like a demon. Anyway enough of my waffle, have a chat with Paul Cole, find someone who has got a board to beg n borrow it to check the claims. Get one and you will be popular at both ends of the spectrum, curiosity factor ...what the hell is that? and pissed of factor as you will be burning more people getting onto waves on the waves and manuvering! All the best in the surf, may they peel good,long n hollow (I'd be happy for any type of wave here on the West coast at the moment). Regards ---------------------------- Nice Question, depends on how you class "a Beginner", myself I've only being doing the standup gig for a little over 4 years now and as I'm now plummeting headlong towards forty, learning hasn't been the easiest of tasks. If you can get up on a board and do you turns you should be right. If any thing the FP will increase your learning curve as everything happens so much quicker ie speed and turns I've yet to actually find out how quick this board can go if I really push it yet with out trying it has surpassed all I've ridden prior without trying. Now that I've said that and got you thinking that it may be a bit much for "a beginner" the speed and turns come with very little effort, that is you don't have to force(muscle/push whatever) the board like what you have to do with a conventional board. Myself, I've zero complaints about the board which I made (yep, mines a Homie). It's a 6'4" and I've ridden it on surf ranging in size from waist high to 10ft (heading towards brown trousers territory there) and after almost a year with the FP I will not go back to a conventional board. I borrowed a mates new 6'8" board which is reputed to be fairly quick and it felt like I was towing a load of weed on my leg rope. With one of these boards you will get some strange looks, but you will also get a hell of a lot of curiosity and interrogations. What will really get you is if you lend your board to a mate(?) in the line up and you struggle to get it back cause they want to catch Just one more wave! Basically my opinion is that the boards great. Hope with my rambling explanation I haven't confused the issue further for you. May the breeze be offshore The waves barrelling and everyone else be at work. Enjoy ------------------- http://www.geocities.com/wunderboyi/ninetysixpercent.html
I havent caught up with the guys over WA yet but these are some of the letters they send me........ ------------------------------- G'day Paul, Further to our discussion the other day regarding a speed challenge for your board as a bit of a gimmick. I was speaking to ##### again and he mentioned they (WA Gov?) undertook speed tests on surfers when building the artificial reef at Leighton beach over here. As far as we know they used standard radar gear and possibly did not need any addition reflection devices on surfers (unconfirmed). I don't know whether you think this would be a good idea to get some exposure on your side of the world you would have to be fairly confident that your board will burn all comers (it should do). Give us a yell when the site gets modified and if I can get the copies of your flyers I can start handing them out over here (sorry to hassle Tony). Remember your worst day surfin is better than your best day workin. Regards -------------------------------------------------------- I built my Penguin based on the plans which I purchased from Paul, I had never built a board before so Paul's help was invaluable. I believe I have the design mostly right although Paul calls my board "Porky Penguin" as it weighs in at 9.9lb (probably about the same weight as your mal). My board is 6'4" x 19-1/2" (wings) x16-3/4" (nose) x 2-1/2" thick. I weigh in at 77kg. I am 37 years old, have been doing the stand up gig properly now for about 3 years now (gone to the darkside from riding lids) I am not quick (or coordinated) at getting to my feet. My normal surf break is down at Melros (Mandurah), I have tried it a couple of times down at South Point (sorry to much hassle at Huzza's) with luck I'll be down there tommorow to enjoy the remnants of the weekend swell. How to describe the Penguin, basically it's a bizare thing both to look at and to ride. This board picks up speed very quick and allows you to get onto a wave early very similar to what your mal does (ie before it starts breaking on your head). Once up the board accelerates easily, the hardest lesson to learn is not to put a lot of effort into the turns, this board turns in about 1/2 the turning circle of a standard thruster, given the normal force used in a turn the board will point back the way it came, this in conjunction with the added speed can hurt (you learn quickly, trust me). Other points is that although the board has a reduced nose width it is actually very stable, transition between the rails is very good (very effortless). Don't let this put you of as with the extra speed you find that instead of going from top to bottom of a wave doing turns you can actually go back an forth on the wave face. Regarding wave size, I've surfed Sth point at head & 1/2+ no probs (3.5m on swell chart). Regarding my fins I have used FCS fin setup, I have a thruster set up of plugs. This give the best of both worlds, I am able to use it as a "Twinny" such as Paul has developed or as a thruster for smaller surf. The fins I use are: Twinny FCS Twinzer fins. Thruster FCS GR These ae at the lager end of the FCS range but with what this board does they are needed, the only thing is unlike a normal board you don't notice the size. With the size of your board, listen to Paul, I was skeptical when he described this board to me and it's performance, bigger is quicker but you have to be able to use it. An example was I had some prat who snaked me as I was getting ready to pop up, I dropped my knees into the water to put the breaks on and still ran up the back of his legs (he didn't do it again), they are very quick, quicker than a normal board but if you go to big they will go ballistic. My personal belief is that you will be very happy with the board, they are expensive to buy but I can assure you it's because there is so much work involved in the damn thing. It took me a full week of nights and 1 weekend to shape it (only), painting and glassing took another week an a half. Ok I'm not a shaper but theres still a bucket load of work in it. You may get the impression I'm sold on these boards, I am, I will be making another when I kill this one. No I don't get any benefit from Fat Penguin for my endorsement, I'm just happy that I was able to get on one of these and to be able to say I had the first one in WA. I believe in what Paul has designed, however as with most designers it is extremely hard to get market support, especially when trying to market to very image conscious surfers (theres a lot of tossers out there). This board is like the next generation like when the first short boards came out against Mals and thrusters against single fins. If you want to have a squizz at my board or give it a burl, I normally do the dawn patrol down at #######, just give us a yell. I feel you are going to have some fun with this. All the best ---------------- http://www.geocities.com/wunderboyi/ninetysixpercent.html
I kept out of this as long as I could and my reasoning is that I have seen a FP because the factory where I was working they had to glass one. Now to me someone who is claiming to have all this knowledge of surfboard reactions must have shaped a lot of boards and i dont mean a couple of hundred, shit it's atleast a couple of thousand before you start being able to see, feel and align the necessary ingriedients. When i saw this thing the theories where wrong for performance surfing (professional standard)and not only that but the shaping work was shocking, dips, bumps, uneven, twists you name it, all signs of an inexperienced shaper. I suggest to FP that before sprouting fin and torque theories that you hone your shaping skills. KR
Swami R&D you need to get up to speed on Greenough R& D! Howlong ago do you think his "heyday" concepts were anyway? Try to make a surf film that surpasses Innermost Limits and Echoes. Something that shocks and rocks todays surf culture worldwide. Then you and FP (Flying Pumpkin) can lay claim to fresh tracks. Talk isnt cheap its free!
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