G'day, just picked up one of these from a friend and it flies, and I can't believe how stable it is (way more than the 8'5" x29"). It's geared up as a quad with 4.7" sides and 4.5" rear fins.

I'll be throwing the old c-drives in to see how they go later today, but also wondering if anyone has been using quads and a nubster on fish-style boards and how they go?

Cheers
Tang

Hi Tang, you right to play with fins...IMO i would keep 4 fins C Drive plus nubster at center rear position. As i said to Rahamas, wide board and consequently wide hip and tail d'ont stand to much large fins area. As said to Rahamas too : this is up to your own weight and accuracy to carve the board down the line.
Get your feed back soon fin placement is soooo important for those smaller SUP

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Tang said..

G'day, just picked up one of these from a friend and it flies, and I can't believe how stable it is (way more than the 8'5" x29"). It's geared up as a quad with 4.7" sides and 4.5" rear fins.

I'll be throwing the old c-drives in to see how they go later today, but also wondering if anyone has been using quads and a nubster on fish-style boards and how they go?

Cheers
Tang

Hi Tang, Just as a matter of interest what weight and height are you? I demoed the airbourn 7"10 by 29 or 30" ( not sure which ) but interested to know how much more stable the 31.5 is? Im 6"1 and 92 kilo and there certainly was no stopping for a rest! Would appreciate your feed back :)

Thanks Kami, agree re fin placement. I've got to do some more fiddling around - the board is really fast but it sure doesn't like getting up on a rail and staying there (or possibly more to the point I haven't learnt to surf it yet....).

Windara, I'm 6'4" and 87kg and usually ride the 2013 8'5"x29" which is 106L, and in anything but clean water I wobble around all over the shop and end up falling off more than I'd like after about 45min in the water. But that's here on the surf coast where clean water is pretty rare ( though yesterday it was clean as a whistle). I rode the 7'10" yesterday in perfect solid 2ft waves up to shoulder high, and have only surfed it a handful of times and in pretty clean conditions. At 98L I find it far more stable than the 8'5", but havent had it out in any bad chop/bump/mess. Starby rate the 8'5" at a 3 for stability and the 7'10" at about 3.5 from memory, but if the 8'5" is a three, the 7'10 is a 4.5 IMO. Paddles great, flies in a straight line and slides off the top, but am still figuring out best way to get it up on a rail at speed and stay there. Has a pretty minimal rocker and nose lift through it, too.

Good luck, and wel worth trying one out.

Myself, what I do:
- I try the board as a quad
- If I feel some "drift" going rail-to-rail, I add a nubster. It happens mostly on boards having weak natural directional drive (wide in tail, and/or curvy outline). Nubster are useful for bigger waves, can be removed on small waves to loosen up the board.
- If I find it a bit stiff to put on the rail, I switch to thruster

Nowadays, I only use C-Drives for general positive drive & grip and dependable feeling in any conditions (no "foiling" in hollow sections), or FCS nexus when I want to maximize fluid turns at speed and the board shape has enough natural bite bit its rails.

Also, I tend to go thruster on 7'6+ boards and quad on shorter boards. Although I have a 6'10" I like better as a C-Drive thruster.

When you say "the board is really fast but it sure doesn't like getting up on a rail and staying there", I think I would try a thruster nexus set in this case...

Tang , about stability in "any bad chop/bump/mess" you can't have confort in these conditions with a board around or under 7' with a surfable width: 31" seems to me very confortable even for your 87kg.
i reckon you made a good choice of board 7'10" 98liters for your weight in glass shoulder condition but forget to surf it in "any bad chop/bump/mess" as every prone surfer d'ont do it as well.
As well of you i get exhaust after 45 mn on my 6'9"28"85l for my 75kg and need physical effort more as soon little cup or small water move... But i'm 60
About fin, IMO i try Nexus on a foot fast waves and i remember, personally didn't like : can be from to much positive area in the fin tip. To its opposite aspect, i try AB2 recently in power surf . Instead of flying on the boards hips like winged , thruster AB2 make the board working as a single fin but loose. As well, AB2 let the board plan shape of the tail carving which is a more than simple bite from the rail. The reason is :an inside foil which is opposite to the concave inside foil of Nexus.
So I will say to you to try TC white line on your 7'10", because it's a inside flat foil and they got no area tip ( like CDrive with more drive)

8 8 JP Aus wide body and Starboard 8 2 wide body.

Knubster for 3-4 foot waves, thruster at 5 foot plus.

Works a treat!

Kami and Colas, good points, thanks. Haven;t tried it as a thruster yet so will definitely see what it does with three c-drives. And I should try and get the TC white lines in there as well for a try. The thing I'm after is for it to want to push back around in a top turn/cutty a bit, but I should remember it is a fish, not a shortboard shape, I suppose. And I rode it at Bells the other arvo in a stack of chop, which was no fun at all as you'd expect.

Mommasfolly, what the hell are you doing riding a 8'2" WP in 5ft+ surf....? My 2012 8'5x29 was skittish in 5ft waves and that's with 3" less beef in the rails! You must appreciate the finer points of a good hiding or be rather good. And I see you;re from Vic, so it can't be "Qld 5 foot" you're talking about, either......

I better get a knubster, too.

cheers