The Unbridled Joy of Surfing A Fish – Featuring William Aliotti
There is something very intangible about the feeling you get when surfing a fish on those long, drawn-out walls of water. Not steep, not heavy, but just an incredible amount of opportunity at every section.
The humble fish – one of surfing's most notable and important surfboard designs – has helped shape surf style for decades. The first fish surfboard was created in San Diego, by kneeboarder Steve Lis, using a snapped longboard as his template.
These days, the fish is used in a variety of conditions as more mainstream shapers put their own stamp on a retro-feeling board.
Fishes are typically wider, thicker and shorter than your standard shortboard and come with either twin fins or a quad fin set up. For our money, we'd take the twinnie any day.
“I like twin fishes on super long walled lefts, Uluwatu or Pavones."
“The best thing about it, is that you can get as much speed as you want, it's incredible,” said Willi Aliotti, aka the style-master when it comes to flow on alternative boards. “You have lots of speed and style and figure out exactly what you want to do. Speed is everything in surfing – without speed you cannot do anything and a fish will help you out massively here. Find your speed, create magic.”
Lots of speed means a lofty punt.
For a number of years now Willi has abandoned the standard shortboard, instead favouring the flow of a fish. “The difference between a fish and a normal shortboard is you're going to go so much faster. There's also more volume around the nose, more volume through the body than your normal surfboard – two fins can make it whippy too,” he said.
As for what waves he loves on a fish: “I like twin fishes on super long walled lefts, Uluwatu or Pavones. Something that's not too steep, you want that wall for sure, but something a bit more drawn out. You don't want the wave to go vertical as a fish doesn't do vertical well. You want some space to create a killer line on the wave. Big lines with speed and flow. That's what you want.”
Liquid pinion from the speed hack on a twin fin.
There's a secret art to the fish too – and it's something surfers get wrong all the time. “You got to just, let the board go,” said Willi. “Shortboards, you kind of control the board – but with a fish, it's so important to go with the board as opposed to trying to control it. That's where people go wrong, surfing a fish can feel way more connective for that reason, you're kind of letting the board do the work for you, move in step with it. This is really hard to explain but I think people know what I mean, let it go and it'll give you the flow you want.
“Twin over quad for me – those quads can put a lot of weight through the tail and there's less drag, which means more speed. I would say experiment too, but for me, the board with the most speed is the most fun.”
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All images from Billabong announcing Willi as their latest team rider.
If Willi's endorsing the fish, we're fully behind it. Browse our range of surfboards here.
