"I rode a really old Ben Aipa stinger single fin (88’ i think..) four of five times over three days a few weeks back. Somebody installed two FCS boxes as side fins into it a couple years ago. I threw a small single fin with regular side runners, and once I adjusted to it, it ended up being heaps of fun.”
I took the classic stinger outline and incorporated it into an ultra modern, high performance sub shortboard. I pulled the wings back to accommodate a shorter board that would go with as a 5 finner- quad or thruster. i took the Ranga rocker and relaxed it a bit, used a pretty heavy amount of double into spiral vee like the old Aipa. Made a few more contemporary modifications too- I added a single channel to funnel water through the tail, which helps to stabilize and add drive to an otherwise really loose tail.
After two waves on this new “stinger-esque” board, I knew we had a keeper on our hands.
"I sometimes make some weird stuff that goes “ok” at best- this is the first keeper from a shot in the dark in a long time."
Below is a short little video of Gopal Butler tinkering at his home of Rocky Point.
July session from Gopal Butler on Vimeo.
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