new perceptions, new shapes

this morning's session was full of new perceptions, thanks to zero wind and the relative lack of people in the water. first, my new fish, because of its wide tail and lack of a center fin, becomes obscenely squirrely if i take off with even the slightest bit of white water underneath the tail. that is why my new dream board is this one . i think it'd be delightful to ride a short board with plenty of flotation and a big honking center fin. i can only imagine what it would feel like to hold a line high up on a wave with it. amazing! you can, of course, do that on a fish, but it's trickier. i was looking for a single fin when i broke down and bought my new fish, not that i have buyer's remorse, but i still have the desire to get a single fin. the description of the stubbie on this page says that "rebounding off the whitewater is a bit easier with the stability of a center fin." that's opening up new ideas for me, and as much as quad fins are the rage, i think i need a center fin. and, just to clarify, my 6'7" trifin provides an amazing ride, but sometimes the surf is smallish and requires something a bit more floaty like the fish. that's where i think a single fin stubby comes in to play. i also spent a lot of time this morning making a point of popping up even earlier than your conscious mind tells you to, and on one wave that was weak but walled up nicely and nearly collapsing, i went straight into grabbling my rail and sort of did a freefall down the face of the wave. this strikes me as inherently more controlled than allowing yourself to get thrown, or trying to make a drop the conventional way. it also keeps your center of gravity much closer to the pocket. new horizons on drop ins!