To all (pimping permitted),
Find myself at either Birubi, One Mile beaches or Fingal Spit over the summer, and the next logical step is to go directional. Problem is which board to go for and importantly is it available? I'm 198cm and 102kgs riding Slingshot T3's 9m & 14m (great kites) in the usual East coast mix of wind/waves. Possibilities include Naish Fish 6'2", Slingshot SST, Airush Converse 6'4".Am open to all sensible options.
Constant winds,
Baz.

Other options are cabrinha 2009 S-quads, in stock and available the 6'1" would be a good choice
http://www.kitepower.com.au/catalog/product_17470_Cabrinha_SQuad_cat_351.html

Other options are Best Thruster or Underground, as well as the Surftech boards, very popular down our way.

Then there are the mutant style boards like the Airush hammer and the Slingshot Fuse.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

PS we have demos of several of these boards.

get second hand, you can't beat a fiberglass board. 6,2 is a good size. i got mine for $120 . save your cash mate. a grand for a surfboard is a joke. they all do the same thing. a board that costs a grand isn't gonna make you wave ride like ben wilson. had mine for 3 yrs now, still got a lot of life in it

Mate I would suggest that you need to consider if you will be riding with straps or not. If you decide on the straps the biggest problem you have is your height. Any board you ride needs to be proportionally long for your stance. So make sure the strap inserts are set wide enough apart. If you can't get a good stance you will never enjoy riding the board.

I am 187cm and 96kg and ride a 6'5" DHD polyester board (with extra glass on the deck) and that is perfect for me to ride without straps, I think you would need something a bit floatyer to cater for your extra weight and possibly longer for your height.

Just remember that your weight will be very punishing on your board, so be carefull with any jumps or ollies.

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pfr said...

get second hand, you can't beat a fiberglass board. 6,2 is a good size. i got mine for $120 . save your cash mate. a grand for a surfboard is a joke. they all do the same thing. a board that costs a grand isn't gonna make you wave ride like Ben Wilson. had mine for 3 yrs now, still got a lot of life in it

Totally agree-particularly if just getting into waves.

I'm considering doing the same, getting a secondhand sorfboard for the few times that I mey get out of the bay and hit the waves.
What about the legrope, do you guys use one? I hate just the idea of having the board attached to me.

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jev7337 said...

I'm considering doing the same, getting a secondhand sorfboard for the few times that I mey get out of the bay and hit the waves.
What about the legrope, do you guys use one? I hate just the idea of having the board attached to me.

No way! Only time is when riding particularly high risk spots or unhooked riding. Otherwise forget about it-if you can't body drag you shouldn't be out in water you can't walk in.

No worries, I can body drag.
Just never lived at a wave spot and it's about 1.5h drive from Melbourne to catch any decent waves and have therefore always used my bidi for waves. Have seen a guy once with a leash and thought it could get a bit dangerous in certain situations and was wondering how many people use a leash.

Topic hijacked

Sorry

Airush converse.
I demod one of these a couple of weeks ago as my board was having a few minor repairs done.
All i can say is after two sessions on the converse i went back to the retailer and bought one.
I have tried converses since the first one and alway found they were either too wide in the tail, to thick in the rail and not suited to me at all.
This year however Airrush have created a perfect perfect board. It is soooooo good. Really good board.

Others i have tried, My own 6" Webber tuffy a great board BTW and for sale Slingshot SRT, Jimmy lewis and a usual 6'4" poly board.

I ride a 6'2" tuff lite strapless - love it - its like a landcruiser But I had a ride on a Shinn Wave, think it was 08, you can ride it backwards, and it was heaps of fun.

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milko said...

Poida said...

also have a look at dalewy
http://www.dalewy.com/
they do customs - strapped or unstrapped
great surfboards, he also does tow boards and now does kite boards

thats a great website.. glad i took the time to have a look at that...

Hmmm sucked me in-about as useful as this one: www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm.

Get a Naish Surf Board Fish or the 6'.

Thank you to all for the feedback so far. I do like the 2009 Naish Fish 6'2", but apparently one month into 09 they are out of stock!

Hi All,

I was told today there are no more 6'0" or 6'4" Converse in WA or being brought in. So unless you can get one second hand, they're done!

I have three customers who are already bummed. Next best is a North Kontact, North Bullit or North Freestyle Fish.

All good boards,

Probably the north bullet 5'10 would suit the east coast waves the best built more for waves 1 to 6 feet where as the Kontact would be awesome if you had good size waves like margs all the time. The Naish surfies rock but with them all but sold out the bullet would be a good back up choice.

Jacko

A couple of other possibilites may be the Liquid Force Rawson Quad or a Rawson Surftech 6'2" or 6'4". Has anyone any feedback on these?

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Baz said...

A couple of other possibilites may be the Liquid Force Rawson Quad or a Rawson Surftech 6'2" or 6'4". Has anyone any feedback on these?

At your weight and height the Rawson's could be a good option-they're very well made boards-way too floaty for a 77kger like me, but at 100kg+ a good option.

Just PM you Baz. We have a number of these used in store.

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Baz said...

A couple of other possibilites may be the Liquid Force Rawson Quad or a Rawson Surftech 6'2" or 6'4". Has anyone any feedback on these?

I had the rawson 6' 4" for about a year and had got it to surf and kite with.
It was a good board for kiting- not too wide, strong construction, and good fins, but the rails were too soft for surfing- it wouldn't hold a high line on a steep face.

I thought it was best in a point break type wave with the kite, not good for shore break/steep/barelling wave.

i was trying to find a strong board to kite and surf with - the ben wilson pro model looks like it might be the go for both surf and kitesurf.(?)

I also thought the rawson was too big for me with an 11 m rev- 88 kgs.

There is a lot of difference between the 6'2" and 6'4" Rawson's, the 6'4" has way more volume.
I weight approx 90kg and use a 6'2" Rawson and am fairly happy with it now.
The straps it came with were crap and I have replaced them with Dakine Supremo's?
It is also worth experimenting with the fins, I have tried a couple of different setups and find that they do change the feel of the board quite a bit, still not sure what setup I like best but am currenly using Vector II FAM1 450's.

I have tried the Converse 6' and 6'4" and they are both nice boards aswell, particularly (for my weight) the 6'4" but if what Kitehard said is true we might not have that option anymore in WA.

hey baz, another option is to go and see SAM EGAN and get him to shape u up a board. Got him to make me a quad fin towin board with a 1|2 inch stringer and good glass job to take over to south america for 2months. Board went great and has held up really well over the last 6month. Cost less than most brand kite surfboard. i,m 6,3 - 100kg and the board is 5.10by19/5by2.5/8...Oversea's at the moment, but if u need to check it out or have a go of it will be back in Newy at the end of feb. Just email me....cheers Tez

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paul.j said...

Probably the north bullet 5'10 would suit the east coast waves the best built more for waves 1 to 6 feet where as the Kontact would be awesome if you had good size waves like margs all the time. The Naish surfies rock but with them all but sold out the bullet would be a good back up choice.

Jacko

Beware of kite companys surfboards especially the North boards - I have demoed a few and they are dogs. You'd be better on on a second hand surfboard and get insert put in.

It seems that due to the faling Australian dollar some of the companies cant afford to sell their boards in Australia - eg a production kiteboard needs to sell for $1500 aus for them to make money and at that price they won't sell - therefore probably the reason why the converse has stopped - the slingshot boards are not coming in either but they are avail overseas

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Kitehard said...

Hi All,

I was told today there are no more 6'0" or 6'4" Converse in WA or being brought in. So unless you can get one second hand, they're done!

I have three customers who are already bummed. Next best is a North Kontact, North Bullit or North Freestyle Fish.

All good boards,

Dude are you serious - the Freestylefish 09 is fat little slug that rides like crap -
I have seen people try and ride these and they stuggle - I have jumped on them to see how they go - they don't - cant believe anyone who surfs would recomend this

www.dalewy.com
get what YOU want

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sammyd said...

paul.j said...

Probably the north bullet 5'10 would suit the east coast waves the best built more for waves 1 to 6 feet where as the Kontact would be awesome if you had good size waves like margs all the time. The Naish surfies rock but with them all but sold out the bullet would be a good back up choice.

Jacko

Beware of kite companys surfboards especially the North boards - I have demoed a few and they are dogs.

Not sure which ones you rode, or of you can, but the John Amundson designed boards (which were 2008 and before) are great wave boards-I have a 5'9" Rocketfish (one I'm riding in the avatar) as my strapped board and it's a smokin' board in the waves. Mate who posts here has the 6'0" model and he is more than happy with his too.

So calling bullsh$t on that comment.

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sammyd said...
Beware of kite companys surfboards especially the North boards - I have demoed a few and they are dogs. You'd be better on on a second hand surfboard and get insert put in.

@sammyd - Could you go into a bit more detail about why they were dogs ? Is it because they are epoxy instead of PU ? Flex ?

I'm currently using an old Sam Egan PU board and I'm liking it better than my tuflite and EPS epoxies which bounce around in chop. I bought it second hand for 200 bucks to keep me going while I repaired the epoxy boards, now I like it better. I don't think it hurts to have a bit of weight in a kite surf board, especially when learning to switch feet. I might just keep buying old beaters. BTW strapless is heaps of fun, just expect to fall onto the board now and then when you're getting into it (ie imagine your harness hook spearing into your shiny new board ...).

@sammyd - The reason I'm interested in your comments on the North's is that I think it will probably be a good idea to go to a stronger system when I get into waves strapped sometime down the track.

Thanks again for the feedback. I'm going to wait until the right board shows up second hand and go from there. As for any "new' 2008,2009 from airush, slingshot, naish, liquid force or spleene, there are none! So if any one else is looking, don't bother the choice is some what limited.
Constant winds,
Baz.

This seems to be the case with most 2009 production boards which are only now becoming surf specific. I had my heart set on the LF Rawson Skate 6.1 5 fin (thruster or quad) which would have been an awesome all round board. This is also the case with Naish Custom Global which could have been a good option too.

I think custom shapes may be a viable option for new boards surely the shapers could do with the extra business my custom surfboard cost $600 but the guy had no experience with kitesurf boards back then... I'd like to find out who does has to be cheaper than the $1000+ production boards on the market today www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=47412

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sammyd said...


It seems that due to the faling Australian dollar some of the companies cant afford to sell their boards in Australia - eg a production kiteboard needs to sell for $1500 aus for them to make money and at that price they won't sell - therefore probably the reason why the converse has stopped - the slingshot boards are not coming in either but they are avail overseas

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Kitehard said...


I was told today there are no more 6'0" or 6'4" Converse in WA or being brought in. So unless you can get one second hand, they're done!

I have three customers who are already bummed. Next best is a North Kontact, North Bullit or North Freestyle Fish.

i am just bout to get my first surfboard for kites, and with so much variation and input from others i have decided on a 6'2 alternator by firewire, awesome construction and way less chance of dentin the decks and rails. I would recommend checkin them out, awesome boards for strapless ridin.