Tudeo wrote:Thanks for this subject Waikikikichan, very interested in it since I just bought a Single fin 9'4 from a local shaper.
Epoxy with wooden stringer, 9'4x23x3, 16" tail and 18"nose, 9" fin, blended nose concave and then rounded vee until the tail.
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I also have a PU 9'2 with 2+1 fins and a 8'2 thruster.
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Surfed it four times now. The first thing I noticed was it's great paddle speed, but I had to figure out positioning on the board first, when I move forward it seems to slows down. The nose has a deep concave and when I move back until most of the concave is above the water it speeds up paddling a lot.
I rode it first in head high frontside (right) waves, and it was great. I got the impression it was faster than the other boards, I made sections with ease were for the other boards the wave would have ended. But I'm still not sure if this is purely speed or the different riding style. This board invites me to walk forward and speed down the line instead of making turns.
The nose feels stable in the right situation but I still have a mental block to make that last step. I just stand there, one step short, looking in awe. It feels great.
I tried it in overhead lefts, my backside, but had trouble controlling it. A lot of wiping out. Also this was on a lower tide and the waves were a bit too steep for my inexperience with this board. Yesterday was shoulder high and felt perfect. This was a different left wave spot, and again I made sections I normally don't, I just could keep going from all the way outside until shore dump, crazy!
On the downside, this board is not so easy to handle critically angled late drops. Were the other 2 boards let me set the rail and take off, this one just gets sweeped sideways. Also I noticed when walking forward when the board is speeding in head high, the fin can start sliding away. But in a controllable way, step back and the fin engages again.
Then there's pearling. The pearl when paddling for the wave, too far forward on the board and the nose sinks away. This is the relaxed pearl vs the neckbreaker pearl after you popped up and are too late with turning down the line, the nose catches sending you headfirst over the board, hoping for deep water..
But I'm sure i'll get better at avoiding this with more experience. Yesterday I noticed in time I was too late to paddle for the wave, a right, and I timed my popup in the moment the wave pitched me, It worked out perfect, lesson learned. Now I got to figure this out for the many lefts here..