Riding the waves of change.. the going shorter addiction

[benjl]

Absolutely!

My plan is.. Cash in on the minimal sales and then use the cash to pay for my short board addiction.
The love buzz is something that I didn't plan on purchasing but a guy had to leave the country and needed me to pick it up ASAP when No one else would.
Ended up with the hs love buzz with carbon fins, leash and bag for $500nzd!

I want to hear how your board goes!! It does look like the tail is a tad thinner than my hypto. The more I ride that board the more I don't see how it works. I always seem to lose it around turns and slide out. I think you have to ride it As short as possible to make these boards work. Even at 5'10, the design doesn't work for me. I'm not sure whether it either needs way more release to help aid it round turns or way less release to make it not release during the turn.

What's your normal short board length? This one is 6'0 aye?

[benjl]

http://www.haydenshapes.com/pages/love-buzz

[Big H]

I have 6' as the smallest (different than the new one) all the way up to 9'6"....6'4" I have (had, sold now) a few...I like the lack of board out in front when I ride the 6' I have and how the board stays with me when paddling, easier to dive down the face into a wave when paddling for ii (responds quicker) and my feet wind up in the right spots without having to shuffle around much if at all (like on the 6'4"s), so this one I hope fits the bill....

The thrust of the marketing for the Hypto is the one board quiver idea.....pretty much not my or your goal apparently so maybe that kind of board isn't what you need.....

[Big H]

Keep the mini mal....I think you'll regret it if you do.....I had mine out in overhead stuff this week and it was a lot of fun....really like that board; will keep it forever....sell that hypto thing if it isn't working or get a second job....

[Surf Hound]

Ahhh. I used to have a Jimmy Lewis board like that when I lived in Maui. Loved it, I actually had a few Jimmy Lewis boards and all were really fun. Most were SUP's. (Sorry everyone but we used to SUP every morning before work). Jimmy lived in Maui so his boards were very popular on Maui. I wish I could have had that board in PU but all of his boards were epoxy and made in China. Jimmy's health was really bad so I think he stopped or slowed down considerably making PU and sold only epoxy. Loved his boards though especially that mal. Have you seen the fish he makes? Always wanted one of those as well but ended up moving to CA so never got one. If you see one of epoxy fish boards at a decent price I would pick it up as those are supposed to be really fun. I enjoyed seeing a picture of that board - it reminded me of fun times, fun waves, warm water and good people. We had a group of people that used to surf every morning before work in Maui, occasionally Jimmy would come down because he was friends with a friend but anyways... we had great sessions every morning back then. miss those days.

[Surf Hound]

I think my board lIke that was an 8-2. A little different than your standard sizes. What size is that one?

[Big H]

It's a 7'....it is such a good board....I hear you on the PU thing...I have seen the fish; it looks like fun... This board can catch anything....I imagine the 8' is even better to that end....people who know KNOW....guy stopped me in the parking lot a month or so ago with "Jimmy Lewis!!! Niiiiiccceee!!!! ".

[Big H]

Hahaha....small swell in....top of mind...decided I'm going to ride it tomorrow!

[benjl]

These boards seem to be going the opposite way of this topic

[Big H]

Quivers defined....different arrows for different conditions....one board quiver like a hypto if you must, better to have a rack with choices.

[jaffa1949]

You know you have gone too short when you are surfing on your bare feet!

[Big H]

Waist high at best with one or two threatening the shoulders.....Jimmy Lewis was a champ and I had a good time. Had the new (to me) single fin in the car, itching to try it but wasn't the board for today.

[Big H]

These boards seem to be going the opposite way of this topic

Another log to the fire....sold a fun board I had and bought another second hand one the same length (6'6"...5" taller than I am) but more foiled, narrower, more rocker, sharper rails, etc....it's a standard Indo board that is in everyone's quivers here. Long story short, I took it out today in average conditions, shoulder to head high stuff and had the best surf I've had in a couple of weeks. Paddles so well, easy to get into waves and set the rail on get ups, was able to control it better and didn't wash off speed via my clumsiness and little mistakes and is harder to bog out due to the length I think....I was catching waves I'd been missing, getting up and out onto the green faster and had enough speed to get out and cut back....felt good in bottom turns and just seemed to "fit"......I dunno really, I just know that I stumbled onto a good one and will surf this whenever I can as it helped make me better today than I have been. Strange....that 6'4" I have feels too big....this 6'6" feels perfect.....foam distribution? The 6'4" is more of a hybrid shape, nose a little wider, more foam forward, wider by an inch, less rocker, less foil....whatever, I like the red rocket; we'll see how it goes.

Ride that love buzz in good waves Benji; leave the wide noses for soft conditions...I bet you fall in love too.

*Took that green one out for the first time yesterday; crap conditions but caught a few decent ones....I over finned it with a 2+1...have to try it in better waves with a single only. I needed bigger and better waves than I thought I would for a board with those dims; looking at it the tail is pretty pulled in and rails are not that big....tail in particular is well foiled out. I'll take it out for a dawn patrol in cleaner conditions and see how it does.

[Big H]

.......and it's red!!! Red goes faster!!!

[Big H]

Had the red out the last three days....love it! So I sold a board that wasn't making the cut, a 6'0" CI biscuit copy....thick foiled, 20 1/2 in wide but 38L so you can imagine how thick...rode like a thick slab of foam too; really didn't like it....so I do what I do with boards that are experiments and sold it for 20 bucks more than I paid....oddly 1 hour after I sold that one off a board came up on the buy and sell that I'd been wanting to try for awhile....a Dominator that was a little beat up but watertight and still very light, measures were stock, 6'0" x 20 1/2" x 2 1/2" 34.8L....anyway, got it for a good price (under $150 usd) and picked it up this morning, had it out in the water this afternoon. Waves were really small; if it wasn't for wanting to try the new board I would have found something else to do...one wave was maybe shoulder high, the rest waist high at best.....anyway, this board is not a magic board like I've seen people write it up to be....it is super light, a little extra buoyancy due to it's lightness and epoxy/eps construction, but not magic. It does paddle well, really well, and I got into waves earlier than I thought that I would be able to....I will say it is really easy to catch waves with this board, but no easier than the red rocket (that board has real magic).....not much of a review, one time out in small waves only but after the first three waves I was able to ride this board as well as I am able to ride, do the things I can do on other boards and it felt really comfortable if that is a good descriptor....not easy, but it felt like a good fit....one thing that was different was how it felt under the back foot....the tail is really wide, and it is more forgiving when you put weight on your back foot which meant that I didn't have to be as careful with balance when catching the wave and coming through the first turn, weight back a little or a little more than a little and the board didn't slow down and was under control.....a little extra margin for error where other boards would have stalled a bit....good for learners like me or for smaller waves where you're milking them I guess.....anyway, stoked; seems a good board and that tail is going to help me smooth out my takeoffs and get into more waves I think....anyway, its the red rocket for my go to all arounder and bigger days, this dominator for smaller waves for now & riding as a thruster...will try it as a quad but to date on the waves I ride I'm not convinced quads are the way to go....anyhow FWIW I've never seen an Indo use a quad set up and they rock these waves better than anyone so I'm going to follow them.................things change in my quiver but these two boards seem to be money. I have a couple more boards to unload now; starting to find out what it is that I like............ I'll post a picture tomorrow after I take one.

Note to Benji: Thinking about your efforts, I also tried to pearl it but just wound up snowplowing on takeoff becoz my weight was so far forward, burying the nose in the wave and creating a blinding spray of water right into my eyes....credit to the board, I arched up hard to get the nose planing and not spraying water like it was and still managed to catch the wave. That biscuit that I got rid of used to do that a lot, it was so flat rockered and if I set up further back I'd keep the nose up but miss a few waves....I didn't often recover (ever?) after catching the nose on take off before getting up doing that spraying thing....dominator has a narrower and more foiled nose and more rocker than that biscuit board did....makes a positive difference in the waves I ride.

[Big H]

Here is the dominator....going out again today before Nyepi shuts down the island. Tail had a ding that they repaired with a black fiber patch. Ugly ......and rightfully so as it probably saved me 100 bucks or more.

Put my favorite tail pad on....ready to rock and roll....

[Big H]

So again in the opposite direction of the topic (going shorter).....I rode the Dom for a week....came to conclusion that it worked better for me in better waves, nicely actually and felt good but what I wanted that board for was smaller not so good waves and the board didn't have enough length or volume for me in smaller waves and not really enough rocker for bigger waves (it was ok but the rocket is better....really like the rocket in better waves)....it felt too small in the smaller waves......the red rocket works better than the dom in better waves so the board had to go.....two days after I decided it was too small a 6'2" came up for sale which was what I had decided what I should have gotten, so I quickly sold the 6' and bought the 6'2" (net result was I laid out an additional USD $50 bucks and the 6'2" is only 5 mos. old in much better condition) and couldn't be happier.....I get now what Tudeo was saying about his Dominator love.....it is a really good board and this one is a better fit than the first (which I liked as well) so I'm looking forward to good times with this!

Repaired ding on the tail rail from the leash cord (in picture....can see it is still too long)....it was the first thing I changed.

Going longer not shorter, but had this out today and it felt right.....good times!

[benjl]

nice info there Big H i was just going to say that the 6'2 would probably be a better fit for smaller waves if the 6'0 didn't feel like enough volume and then you brought one!
Now take a large amount of length and volume away and imagine how my 5'6 rides! Super nimble, still gets on to waves earlyish.

Is your new one fst or white rapidfire? How did you find the rapidfire 6'0? Must've been really responsive after a pu board!

I think you'd probably really enjoy the firewire unibrow

[Big H]

It is light & quick and that fat tail lends forgiveness; easier to keep speed up as you can weight the tail and the volume there just floats.

Hahaha....I drank the FireWire Koop aid and it tastes goooood!

[benjl]

next you'll be trying one of the tomo vader or vanguards! Please do! Revolutionary !