What the FIVE!!!!

So if you haven't asked, e-mailed, thought about or just complained about Stretch not making a convertible 5-fin set up then alas your time has come! The latest model known as the "THING" is the newest addition to the Stretch line up and is a tough little guy to categorize. Is it a quad? Is it a fishy little tri? Is it a novelty for surfers who can't decide what to get for their next board? Well, I'd say neither of the above. Having suffered a season ending injury with a broken femur, Nathan Fletcher never got a chance to test out his new 5'4" THING last year. After spending time out of the water and contemplating designs and ways to progress his surfing antics even more, he eventually bounced back and pursued to push the limits on something many of us would consider inconceivable. A 5'4" shortboard?!?! It's not a fish. It's not a grovel board. It's not something we've come to conventionally accept but it does amazing things under your feet! A smaller and wider outline with a narrower tail than normally seen on anything of this length allows the ability to run a reconfigured fin cluster so that either a tri or a quad configuration can be accepted. That's right, 5 fin boxes! Whether it's 2 fins on rail or a trailer fin anchoring your centerline reference under the back foot, the choice for your next session can be handled with one board and a fin key. Meant to be surfed hard and fast, the "THING" isn't just a small wave wonder board. It's a tightly packaged performance shortboard that just happens to be small. Designed to be ridden about 1/4" to 3/4" wider, 1/8" thicker and 4-6" shorter, the "THING" allows surfers to turn quicker and tighter with speed. It fits into bowly pockets with ease and stays glued to your feet through quick directional changes, skateboard-like rotations and snappy turns. No "flat as a board" deck profile, fat rails or pancake rocker. You're not going to stand and go straight on a "THING", you're going to destroy on it! So, are you a surfer who's been riding thrusters only since the first time out? Dedicated to quads for the last 4 or so years? Not to worry. The "THING" can be custom ordered as either/or. The 5-fin set up works so darn well with the new tail outline that it just makes sense to offer it to those who want it. It's one extra fin and multiple options. Aren't you smiling already! Questions? Of course you have them! Look for Nathan, Rat, Charlie Ramirez and a handful of east coast, west coast and Hawaiian surfers flying around on "THING" models this year. In the meantime, feel free to call us at the factory and we'll help you out with anything you need.