Simms21 by John Cherry

I can not say enough about this board... so I'll let John Cherry do the talking,

" Hi Jack,

Congratulations…I’m stoked that you are looking forward to having the board. A lot of aloha went into it when it was made. Based on what you are used to riding and checking out your fish quiver on your blog, I think you will really like it. Yours was #3 in production, Morgan’s was #2, my brother Frank’s was #4. I’m shaping #14 tomorrow, another 6-3.

I hadn’t planned on the shape becoming a series model when I dreamed up #1 for myself. I just wanted to take some of the characteristics that I liked about the 10-0 reproduction Simmons that I ride and combine them with some of the modern fish/quad performance characteristics that work so well.

What is similar to the Original Simmons is the wide template, nose-to-tail, the subtle step-deck and the transitional rail. Transitional rail just means that the rail transitions evenly from a hard up rail at the nose to a hard down rail at the tail.

The original Simmons boards are wave catching machines because of their wide template. The center concave gives them great down-the-line speed. But they are heavy (32lbs) and the long center concave combined with the fins anchored on the end of the tail make them very difficult to turn.

The Simm 21’s are of course very light. I pulled the tail in just a tad and gave it a soft diamond outline instead of a squared off tailblock. I moved the twin keels from off of the corners of the tail to a modern fish position. Instead of a long parallel concave down the center of the bottom, like the original Simmons, I shaped a very subtle single into double concave bottom. It has a modern rail profile. It has a low, progressive rocker.

The end result is another wave-catching machine. The Simm-21’s paddle and catch waves like boards that are a foot or two longer. The low rocker combined with the modern concave set-up gives it superb hull speed. The twin-fish fin set-up combined with the soft diamond tail make the board as maneuverable as a modern fish. The trailer fin was added to provide a bit of tail drive that the fish don’t have.

The Simm-21’s would be another great desert-island board. Because of the increased bottom area they perform very well in mediocre or minimal surf conditions and they absolutely RIP in good surf...

Your new Simm 21 should last a long time. It is glassed with two layers of 6oz on the deck and single 6oz on the bottom. When I shape the boards to their thickness dimensions, it all comes off of the bottom, very little from the deck. This makes for a stronger deck under the glass. They are very sturdy. The t-band stringer is cedar and basswood……super sturdy.

Your fins are of course custom made. The twin template is one that Rich Pavel and I designed together.

I laminated African mahogany, white maple and lace sycamore to build your fin blanks, then templated, foiled and glassed them. Your board is 100% hand shaped, nose to fins, laminated by Gary Stuber at Moonlight Glassing.

I hope it puts you right where you like to be, many times over.

Aloha,

John Cherry"