Introduction
This overview of the designs ridden by visiting professional surfers, Martin Potter and Dave Hansen, of South Africa, and Matt George and Wlliy Morris of California, along with Australia's Greg Day.
Despite the continued contest success of Mark Richards ridding his twin-fin, in less than twelve months, Simon Anderson's Thruster had largely replaced the previous single or twin fin options, only South Africa's Dave Hansen staying exclusively with twins.
Greg Day, Bobby Owens, Willy Morris and Martin Potter (by implication) all acknowledge Simon's influence.
In a quiver of four boards, Willy Morris was travelling with one twin-fin, for waves under 5 feet, and Greg Day's small wave board began life as a twin-fin but, just too loose, he added a third.

Further experimentation included Glen Winton's four fin, or quad design and a video tape of the recent Bells Contest reportedly had footage of Midget Farrelly with a five-fin board.

Martin Potter emigrated to Australia in 1985, followed by Woman's Champion Wendy Botha in 1989,  to enhance his professional career as sporting events became increasingly difficult with growing opposition to South Africa's apartheid policies.
After competing on the pro-circuit, Sam George served as an editor at Surfer magazine and wrote or edited several books; Surfing - A Way of LIfe (1990), Surfing (1992, 1993), The Perfect Day- 40 years of Surfer Magazine (2001), and Surfer Magazine- 50 years (2010).
George is named Slammin' Sam Septic by Nick Carroll in his coverage of the Quicksilver Trials.

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Sharon Holland Surf Skins Wetsuits -Skipp Surfboards

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GREG DAY

Hot Buttered (Surfboards) 5'6" swallow wing thruster. Small wave board, formerly a twin until I stuck an extra one in. It was just too loose. Good for tiny beachbreaks. 5'9" square wing thruster. Favourite board. Works anywhere, anytime, up to eight feet. 6'0" square wing thruster. Enlarged version of the 5'9", for bigger waves. 6'6" pin thruster. For specially big waves about ten feet or up. All shaped by Greg Webber. Fitz added a few touches to the 6'6". Simon Anderson's performances drove me to get into thrusters. They allow you to ride smaller boards in bigger waves, which is what I like doing. I'm really happy with this quiver. I've got a board for every situation. I'll probably take most of these boards overseas with me. They all go really well.

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DAVE HANSEN  -   MARTIN POTTER

MARTIN POTTER : Safari (Surfboards, South Africa). 5'7" 6'0" - Both thrusters, square wings. Shaped by Spider Murphy in South Africa. I changed from twins to thrusters just after Hawaii. I took a small one to the Islands and it went really well, I think they suit my style better than twins. Actually they haven't worked perfectly in Australia but there are a lot of different waves over here and this is my first trip, so I'm not really too worried. I think my boards have gone best down here at Bells. I snapped a 57" at Burleigh and hassled to replace it. Next year I'll be better prepared for the variety of conditions. DAVE HANSEN 5'10" 6'10" Both twin fins, wing swallow tail. Shaped by Rob Ponting in South Africa. Basically, these are the same boards as I've been getting for a while now. I'll ride these, and they'll work well, in anything under ten feet. Fins are raked back, vee right through, with lots of bottom curve. Rails are boxy with tucked edges. A lot of people ride thrusters now but I don't want to and don't really need to either. I don't like the extra restriction of the third fin. Twin fins suit my surfing style nicely.

BOBBY OWENS  

Team Bolt 5'8" 5'10" Both thruster 4-channel 4-wing. Shaped by Mike Davis (Kiama). 6'0" 6'6" Both thruster swallowtails. Shaped by Bill Barnfield (Hawaii). The two small ones are a pretty radical departure from my normal design theory. Usually there would be no way I could be tempted to ride boards with such wide tails, but the combination of three fins, channels, wings and thin foil means that the tails are really quite sensitive and I have no trouble accelerating or swining it around. The two bigger ones are just basic blasters for when a little power creeps into the waves. Straight swallow, no wings, solid vee right through. It's like I've got two different quivers with this range of boards, but there are no difficulties involved in switching over - I've been more or less able to predict a day in advance what board I'll need, so I have time to warm up on it. I was unsure about three fins but when I saw what Simon and crew were doing in Hawaii, I realized the benefits of the design. At the moment I don't fee! the need for anything else.

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WILLY MORRIS & SAM GEORGE  Channel Islands (Surfboards, California). .

WILLY 6'0" twin swallow wing 4-channel. - Excellent for anything under five feet. 6'2" thruster rounded square wing 4-channel. - For five to eight feet, depending on the power of the wave. 6'6" thruster rounded square 4-channel. - For five 6'6" thruster rounded square 4-channel. - Strictly real big-wave stuff. All shaped by Al Merrick in California. Heavily influenced by Simon's boards, aside from the channels. This is my first trip to Australia and I'm stoked at the way my boards have gone. I haven't felt the need for a change. I really enjoy it over here. SAM 2 x 5'11" thruster square wing 4-channel. 6'5" thruster square wing 4-channel. All shaped by Al Merrick in California. I brought two 5'11" in case I totally destroyed one, which is always on the cards. Two previous sojourns in Australia stood me well experience-wise; I knew what equipment I wanted and it's worked well. Plus the waves have been so good over here this year, it's given me plenty of opportunity to get right into it.

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1st Garry Timperley, 2nd Mark Warren, 3rd Col Smith (Newcastle), 4th Matt (Slammin' Sam Septic) George.

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Piping Hot Wetsuits Torquay Simon Anderson Short Sleeved 2mm Steamer                                              Photo: Peter Simons Col Smith Long Sleeved 3x2mm Steamer Photo: Tony Nolan