Dimensions: 5’6 x 20″ 1/4 x 2″ 1/4
Rider Height/Weight: 5’5 140 lbs

I had a chance to ride Greg Griffin’s interesting concoction of a board the Modfish. The Modfish is a pointy nose fish with a flat entry rocker, kick in the tail, and five fins. At first glance five fins seems like there’s no way the board will ever work…just looking at the board made me think there’d be too much drag and I imagined the board surfing slow with stiff turning. Greg, being the imaginative mad scientist that he is assured me that contrary to my own common sense, the characteristics of this particular board (rocker, tail kick, five fins) would actually allow the board to surf faster and be more responsive in the pocket than other fishes.

I reluctantly took his word and surfed this board in small town waves during the middle of summer (2010 was pretty lame for the southern shores of Oahu…no decent swells, lots of wind, and lots of crowd). The first few rides on this board felt pretty weird…the board felt a bit wide and a bit stiff. After a couple of waves, I remembered that Greg told me that unlike most fishes, you needed to ride the ModFish more on the tail…the tail rocker would provide all the turning I needed and the dynamics of the board would keep the board on top of the wave and planing with lots of speed…I have a tendency to ride fishes more towards the middle to generate speed.

After moving back towards the tail, the board came alive and the turning ability for a fish was pretty incredible. This board had a lot of drive and hold off the bottom…in other words, when you pushed on the rail on your bottom turn, the board pushed back giving you lots of drive and projection. The five fins provided a very stable and controlled ride but in the pocket you could snap the board around similar to a shortboard.

One of the more interesting things about this board is it felt like when you pumped it down the line, the board got up above the water…planing instead of bogging on slower sections all while being pumped from the tail. I’ve noticed that other fishes sometimes have a tendency to bog in slow mushy sections where the ModFish pushed and climbed over the slow stuff.

The only downside to this board it’s slightly larger size than I’m used to…at 20″ 1/4 wide and 2″ 1/4 thick, I would have preferred it about 5’4 and an 1/8″ thinner and possibly a bit more narrow. If you want a board for super small and crappy waves, I’d recommend getting this board a bit longer and thicker. Greg also recommends for maximum performance to use his premium hand shaped fins…they are a bit pricey but they work much better with his ModFish model. However, for those looking to save money, he does offer cheaper FCS fins.