david town, ricky muniz and the flothru d-fin skeg pig fin

below are some flothru fins and some Phin fins for sale

below chronicles some of the history in these fins re-emergence. these pictures of david town's fins are in reverse order of development... makes for thought. what follows is: how these fins came back into the spot light. and a few words on their perceived function on a 10' marc andreini shaped surf board. also, a few words on their upcoming availability for fin boxes. surfapig.com is the first site to offer these fins for sale.

back in 1996 i went into santa barbara's beach house surf shop and saw one of marc's boards hanging up with this style fin.

after i released INVASION! from planet C marc came into my life. i was so humbled, as i had seen his boards while experiencing decades of santa barbara and san francisco surf. it turns out marc is an enthusiast of cheeky humor and "not taking surfing seriously".  a glorious union. prior to my involvement with bing surfboards, i had ordered a board from marc. the original board i ordered wasn't the one this fin came on. the second one was. ... enter BLACKSTOKE II. thank you marc andreini for enriching my life. thank you roger (of beach house) for having the OWL hanging from the ceiling. so stoked my mind works the way it does. i saw this fin, remembered who was associated with the label , waited for the appropriate time... BAM!!!

david town is a maker.

david's scetch in honor of marc's design.

my experience on this fin design is directly associated with surfboard that is somewhat of a "malibu chip" design. or not. not sure how to call it. what it is... is the "blackstoke II", psyched on its performance. the board, combined with the fin, is pure butter. it is a known fact that butter makes EVERYTHING better. except arteries.


i digress... it is my perception, from my experiences, that this fin contributes to a board's performance in the following ways: it functions as a "normal" fin while in trim. it functions as a "normal" fin going into and out of turns. the flothru fin holds my 200 + pound frame on the nose with confidence. one thing i have noticed is : a feeling when implementing an exaggerated stall bottom turn. while experiencing this, the flothru stalls easily. my feral pig takes a serious commitment to achieve what the flothru blackstokeII achieves effortlessly.  conversely, one could say my bing feral pig has more drive. yet, i can't say my blackstoke II lacks drive.

david town and ricky muniz are making these fins currently. to some, it might seem strange that two different people are making these fins. i don't think so. after i got blackstoke II from marc back in april of 2012, david inquired about the fin. he made one. this was summer of 2012, as i recall. time passes. i ride this board on and off for 2 years. enter summer 2014. ricky got a hold of it, and it inspired him. he goes back to puerto rico. he hand crafted and glassed on one of these fins to an AMAZING board. around the time ricky is making his board, i am writing an article. writing the article inspires me to tighten up this webpage and change things up a bit. i ask david to make the flothru fin for sale on surfapig, and i ask him to make my "Phi-n" (more on this later) that i designed. now as time goes, two amazing craftsmen are making these fins. david and ricky's fin must be different. as i believe neither of them "copied" marc's. marc's fin is a muse for these fins. i am honored to know both of these gentlemen. i am psyched to offer these fins on my site. i am super psyched to be running one in my bing feral pig. i can't wait to switch between my "Phi-n" a flotrhu in the same session!!!


the photos below were poached from ricky's i.g. feed. they show his fin and board in his waters. NICE!!!!

i'll post up here and on instagram when the flothru and the Phi-n are available for sale.