The Spitfire

On a warm summer’s day in 1940, Adolf Hitler commanded his air force, the Luftwaffe, to bomb the hell out of England.
The United Kingdom, with its trademark gusto, dispatched the Royal Air Force. The Battle of Britain, the first campaign ever fought entirely by aircraft, was officially underway.
The Luftwaffe had firepower, but the British had heart. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth refused to leave Buckingham Palace, inspiring the nation with their pluck. The Germans seemed indomitable with their Messerschmitt Bf 110s (nicknamed the Zerstorer or ‘Destroyer’), a fast twin-engine, long-range aircraft.
But the RAF had a feisty retort: the Spitfire.
Designed with clean lines for speed and elliptical wings for agility, the single-seater Spitfire immediately began kicking ass. It could accelerate faster than the Zerstorer, bank in tighter arcs, and fire more rounds.
The result: the RAF, powered by vigor and the Spitfire, handed the Nazis their first defeat and turned the war around. Not too shabby.
San Francisco shred enthusiast Giles is lucky enough to have a real-live war hero in his family. His stepfather served in the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Wanna know what he flew?
The Spitfire.
He was 19 years old.
Each of the color marking on a Spitfire conveys meaning--the yellow rail bands and black-and-white stripes communicated their allied association, while the British flag was represented by the red and blue circle (interesting fact: RAF and American fighter planes during WWII ditched the red part of the circle, as they could be mistaken for Japanese aircraft). The pilots put red tape over their guns to keep them from freezing, as seen in the pigment 'patches' in the nose of Giles' board.
Every color on this board is pigmented resin.
A mistress of understatement, when Leslie saw a drawing of the task before her, said only, "I'll need to order more tape."

The 'ol Switcheroo

Conditions were perfect for some fin testing this weekend--swell was small and clean (weird), wind was non existent (really weird), and my wife volunteered her 7' EPS egg while she watched the baby (bizarre). The board, a modified displacement hull template with low rocker, is a great platform for fin testing, and I got to surf a variety of fin combos in a variety of tides.
Saturday's lower morning tide called for the 2+1 setup, with a 7" flexible fin in the center. Not enough power to really feel the fin, but the combo held in on the steeper faces, and was really stable during late takeoffs. Stoked to try this out in some bigger surf.
As the tide filled the Spitfire single was the call. The template and thick foil make it virtually drag-free (you can feel a big difference on the paddle-out alone), but it's surprisingly fast, stable, and drivey. Rekindled my love for single fins (it's been at least month since I last declared my love for singles. Sorry, singles!).
The swell dropped a bit for Sunday, but conditions were still clean and glassy. Started off with a Wil Jobson Twinzer-inspired setup (no pictures, as the coffee had eroded whatever attention span I have left), which was fast as hell and held in nicely.
The call of the day, however, proved to be twin-with-a-trailer setup (1+2?). Kept the rear Lokbox twinzer fins in and added a small stabilizer in the back of the box. Fast, slippery fun with a lot of drive.
I like surfing on the edge of control--mostly because that's the only way I can surf--and this combo kept things interesting for a few hours. Found a peak all to myself and let her rip.
Still stoked thinking about it--made this overcast, cold day away from the coast that much more bearable.
Note on the board: Ordered this one with a 'clear' glass job, but Fatty wanted none of that. Check out her 'hourglass' lap line on the bottom, which adds strength to the boxes and is very slimming...