Andy Fielding/Fantasy Surf craft

Over in the UK, Andy Fielding has been building boards professionally for some time. (His website is fantasysurfcraft.co.uk.)

Recently, Andy has taken on the challenge of bringing my hull designs to life on his side of the pond. ("My hull designs" is an overly generous description of what I do...as OG, west coast hull crafters like Greg Liddle, George Greenough and Skip Frye have been immeasurably influential in my developement as a board designer and builder, going back to my first home made board in 1966.)

Our hope is there will be enough interest in hulls in Europe that the Paul Gross Design label, built by Andy, will take root. But even if only a few surfers take advantage of the opportunity, it will be a success!

Here's a 7'6'' Arc Tail Andy made for himself from a cut file I sent him...followed by his first ride report. The board was glassed by Adrian Phillips.

 

Hey PG,

Here’s your update from the first session on the 7’6” Arctail.

 As soon as I slid the board into the ocean in front of me I could instantly see the glide as the board went ahead to the extent of my 8’0 leash. The surf was 3-4ft and clean and I was amped to get on board and paddle out the back. As soon as I got prone and started to paddle out I was instantly blown away at the ease of paddling, and within no time I had slid over the shoulder’s of a few runners and was sitting out the back waiting for the first set to show itself. 

The board felt like a dream and I soon found myself turning and going on the first wave of the set. A couple of paddles and I was in. The speed and what felt like zero drag was very apparent as I got a quick runner and cruised back over the shoulder. I needed to adjust my positioning over the front of the board as I felt I was to far back from the nose on take off. Over the next few waves I started to get to grips with the ideal paddling position and started working on the best positioning for later/earlier take offs. I soon found out that I could take off much later than I originally thought and how there were no issues with digging or pearling the nose. Just a slight lean on the rail and I could slightly angle my take off and absolutely fly out of the lip. I would say that the rocker is absolutely perfect for my style of riding. 

Over the session I soon realized that the board loved the hollower sections and once locked in the speed and almost ‘ball-bearing’ like smoothness of glide became so very addictive. This was the same for both front and backhand. I may swap the 8.5” 4A fin to the 8” PG for the next session and bring it slightly further up the box to see the effect that this has on bottom turns.

           To be continued.......

                           AF

Andy and Adrian