The Holmes inverted rail
We have been making them for 10 years now from short fish/Simmons shapes to longer single fins with incredible sucress. The inverted rail works on two levels: it creates a hip in line with the fins to pivot off and allows for incredible speed when turning due to the reduced drag of the straight mid rail.
How it came about
While talking shit in the parking lot at the beach and looking at an inverted rail longboard Max Wetland had develop very successfully. I asked him why he didn't do a short board version of the design. His reply was 'why don't you'! The gauntlet was thrown. Now ten years on and various models later, we feel we have an easy to ride, super fast, exciting alternative to the regular surfboard.
A very old concept
The history of the inverted rail is a long and twisted tale. Max Wetland lived in Camada in the 70s and as there was no surf. he started skiing. It wasn't long before he was building 'surfboard' inspired single skis to ride in snow. Henee the beginnings of snowboard-ing. He had noticed that all the skis had an inverted shape and asked one of the ald timers how this came about. The story was that when people first started skiing the skis were made of wood and they noticed that they wore out on the sides around the foot where the most pressure was exerted and less towards the tips creating the inverted shape. They figured why not cut them in that shape to start with? Once they did this, the turn ability and the edge control was greatly improved. Max never forgot this and, once he returned to South Africa, started applying it to the surfboard.
Laurie Holmes
Reach out to a brother to find out more about the infamous Holmes inverted rail and get your custom order in!
