George Greenough’s List of 20 things to know about flexspoons.

(Man O’ War) Apr 19, 2005
(Flexman is Dale Solomonson, GG is George Greenough)

Back in the Velo era Flexman asked GG a lot of questions and took notes. Flexman is one of the most helpful, intelligent, articulate, experienced, patient, creative, and persistent (and spiritual) surfers you will ever meet. Since I was asking him a lot of questions, he was kind enough to share some of those fascinating old notes with me. I’d like to do the same for you who are thinking about a flex spoon for your quiver or just interested in the subject.

I’m going to feed these 20 points out a couple at a time. I’m not sure I agree with all of them. I’m not sure I even understand all of them, so feel free to join me in my ignorance. Maybe Flexman will come to the rescue.

#1 – "The thinner the board, the better the general surfing and the better the feeling."

#2 – "My templates are based on a foil outline with the trailing edge cut off, giving a bullet shape."

#3 – It is good if the last 18 to 24 inches of the template and rocker are straight. A curved rear template is not necessary because the flex gives variable shape and maneuverability

#4 – A hull’s rails are 1 3/4 to 2 inches high at the mid-point.

#5 – A spoon’s flex (twist and rocker) goes to about the center (mid-point).

#6 – The tail must flex and torque or it will stick and track.

#7 – From mid-point to end of tail, flex (twist and rocker) is about 1 1/2 inches when hand bent but sometimes 5-6 inches on a wave.

#8 – The last 6 inches of the tail corners are solid glass.

#9 – It’s important to get enough glass on the deck side where it breaks.

#10 – 10 lb + spoons are common.

#11 – The fins are 10 inches deep, flexible, about 6 inch base x 3/4 inches thick, the back of fin base placed approximately 5 inches from end of tail. Use a 6- or 5-to-1 base foil ratio.

#12 – The fins are made with unidirectional roving– one way strands. Saturate the roving, place it in a plywood female mold, cover it with a matching male insert, and jack up a vehicle over it to squeeze out the excess resin.

#13 – The fin must be somewhat flexible, stiffer toward base with most of the flex in the top 25%

#14 – The more fin area, the more drive. But you get over-control with standard size [longboard] fins. That is why you use a narrower low area fin on smaller boards.

#15 – Depth gives hold, more area gives drive, less area gives looseness.

#16 – Trailing edge of fin is finished with a 2-3 mm sharp flat for entire length. Trim that rear edge off.

#17 – Faster speeds require thinner fins, both template and cross-section.

#18 – Weight distribution — maximum speed is achieved by lowest possible center of gravity. All weight in construction should be lowered and centered. The lighter the faster (for small to medium size boards)– this also applies to the rider.

#19 – Bottom speed– the bottom finish-sanded (nose-to-tail) with 400 grit wet-n-dry provides optimum surface texture. Too rough or too water repellant (slick) creates turbulance between laminar flow layers beneath hull. NO wax of any kind! The edges above waterline also need this treatment.

#20 – Drag increases as speed increases. Boards which plane need .005 mm (bottom/rails) surface most of all.