Mentawais are go

Just booked a trip to Mentawais for March… so will be a great proving ground for some of my new shapes. Will be doing test reviews from the boat straight onto the blog after my sessions. Test pilot Ant Danks also in tow so we hope to get some great footage and stills too.  Hoping for a bit of the stuff below… that’s me up in the Banyaks a few years back.

Right now it is pretty flat around here… and cold with snow forecast tomorrow. I have 2 boards in artwork which should go for glossing tomorrow and under two children’s trees for Christmas. 2 waiting to be shaped… a FreakFish and a Cleanline – hope to get the FreakFish done tomorrow. An Atlantic POD in the pipeline and i think I'll make myself 2 more for myself for the trip, an new FreakFish and a Cleanline.

The Riddler – REVO5 bonzer

This board was inspired by some of the most significant influences on my shaping… Malcolm Campbell’s bonzers of course, a little bit of McCoy’s loaded dome Nuggets and a healthy dose of Cheyne Horan’s boards and the spitfire theories from Revolution...

6’2” x 20 1/2” x 2 7/8” – rolled deck with pinched rails. Rolled V boat-nose into vortex channel inside rolled V, exiting into a panel V through the tail. REVO bonzer spitfire sides and  a McCoy gullwing centre fin. Can be ridden as a Single fin or as a REVO5.

The REVO sides are using the fluid dynamic theories more popular in sailing after the Ben Lexcan keel led the Australia II to the America’s Cup victory in 1980. One part of the theories is that a vertical keel has less resistance than a sloped one due to its reduced initial contact area. Anyways thought it was time to apply some of this to a board and inspired by something similar on a Revolution Board and with encouragement from Noel Whitman of Revolution the Riddler was born. Watch out for tweaks in the near future after its first wetting.

Hope you enjoy.

     

Hornet EVO6 bonzer

 

Blue tint 5'10 Hornet EVO6 bonzer getting plugged by Daz... "now what angles did Tim say he wanted...?"

Atlantic POD with twin-CRV symmetrical foil rears

Had the Atlantic POD EVO6 bonzer out in some fun surf the other day and it flies. Waves were overhead and clean with almost no wind… some lovely peaks with long rides and plenty of wall. The board has really quick wave entry with the fins offering low drag and heaps of drive off the bottom. Faded bottom turns no problem with excellent hold; cutbacks kept a decent amount of speed through the turn. These fins seem to be really neutral handling, predictable and have a great balance between drive and hold.

Rode them another day at another spot, a little more hollow and quick and the fins were equally good but perhaps a little less control in the steeper stuff. A conventional shape would have offered a little more control and less drive – which would have worked well on that day as the board was outrunning the curl a bit too easily.

More reviews on the other set-ups when the surf comes back.

Finisterre…

I remember the first few times i met Tom, founder of Finisterre, we were rookies lifeguarding at Porthcothan… it was a summer of crap surf and long games of backgammon (and the odd rescue)…

At the end of the summer i got my first technical fleece from Tom and it is still as warm, comfortable and waterproof as the first day i tried it on. So it was with some nostalgia and good vibes that Mark told me about a post on the Finisterre blog featuring the first Glass Tiger/Tim Stafford collaboration board, a 6’4” Cleanline bonzer 5. Thanks for the heads up guys, and Tom I'm still here (well now Devon) for a rematch!

fREAKfISH… wooden EVO6 bonzer gets stained…

Just a little wood staining to finish off Pete’s FreakFish EVO6 bonzer 5’11”. Now back with Mark of Glass Tiger for the final varnish and fin- glossing before it heads up to Scotland for some real juice.

“The Riddler” – 6’2” McCoy nugget inspired bonzer 5

   

6’2 x 20 1/2” x 2 7/8” with “spitfire” Bonzer 5s and a 10” single fin box…

Name was inspired by the board itself being a bit of an enigma… McCoy inspired Nugget with my take on Geof’s  original loaded dome, but with my vortex channels under the front foot and bonzer 5 set up, with the spitfire profile. This is a pretty out-there board and i can’t wait to try it in some sucky stuff soon. It looks like it will fit into the pocket beautifully.

The big question is do i add the rear EVO6 plugs too… tempting but maybe a bit plugtastic? Any views.