i have to argue here...you know i like big boards...i know have 5 12fters and a 6th on the way. couple of things id like to state.
gliders are not meant to go in a straight line at all, sure you can say thats there purpose but they do react or work quite well i believe if you're a good enough surfer or you're committed enough to work it out. i have 12fters particularly the ones from the deadkooks and i can throw them around nicely, they are flat, not much rocker and what i find the difference in deadkooks boards compared to my others is the kick in the tail with a slight roll really helps to maneuver these boards.
i find the whole argument around turning boards really really amusing, i find it comical that people hop on a board and say oh it cant turn. my response is thats a summary of the persons surfing ability. If you have a 12ft board with a dirty big D fin or a 9ft tri fin board they're all going to turn differently. But if you're a committed enough surfer or a good enough surfer you will work out the sweet spot on that board and master it. i hate surfers who expect every new board to act the same as the board they currently have. For example i have my 11'6 twin fin fish. now that is really radical and different. i have never ridden a board with 2 channel deep concave in the tail (infact i have hardly ridden boards with concave at all) but i found that my back leg wasnt strong enough to do some turns coming off a bottom turn, i would bend my back leg and the board would move so quickly i couldnt push back up straight and it would shoot out from under me. furthermore the turning was interesting to say the least. I gave my board to people to ride and they would say "turns like ****" "cant turn it" then i would say go try again, get some speed, and throw that board over onto a rail first before initiating a turn. sure enough bang they figured it out and it slides a little like a 6ft fish should too. But once again its about figuring it out.
the other thing with big gliders and big waves, they can surf big steep waves, once again it depends on the surfers wave knowledge of where to sit and knowing the required angle to paddle in on. once again on my big boards i have surfed some steep say 6-8ft waves and i absolutely love basically paddling sideways and having the ass of the board slide down the face to catch a wave.
in summary i think any board, in any wave can work, and any fin can turn. You just need to work at it. If you're a surfer that expects everything to be in your board handed to you once its shaped than keep going back to your shaper and funding his next holiday by getting 10 boards a year made and complaining it doesn't work or turn. i personally love the challenge of figuring out different boards.
after all if Phil Edwards and Greg Noll could surf monster pipe or Waimea on 50 pound, fat railed, flat, D fin boards.....whats your excuse?
