wavemaniac said..
...thanks for your opinion Chrispy,is Andy on leave?

Hydroman said..










Awesome vid Andyroomac, just the medicine I needed this afternoon.

Yeah ... Nah, I love that style of surfing and emulate it on any wave I get like that. But here in Perth we don't get many long runners like that, our waves are POW, one maybe two moves and your done unless you want to hit one of 3 or 4 super crowded reefs in a 100km stretch of coastline.

That is my preferred surfing, long lines, mellow style, relaxed, and the boards I've ridden have all done exactly that. But this Walden thingy has got dynamite in it's rails and a rocket in it's tail. With the 2 plus 1 it was good, quick, predictable and surfed much like your clip but still able to send it to the lip like Devon Howard does with the CI Mid, so awesome pivot. But it had a limiter, you could feel that middle fin hit it's max warp and then it would start humming.

So I went weird and threw in a set of the Futures K2 keels for an experiment because I couldn't afford a Morning of the Earth long twin. And holy bat mobile booster rockets. Went from quick to max warp speed, suddenly making sections and getting 3 to 4 moves in on a wave instead of one to two. As for blowing the fins, that's my signature bail move at closeout, just send it vertical after everyone's thinking your a crusty old geezer. Feels even better when you nail the landings consistently, but no not my every turn style, just amazed me that this board had it in her and just did it like a mind meld.

I did the SB with a Yahoo Yallingup Hippie, good volume 6'4 board but.... mehh, no style. The longest they made was the 6'9, I love the extra length for the glide, paddle in and nose ride, but volume alone does not give me that.

So I'll stop banging on about the Big W and just hang around here watching the ripper boards people post up. Besides I might not have it much longer anyway, depending on how long it takes my shaper to make my a custom 7'6 based on it.

Macaha said..
Nah that's awesome Hydromann it's all about fun. Stoked your frothing mate

Hydroman said..







That's it hey Macaha, keeping the stoke alive.

Boards are weird or what? People are even weirder though?

I've ridden some big names that you think would be magic, and they're not. I've ridden some beautiful boards that look the goods but sucked. And I've ridden some pop outs and cheapies that work. Then in amongst it all you end up with a dog ugly thing that looks like a beginner fun board but goes like the clappers.

But because it's not the right colour, shape, size, brand, shaper, or a conventional design etc. people don't give it a thought and scoff?

So many people myself included do this, we close our minds off to anything different and miss out on something potentially amazing.

It's weird coming back into it after 35 years, it's just so apparent. The progression in design from 90's matchsticks to so many fish, eggs and mids as well as mals today is incredible. Yet I see so many middle aged guys struggling on their 90's mentality boards. Yeah new shapes and contours but still trying to plough around on 28L?

Then getting stroppy and pissy at everyone else for catching waves. How the hell is that fun?

Had a young bloke like that out at out local, well mid 30's young. Struggling on a 5'11 under volume shorty. Have him a ride on my SSB when I had it and he frothed. Wave after wave and he could still turn it. He ended up with a Timbre Tek 7'4, wondering why he didn't do it years ago? And frothing big time.

For me I'll try anything, and if it works I'll sing it's praises, Oz, Thai, China, US whatever. If it works it works.

Tux said..
Where are the beveled rails

evansquirrell said..
The ball bearings are made by Kumano Fin Systems. We were getting a heap of fins from Larry Allison in the States with them already installed. Great for being able to move the fin around mid surf. Similar to what FCS2 fins have going on now, pin holds the front of the fin steady in the finbox and the back clicks into the track in along the base of the finbox.

You can retro-fit, as I did with this fin and a bunch of others, but you'll need to know the track height within the box to make sure they're in the right position on the fin and will properly click into place within the fin box.

It definitely makes things easier when you're unsure about fin position, or when you're riding something completely different than what you're used to and your initial fin position feels way off after the first few waves.
I've been riding a heap of Ellis' edge boards lately and it's been perfect dialling in where the GG power blade needs to sit, as the perfect spot for them is visually WAY too far back from what I'm used to.