surfresearch.com.au   terry fitzgerald : the drifta, 1981

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A basic cut-back is a stalling manoeuvre for a single fin and a sliding manoeuvre for a twin fin.
On both boards you waIt for the wave - a slowing manoeuvre.
With a Drlfta the cut-back becomes an accelerating turn!
The central wide base fin drives the board In a pivot arc determined by the rail fin which In turn provides stability and short arc direction.

POWER:
In drifts, flat or on edge.
The 'power DRIFT' Is back.

ENGINE:
Big base drive fin, two pivotal stabilIsers placed on the first wing.
Swallows or roundplns depending on taste.

TRANSMISSION:
Double-barrelled concave, nose and tall Vs, double wings and edged tall flutes.
Five forward gears, no reverse.

DIMENSIONS:
Round nose for quicker re-entries (points go through the lip, rounds come over with It)
-  a no-nose at all, so to speak.
Hips, and lots of planing area under the balance point.
Foiled and pinched wings.

SPEEDS:
On edge; through the water single fin lines, power plus.
Flat on the face; In small surf, skate and relate to the twin fin reaction times.

DEVELOPMENT:
The first trl-flns popped up In the early seventies as a result of trying to ride 6'0" boards at 10' Hanaiei Bay.
Feb '8O I started work on blending twin-fin reactions with single fin power, leading to the Driftas.
Oct '8O - on a Mark II 7'4" (broke it at Sunset that winter) the power drift started to show with edged flutes In the barrells.
Jan '81 and Mark III hit the streets, nothing like a wave feeding frenzy,the rest Is history
- Gary Green 1st NSW Juniors, Nick Carroll 2nd Seniors, Steve Wilson 9th Stubbies.

PRICE RANGE -THRILLS:
Cheap.

ACTION: Quick.

DOLLAR:
Investment capital.

Putting together any new surfboard trip, people naturally are very critical especially if you are sacrificing personal performance in the short term for long term overall development.
Going backwards in your personal surfing to eventually go forward in both boards and surfing, and understanding the value of going to extremes to find a medium value is difficult. I know.
The results to date with Drlfta development have more than justified the bullshit that has floated around.
Thanks Steve, Nick, Barry, Linda, Greenie and the customers.
There's more to come.
Yowzer!

HB 5'9" MK III       HB 6'2" MK III Drifta Models May 1981

HB MK III - VI  - VII -  8 Drifta Models  June 1981

2. Later  +Mark VI develpoment, mid-1981, saw the early tri fins removed, centre fin box and upright blade fins.
See uncredited  image above right,
Ad : Hot Buttered Surfboards (World wide)
SURFER Magazine Violume 22 Number 6 page 9

3.  The second entry in a two page design article titled Australian Unorthodox : The Religion of Oz Design.
.Other entries  were...
Dougall Walker on Tri Fin Thrusters,
Rod Hocker on Concaves and Fin boxes,
Geoff McCoy Design,
Michael Rae on Flex tails,
Phil Byrne on Clinkers, and a
Col Smith (Newcastle) interview about Channel Bottoms.

surfresearch.com.au

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