Hey All - a late Merry Xmas.
Seems a few times a year, like Xmas day, I find myself in a situation where a soft top/foamy (surfboard, not beer... ok, beer too) would appear to be the best choice of surf craft. Essentially surfing shore break with the kids etc.
The soft top version of the In The Pink should be on the top of my list - but at $1100, kinda starts taking the fun out of it. Also only runs about 70L for the 9'.
The Catchsurf Odysea Log is damn hard to go past. The 9' is about 98L. Jamie O'Brien does the absolute best job of selling them by charging Pipe on them, so you know they're capable and got to be somewhat strong. Retail for about $900, but often come up for sale at 25-30% off.
Softlite does a 9' at about $700, which looks OK. 9' is about 90L.
The Creative Army/Ocean & Earth 'General' looks good too. If nothing else, at least says it's a concave to vee bottom, and designed by Josh Constable. 9' is 87L and about $850.
Crime by CJ Nelson also look great - but generally $1000+
Then there's the JJF by Pyzel Log. They look great. Not going to be junk, but seems to be sold out all over the place. Oz Pyzel site has them listed at $800 AUD, which is kinda odd given they seem to run about $700 USD. Nonetheless, can't find much in terms of reviews.

Right. Have I missed any decent ones?
Either way - do any of you have recommendations?

Cheers!

The Creative Army/O&E also comes in a 9'6" @ 92L.... I don't hate the idea of a 9'6".

I had the Creative army 9.6 it created a lot of interest amongst a crew of long board purists for its shape and build quality,plenty of them wanted to ride it,as they could se a place for it in there quiver ,it surfed well and paddled sooo well ,it's still a soft top but as close to areal board as I've surfed,I moved it on only because I needed a bigger board for my situation

Thanks Mr Water!
Do you feel it was 'soft' enough to surf in crowds without too much fear?

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damned67 said..
Thanks Mr Water!
Do you feel it was 'soft' enough to surf in crowds without too much fear?

Absolutely!,if it's a paramount safety issue source a fin with the rubberised leading edge protectfin I think from a not so good memory.And did I mention how well it paddled!

The Crime soft tops sound great but are probably similar price to the ITP depending on the model.
They have a soft skin over the top of an eps core. No wax needed.

Hey all, my two cents worth, having bought some foamies to ostensibly teach my girlfriend to surf:
-I've had an 8ft softlite test tube thruster - ~80 L, ~$600. Snapped it second surf in Perth beachies (oops). Bought another and its about to snap I reckon. Positives - high volume, Negatives - floppy, easy to snap, fins boxes are only glued in.
-I've seen a couple of catch surf logs snap in Perth beachies too - but that may not be a great indicator - given you can snap pretty much any board at Trigg if you try hard enough. I've got a catch surf 6' and it seems pretty good
-Someone I know has the crime glider and love it
-I've got the 8ft general ocean and earth - only had a few surfs on it - but it seems leagues ahead of other softboards. Actually has rocker, foil etc. I like that its rigid like a hardboard, and has a single fin box. Won't surf like a hardboard, but pretty close

Hope it helps!

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JakeyT said..
Hey all, my two cents worth, having bought some foamies to ostensibly teach my girlfriend to surf:
-I've had an 8ft softlite test tube thruster - ~80 L, ~$600. Snapped it second surf in Perth beachies (oops). Bought another and its about to snap I reckon. Positives - high volume, Negatives - floppy, easy to snap, fins boxes are only glued in.
-I've seen a couple of catch surf logs snap in Perth beachies too - but that may not be a great indicator - given you can snap pretty much any board at Trigg if you try hard enough. I've got a catch surf 6' and it seems pretty good
-Someone I know has the crime glider and love it
-I've got the 8ft general ocean and earth - only had a few surfs on it - but it seems leagues ahead of other softboards. Actually has rocker, foil etc. I like that its rigid like a hardboard, and has a single fin box. Won't surf like a hardboard, but pretty close

Hope it helps!

Yeah you need to do some research with the softies, the more expensive ones are hard shell ,and covered with Eva deck, including a rail wrap ,and varying types of stringers ,from timber to carbon/ composite,as well as high end fin box systems ,from my experience they do surf well !..not like the bendy floppy old ones??