Palm Beach
30 May 2009
Conditions: Light to medium off-shore wind. Head high waves.
I got the call informing me that the board had finally arrived in Sydney after its long journey from the Gold Coast. I was stuck at work and knew I wouldn't be able to check it out until later that evening. Ahhh - killer. Hard to focus on work that afternoon! When I did eventually get home, I wasn't to be disappointed...
One Word: Woohoo.
The board is 8'8" x 29" x 4".
If you were a little distance away when you first saw this board and your perspective was a bit out, you could be excused for thinking that this board was just standard shortboard. It is truly a shortboard shape and it's not until you see it a bit closer and can relate its size to something else, that you might think that ... hang on, that's a really big short board ... oh, it's a SUP.
The plan shape is very similar to the DC 8'10" with a really nice pulled in nose and clean flowing lines down the rails, no hips or flyers, just nice curves. I got Dale to swap the swallow tail on the 8'10" to a rounded square for this one - trying to simulate one of Parko's shortboards (they seem to go alright!). It came out looking unreal. I got the nose lifted another half inch, the tail width reduced an inch and the tail lifted an eighth. I was trying to move from the semi fish of the 8'10" to a true shortboard for the 8'8". Dale interpreted these changes perfectly and now we have the DC 8'8" - an absolute cracker.
Like the DC 8'10", the 8'8" still has those nice performance oriented rails and slightly rolled deck - great for burying and not bogging on those carving turns on the face. The reduced volume in the rails males the board a little wobbly but it also means that little bits of chop break over the rails and don't bounce into them. The result is a less corky feel and therefore quite doable in heavy chop (which I've already been out in on this board).
The 8'8" has that same, nice pro-tech finish which makes it look like a pro's board and reduces the weight caused by an extra gloss coat (this board weighed in at 7.8 kg - without grip or fins).
I also got Dale to throw five sets of FCS plugs in it - so we have a multitude of fin options to play with. I haven't gotten past the straight thruster set up yet (running Occys all-round) as this works so well but one day I'll have a play with some different setups - keen to try it as a quad or even big twin fins with a baby trailer.
I love a good recessed handle - even in smaller boards, so I got Dale to pop one of these in too. Woohoo.
So that's some of the theory, now let's see how it rides.
I found a nice little bank at Palmy, the next morning after getting the board. A light to medium off-shore wind was feathering the head high sets and there was only one other guy out for most of the session. Racing down the beach, keen as mustard, thinking I'm as cool as Luke Egan with my tiny pro model board under my arm, I trip on my legrope and nearly go 'a' over 't' - man if I can't even get to the water's edge without losing balance how am I going to rode this thing. I throw it in the water, jump on and take a few strokes. Phew. I can balance on it and paddle it. I didn't order it too small. It doesn't track the best with only three or four stokes on each side before needing to swap hands - but that's a payoff you need to expect with a performance board of this calibre. You don't want this type of board to track straight when you are on a wave.
Punching through white water is an absolute pleasure with the good amount of nose lift and pulled in front end just popping over walls of foam with the greatest of ease. Trying to keep your balance in the soup after the wave has passed is another thing however, but I did OK, albeit a bit slow to get moving again after the wave had passed.
I waited a while for my first wave, wanting to get myself a good one for first impressions sake. It came and yes it was a good one. A really good one. Probably the biggest I got all morning and a really good shape. I swung around after spotting it and was surprised at how quickly and easily the 8'8" was to get heading in the opposite direction. So quickly so, that in fact I had spin around too far and wouldn't of been able to take the drop straight on. I had to quickly swap hands and paddle a bit in the other direction to straighten up. This made everything a bit late but the little DC handled the steeper than expected drop very well (with that good amount of nose rocker coming into play again). I faded a bit a leaned onto the bottom turn. Now, I thought Dale had put the fin plugs in a weird position (quite far up the board) so I was a bit cautious as how much I'd be able to push it into a big bottom turn. As of turns out he knew exactly what he was doing as the board carved off the bottom beautifully with no slip at all. It's obviously using the rail for these types of turns and not relying just on the small fins. I should've had more faith in the man.
So now I'm presented with a little crumbling bit of foam about ten metres in front of me. Some of my other boards wouldn't have let me fit in a quick speed pump and little bottom turn before whacking that bit of foam but the agility of the DC let me do just that. I guess this is a combination of the lightness and manoeuvrability of this performance oriented board. So instead of hitting the lip with just the speed I already had, the little DC gave me the opportunity to gather more speed and come at the lip from a better direction. With this I hit the white water with more power and control - really smacking it and whipping the board around into a nice layback snap. Boy that first big turn felt great. It was at this point (first turn, first wave) that I fell on love with this board. Big call, I know but I really do think it is love!
Because this wave was breaking on the other bank, there was a big gutter between the main section of the wave and the reform on the shore. I wasn't expecting much from such a little board and just planned on riding the outer break - I wasn't on my twelve footer with plenty of glide now was I? As the wave died out I decided to see how far I could get on the DC 8'8". Even though the wave had stopped breaking, there was still about three feet of swell moving though the gutter so by putting the board on rail and carving into a series of swooping cutbacks I was able to stay on this unbroken wave. Wow - this was amazing. The little DC actually generated heaps of speed just by doing these slow, drivey turns - it felt great. I was able to continue these all the way in until the wave started to peak up again on the shorey. It doesn't have a lot of glide like bigger boards and you don't really trim the board on the wave face but a few of these slow, power carves will get you through all kinds of dead sections. Unreal.
With quite a heavy, sucky closeout on the shore, the short length of the 8'8" now came into play. Dropping down the reforming peak on an angle and then pumping along the face a bit got me going at a tremendous pace. No sign of any nose diving or rail bogging on this sucky wall. I hop up onto the closing out lip and run along the top of it, floating for what seemed like forever. A subtle change of direction and the speed that the little DC had generated made it easy to skim down the white water, over the trough and down onto the flat section in front of the wave. Really clean with heaps of speed. A very nice manoeuvre - all credit given to the capabilities of the board (not me).
Some of the other waves I got that morning included some almost vertical forehand re-entries (those ones where you seem to come back down same path that you originally climbed up the face), a couple of nice backhand foam bounces off the closed out white water (a very good testament to the agility of the board) and a really nice, fin release, tail waft over a crumbling lip.
Overall, this board is fast, drivey and manoeuvrable with true shortboard performance qualities. An absolute pleasure to ride, especially for a (now ex) shortboarder.
Highs:
- Light weight.
- Super fast.
- Carves really well.
- Snaps really well.
- Surprisingly good stability.
- Hard to nose dive.
- Has a carry handle.
- Fully Australian made.
Lows:
- A few dirty marks and cosmetic imperfections under the glass (but this one was a rushed prototype).
Casso
> 9 months ago, 1 Jun 2009
It's still a cracker!
