The channel revival: Modern takes on a classic design
“The orders for channel bottoms have been flooding in. J'Bay is coming up and the pros all want a speed advantage. I'm doing lots of channels.”
I'm chatting with Darren Handley, he of the eponymous board label, shaper to Mick Fanning, Wilko, and Glenn Hall on the CT, plus a bevy of hi-fi rippers. High-performance shortboards are Darren's raison d'etre, he doesn't do retro, and yet channel bottoms, a design firmly rooted in the 1980s, are making a modern resurgence in the DHD factory.
It's not like he's unfamiliar with channels. His first job was working in the Pipedreams factory run by Murray Bourton, one of the early disciples to channel bottom design, and he was taught to shape by Erle Peterson, inventor of the wickedly complex jet bottom. “I'm no stranger to channel bottoms,” says Darren flatly.
Keen-eyed punters would've seen some of Darren's channel bottoms under the feet of Mick in the early rounds of Bells. Fanning made a point of announcing his new design before arriving and then rode one whenever the conditions suited.
“It was very similar to Mick's standard board [a 5'9” Ducks Nuts] but with four channels running out the tail,” says Darren of Mick's Bells board. Before he arrived at that design they experimented with belly channels but Mick wasn't feeling anything different. When he sanded in clinker-style channels running out the rear Mick felt the effect he desired. “He was” says Darren, “very keen to get them down to Bells.”
Another fella experimenting with channels is a regular at Bells, even coming runner up to Joel Parkinson in the 2009 Rip Curl Pro. “The waves in Victoria are pretty suited to riding channels,” says Adam Robertson. “Longer slopey point break and reefs.”
Although he's had at least one channel bottom in his quiver for the last 15 years he's recently found himself riding them more and more. “If I’m going to surf the reefs around Torquay, more often than not I’ve been on a six channel.”
His current six channel was shaped by Simon Anderson (see pic at left) though he's had great channel bottoms by Cory at Cory Surfboards and is keen to get a Pacific Dreams. When I ask what he'd order the answer is simple: “I'd just ask for whatever Hoyo rides.”
The basic concept of channel bottoms is to influence waterflow over the bottom of a board. Channels cut a straight line through bottom rocker, removing the curve and creating a shorter distance from where they begin to where they exit. They also add bite and resistance. For many years after FCS became the norm Alan Byrne had to manufacture his own fins with reduced area to counter the lateral bite of the channels.
Water, however, doesn't always flow directly down the bottom of a surfboard and the dramatic nature of the channels caused them to sometimes interfere with performance – at least that's how the theory went. But is that what caused channels to go out of fashion twenty years ago?
Channel bottoms had their detractors, yet those I spoke to think their demise was more a combination of Greg Webber's concave experiments of the early-90s mixed with unavoidable labour costs of channels and had less to do with inferior performance.
“Channel bottoms are a lot more versatile than people think,” says Robbo. Someone who'd agree with him is Dale Wilson of Byrning Spears (shown below right with Kelly Slater). Dale has taken over the mantle of head foam mower at Byrning Spears since Allan Byrne's untimely death.
“People say that channels only go good in good waves,” says Dale, “but we've found that's only the case when people put channels into a concave. That's when they stick and grab.”
“If you're going to put a concave in it should go under the front foot then have the channels built into a 'V'. AB's way was to build a loose board then put the channels in.”
Dale explains that after 30 years of making channels they've arrived at a formula. “The Deep Six formula” he calls it. These are the boards that make their way under the feet of almost all of Dale's customers. AB's death created a bit of interest in channel bottoms but Dale say the clientele has mostly remained the same. “They're the guys that regularly go to WA, Indo, Hawaii.”
Having spent years preaching the virtues of channel bottoms Dale was wary about the new resurgence. “My biggest fear,” says Dale, “is that people experiment and get channels wrong and they get a bad name all over again.”
But people are experimenting with channels, as evidenced by Darren Handley and the boards he's making for Mick Fanning.
One of the regular criticisms of channels is that they only perform in good waves otherwise air gets under the board and between the channels. Yet Darren tells me that not always a bad thing. “A bit of air under there gives the board lift and looseness. Then with the channels running out the tail they give that last little bit of hold when they want to put the foot down.”
When talking about the increased labour, Darren says that two important things have changed. The first is that fin systems have reduced the effort. With channels, each aspect of production is increased: shaping, glassing, and sanding, yet removable fins lessen the accumulated effort. The second and more important aspect is a change in the marketplace. “People are willing to pay for channels,” says Darren. “They know what they want and they'll pay the extra money.”
In the DHD factory there's no set formula yet, they're making curved channels, experimenting with placement, and Darren has even made a few complex channel bottoms similar to those of his first teacher, Erle Peterson. The only limits are what the fin boxes will hold (Darren's found FCS 2 and Futures incompatible with his six channel design). “There's definitely room to improve,” he says emphatically.
To underscore that point he refers to the boards Dan Thomson is making with channels running out the tail. There's also the board Kelly Slater rode at Snapper, another Tomo shape, with two shallow channels running the length of the board.
Slater has become somewhat of a touchstone to progressive board design - not for him is the keel fin fish. So the fact Kelly Slater has been experimenting with channels – in recent weeks he's picked up a Byrning Spears six channel and had a number of channel bottom Tomo's under his feet – says much about the state of play.
I approached Slater to get his take on the modern channel bottom but received no reply. The day I emailed was the day he released a video of he and Ross Williams talking about board design. It's well known that Slater has led the way with cutting edge design features. So much so his competitors now look to him for breakthroughs. As he is still competing, Williams asked if he wanted to keep any new discoveries a secret.
“Yeah, I think I'm going to,” says Slater placing one of Tomo's channel bottoms on the board pile. “If I start finding new things.”
(Homepage photo by Andrew Shield)
Comments
Everything old is new again.
Is surfing really that vapid that the same designs must come and go from style with such routine ?
I suppose it only heightens the parallel s with fashion that functional designs would be chosen to arrive and depart with the say or nay of a few A listers.
Channels have never died.
Slater, for all his accomplishments, is jumping on a bandwagon.
DHD must feel robbed after shaping for multiple world champs yet still not receiving the false gravitas and financial advantages awarded to others ie JS and Al Merrick .
This may be the time for DHD to stamp authority over a style that is open for usurpation now that AB has left a nameless few to perpetuate his legacy .
In the shaping game, to be nameless is the equivalency of a lack of skill.
Proprietary branding is all.
Channels go off.
I had been with AB for 14 years before he passed and have gotten 4 x deep 6's off Dale following, they have been amazing ..... nobody does channels like Byrning Spears. Nothing else goes like them and nothing will ever replace them especially in WA & Indo etc. Byrning Spears are the pinnacle of the design, just take a look at how they glass the deep 6's compared to the rest. Everyone else is not even close IMO
[quote=Blowin
Slater, for all his accomplishments, is jumping on a bandwagon.
SLater has been getting channels from AB for years, theres footage of him on one and also a massive quiky add in Japan on a building on them.
Cool, cheers for the heads up.
My apologies Mr Slater.
Toothylocal instagram a pic of a channel bottom, curved channels that start just back from the nose
Friction Free Concept shaped by Al byrne R.I.P. for Steve Butterworth R.I.P.
Also a movie Vertical Drive exploring channel bottoms anyone seen that ?
“If you're going to put a concave in it should go under the front foot then have the channels built into a 'V'. AB's way was to build a loose board then put the channels in.”
Amen.
heres another discussion page for those interested
http://www.swellnet.com/forums/shaping-bay/173961#comment-332266
luv me channels lol
"“I'm no stranger to channel bottoms,” says Darren flatly."
I cant tell if the irony was intentional or not but that line made me laugh.
NBB,
Wish I could say it was intentional 'cos it's kinda funny upon re-reading. Here's a photo Darren sent me of a recent channel experiment - a celebration to Erle Peteson! - and it's anything but flat.
I bags to glass and sand it LOL
Geez some water will be forced thru those puppies in some weird and wonderful ways.
Awesome stuff;)
Probably to flow trough (sea) weed.
Adam Robbo riding the channel bottom pictured in the story at Bells:
Dhd says that fcs2 & futures arent compatible but in picture of mf quiver thats what fins theyre using (fcs2). What does this mean ?
Nah, not compatible with his six channels, the photos shows four channel designs. In the six, DH said the flats between the ridges are too angled (from memory he said it was a 33 deg. angle) which puts too much cant on the fins and the boxes can't be ground down.
. So what sort of fin system do they use ?
Old fcs by the looks . So mf had to compromise and get 4 channells becos they pay him to use them !
Old FCS with 0° cant, that the bottom slope doing the cant. This is the secret of those channels , water flow straight with less drag nor cavitation around fins. Faster you go , stiffer the drive is. It's like an assisted steering wheel to sport car.
iv been doing byrning spears in NZ for 21 years after spending some time working with AB and his mentor Bob Davies before that. I feel that his shapes and ideas are without compare. dale and Jamie have learnt well and are pushing ahead the designs, and good for them.
iv seen a great many attempts at channels by many different people , and none stay with it.
followers of fashion.
phil myers are bloody good too in my opinion .
and Rodney Dahlberg also used to do great channels.
we used to say ; if you want a channel bottom , you go see AB , then rod.
G'Day Ray,
The first draft of the article mentioned a few fellas that I thought deserved recognition for furthering channel design, but I thought better of it as I feared I might leave names out.
Also, I had a chat with Phil Myers about his boards in 2013. Worth a read:
https://www.swellnet.com/news/design-outline/2013/12/02/phil-myers-channeling-past-master
true .
murray does great ones as well.
what is it with queensland ay ?
those clean shapely waves .
channels love that.
Marty Littlewood.
Haven't had the pleasure of riding one of marty's channels, sanded a few though.
Nice looking machines, mainly glass ons with them back then, his way of glassing/sanding you kinda had to sand them twice.
You've done a few 'ay shat?
The boards shown here are certainly beautiful, and by all accounts are great to ride. For some reason though I didn't gel with the only channel bottom I owned, which was a Byrning Spears 6'4" thruster bought from Island style in 1985. It had a deep nose concave and 6 deep channels through V in the tail. I rode it at Indicators and A-point at Taharoa and just couldn't get it moving. My shaper Roly Stanley said that the shapes are 'Dogs' and I had to agree at least for myself, so I went back to a one of his flat bottomed singles. Is there a knack to riding them?
Channels hey?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=640372939328457&set=t.1000007086...
and...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200215809704474&set=t.10000070...
?????
Holy Shit ....now there channels ! Slater had a Chunnel years back ?
Yep.
http://www.cisurfboards.com/blog/2010/kelly-slaters-latest-experiment-th...
Have a read of the comments ... one from Harddartz ???
An interesting US patent titled "surfboard with graduated channels"
http://www.google.com/patents/US7685959
????
One of my all time favourite sessions was at Indicators at Raglan on a 6'10 channel bottom about 5 years ago. Clean, overhead and endless walls that were perfect for speed runs, high lines and cutties.
The fact there is even an article shows how much surfing can be about what's in fashion. Channels have worked in the right conditions since forever... Who cares if a few pros have suddenly remembered again.
Very appropriate avatar name for this thread CB;)
Good you got Indies on, great wave for channels eh..!
So does anyone have any idea what fin system dhd & the channell masters are using ? Im guessing the old style fcs . That would be sad to use such a weak link . Like racing cars with plastic suspension ?!
Mine has the old style FCS in it. Should point out though that I have had 3 plugs rip out during its life span.
If/when I replace it, I might even go with glassed on fins.
Hey Caml,
I tend to use the old FCS plugs because they are so easy but you can use Fusion or FCS II it just takes a little more effort and some creativity when selecting your plugs. Sometimes you have to use 9 degree angled boxes on the opposite side, etc. The biggest problem is ensuring the width of the channel is wide enough to fit the Fusion or FCS II.
Very interesting cory good work . Im sure the old fcs are ok in small waves too . But not for big waves with heavy boards . Now the other thing is did MF have to compromise and get four channells becos his fcs2 plugs wont fit ? If he has six channell )
have a look at slaters "chunnel".
that looks like some old boards I remember from" back in the day" and the old import / export biz.
maybe he should call it the "blow tail"
I reckon he'd get 8-900 grms in there easy.
Still no interest in my question about MFs 4 channell
I remember in the 80's talking to AB in Hawaii about channels and what was the magic formula...he replied ..."the deeper the better"...I went back to France and built a 6 channel , 1" deep channels...bd was insane in barrels....but only held together for 3-4 mths before the bd fell apart....
I also spoke to him about 4 belly channels..... AClayton's.....the channels you have when you just want the look ..but no reall affect...haha..
Its great to DH trying something different as he just posted a viseo where he says Mick has been riding the same design for 12 years....and now...????
I'm just a punter seeing this shit from afar but I'm of the limited value opinion that Fanning is surfing the best he has in years....something is going right for the bloke.
First time posting on swellnet. My response is to caml. I spoke to Mick over Easter about 4 channels over 6. He said he felt that 6 channels "tracked" a little much for him and preferred the 4. Each to their own.
I wonder if they catch on steep, hollow take offs where you need to slide a bit to make the take off? Any of the guru's out there can shed light on this?
Had a surf with Phil Myers on the weekend. He was riding a Tomo style planing hull, with four deep belly channel, asymmetric tail and fin set-up. Twin fish keels with a small trailing fin on the longer asym side. Board looked like it worked unreal.
Phil has been in China overseeing production of his channel bottoms in a factory over there. He supplies the intellectual property they make and distribute the boards with a royalty arrangement.
He sounded guilty when he told me : "Fcuk, I'm 62, been shaping all my life and got nothing to show for it".
I can't see any problem with it. Two years ago Phil was cleaning shopping centres and had given up shaping. I hope he makes a buck out of it. He deserves it.
He's been making some beautiful small wave boards with 6 deep Col Smith channel bottoms.
where in china? i may stop by. closest i'll get to this sort of thing over here :-)
where in china? i may stop by. closest i'll get to this sort of thing over here :-)
62 and nothing to show for it.....so china was the answer.....now that's an interesting formula......
can anyone explain the technical formula for 4 channels and 6?
Richards, Anderson, Webber, Lynch ,Cole, Byrne and many others been shaping all there life and have plenty to show for it ....................but still linked up with Thailand or China.
just so ya know Udo...I did a 2 year deal with RC 10 years ago for bds out of Thailand....and would not go back to Asia.......
having said that....I have no $'s to show for 43+ years in the industry......never been happier...hehe
Apolgies Brutus for some reason I had you in with GSI or Surftech.
Have you made channel bottom tow boards ?
Hi Udo.......the problem with channels at high speed is all the interruption from the channels putting air around the fins and the tail.
we are still making a lot of progress ,just using deep single concaves with not much between the fins and veed thru the tail...don't like bubbly water lurking around under the back of the board.......
I confess , I was once nearly sucked in by the royalties from the Asian manufacturers....but there were a lot of problems in getting consistent shapes...and there was too much money in it.......love being a poverty stricken feral fossil wannabe shaper.....keeps ya hungry and sharp...hehe
Good luck to you if you have but haven't you got a licensing arrangement with Lost in USA?
Unbelievable to hear that Phil Myers is doing boards thru china,but cant blame anyone for chasing the dollar because at the end of the day its all about the money.Ive had some beautiful boards off him years ago,always looking to change things up with channels and step tails etc so go Phil,wonder what they will be marketed under.....
hey, us in chine need boards too!!
. double post
yeah working with Lost .......but I shape most of the bds when I go there.....not much $'s but I enjoy the USA as a very sophisticated market and I have my designs there accepted as being cutting edge ..instead of being put down for being a bit different......FR76..my wife and I live week to week...no assets at all......but life is great!
C'mon mate, no need to play the victim card here. You're well accepted here in Aus as one of our most innovative shaper/designers.
No need to go to USA to have people pissing in your pockets.
People in this country are rightly proud of your achievements.
Glad to hear life is great.
nah not the victim card.....just the whole Australian tall poppy syndrome....is a reflection on a young Australia that has to put down people to feel good about themselves.......and working in the USA is not pissing in your pockets...but a thing called respect....there is so much R&D going on....guys like Ryan Burch wanting to learn.....Co's now set up with Bio-resins , recycled blanks , a market that accepts new designs .....
Australia is a design backwater..and the market is also.........as you can read in this post...hehe..
it is nice to have your pocket pissed in once in awhile :)
Thanks adam robbo for your info . MF four channells !
ah earle pedersson, surfed cyclonic taylors point on his first jet bottom prototype, caught up with him when he was working for pipedreams years later. jet bottom no good on point waves but 6 channel were. 4 channels go great hollow wave but not open face . 4 channels enable release for rail to rail transition, 6 channels say im riding this barrel till my legs give out or it's lobster diving time,
AB- love u always have, always will.
Not sure Clif. He mentioned South China Sea if that help.
Thanks, FR.
Likely Guangzhou / DongGuan then. Probably would not do one off sell, though.
However, I am an expanding market haha (pork buns too tasty)
Man, my first favourite board was a FreeFlight - got it when passing through Brisbane and stopped at the old Brisso surf store "GoodTimes".
Who knows? We might even see the odd "Stinger" or two, come back onto the centre stage? They didn't take off as well as the channel bottoms, but they certainly did work.
Brutus thanks for the insight . Also ive been trying to tell them about channells .they must be deep or its a waste of time . MC knows
The new Dane Reynolds CI model, the Peregrine, comes standard with channels. Video here:
Nice.
Why is there a heat gun in the shaping bay ?
Did he say incredible art work? joking right?
Another legendary shaper in Channell bottom mode
@petertheledge instagram = Peter McCabe.
Bloody hell. Was scrolling halfway down the first page of surfboards on eBay and saw this AB at $500 with $700 buy it now.
By the time I clicked, it was gone. Beautiful board.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Surfboard-original-Al-Byrne-channel-bottom-61...
Wot a beautiful board!
I reckon if I'd bought it I'd be scared to take it out anywhere, then as soon as a 6-8ft swell hit Lennox I wouldn't be able to resist :)
Anyone know about Al Byrne doing boards with a Country Syle logo on them
Gumtree Geelong area has a mint squaretail $250 , fixed fins AB decals but also Country Style -?
Wilsonjet instagram - A 10 yr old AB shaped 8'10 channel bottom finished blank.......only just hit the glassing stands.
Yep, Dale's gonna shoot some photos through shortly. I've been tracking that thing.
Scardy is drooling !
I had a Dahlberg with channel bottom in the eighties and it went well until one of the glassed in fins ripped out in a solid swell. In some of those late 70" early 80"s surf flicks they had a section on channels, clinkers, jet bottom, and dimple bottom. I forget which movie (blazing boards, son of the last surf movie, surf into summer type surf vids). They showed some surfing and gave a little feedback on em. Here's an interesting bottom design I spotted at main break about 6 years ago.
Bit of graffiti on it ..Russel mumbles Lewis
Yeah, noticed that too. Looked too new to be one of his creations. Think he lives in Kauai now..?
Reminds me of this Webber creation ( third from right at top):
I see a fork nose top right ?
Yep, Burch wasn't first (and maybe Greg wasn't either).
I just got a MF Jbay DHD 6,1 goes very well in small waves. It's a rocket!
I also own a 6,3 AB 6 channel love that thing in clean overhead waves.
Channels are awesome :)
Glen Winton insta - belly channel with a Stringer keel
Any more on the 10yr old 8'10 AB Channel bottom Stu ?
Order a new 7'6 - 6 channel widow maker from Dave Parmenter...pick up in August....been a loooooooooooong time since I ordered anything with channels
The best board I ever had was a Des Sawyer custom with channels, nothing has touched it for speed, that was Cape Town in 1979, now is Falkland islands and about to rediscover my misspent youth with more channels:)