FreakFish EVO6 bonzer goes tropo

 

The new 6’5” x 21 1/4” x 2 5/8” EVO6 FreakFish for my trip to the Mentawais…

Can’t wait to get this into some fast hollow lefts on my backhand… should really suit Rags and Telescopes nicely.

The Riddler rides again…

 

This ones off to Indo with me, so the good news is the original Riddler is up for sale… If interested give me a shout.

This one is exactly the same (which says it all really) except for a slightly thicker rail for the slightly heavier surfer (13 1/2 stone)… ME! It’s still the barrel focussed shortboard it was intended to be, together with a REVO5 bonzer fin set up and a gullwing McCoy rear fin. Pics of it in action at HTs (hopefully) coming from a boat in the Mentawais soon.

Poppy loves her bonzer…

Nice message from Nicky Stanley at Harbour Holidays about Poppy’s 5’8 Porpoise EVO3 with 7” Protect Safety fin…

“Its amazing, Poppy loves it :) thank you so much xxx”

A little resin tint I forgot...

Post Op

Just had my cartilage trimmed in a little keyhole op this weekend… so my apologies to all followers that there will be a bit of  lag before posting resumes… which is pretty frustrating as i have 4 boards to shape, one set of Freak Fish fins to foil, a kelp tint and pinlines and a Hendrix ink-job to do… so until i get back in the flow of things here's the last board to be shaped before the op…

It is a 6’5” Cleanline Bonzer 5 for Mark at Glass Tiger…

 

Oscars EVO6 bonzer roars…

Riddler review

Sometime you get a board that seems to fit the waves just perfectly, the Riddler is such a board. I had the pleasure of trying it out in some local reefs after Christmas and it even surprised me. The combination of the tail shape and the subtle rails makes the board fit beautifully into the face whatever your angle of attack. It comes off the bottom with drive and speed, yet you can suddenly direct it up the face with no concern of it spinning out. The only drawback was that the rails were a little too thin for me, so i was overturning it and virtually stalling it on my backside bottom turns… of course this did draw me up into the pocket nicely but i prefer to choose when i do that,  so i have immediately started another one ready for the Mentawais.

The reverse bonzer fins made a noticeable difference paddling in, it felt much easier to catch waves that my other models, (despite less volume and more rocker) so the theory of less drag with the upright bonzer sides seems to hold true.

The board did amazing roundhouses with no loss of speed and i was able to keep it on the same arc, even on slow waves, without the need for the double pump that most thrusters seem to require.

So i can say that i would recommend this board without hesitation to most surfers, especially for steeper waves.

FreakFish thaws the frozen North…

Peter Strachen carving on his 5’10 FreakFish EVO6 bonzer (wood parabolic collaboration board with Glass Tiger) somewhere up in the Frozen North…

   

Here’s what he had to say: “Hi guys a couple of pics of the FreakFish in action today. This was just before dark it was bigger in the morning and it was still handling the drops well. It didn't rise above 0 degrees all day, so it was cold sessions but only five out in the morning, two and then all alone in the afternoon. The board is going great, it is now my everyday board of choice. I was going to take the Cleanline in this morning, it was pumping, but it was at home and I was interested to see how Le Freak would go. Feel free to put the photos on your blogs but only as the "frozen north". Cheesy grin. Pete”.

Oh and whilst we are on the subject of Pete’s FreakFish there were some more pictures of it on that great online surf mag, Drift… an article all by Mark about his 2010 and what 2011 might hold for his beautiful wood boards.

EVO6 FreakFish bonzer foam stained…

    

For Merrick… pin lines to follow once glassed together with some Hendrix ink-work.