When I would daydream about my surfing, it was usually riding a high performance shortboard on some exotic reef pass. Perfect overhead waves with fun rip-able faces followed by endless hollow sections. So, even though our waves here in the NW have nothing in common with this scenario, my quiver was mostly made up of low volume rip-sticks. Sure, I had longer boards for the bigger days and wider ones for the smaller summer surf, but overall they were basically the same board stretched out or shrunk down. This all changed several years ago when a friend introduced me to a twin fin fish by Bing Surfboards named the Sunfish.
Whether it was the less than stellar waves we were about to ride, or the years he spent watching me struggle to maintain speed on my tiny boards, he told me I should try his Sunfish. After a few minutes of coming up with every excuse why I shouldn’t, I finally lamented and paddled it out. From this day on, I have had one in my quiver. In fact, this board has helped reshape the boards I ride and educated me on the benefits of higher volume, lower rocker, and the speed of 2 fins.
What did I learn that day that completely changed my thinking and why the Sunfish was the perfect board to do it? To break it down into one simple word: speed! Being able to easily maintain your momentum in gutless wind swell was a game changer, plus a lot more fun. The faster you go the easier it is to turn and make sections. The higher volume also makes it easier to catch the waves, pop up quicker, and get down the line faster. But this can be said for any higher volume board, whether it’s a fish, mid-length, summer groveler, or longboard. Why did the Bing Sunfish change my philosophy on what boards I should be riding?
The true magic of this board increases when the quality of waves you are riding improves. In the past, when the surf got better, I would reach for one of my many shortboards. The only real decision was which length would work best based on the conditions. Never did I believe a “Fish” of all boards, could perform and even improve my surfing in solid conditions. I am not the greatest surfer by any means, but I have been fortunate to surf some pretty darn good waves over the years and have a fairly strong understanding of how a board needs to perform. For all the years I’ve owned one, I have never felt the Sunfish was over-matched for the waves I was riding or that it wasn’t able to keep up with what I was trying to do. The same benefits of paddle power, speed, and flow you get when you surf it in small waves, carries over into larger surf (probably maxing out at double overhead). This is what sets the Sunfish ahead of other traditional “fish” shapes. Sure, performance fishes are more advanced and bridge the gap with a true shortboard even better. Some even having a small trailer fin to perform more like a traditional thruster. The Sunfish however, looks like a true Keel-fin fish but hides its performance capabilities in a slightly narrower nose and thinner rails, while still maintaining plenty of width for maximum speed. It's the best of both worlds!
Are you still doubting how hard you can push a board like this? Check out these two videos of Dave Rastovich surfing his Sunfish in everything for small messy surf to pumping Indonesia perfection. I guarantee Dave is a better surfer than all of us and some of the waves he is surfing is beyond anything we will see in the NW.
What are you waiting for? Grab a Bing Sunfish and improve your surfing, it worked for me!
Check our our current stock of Bing Surfboards here!
