#hbrockmanexperiments

Ze LongFish MiniG (LF - Longfish, not to be mistaken for LFT from Liarwire)

Based on my glider design and heavily influnced by the Frye and Mikey Meyer style longfishes but with a few of my own twists throw in the mix based on my own developments with all things glide. so the brief: i wanted something for a specific sand bottom point not too far a detour between home and the factory, my logs and gliders have been going really well at said point on smaller days and bigger (3ft) cleaner days, but i wanted something kinda in-between for dealing with crowds on those more classic days, something with glide capability and less fin, i had a perfect blank going spare for such an craft, a 9′7F from Burford with 9mm ply stringer with NR2 rocker, my current favourite LB blank and rocker combo (ideal world i would of custom ordered a tweaked version of the NR2 with a flatter tail rocker, but alas i’m impatient and with swell on the way im a man on a mission) -The flatness up front with the NR2 rocker is perfect for glide, (late drops are not the mission with this one..) and the belly and upturned rails up front help a bit with keeping things going like a submarine, the belly blends into a concave mid way with a vee double vee out the back end and of corse a nice chimed bottom rail (ala smooth mover style) to keep things nice and responsive! i ummed and arred for a long time over quad or twin, twin seemed like a good idea, but i just love quads and really wanted to try my speed dialler quad placement on a longer board like this and it made sense especially for longer down the line style waves i had in mind, so i disgarded my marine ply glass on vision and settled with the futures quad fin set up, ready for controller style fins, i must admit removable fins are not my favourite, i’m a real advocate of glass on fins, firstly they feel fucking great, secondly they feel fucking great and thirdly each set of glass ons i build specifically for that design so they compliment the shape and feel fucking great. the obvious draw back being the travel restrictions but thats something i can live with.. so for the sakes of experimentation and refining a new idea i settled for removable fins. side note: it is indeed heart breaking having to get the grinder out and sand off some fins on a finely glossed and polished board and then glassing a new set on, its almost like starting again. anyhow hopefuly some waves for a ride report soon.

Here’s a quick batch of boards for Jack to take to California later this winter.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY IN PHOTOS - maybe New year in photos would of been a more appropriate title.. oh well. Here’s a couple of favourite photos over the last 6 1/2 weeks from our insta feed - @bossurfboards - Winter ain’t so bad, sure its been cold as shit, but the surf has pumped (from time to time), theres been a few days on the south coast at everyones favourite reef with select moments where i’m 100% convinced that there has NOT been a better breaking wave on the planet at that given moment in time.. Factory life has been busy, some renovations have been made, still some to go. the order books have been full and we’ve managed to get the first wave of boards in production for the new shop as well. exciting times none the less.. most the team have been away on winter travels to much much warmer climates, which has given me a good chance to work on some stuff with the grom squad.

JD deep in central america, toes to the nose on his trusty 9′6 Smooth Mover

DAMN! GC flaring out at his favourite beach.

GC deep inside everyones favourite south coast right hander.

me in my happy place.

George came to fix up some dings and play shop rat for the day.

Woody tucked right under and in the zone on a south coast drainer.

Jordans winter quiver having some down time

one of said few perfect south coast waves.

and another.

first week back in jan.

JD sitting where ya’ll wanna be.

new shop rat Jacob, learning the ropes with the ding repairs.

Chodo embracing some OZ lifestyle.

Kiefer at home in Wales, one of the places i’ve been wanting to go hang out for ages, but everytime its good up there its good at home.. 

Kai’s boards in NZ, still waiting for a trip to the brine.

Chodo going left in the land of rights.

these beauties should be in the new shop asap. we have a selection of Grim Rippers, Eastern Green Stars, a tracker or two and a Sun fish or two. more on the way.

F2 Model, one of my longest lasting models too date, i guess consistency is what keeps people coming back, its one of those templates you kinda know what to expect from it, the outline has a bit of curve but flows nose to tail for fast flowing surfing, a little extra width up front but nothing crazy (12 1/4″). the rocker is pretty much a medium both ends (2 3/8 / 4 3/4) with a little flick at the tips too keep things free, bottom wise I've kept that trusty single under front foot with a double between the fins and for 2018 i’ve added a very slight vee out behind the rear fin for a little extra zing. My favourite thing about the F2 is the wide range of tail shapes we can net on it, squash, swallow or rounded pin all come highly recommended, but any tail shape you can dream up will fit, only exception would be a wide swallow/double pin style tail..

fin wise, i fully recommend thruster set up if you want the board as more of a daily driver, use a more upright fin for shorter dumpier waves (Reactor/WCT), and a more raked out fin for longer walls (AM templates) the tri/quad is great if you want to surf faster hollower waves, for the F2 i stick closer to the Mckee style fin placement which is basically closer into the stringer, this is my favourite quad fin placement it has heaps of drive so great for long fast hollow walls. for quad set up use your regular fronts and try some smaller rears in bigger more hollow surf and larger fins in smaller hollow surf. Anyhow, here’s a few photos too lust after, board in question belongs to the new shop rat Jacob, ready for his upcoming trip to Indonesia, this is gonna be his daily driver board for surf 2-5ft, he has a winkipoppa for anything 1-3ft and a bit more tame and a tuberaider for anything 5ft+ (bit more about them another day) dimensions on the F2 are 5′8 x 18 1/2 x 2 1/4 @ 24.5L, swallow tail, team light glassing and futures thruster set up.

-HB

JD / 9'6 SMOOTH MOVER - Deep In Central America.