Found some short video clips from a few years ago. This one is Travis Riley riding the PSQ prototype. I'm guessing this was shot around June of 2K9. That's what... coming on 6 years ago.

You sure can see how responsive that board is in this little 60 second clip. OK, Travis is a good surfer, but still that boards is responsive.

I know I like it.

D.R.

The evolution of surfboards from long boards to short boards got its start, for the most part, in 1967.  All during 1968 boards were going shorter and shorter. Through out the year of 1969 it wasn't uncommon to see boards in the low 6 foot range.

Through out the seventies surfboards continued going through design changes. When the tri fin design surfaced and with it the board design that seemed to fit with the tri fin surfboard design began to slow and refine around the tri fin board design.

But, through the seventies there were board designs being made and ridden then passed over for something else.  There are a couple old board designs from the evolution days that have come back. They fit into the alt board category but are really from the early days. Back in the day there was a lot of experimentation and short design trends that would get started and not last.

You may see some of the old board designs and think they are cool... and they are but the ones that really worked well have made a come back. The two? the fish and the hull.

The hull has had a following from day one really but that following was pretty limited to a hand full of guys in Southern California. The only other board design I can think of that started in the early '70s and has continued to this day is the Bonzer.

As far as long boards.. the boards designs of 1966 and '67 and there contemporary reissues have come back as the long board of choice for many.

Good design stands the test of time.

D.R.

My son Robin and his Fish

My story and fins

The first surfboard I owned I made and, I made the fin for it too. In 7th grade wood shop. It was made of mahogany wood and had a Maltese cross cut out in it. Since it was 1963/64 it was a 'D' fin. Like all the other surfboards of the day.

I don't remember how I foiled that first fin. I don't remember laminating it on my surfboard either. With all the experience I have making surfboards now and knowing the fining process it's hard to imagine how I pulled off getting that first fin on that first surfboard, I didn't have anyone to show me how. Somehow I managed.

All the other surfboards I made while a teenager with me little surfboard business had glass on fins too. I wish I could remember where I got the fins for those early surfboards. Did I make them, buy them?

It wasn't until 1967 when I went to work for Morey-Pope the I got exposed to the removable fin.  Morey had one of the first removable fin systems back then with several fin shapes. The system gave you the opportunity to change your fin and see how your surfboard responded with a different shape fin.

The Morey fins were made of polypropylene. It was possible to reshape some of those polypropylene fins too. So I'd experiment with fin shapes of my own by reshaping a few of the fin shapes that were available at the time.

When we started making our boards shorter the old long board fins were replaced with new fin shapes that worked for the shorter boards. All my early short board fins we made by laying up fiberglass panels. Then cut and foiled a fin from the panel then glass the fin on the board. It was a big process and a fare amount of work.

I'd forgotten how much work goes into making a surfboard fin by hand. It all came back to me this past week when I glued up some wood, cut out and hand foiled the fin for my new Model 50 surfboard. It's a 'D' fin like the one I made for my first surfboard. 

D.R.