Rob Machado is inarguably one of the most stylish surfers to ever step foot on a surfboard, but especially so when it comes to a fish.
Practically ever since he hung up his jersey, and retired from competitive surfing, Rob has ridden anything but a standard shortboard. Mostly, he rides fishes – to the extent that, when anyone imagines Rob surfing in their mind’s eye, it’s most likely on a fish, on a long, drawn-out lefthander, with that impeccable style.
But there’s a few caveats to fishes, per Rob, like the proper fins to use in ‘em.
Recently, Rob caught up with San Clemente surfer Kevin Schulz to test drive his new fish from Firewire Surfboards, the “Too Fish.” And Rob noticed, from previous clips, that Kevin was riding the board with the wrong fins.
“I saw a couple clips of him [Kevin] riding the ‘Too Fish’ the other day,” said Rob. “And I was like, ‘Okay, yeah.’ There were moments of brilliance. But then, I saw it. He kicked out of a wave, and his board flipped over. He had some fins in it that were not keels.”
So, Rob brought Kevin a pair of keel fins to test out.
According to Rob:
“I’ve always loved the speed and drive of keel fins, but they can be too tracky at times, so with this keel fin set, I created something that was alive in the pocket and on the shoulder with extreme pivot capabilities. This means all the traditional feels of a keel are in this this set, but so is an enlivened turning ability not present in other keel fin sets.”
As for Kevin? Did he like the keel setup?
“These were the call,” he said. “He was right.”
Of course Rob Machado is right when it comes to fishes.
Check out the “Too Fin” from Firewire Surfboards here.
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