Jon K. wrote me an email yesterday asking me about some details on the v.Bowls after watching this:
He wanted to know whether or not it's a hull and mentioned that it "got his soul fire burning" ( .awesome. ). I sat down this morning before breakfast and spilled my guts about my favorite board and thought I would share the details:
Hey Jon!
I have this internal battle over whether or not the v.bowls is a hull... I guess it's just a matter of how much of a purist you are. here's the skinny:
The foil is essentiall a backwards hull...the widepoint is 5-6" behind center, as it the apex of the rocker and the thickest point, having those things lined up is why hulls have the magical center that drives like nobodies business; that point that is like a loaded bouncy-ball under your feet, ahead of center. The bottom is a slight roll in the first half of the board, going into a flat panel vee through the fin then flat off the tail; the flat is what gives it projection and lift (recently i've transitioned to a slight vee to double concave to flat and holy CRAP it goes fast). The rails are thin but not pinched or difficult, they're regular 60/40 down rails in the center, the nose rails are turned up and and the tail is turned down.
So in essence, it's as if you've taken the middle part of a hull, the bouncy center bits, and chopped off the tail end by 2 ft or so then added a long, flat narrow nose on it (you can see this well in the photo of my 7'4 I've attached, it's got a little extra rocker but it accentuates the theory/curves I'm trying to descirbe). So you're drawing the same lines as a hull, with WAY more positivity off the back foot and no spinning out, therefore you can put that speed that a hull gives you and USE it instead of skillfully redirect it back to the pocket. It goes in shit waves AND it paddles like a longboard (the flat rocker and long nose) on top of all that...I can't find a longboard or a hull that doesn't make me wish I was on my v.bowls on any given day up to overhead waves.
I'm gonna guess after reading through that now you've sensed that I flipping love me some v.bowls and you'd be right..im completely taken.
-Ryan
I've said it to a few people lately, and I'll always be the first to say there's nothing new these days, but I'll be damned if I've ever seen these curves put together into a package like this. It's sparked a wee revolution around santa barbara over the past few months within my circle of friends and regular customers; I don't like claiming much, but I'll claim this design to my grave.
It is hands down the best I've ever shaped and I believe in it with all of my heart.
