Bourton "Hybrid Small Wave" Shapes
THE BAT FISH QUAD
For fear of
repeating myself the full speal is in my "Muzza's
Trippin" segment because that is where I
started with it, however since it has now become a staple
and is included as an accepted model in the Fun
Fish Series.
Since I have been riding them almost 100% in small
to medium surf I have been developing them even more.
One thing I have learnt is that originally I set the larger
fins in front which worked well in smallish
 conditions
but lost whip during the second half of the turn in larger
waves. By placing the bigger fins in the back when
surfing bigger waves I found I got more projection
off the top and bottom and the overall feel was still loose
and short arcish. Another addition is the use of the FCS H2
fins which when placed on a vee in the tail lean out even
more and allow one to twitch a widish design like this from
rail to rail quickly and very easily; and I make the point
when you have a concave forward in a wide board there would
normally be a resistance to the rail to rail movement; but
the vee and the fin angle encourage the twitch incredibly.
The most common comments on the quad design is their speed
which is due to their larger fin surface area simply
because there are four of them, add to that the H2’s
which have the concave on the inside which squirt the board
along even more. Considering this design has a lot of surface
area and a flattish rocker forward and a 4ml concave under
that is it any wonder they go from zero to 100 in no time.
My own Bat has a what I call a cathedral hull under
the nose that lifts the nose to encourage me to move
forward when I hit a dead spot and when I do it takes off
and when I move back it is not terribly hard to find the sweet
spot because the quad cluster is condensed and can still be
operated okay if you are a little bit off the mark.
The Bat has taught me the workings of such a complicated fin
configuration and has encouraged me to move the quad into
more contempory surfboards and even tow boards which I will
be introducing into my range as well shortly.
To view the Bat Fish
Quad in the Fun Fish Series click here
To view the Experimental Design
Process for the Bat Fish Quad click here
Back to Bourton Shapes Home Page | To talk to Murray Bourton about
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