I doubt that just a few years ago when John Elwell, Richard Kenvin and Joe Bauguess collaborated to re-envision the legendary small Simmons board they had any idea what they were about to unleash (although I'd bet they all claim they did). The mini Simmons has become a bit of a cult inside alternative board design circles, probably the most copied board of the last few years (and worst copied- how may of those purported legit mini-Sims out there were shaped from nothing more than a photo on the internet and a vague idea of who Bob Simmons was?) It's also provided a new design springboard for a lot of people to work from, and some very cool cross pollinating has taken place. Here's probably the earliest re-envision of the re-envision, and RK 's crew are still making them beautifully. Keels out on the wings for that planing goodness, pulled in tail that's still within Lindsay Lord's specifications for clean water release, and a little trailing fin for added bite. I like these boards a lot, they're fast, responsive and feel really solid in the turns. Hank Warner shaped this one and it's a beaut. Although it's hard to get a good idea from a bad photo, I can assure you this board (a 5'8" I believe) felt very, very good under the arm. As with the quad from the previous post and the asym a couple back I really wish you could actually heft the thing yourself, see how the rails blend so nicely into the deck and how the foil works, feel the lovely balance of the board and get that surge of 'I want to go surf' excitement. I'm getting that quad in the water tomorrow finally. I'm stoked, surfboards are things of great beauty.
Post surf quad update:
Yes.
Yes,yes,yes.
Yes indeed, yes.
And that was a short session in smallish but OK waves with a few longboards clogging it up.
The quad is a thing of great beauty and amazing function.
Stoked.
3 comments:
So perfect!
Have these boards been redesigned/ refined since the first generation Simsters?
They've started to look narrower and thinner and with different concaves. Maybe it's just the photos
Hey Freddy,it's more refined than redesigned since the first gen boards. For a while they seemed to have a bit of a shortboardy deal going- too much rocker and too pinched rails for my taste. Hank has them back with a Simmons style rail, flatter, thicker and some nice concave. It's hard to quantify, but the board 'felt' great. It was the perfect size for me too, shame I had to hand it off although the guy had paid for it and all that.
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