Bruce Fowler
Well-Known Member
I wanted to start this new thread with an invitation for both customers & shapers to chime in on this subject.
As a starting point, I am providing you with a REAL interaction I have had this week with a member considering a new surfboard for himself.
For those of you that have interacted with me either by considering or ending up ordering a board, you know that I am dedicated toward taking the time to provide you with the info you need to make an informed decision toward your next surfboard, whether it ends up being one of mine or not.
Hope this works.........
Hi Bruce,
I may be in the market for a new board, and was hoping to get your take on it.
I am looking to replace a 7’10 Mabile Honey Badger that was on loan from a friend.
I currently have some feelers out for a used one on Jamboards, but have also been considering having something done custom.
I am familiar mostly with the stokers and some of the other bigger guy short boards you have done for surfers in the NYC area, as well as your ongoing advice to users on Jamboards Your take usually makes too much sense, so I thought I’d reach out and start a convo.
I really clicked with the Badger, its drive and flow, but def. felt it was a bit oversized for me, especially when trying to drive the rail on my backhand for cut backs, top turns etc. Im sure some of it is technique, or maybe all of it, but seemed more difficult for me than other boards
I was surfing it with a larry allison 9” flex fin on softer mushier days and waves, and switched that out with a 8.5 frye on lined up hollow beach break days.
Either way, I rode it with its little side bites, Seemed to go well both ways.
Im 6’0 200ish in shape pounds, early 40’s, usually in the water 2-3 days a week.
I surf all over the northern east coast, NJ up to Maine, but mainly NYC, northern RI, and outer Cape Cod.
I have a pretty full quiver of other boards from 6’0 to 10’0, but this had become my go to in the softer RI waves on anything waist to head high.
Hope I’m not rambling too much, just trying to give you a good feel for what i’m looking for
Hop you are well, and look forward to hearing from you
Brian
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Honey Badger is definitely a solid design that appeals to surfers that want a more familiar experience if their roots stem from learning on a longboard or single fin surfboard.
HB follows the classic design concepts that those of us riding single fin shortboards thru the 1970's became so familiar with as the go to board of that era.
Thickness over the chest area for paddling, pulled in tail for hold, the bulk of the board in front of your tail riding stance that gets hurtling along after a few good pumps and turns. This type of surfboard is exactly what I, and many others rode at Rincon, The Ranch and other better quality lined up breaks along the Pacific coast.
I have made many of these boards over my long career as a shaper.
The "New Machine" is a very different kind of ride. To be honest, the Anderson SVM is closer to the HB than what I have evolved what I now call "NVM". The Anderson is just a knock off of the G&S Gypsy first shaped by Mitsven in 1970. Inside of two years, nearly every label had some version of that popular design:
Nose & Tail Width about the same w/Wide Point @ Center or slightly forward.
Nose Rocker 4" to 5"
Tail Rocker 1-3/4" to 2"
Flat Bottom with slight Vee in the last 1/4 of the Tail
Soft forgiving Forward Rails either 50/50 or 60/40
Hard Tail Rails for Speed & Release.
I was incensed that Rostoker (Stoker's real name) claimed he had created such a utility, well known design from the early to mid 70's. I felt it was a blatant attempt to hijack surfboard design history.
What about the New Machine?
Over ten years of doing the SVM's a very sophisticated, extremely user friendly surfboard has evolved that, IMHO ,is vastly superior to the early design - including the SVM's I shaped.
The reason why I continue to have a high percentage of return customers and quiver builders is because the boards work with a high degree of accuracy of my design intentions and what my Model Descriptions promise.
W/O any disrespect to the Honey Badger or other Round Pin designs..... designs that I find very appealing to the eye btw...... I have no doubt in my mind that my New (V) Machines paddle into waves earlier with less effort and that NVM's are faster right from the takeoff and just standing on the board aka Straight Line Trim Speed.
What about that wide tail?
The big surprise for guys getting on the NVM's is that the Uber Thin Foiled Tail block and Deep Panel Vee turn rail to rail like a narrower tailed surfboard. This was a design feature that I intentionally built into the NVM's.
Conventional wisdom is that narrow surfboards go rail to rail faster than wider surfboards. Wider surfboards inherently have more drive. Narrow boards have to be pumped frequently esp. in soft surf to carry their speed and stay up on a plane. It's a one-two-turn! one-two-turn! otherwise they bog down and sink in the water.
Not so with wide boards. They plane up early because the increased surface area generates more lift w/o the need of constant turning or hopping up & down on them.
What about the NVM rocker?
I built into the design what I term a "2 Rocker System".
We know that flat/straight is fast but not maneuverable.
Curvy is easy to turn, but slower unless you work the speed out of it.
Can you have both?
The answer is YES.
When do you need MORE ROCKER?
When you TURN.
My design combines Fast Flat Centerline Rocker with Generous Rail Rocker to give you the best of both worlds. The wide tail gives you a Ton of Horsepower for superior paddling, early entry into waves, fast Straight Line Trim Speed, this allows the boards to Carry their Speed thru Turns & Cutbacks improving most surfers riding experience.
They do this better than Round Pins & because of the tail redesign, they turn quickly rail to rail like a conventional width surfboard. So you get the best of both worlds & then some. The net result is an increase in hull speed, the board's ability to maneuver easily while sticking to the wave face with lots of stability and not bogging down where a narrower board would.
Still, surfers frequently have preconceived notions, and make judgements based upon looks versus physics and sound design criteria.
Here's a recent email from a guy that was always wondering about the boards & his first hand experience, including the concern over the width of the tail.
--------
Craig Owings <rncraig
Sun, Jul 5, 5:38 PM (13 days ago)
Hey there,
Picked up a used 6’6” that had a little fin box damage and stress cracks from impact - and fixed it up. Been wanting to try one of your boards for a while. Saw DeNicola ripping on a 6-8 few years ago.
It doesn’t say any sort of model name.
Rode at San onofre a week ago and churches today. First day I was floored at the speed and responsiveness. The tail scared me visually. But it turned like a normal width tail.
Told a couple friends about it. Today the friend I surfed with looked at the tail and I told him it doesn’t surf like it looks. He saw me on a wave and was like “ok, you blew me away at how that board turned!”
It’s amazing how short and agile it Surf’s.
Craig
---------
I think his account speaks volumes.
At your weight you could ride anything from a 6'6" up and feel in the zone depending upon the amount of turning & glide you desire. Here's a short clip depicting how maneuverable a 6'4" is on some decent waves:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWxh6sIA6rD/
Ultimately YOU are the customer and YOU decide what ride experience you are seeking. I've given you some food for thought as to what my boards offer that are different than other rides being offered out there. I make LOTS of different rides, including Round Pins, Fish, Longboards, Funshapes, Eggs............ anything you can imagine, I can make............ I've had guys want a V Machine Bonzer, and I studied Malcolm's stuff then went about making the customer his board. My mantra is "Never take the Custom"out of Customer".
I am always happy to answer as many questions as you may have when seeking what surfboard might be right for you, or a design you might be interested in adding to your quiver. My reward is having happy customers that enjoy the vehicles I provide to heighten their experience and hopefully improve their surfing....... not a wham, bam, thank you ma'am kind of approach. That's not me.
Your satisfaction is acknowledgement of a job well done.
That's my ultimate reward.
BF
----------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Craig just attached this clip on my FB page........... he's adding a BFV8 to the mix...... after watching this, I think he'll probably be ripping Church and Trestles on it.
As a starting point, I am providing you with a REAL interaction I have had this week with a member considering a new surfboard for himself.
For those of you that have interacted with me either by considering or ending up ordering a board, you know that I am dedicated toward taking the time to provide you with the info you need to make an informed decision toward your next surfboard, whether it ends up being one of mine or not.
Hope this works.........
Hi Bruce,
I may be in the market for a new board, and was hoping to get your take on it.
I am looking to replace a 7’10 Mabile Honey Badger that was on loan from a friend.
I currently have some feelers out for a used one on Jamboards, but have also been considering having something done custom.
I am familiar mostly with the stokers and some of the other bigger guy short boards you have done for surfers in the NYC area, as well as your ongoing advice to users on Jamboards Your take usually makes too much sense, so I thought I’d reach out and start a convo.
I really clicked with the Badger, its drive and flow, but def. felt it was a bit oversized for me, especially when trying to drive the rail on my backhand for cut backs, top turns etc. Im sure some of it is technique, or maybe all of it, but seemed more difficult for me than other boards
I was surfing it with a larry allison 9” flex fin on softer mushier days and waves, and switched that out with a 8.5 frye on lined up hollow beach break days.
Either way, I rode it with its little side bites, Seemed to go well both ways.
Im 6’0 200ish in shape pounds, early 40’s, usually in the water 2-3 days a week.
I surf all over the northern east coast, NJ up to Maine, but mainly NYC, northern RI, and outer Cape Cod.
I have a pretty full quiver of other boards from 6’0 to 10’0, but this had become my go to in the softer RI waves on anything waist to head high.
Hope I’m not rambling too much, just trying to give you a good feel for what i’m looking for
Hop you are well, and look forward to hearing from you
Brian
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Honey Badger is definitely a solid design that appeals to surfers that want a more familiar experience if their roots stem from learning on a longboard or single fin surfboard.
HB follows the classic design concepts that those of us riding single fin shortboards thru the 1970's became so familiar with as the go to board of that era.
Thickness over the chest area for paddling, pulled in tail for hold, the bulk of the board in front of your tail riding stance that gets hurtling along after a few good pumps and turns. This type of surfboard is exactly what I, and many others rode at Rincon, The Ranch and other better quality lined up breaks along the Pacific coast.
I have made many of these boards over my long career as a shaper.
The "New Machine" is a very different kind of ride. To be honest, the Anderson SVM is closer to the HB than what I have evolved what I now call "NVM". The Anderson is just a knock off of the G&S Gypsy first shaped by Mitsven in 1970. Inside of two years, nearly every label had some version of that popular design:
Nose & Tail Width about the same w/Wide Point @ Center or slightly forward.
Nose Rocker 4" to 5"
Tail Rocker 1-3/4" to 2"
Flat Bottom with slight Vee in the last 1/4 of the Tail
Soft forgiving Forward Rails either 50/50 or 60/40
Hard Tail Rails for Speed & Release.
I was incensed that Rostoker (Stoker's real name) claimed he had created such a utility, well known design from the early to mid 70's. I felt it was a blatant attempt to hijack surfboard design history.
What about the New Machine?
Over ten years of doing the SVM's a very sophisticated, extremely user friendly surfboard has evolved that, IMHO ,is vastly superior to the early design - including the SVM's I shaped.
The reason why I continue to have a high percentage of return customers and quiver builders is because the boards work with a high degree of accuracy of my design intentions and what my Model Descriptions promise.
W/O any disrespect to the Honey Badger or other Round Pin designs..... designs that I find very appealing to the eye btw...... I have no doubt in my mind that my New (V) Machines paddle into waves earlier with less effort and that NVM's are faster right from the takeoff and just standing on the board aka Straight Line Trim Speed.
What about that wide tail?
The big surprise for guys getting on the NVM's is that the Uber Thin Foiled Tail block and Deep Panel Vee turn rail to rail like a narrower tailed surfboard. This was a design feature that I intentionally built into the NVM's.
Conventional wisdom is that narrow surfboards go rail to rail faster than wider surfboards. Wider surfboards inherently have more drive. Narrow boards have to be pumped frequently esp. in soft surf to carry their speed and stay up on a plane. It's a one-two-turn! one-two-turn! otherwise they bog down and sink in the water.
Not so with wide boards. They plane up early because the increased surface area generates more lift w/o the need of constant turning or hopping up & down on them.
What about the NVM rocker?
I built into the design what I term a "2 Rocker System".
We know that flat/straight is fast but not maneuverable.
Curvy is easy to turn, but slower unless you work the speed out of it.
Can you have both?
The answer is YES.
When do you need MORE ROCKER?
When you TURN.
My design combines Fast Flat Centerline Rocker with Generous Rail Rocker to give you the best of both worlds. The wide tail gives you a Ton of Horsepower for superior paddling, early entry into waves, fast Straight Line Trim Speed, this allows the boards to Carry their Speed thru Turns & Cutbacks improving most surfers riding experience.
They do this better than Round Pins & because of the tail redesign, they turn quickly rail to rail like a conventional width surfboard. So you get the best of both worlds & then some. The net result is an increase in hull speed, the board's ability to maneuver easily while sticking to the wave face with lots of stability and not bogging down where a narrower board would.
Still, surfers frequently have preconceived notions, and make judgements based upon looks versus physics and sound design criteria.
Here's a recent email from a guy that was always wondering about the boards & his first hand experience, including the concern over the width of the tail.
--------
Craig Owings <rncraig
Hey there,
Picked up a used 6’6” that had a little fin box damage and stress cracks from impact - and fixed it up. Been wanting to try one of your boards for a while. Saw DeNicola ripping on a 6-8 few years ago.
It doesn’t say any sort of model name.
Rode at San onofre a week ago and churches today. First day I was floored at the speed and responsiveness. The tail scared me visually. But it turned like a normal width tail.
Told a couple friends about it. Today the friend I surfed with looked at the tail and I told him it doesn’t surf like it looks. He saw me on a wave and was like “ok, you blew me away at how that board turned!”
It’s amazing how short and agile it Surf’s.
Craig
---------
I think his account speaks volumes.
At your weight you could ride anything from a 6'6" up and feel in the zone depending upon the amount of turning & glide you desire. Here's a short clip depicting how maneuverable a 6'4" is on some decent waves:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWxh6sIA6rD/
Ultimately YOU are the customer and YOU decide what ride experience you are seeking. I've given you some food for thought as to what my boards offer that are different than other rides being offered out there. I make LOTS of different rides, including Round Pins, Fish, Longboards, Funshapes, Eggs............ anything you can imagine, I can make............ I've had guys want a V Machine Bonzer, and I studied Malcolm's stuff then went about making the customer his board. My mantra is "Never take the Custom"out of Customer".
I am always happy to answer as many questions as you may have when seeking what surfboard might be right for you, or a design you might be interested in adding to your quiver. My reward is having happy customers that enjoy the vehicles I provide to heighten their experience and hopefully improve their surfing....... not a wham, bam, thank you ma'am kind of approach. That's not me.
Your satisfaction is acknowledgement of a job well done.
That's my ultimate reward.
BF
----------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Craig just attached this clip on my FB page........... he's adding a BFV8 to the mix...... after watching this, I think he'll probably be ripping Church and Trestles on it.
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