11 . 01 . 13
We’re going to start our “Surfboard Focus” series of blogs this week (we’ll be looking at one board every month or so), and because it’s a Friday, we’re going with “all the f’s” and doing a Fetch Fish Friday.
The Fetch is a 5’10” x 20 3/4″ x 2 3/4″ classic outlined fish, with twin keel fins and a deep swallow tail. The first wooden board that James built was a fish, and the Fetch is the direct descendant of this original Otter surfboard. That first board was named after James’ old family dog Whiz, so when we were naming the current line-up and trying to give each surfboard a name that alluded to woodworking, Britain and the maritime history of Cornwall, we figured on keeping the canine reference. Every dog loves fetching sticks, hence “Fetch”.
To qualify as a classic fish, a surfboard really ought to be under six feet long, with a fairly straight rail line and flat rocker. To compensate for the reduced length, fishes are wider and thicker in order to maintain enough volume for fast paddling and ease of catching waves. Many shortboard surfers who have more than one surfboard choose to have a fish in their quiver and their fish is often a higher volume board than their normal shortboard, despite being several inches shorter. The shorter length and wider tail makes them manoeuvrable on flatter waves and they can maintain momentum and skate over and around flat sections, so they’re great for small, sloppy summer waves. The flatter rocker profile makes for a faster board, particularly on waves that aren’t so steep. We recommend surfing the Fetch with twin “keel” fins which will keep the surfboard fast and loose through turns.
