Rider: advanced
Weight: 82 kilos
Style: surf, freeride
Weather: 15 25 knots
Build Quality: 9/10
Satisfaction: 10/10
Disclosure: paid full price, don't know the shaper

My Comments: After reading Jonoparks review on the "Qube" a few weeks ago and seeing some of the photos I took an interest in this board due to snapping my favorite fish. I was pretty bummed as I loved that board. Well my sorrow has now been replaced by joy as this board is really pretty special. The design is rather revolutionary in several ways which I will go into detail shortly.
First, dealing with Ray has been easy as. I called him and had a quick chat about the shape and he was a little concerned that I might be a little light for the size of the board. The board is designed to be for riders between 85 and 95 kilos. I actually think that with slightly flexier fins someone in the high 70's and surfs with lots of leg power will have no trouble pushing this board around.
Now, as far as design, I remember seeing a photo of this board a little while ago and thinking that it was strange. It is, but in the best way. Ray has been VERY clever in pulling the nose right in yet keeping the volume and shape of a fish. The concave (fairly deep) starts just past the nose and travels all the way to the tail where it flattens out just before the fin cluster. That part of the board outline is fairly straight with a nice little tail lift at the end. This gives you great speed and it is speed you can build up very fast. But the way he has put the fin cluster together right at the end with the tail lift lets you really crank this board around at will. I have ridden the board in 4 to six foot walls and 2 to three foot mush strapped, and I actually think that even though that this is supposed to be for Perth Metro mush this board will be awesome in juicy overhead to double OH surf. It holds it's edge extremely well while maintaining it's looseness. Partly is due to the fins. (Side note: I would have given this build a 10 out of 10 but I was not happy with the finish of the foils on the fins. Ray has since sent me another pair no questions asked. ) The fins that I have been riding are a glass/honeycomb/ bamboo/ graphite combo, fairly stiff with a nice rake. With these fins this board would handle bigger waves.
Another great aspect of this board is it's upwind ability. I have ridden at least a dozen other boards designed for kiting, and the North Wham was by far the best for upwind. (I didn't like the board at it is way to stiff for me). Well, the Qube goes at least as good as the Wham, but I would have to ride the Wham again back to back to confirm this. Part of this upwind ability has to do with the way Ray has put the fin cluster together which is unlike any thruster I have ever ridden. The cluster is tight and right back on the tail. Looks strange, but it works REALLY well.
Someone mentioned on Jonoparks review that it was like the Drifter, and I can say definitely not. My friend rides the Drifter and we put them up side my side and the Drifter, (which I love the shape) has a more classic fish template, full nose, wide tail. It also has a swallow tail. The Qube has the nose really pulled in with all the volume under your feet. He has also shaped a nice fish tail, which I prefer over a swallow, and which I always prefer over a bump squash. When the surf really pumps I tend to go toward rounded pin tails. When you flip the boards over you can see that the Drifter is really more of a standard surfboard where the Sugarqube is unique in the way the fins are laid out. I also think this board is much stronger than the Drifter and I would have more confidence jumping it due to the glassing job and the bambu top.
Speaking of jumping, the way that this board accelerates I was hitting waves at full speed getting some pretty serious air, ( I was well powered on a 12 because I could not be bothered pumping up my 9, wind was 22 to 25 knots) Smooth landings, that quick acceleration again, and back into the lineup.
Now finally, two very important aspects for me: The flex.....this board has a classic surfboard feel, and this is why there are plenty of production boards that I just don't like because they don't flex enough. I know I want a board that will handle the beatings I give it, but it has to flex or it doesn't feel right to me. But it also has to be strong enough to jump, because this is one of the aspects I really love about kitesurfing. The other thing I really love is the way the board holds it's edge on long floaters. No sideslipping, cavitating, wibbly wobbly, mish mash, just hold that line with confidence until you get to the flats.
So, in conclusion, I have to say that I am thrilled to find this board. I hope that Ray makes a smaller version for the lighter riders, I am sure this design will have some traction. This whole experience has left a huge smile on my face and I look forward to plenty of great sessions on this board.

Great review dafish...cheers, got a very good idea about this board from what you wrote.

So stoked you like it! Live the reviee also. Just need to add some pictures@@

Thanks for the review mate and good on ya for giving a local shaper a go - sounds like it's paid off!

pics to come over time. When the waves are good I tend to go alone or just with one or two others to a very secluded spot. Hopefully we can grab a few over the coming months.
If I could change one thing on the board it would be this.....I would not have black rails. Gets waaaaaay too hot in the sun. Plenty of other nice colors to use on the rails. That would be it....purely cosmetic but it warrants some thought.

You are right Dafish next ones will have two coloured rails, and I will try to source better fins. thanks for the review. Looks like I wont have any more till next season.

First of all I'd like to say I don't have one but have had a go and I love the board but......

Whilst we are talking rails for me personally I would like to see them a bit thinner and sharper, especially toward the tail.
I know it was designed with a reasonably heavy rider in mind but IMO I still think there is a bit much volume in the board especially the tail.
(I also now think that of the custom board that I had made)

However the board def rocks, so maybe I am wrong.

Dafish I have a couple of Naish globals with black carbon rails (tape I suspect) and I haven't had an issue but i don't leave my board out in the sun.

Tightie please excuse my ignorance but what will thinner sharper rails do for the boards handling? bite into the wave more and allow you to turn a sharper arc???

^ lower volume means they are easier to sink or put the board on an edge, better hold, penetrates chop better etc, sharper edge again easier to set and hold edge also more sensitive.

Hey Tightlines, you know, all of my boards have sharper rails leading into the tails and are thinner, but with this board I have had no issues at all whether on a steep face of a mushball cranking and holding an edge. I had a great session yesterday, nearly 4 hours, I caught about 200 waves. Most of them were quite short obviously, but I could get about 5 or six waves a pass down the beach before heading back out to tack back. The volume had me racing back to the lineup. My other boards are nowhere near as good up wind...so I will take that volume seeing that it did not effect the way I ride waves. Not one bit. I never skipped out of a wave due to not having enough bite.
The one issue with the design that I had to get used to was my fronthand carved jybe. I have to really step on the tail as it comes around or I would bury the nose. Just not used to a fish shape without the volume in the nose. But this is about my technique and not the board. Once I realized that I just altered my balance a little and that was sorted.
In saying that, I am sure that Ray can take this shape further, all shapers do. Small increments of refinement. Hopefully not too much so it actually changes what works so well in the board. But with volume, the logical approach is to start with more, and keep shaving til you have gone too far and lost what you had originally conceived, and then you go back to where it was still working for you. That takes loads of boards to shape and sometimes big disappointments. And sometimes you hit the jackpot where everything is just right.

Weta, I have a Hayden shape Black Cat, which is a great strapless board but getting on in age now. It has carbon rails but due to being carbon they don't get as hot as a spray finish rail painted black. I try not to leave my board in the sun, but plenty of others do. I generally like to go out for a session and only come in after two hours or so for a quick drink then head out for another hour or two if the conditions keep holding up. Even from the time it takes to pack up and the board is on the beach it gets hot, and I imagine in WA it could get super hot. Again, cosmetic but I do prefer a cooler color. Saying that, if all Ray ever made were black rails it would not stop me from getting another.

All great comments and I think there should be a section on this forum where people can discuss board design. Getting back to the black rails, in hindsight was a not so great an Idea, I have been riding the board for all season now and only had the production boards done with the black rails purley because I thought it would look good and It was the last thing I had to think about, carbon rails dont get so hot, I think its that they have reflective effect, black paint just gets hot, I have noticed that and dont like it myself, means if there is some sort of incosistancy with glass/ paint combination you can get gass bubbles, happens on repaired epoxy board, where the resin never cures in all areas, then you can get bubbles popping up, so black is out.

The Rails, OK every one likes sharp rails, and I think sharp rails are great if the rail has to bite, I didnt want the centre of the rail section to dig in, the tail is actually quite thin, not super thin.

Edit: The rockerline, fin cofiguration, outline in the tail area is more dominant in this board design than the volume or rail shape, I can take out some of the volume and thin out the rail, it wont feel a lot diffrent, appart from flexing more, bouncing less going up wind if you are standing further back or dont get out of the rear strap when going up wind.

the main feature of the board is the turning I can get out of it, when it all comes together, its a matter of weight distribution, and I dont mean having your foot all the way back, Im not the pro rider myself, the stance I like to ride is more relaxed, with the feet closer together.

The thing you have to dial in, and this is where I still get a surprise myself, is when hitting the lip or the steapest section you can go for I just slightly lean back, with out cranking to hard I mean you can push a bit to get some spray for good effect, the board just comes around like a switch blade, even at low speed, its like built in. I think that body weight comes into play, so a lighter rider would have to lean back harder, or further back to get the same effect.
The sharp rails work against this effect, so you have to have a certain riding style, Im thinking that the board may not ride so good down the line in side a pitching wave or barrel, where as Ive never been inside a barrel, dont think Ill expirience the joy.
So for a board ripping down the line theres allready enough choices out there, I wont be making any and a lot of other kite boards will do that better.

What I wanted was to get radical vertical exit and entry, mega spray, some air, all on a limited length of wave face, where you might get two to three turns, before you have to exit for the next wave, and all that combined with the ability to get upwind again, for a rider of average ability and weight around 85-95kgs thats all.

Great review, great comments.
How often do we hear from the designer - fantastic to hear the thought process and what the aim was.

I own the drifter (which I am very happy with) in dafish's review. He forgot to mention, that to my surprise the sugar cube is a bit lighter (but with the timbre deck I suspect it may be a little more durable than the drifter - I had heal dents within the first few sessions). I have not weighed it, so I can't tell you by how much.

The shape is nothing like the drifter. Well ,they are both surfboards so they are kinda the same :-).

If ever dafish stops frothing about how good it is and gives me a blast, I will give a comparison to the drifter. From the outside looking in, the board looks to perform well. I only ride strapless, so the lightness will be a real bonus, particularly for strapless airs.

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jboz said..

I own the drifter (which I am very happy with) in dafish's review. He forgot to mention, that to my surprise the sugar cube is a bit lighter (but with the timbre deck I suspect it may be a little more durable than the drifter - I had heal dents within the first few sessions). I have not weighed it, so I can't tell you by how much.

The shape is nothing like the drifter. Well ,they are both surfboards so they are kinda the same :-).

If ever dafish stops frothing about how good it is and gives me a blast, I will give a comparison to the drifter. From the outside looking in, the board looks to perform well. I only ride strapless, so the lightness will be a real bonus, particularly for strapless airs.

The Sugarqube will dent in over time as well, under the heels, if you are riding with straps or if you crash heavy on the deck with your shoulder or knee etc, but without the delam like on EPS and XPS boards.

Jboz, you should have been with us at Narrawallee yesterday...its was cranking! You would have had plenty of time to ride it....maybe.

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jboz said..

I own the drifter (which I am very happy with) in dafish's review. He forgot to mention, that to my surprise the sugar cube is a bit lighter (but with the timbre deck I suspect it may be a little more durable than the drifter - I had heal dents within the first few sessions). I have not weighed it, so I can't tell you by how much.

The shape is nothing like the drifter. Well ,they are both surfboards so they are kinda the same :-).

If ever dafish stops frothing about how good it is and gives me a blast, I will give a comparison to the drifter. From the outside looking in, the board looks to perform well. I only ride strapless, so the lightness will be a real bonus, particularly for strapless airs.

Finally got the chance to take it for a blast yesterday. It was only one foot, cross onshore slop, and I was on a 12m.

First and instant impression - This is a fun board. On the first run out two things stand out.

1. The board has a very nice feel in the chop.
2. It is so light underfoot (this is compared to a Drifter, which is already light-ish for a kite board).

For me it was forehand power carves off the small lips. I found that it whipped around with incredible ease, and it was not sensitive to too much rear foot pressure through the turn. Like the drifter, if you want to slip the tail at the end of the turn you can, but it won't happen accidentally. Perfect balance I thought.

The conditions didn't really allow for too much more of a review. But as I say, it is a really fun and easy board to ride. If dafish didn't want it back, it is the sort of board I would have happily kept riding all afternoon, as it feels familiar very quickly.

They look a little different with the fin placement, tail width and rail profile. So if you are from a paddle in surfing background, it messes with your head a bit. But all techy analysis aside this is one very well designed bit of gear that just works. Different is obviously good.

Heaps of fun! If you get the chance demo one before you buy your next board.

So jboz, the waves had to drop to one foot and you had to use a 12m for dafish finaly letting you have a go...what a mate!

Maybe my windsurfing background is comming through on the boards a bit, over the years there have been a lot of changes to board shapes, the SUGARQUBE has elements of existing surfboard concepts, just not the classic shape that 90%of surf boards use.
The main diffrance is, that if you are riding a spot, and not just doing down winders, you have to go upwind as well, classic surf boards are not made for that, they are designed to work on a certain wave face only. The drifter over comes the problem of not going up wind well on the standard surf board by having a very straight rocker line, the Slingshot Celeritas is similar.

Ray what about your board? Can you explain how the design overcome the upwind problem? Clearly there is a trade off.

We can see from the outline that there is width in the tail, or perhaps rather the nose is narrower. Also the fins are set right back. Actually I'm not sure how this really contributes to upwind ability. I haven't checked the rocker line, nor the bottom contour - in particular i'd be interested to hear about the bottom's tail exit.

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SugarQube said..

So jboz, the waves had to drop to one foot and you had to use a 12m for dafish finaly letting you have a go...what a mate!

Go easy on him, he did hand it over the moment I hit the beach.

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bene313 said..

We can see from the outline that there is width in the tail, or perhaps rather the nose is narrower.

Just for clarity, the tail is significantly wider and the nose pulled in earlier than the drifter. If I get the chance I will try and take a photo of both side by side.

Keen to hear Ray's answer, but I am guessing that the very deep concave effectively flattens out the rocker line for better upwind. The wider tail also makes it a bit easier to keep the splash off the rear leg in marginal conditions (ie, the wave catching your calf and slowing you down). Doesn't seem to be any noticeable downside of the deep concave. It switched rail to rail very quickly (as you would expect) but didn't seem to track or bog down when initiating the turn.

I still reckon the rider skill determines about 15 degrees of upwind ability. But rocker does play a huge part as well. I am also starting to think that fin cant angle might make a significant difference. I still reckon my North WAM in quad configuration might have the edge over the others for going upwind (it has a flat-ish rocker, but also excessive fin cant angle) . I would have to test them back to back. The sugarcube and the Drifter seemed about the same upwind, with maybe the cube slightly better.

Having said all that, as long as it goes upwind as good as say the Drifter, I care a whole lot more about how it performs on a wave through turns.

^ Actually I don't know why we are comparing this board with the drifter. Looks completely different to me.

The SQ design is not like any other I've seen. Mainly due from what I can see, to outline and fin placement. I would like to hear more about the bottom contour and rocker line.

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bene313 said..

Ray what about your board? Can you explain how the design overcome the upwind problem? Clearly there is a trade off.

We can see from the outline that there is width in the tail, or perhaps rather the nose is narrower. Also the fins are set right back. Actually I'm not sure how this really contributes to upwind ability. I haven't checked the rocker line, nor the bottom contour - in particular i'd be interested to hear about the bottom's tail exit.

Yes its always a trade off, but you can decide what features you want or need in a board. For me nothing worked that well, the most radical slashing board was also the board that was a pain to get back up wind on.
My ideal kite surfboard size would have been obout 6'4" and so I started reducing things that were not that important and added things that I knew ere going to improve its planing.

the concave is about 10mm and runs into a flat section around the fins which gets the board up and going together with the width in the tail.
The fins are spaced like quad fins but in a thruster configuration, in the tail section with rounded outline, so fins with tail are like a plate on which you can turn when leaning back....thats all theory seems to work and I got lucky,



Theres some great threads on swaylocks forum where the guys will discuss features to death, its great because long time industry shapers share ideas with the public.
But often its seriously just a matter of 3mm in a board which will make one rider love it, another hate it.

Hey Bene,
the reference to the Drifter was from another thread that Jonopark wrote about, someone tried to compare it to that. When we lined them up we saw there was actually no comparison at all, hence the back reference. The one thing that is similar is that they are fish concepts. Rays design is essentially that, a fish, but with a VERY pulled in nose. The volume is still there, but it doesn't look like it. The rear fin cluster works really well. Again, on my first glance of this board I thought it looked a little odd. Now that I have looked into it further, and then subsequently purchased this design, I can fully understand how and why it works. It is a very clever board. This type of hybrid was what I was hoping the industry would come up with. Fast, light, strong, hard carving yet still able to break the tail out, and suitable for any conditions. Upshot is certainly the way it marches up wind. I don't use my standard surfboards to kite, and I am too slow and heavy to surf a board that I kite with. I also don't get to do enough downwinders, but I am happy to ride waves at my spot and keep heading up wind after riding half a dozen waves down the line. What I like about going up wind is it gives me a chance to catch a breather, plus think about maneuvers that I did or did not do and am trying to work on.