I rode the board in glassy conditions, small waves but very sucky take off over the rocks.

As many of the shapers/riders in hawaii, the Quatro guys have been riding and shaping custom SUP boards for a long time now, and it was a good surprise for me (a Quatro boards fan) to see a production SUP coming.

The first impression is very good, the board has its own design, quite diferent from the other 11 to 12' boards I use to see around Perth, so I was pretty excited to put it in the water.

I use to ride smaller boards, and when I try bigger ones I'm always afraid to find it boring.

But as the weather was sunny (after the fog disapeared), the water glassy, the waves small and Jordan was here with his camera, I thought that this was the perfect day to give it a go.

The board is a real SUP board, no mast rack, the focus is 100% on Stand Up Paddling

As I was taking the board down to the water, I really didn't know what to expect from it...
But as soon as I steped on the board and started to paddle, I knew it was going to be fun ; the board is paddling nice and straight, after the first paddle stroke I was feeling like if I've already been riding the board for a long time before ; the sweet spot is easy to find and the pad feels good, soft and grippy.

The second time I doubted is when I had to go over a broken wave, I shouldn't have doubted as the board just flew over (I use to need a bit more concentration when using the Laird 10')

When the first set came, I was still paddling in the inside but I had no problem to kick turn the board and get ready for a late take off,
I was afraid that the nose wouldn't make it throwing me head first on the rocks, but it actually made it smoothly, and this feeling as been confirmed to me by Jord and his dad : the board is forgiving most of our mistakes ;

Even with a really bad timing it seems that the board is working for us, trying to help us to succeed.
This is the feeling we had RIDING the board (and not watching pictures of it trying to interpret the shape)

it's easy to hold and control nose rides and it carves really good for a 11'+ board ;

The feeling I had trying other big boards was a 2 speed feeling ; ride the nose or ride the tail, but nothing in between
The feeling I had on this board is that where ever you have your feet you always have control on the rail (it doesn't get caught sideway)

In conclusion, even if I'm probably a bit biased by the fact I would love any Quatro board, I had heaps of fun on that one, and aparently Jords and his Dad enjoyed it as much as I did (I could actually see jord's dad paddling and surfing skills improving wave after wave)

The fins on the 11'4" are 2x23cm, they are the ones we used for the test ; perfect for beginners until they get more experience in the waves ; experienced rider could go a bit smaller.

The other one I wouldn't mind to test now is the Quatro 10'4" !!

For more info (test etc...), just contact Alberto at info@windshack.com, or if you see me in the water just ask me.

See you in the water ;

Eric


I love this board, but does this board really loves me ??

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Hey there Eric nice review ! pretty cofident to be riding close to rocks on a first time board !!
Mate what are the specs on that board from the photo it looks very stream lined.
I notice your on a twinzer Quatro windsurfer, how do you find them ? do you use it as an all rounder or do you have a good spot to sail in the waves ?
I demo'd one in Maui in June and found it really different and front foot orientated I got heaps fo spinnout and got catpulted a beaudy and bent my harness bar into a right angle I guess I'm a real back foot stomper.
Apparently on a wave they are "THE" sh#*t .

Hi Toadwhispera !

I don't want to talk about windsurfing on the SUP forum ,to do quick, I usually ride Goya boards in single fin and love them, but lately I'm giving a go to both Quatro twin fin and Quatro freestyle wave, as in any boardriding sport it's good to ride diferent boards, you have to adapt the way you ride on different shapes, it's all good to improve style and skills ;

Also what I realise is that when we try twinies we are all expecting something different from a single fin and the result is that we focus so much on the fins that we forget everything else and if we have bad sensations we'll blame the fins when it's actually because our mast base or our boom set up wasn't right

But yeah, I understand you on the back foot and front foot oriented feeling,

On twin fins you can (or should I say "you must" ) use the rails more than on a single fin, I can also feel this on the SUP, it took me a few wave to get used to it but then it feels really good, I had some memorable turns ;

The boards are 11'4 x 29 x 5 and 10'4 x 28,5 x 4,75

The only one I use is the 11'4 (I wouldn't mind to try the 10'4 tho !!), last time I used it with MFC 16 cm twinies, the board turns much better, it still has a good grip for noseriding and both my girlfriend and my brother tried it and they had no complain about row effect (they are totaly beginners and they were paddling in straight line) even if I could tell they were not well positioned on the board (and they both have an awefull paddling technique, but they are improving fast !)