Has any one owned one of these boards and how do they rate individually or in comparison. Keen to hear some feed back on the larger sizes 6'1 to 6'6

I have just recently laid my hands on a 6'5" El Fuego diamond tail. The Firewire size chart and posts in their forum suggest that I should be on a 6'3" (I'm 6'1" & 94 kgs) but a mate was selling this so for the sake of 2 inches and some extra bucks in my pocket I figured this was the board for me.

I haven't ridden a Channel Islands board and should point out that I'm not exactly a gun. I'm pretty happy with it so far but have really only had 1 session (3hrs) on it in 2-3 ft. I'm running it as a quad with Futures Stretch fins. The board paddles quite well and duck dives much better than the Alternator I've been riding that comes in at about 48 litres of volume. It's a quick board and gets up to speed pretty quick once you're on the wave. You definitely have to ride off the front foot a bit more though due to the amount of volume under the chest but it is responsive and turns quick. Like I said though I'm not getting vert and smacking the lip. It's a pretty flat board with very little nose rocker which I'm getting used to. I think they say they get into waves early but I find I pretty much take off at the same point as the main pack in the lineup. I will say though a couple of waves I've sort of stood up right on the hump and a little front foot pressure and it will drop down into the wave nicely as opposed to falling off the back.

Anyway, hope this helps a little.

Hey mate,

I just bought a 6'10 CI Pod and I love it. It's the perfect Perth board cause it's got heaps of foam but is still really responsive and easy to throw around. I've surfed it in head plus Canguu and it handled it really well so I'm confident to surf it when it gets a bigger.

If you're buying a new one I would get them to glass it a bit thicker than the stock model. It did get pressure dings from the first surf, nothing major but something I would change when I buy the next one!

Good luck, I would buy a Pod again no worries and have no probs recommending it for an everyday board.