A new board on its way...

[john -]

OOK

around here there is also a style I call twin finners

Ive got reasonably sharp at picking whose riding a twinnie by their lack of drive and punch

mostly the same shaper, always from around the surf coast region and probably have never seen a sparrow vid

Before other twin riders from elsewhere load up......let me say for the surfing megalopolis in terms of industry the Torquay region is,... the odd kneelo still kneeling has not seemed to have moved on past the early 80's

There are kneelos on this site from the other major surf locales in Victoria being Phillip Island and the Mornington Peninsula but just me that im aware off from the bells to 13th beach region and my last board being a Balin tri fin came from the Mornington Peninsula region so i was lucky to have that exposure

thus another name for the style is "the yet to be made aware of what other kneelos are up to" style

i think ive also slipped back into the equipment suggests/influences style debate as well

dorje

[splashy]

Doing yourself a disfavour there splashy - also to your shaper. To parahprase RJK "Ask not what your shaper can do for you, but what you can do for your shaper." Your shaper puts his own blood and sweat and art and heart into your boards and the money you give the por fellow is a pittance for such a thing.

Shaper's thrive on feedback and a surfer's own ideas. When you have a shaper you are a part of a team. Think symbiotic not parasitic. Be brave, go out there surf, feel and imaginate .... and don't keep your mouth shut. Confidence will win the day and...

Headwax, you missed my point entirely. I work really closely with dave for my boards, and have done so for the entire 15 years that I have been riding for him.

This process takes months, and we work through all sorts of boards, swapping them over. Me riding some of his, and he riding some of mine, and then him riding some of his again to get an greater understanding of my feedback.

The point I was making is that there is a danger in walking into a factory and telling the shaper the exact type of board you want without giving him anything to work on in terms of what waves you ride, how you ride them, other boards you have ridden, how you feel about them. You need to tap into your shaper's knowledge and allow him to produce a board that will help take your surfing where you want to go. The process is inherently mutually beneficial because the shaper can only work on the info your provide him, which is greater knowledge of how boards work from your experience..

The self-analysis involved in this also allows you to become more consciously technical about how you ride and, as you ride different boards, how you make different shaping elements work.

It's a fun journey to go on, and with Dave, the results have always been fantastic (hmmm, on second-thought there have been a few duds in there, but what we learned from them was probably more than what we would have learned from a board that worked) and proves that if you develop a strong relationship and understanding with a shaper you can come up with all sorts of amazing boards and shapes and have a whole lot of fun along the way.

Post-surf beers while standing around the backyard looking at all the boards you rode that day and talking about how they did/didn't work also helps...... but usually degenerates into surf-trip stories and sometimes you end up with a new Bali-board instead of the beach-break all-rounder you were originally after ....

[Don]

Parksey and a keyboard...

Steve Artis, Hart, Bud .... all we need is to put together and get Parksey a keyboard for Chrissie.

Kneeboard heaven.

Well, actually, David says he's a hunt and pecker (Yanky slang for a one finger typist) but he gets along just fine with email. He's just not into self promotion in any way shape or form. As most of us (me included!) have used this forum to share thoughts, it can be time consuming. Best way to communicate with him is via email and he's golden with explanations of shapes, performance etc. Not to take anything away from those of us who use this forum to express thoughts and communicate at large. I've learned a lot from reading the Design forum posts. Just different strokes for different folks.

BTW... I agree w/ Splashy AND Headwax... I think you are saying similar thoughts. Work with your shaper, try lots of boards and fine tune along the way. Feedback is the key and it goes both ways.

Cheers,

Don