Yeah, more wood skinned craft. I like the concept and the look, and from my experience with Mr. Beck's boards I think it totally delivers performance wise. As I wait for a window in the weather that will let me in the water, I've been window shopping a few nice rides. The 5 finners look magic; the top one (I love those diamond tails) is from Josh Dowling in sunny Australia and the double bump via Jeff at Nine Lights, who also made the weirdness that he's calling the FossHull.
4 comments:
Hey Kirk,
The top board is my 'El Capitan' and yes I think it is Da Bomb:)
Seriously the best board I've own in all aspects - 10/10 for performance and durability with bonus points for Josh's amazing artwork.
If you're going Compsand forget Firewire and definately go for a custom from the likes of Josh and Jeff.
Dave
Dave- that's awesome- it's your board? If you don't mind sharing what are the dims? Glad to hear it rides as nice as it looks too!
Kirk,
Below is a ride report I posted on the www.realsurf.com. Forums:
"I've been following Josh’s boards via Realsurf and Sways for years. I love the combination of high tech and wood. My brief to Josh was:
“I'm 41, 5'7, 75-78kg depending on the time of year. I've been surfing since My 20's. I surf regularly but would not classify myself as high performance. I'm happy with two turns and a clean exit.
I've being riding sub 6'0 fishes twins and quads for the last five years. I really like the fish for easy paddling and early entry into waves and the fast down the line speed. BUT even though I love my wide tailed boards I struggled with my cutbacks.
With my next board I'm looking for a regular all round short board that will float me as well as my fishes, fast down the line and will let me cutback at will. Tri-Quad fin setup I would still like to keep the length close to 6'0 -6'2.”
Josh made “El Capitan” for me 6’0 x 20” x 2.5” with diamond tail
I've had the board out in 3-5 feet waves. On the first day I was limited to riding it on my backhand. The most surprising thing for me was how well it floated me given how thin and light it feels. I'd say it paddled as well as my thicker traditional twin keel fishes. I loved the drive it got out of the bottom turn thanks to the flex the parabolic balsa rails. I had quads fins in and it held the backhand really well. I got a couple of good rides but was still trying to find the sweet spot on the new board.
The following day I went to the Southern end for some right handers. It was 4ft plus and choppy. I changed the fin setup to a thruster but the board felt too loose and I didn’t like it. I couldn’t get the speed up even on my forehand. Maybe thrusters aren’t my thing.
On the third morning I went back to the same beach, the swell had dropped back to 2-3ft but peeling rights with a bit of face to work with. I went back to quads and had a ball. The board drove around the foamball easily and I had the control for my cutbacks. I starting finding the right foot position for the fins. All in all a great session. I'm feeling this is going to be my daily driver for quite some time.
Josh made sure I felt like I was getting a custom. The journey of getting the board made was almost as exciting as getting the board itself."
Cheers
Dave
Thanks Dave, that's epic. Dims are close to what I'd thought/hoped they were, and it's a stunner of a board. I've been loving quads the last few months but I like the thruster option your set up gives you.
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