flotru fin is field tested and ready to go!!!!!

so hyped on this fin/board/wave set up. so stoked to get a few waves before a productive day at work.

shape by numbers, mike black, surfers journal

thank you for your interest!!!

check out Fins, Pig Surfboards, Patches, and Shirts by clicking here!!!

Phi-n, Flothru, Pig Fins, D-fin, Mike Black, Surfers Journal, Shape by Number.

Below are the fins David Town and I are collaborating on. The Phi-n and The Flothru. The Phi-n is a template I designed using a fibonacci sequence. I built a golden rectangle up to the 8th number (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21...). Then I drew an arc. I went in 8 units and up 8 units from the arc. This became the center of my next arc. The Phi-n has a tremendous amount of drive. It has a low height to base ratio. The Phi-n has a tight turning radius compared to The Flothru. We use the Kunamo bearing system in the Phi-n. This bearing system makes installing this fin so easy. This bearing system also gives us the opportunity to have an extremely large base. The Flothu fin was originally designed by Jeff White for White Owl surfboards. In the mid to late 90's I saw this board above the counter in the Beach House in Santa barbara. It was an Owl that Marc Andreini had shaped. I would stare at the fin and wonder how it would go. Eventually I had the honor to commission a board from Marc with a flothru fin glassed on. I love that board and really enjoy the feeling of the Flothru. My affinity for my Bing Surfboards Feral Pig and my love of the feeling of the Flothru led me to knocking on Dave's door. My experiences with the flothru have been amazing. The fin feels like anyother D fin while you are in trim. It holds on the nose and is trustworthy while trimming through steep sections. I can notice the most significant effect of the design elements when transitioning directions. The Flothru pushes back in bottom turns less than my Phi-n does. The Flothru has a wider turn radius than my Phi-n. I love the Flothru in powerful waves. I love the Flothhru in small waves. I love The Phi-n in powerful waves, I love my Phi-n in small waves. It is great having the pair for fins for my pig. It feels like I have two boards!! Scroll through the fins to see all that are offered!

do you need a surf a pig patch?

follow these 6 easy steps, and you will have your needed patch:

step 1: read step one, proceed to step 1.5

step 1.5: email surfapig@gmail.com see if i still have patches. if i return your email with a "yes" , then proceed to step 2.

step 2: grab two envelopes. address one to -> mike black p.o. box 614, Silverado, CA 92676. address the other to your self. include postage on both envelopes. proceed to step 3.

step 3: fold and place the envelope addressed to you inside the envelope addressed to me (mike). do not seal the envelope. proceed to step 4.

step 4: make a choice. if you would like one patch, place a $5 bill in the envelope addressed to me that also has the envelope addressed to you in it. if you would like 3 patches, place a $10 bill in the envelope addressed to me that also contains the envelope addressed to you. seal the envelope addressed to me. proceed to step 5:

step 5: place the envelope addressed to me in the mail. wait anxiously.

notice the detail on the patch is slightly off compared to the art submitted.

want the best pig ever to be made, ever? contact bing surfboards (sales@bingsurf.com). ask for a feral pig. for real. get one with a box and throw a Flothru or a Phi-n in it!

THE BLACKBOARD

doing everything by doing nothing

so .. for my slide article i tried to interview RA (robert august) about pig boards. it was a classic scene. my second time meeting Robert. i attempted this interview at Sacred Craft 2009 Del Mar. Perfect. prior to this meeting...the first time i met Robert, he was hitting on my (at the time) Huntington Beach Vietnamese girlfriend while we were in Tamarindo one year. I convinced her to ask him to sign " hang 11, Robert August". too easy. i thanked him for it later that night, and he seemed surprised. karma. so, at sacred craft i see he has a booth. in my mind... the optimal D fin surfing session that has ever been recorded is the cape st. francis south africa surf session in the endless summer. hence, i keep checking in at Robert's booth. i don't want to seem like a needy "fan"...yet I have some specific questions only he can answer. some mother fucking dick face is occupying a fuck ton of Robert's time. this jerk dick is interviewing Robert for at least an hour and a half. GREAT! I am sure robert is going to want to talk to me. They had a replica of Robert's endless summer board there at the booth. I asked Sam (robert's son) how they were convinced that the board was accurate to the specs of the board in the movie and he said it was shaped "as best as could be recalled". ..... Finally the fuck face interviewing robert split. Thus giving me the opportunity to be the "fuck face". I take it. All I wanted to do was tell robert that he should have quit surfing after that session. i wanted to express to him that no one will ever be able to surf a wave more perfectly than he surfed that wave. it was some cosmic battle between the chaos of the wave and the order of his board that he alone won. he wasn't hearing it. I finally had to drop the nuclear bomb style words on him he earned:

Editors note: I ask Robert August about his board in the Endless Summer. When I look at that board it sure seems to have a lot of the defining elements of a Pig shape. Robert insist that board had its wide point in the center. I try to discuss with Robert the perfect match of a surfboard designed like his and the shape of Cape St. Francis's wave. He dismisses that saying any board would work well in that perfect of a wave. I don't disagree , yet I continue to try to illustrate the perfect trim and speed his board had that day. The exchange is below:

Mike Black

...when I am looking at that footage from Cape St. Francis , the action of your board on such a perfect wave..for me it seemed like the board fit that wave so perfectly for a clean beautiful feeling of surfing. Not aggravated surfing.

RA

that wave was pretty nice. I think you can have anything on it and have it go nice.

MB

but look at the space of it ... where it fits in the curl and what is happening.

RA

i didn't do anything. I just stood there.

MB

yea, but that is doing everything. to not do anything and to have it fit so perfectly is everything. I am thinking its because of the design elements of this board.