Good enough for Mick, hey ? ^^^
When things get thick and steep, single-fins can hold tight in the pocket ...
rather than blasting out towards the shoulder and out of the barrel.
They go well in waves with size and grunt.
Of course thrusters create their own speed and go places on a small wave ...
places no single-fin ever could.
I have a pretty sick old Emerald 6fter single at home I used to ride a lot. Cotemplated riding it kiting but decided against it for 2 reasons, one it would wreck its Feng shui and the second being it would probably destroy it, seeing it is like 20years older than me.
I think if I did ride it it wouldn't be that great anyway, if you have riden a single fin you will remember the skill and the finesse it takes to master a decent bottom turn and control a tight top turn. I think with a kite it would be very hard to make this look good, and even if you did the art would kind of be lost in the translation.
Good question Wavey, I still have an old fav Santosha rounded pin from the early eighties that I have hung onto because it is in good condition and and has a bit of history.
Back then it was all about the barrel for me and most guys and there is no doubt the gunny single fins were good at holding a line on a steep or barrelling wave.
I remember trying to get used to the way the thrusters would get sucked up the face on the hollow sucky sections.
Like you say thrusters create their own speed through turns but in a straight line there is more drag because of the toe-in of the side fins.
Only a few days ago I had a conversation with someone out in the lineup about the old Cheyne Horan Lazerzap single fins, showing my age I know but does anyone remember them?
I have often thought about dragging out the single fin and giving it a go with the kite but haven't got around to it, mainly because I dont want to damage the old board and like Rowdy said it would ruin the feng shui .
Has anyone tried a single fin with a kite?
ruin the feng shui .Haha ,Gold!
Singles where so fun you could pivot off the fin an do some sick turns with the board turning really tight and just falling naturally out of top turns,from memory they used to surf more vertical an then pivot back down for some top to bottom fun as opposed to thrusters which had everyone carving figure eights down the line instead,Id love a modern single more light weight an refined it would go sick for sure, shorty of corse !
wave kiters dont ride them because there are none around to try!
Simon Anderson has a lot to answer for 
I remember the lazor Zap crap no nose shane was riding too, he was the only one who made it work, couldn't beat the twinny tho an not to mention the quads.
if you think a single fin surfs top to bottom, I wanna ride what ever single fin you rode. Riding a single fin requires you to slow everything down, no sudden movements, a drwn out bottom turn and sometimes a tight top turn. Riding a thruster in comparison is like riding on train tracks.
and? it's a tight top turn... Obviously if your as skilled as mick fanning you can pull this sort of stuff nearly every wave. I didn't say you couldn't do this stuff I just said it requires different timing. initiating the bottom turn cannot be a sharp movement like on a thruster when you go vertical, it's a slower more progressive initiation.
I guarantee though you stick the average "wavekiter" on a single fin and just sit back and wait for the laughs. (unkookedstrapped of course)
mick fanning could probably make any board look good!
i'm sticking to a thruster
i had a custom made for kiting, they changed the toe in of the outside fins slightly and changed the rocker slightly plus beefed up the cloth on the bottom to strengthen, but its still light (EPS).
Single fins slow down off the top, thrusters speed up off the top.
positioning and timing is way more critical and unforgiving with single fins
Horan went his own way and rode pigdawg boards. If he had not gone against the grain to his own detriment he would have been a world champ I reckon. He was a stylin surfer but just couldn't change his comp riding to suit the times.
He makes a nice mung bean stew these days.
My mate had a McCoy lazerzap shape around 83/84? Looked the sh!t but rode like one unfortunately. Pretty sure from memory it was a thruster in the lazerzap outline. Was so ordinary it donated to my mate by his older sister's boyfriend (he knew how to get in the good books).
Driving a woody wagon is great for nostalgia but you are never gonne burn rubber in one. Same for singles, twinnies etc. Live the dream, or ride real world gear. Each to their own.
BTW I would have thoought that it would take a massive amount of reinforcement to hold in a huge single fin under the loads kiting on a board creates? More hass than it's worth - might as well kite on a woody.
Maybe my initial question was slightly confusing ?
I didn't mean;
"Why don't wavekiters ride Lazorzaps?"
or
"Why don't wavekiters ride vintage boards?"
lol.
What I meant was why don't wavekiters have a choice of boards like wavesailors do ?
Poleys ride single-fins, twinzers, thrusters and quads.
A modern single-fin kiteboard would offer more choice.
Threads naturally detour on this site Slave. 
I thought you might have notic.. 
wow 
that's a hot chick walkin past.. what were you rubbishing on about again?
Answer to your Q? Cause - despite Mick fangin in the pic - they don't perform as well and will most likely bust out with half your board still hanging off it. Full stop.
BTW (contrary to my full stop
) Kiters have thrusters and quads easily available and some can remove/replace fins so a twin or even single is possible. Dunno why you'd want to copy poleboarding tho truly? Try a centre fin sometime could be deluxe.
Did you even read anything people wrote in this thread about single fin characteristics? From your last post Mr Slave I'm guessing thats a big no. Take a read back through some of your responses and there in lies your answer.
haha, sorry man guess I sounded a bit harsh.
But yeah you weren't wrong, I can remember some storm swells at byron when I was at school that my 6ft single dominated. Where all the thrusters fall off the wave you have the bouyancy and momentum to keep going through those fat sections and link up the next little barrel. Heaps of fun.
i still surf single fins. My brother inlaw has a large collection of retro boards and replica's. I've always wanted to take one out at my local point break but i definately dont think the style the you can surf a single fin will be able to be translated to surfing with a kite. Although im sure someone will prove me wrong
a kite just pulls you along, like a kid sitting on a trolley being pulled by a dog on a leash.
one, two, three or four wheels..it's the little dude yelling at the dog that makes the difference.
nice analogy ^^^^^
A mate just ordered a 6'8 single fin for down the line surfing
If he lets me take it out with the kite
I will let you know.
I can't see me getting on the waves it was designed for anyway
That little single fin Micks ridding looks pretty cool but.
Simple, we are being pulled by a kite and ride faster, due the the asymmetrical shape of the fins on the rails it digs the rail in on a thruster....surfboard-design 101
^^^^^^
