Surfing
Board check: The Fish
Twin for the win.
Matt Hoy was always one of my favourite surfers. He used to surf with power and speed, and suited any waves that would push back a bit. If it got small and onshore he was nowhere, most likely in the pub sinking a few quiet ones. He was admired and respected, and still is to this day, but one moment in his career will never be forgotten.
It was in France, and Hoyo was pitted against none other than Tom Curren. It was a time when every single competitive surfer in the world was competing on a similarly shaped squash-tail board with three fins. It was the set standard, and there was no need to deviate as ‘if it’s not broken don’t fix it.’ For some reason however, Hoyo found himself alone in the water, and Mr Curren was nowhere to be seen.
Then he arrived, out of nowhere, with a 5’5 retro fish under his arm. It was the strangest thing to see – different equipment being used in a sport where everyone uses the same equipment, pretty much. A retro fish, it was presumed, would be a severe disadvantage to Curren, and the heat garnered massive interest.
Hoyo was distracted, and Curren went to town on his little board, flying down the line on the small beach-break right-handers. He did all the moves necessary, looked good doing them as only Curren can, and won the heat convincingly, leaving everyone wondering what they had just witnessed.
It was the opening of the proverbial floodgates, and before long everyone had a fish or a fun shortboard in their quiver. Shapers started making them with a few different twists, and the most important thing was that everyone seemed to really enjoy these little paddle machines.
These days surfers like Ricky Basnett seem to enjoy a little modern twist to their fish surfboards, and young Mr Basnett enjoys making a few under the Shaka Sleds label. Not a man to mess around when it comes to the serious fun of surfing in the 21st century, Ricky Bobby also enjoys riding these boards in the right-hand point-break perfection in and around his current environs of St Francis Bay. With so many surfers out there watching him rip, it’s not surprising that these boards are getting some serious popularity in the eastern cape.
The modern fish is a fat little paddling machine with two fins, to keep things succinct. Your common or garden variety – how ironic is that? – is a short 5’5 kind of board, usually with an exaggerated swallow tail, nice and fat in that it is over 2 ½ inches thick, and usually over 20 inches wide. So what makes it so nice and fast then? Well, it has a very flat rocker. The rocker is the curve of the board, and if you board has little rocker it means that the water can travel quickly over the surface, giving it more speed. The problem with a flat rocker giving it speed means that the trade-off is that a board with a flat rocker is not very maneuverable. Which makes little sense when you see a guy like Ricky Bobby ripping his fish like a boss at a wave such as Supertubes, one of the best right-hand point-breaks in the world.
So what’s the deal?
The trick lies in the fact that the fish surfboards are so short, thus keeping all measures of maneuverability. On top of this, shapers like Ricky will give it a nice ‘vee’ to help with turning and biting, making for an all round little performer that thrives when the waves are small and onshore scraps.
A fish is so much fun to ride. It’s the kind of board that brings a smile to your face in conditions that would normally make you frown.
And we all want to be smiling, don't we?