Whenever I come across an image of this board, I always stop and take a moment to just marvel at it. I just love the balance of the curves, the single wing... even the logo and the resin tint rail lap. It all looks just right.
It's a 5'10" single into double concave, '73 model inspired by the single wing, single fin pins that i used to ride in the early '70's. I've built quite a few of these for myself over the last couple of years and they've surprised me numerous times now, with just how well they surf.
I remember the very first surf on one as a single fin (early versions had the extra quad boxes). The waves were small and soft and I wasn't really expecting much, but the board just flew down the line, turning with a really nice squirt that the 70's singles never had.
Another time was slightly overhead, afternoon in the Ments. The waves were really nice shape, but very soft. The kind of waves that I would usually struggle with on a thruster. But with the '73 single fin, I just couldn't do a thing wrong and I was really surprised with just how well the board was surfing.
And then down East last year, on a quite powerful, head high, long walled right, the board just matched the wave perfectly. Often when this particular wave was breaking like this, thrusters or twinnys would build up too much speed and tend to get a a bit uncontrollable. But the '73 was just right, pulling smooth carving turns and not getting crabby like a thruster would, if I ran too far out on the shoulder.
It's a beautiful thing.....
Do you ever make something and then just sit back and marvel at the beauty of it?
And I'm not talking about giving yourself a pat on the back, but just simply admiring at the beauty of what's just been created... this board is one of those for me.