What board are you most attached to?

dandandan's picture
dandandan started the topic in Thursday, 1 Aug 2013 at 10:07am

It's a cold dank day in my part of the world (currently Vicco) and I am predictably dreaming of Indo. I'm on my longest stint out of the islands in the last six years .. currently at 8 months.. God help me!

It got me thinking about all the unbelievable waves I've had there and the boards I've ridden - I've got some pretty attachments to these boards.. A few of them I leave over ther knowing that I'll never use them at home, others I carry with me only on the most perfect of local days.

Two stand out: a 6'7" Outer Islands quad shaped my Mitchell Rae about five years ago. I got this well in advance of a trip and used it a couple of times in local juice. It felt terrible, stiff (despite the V flex) and just dead under my feet. I was heartbroken. Mitch told me to take it to Indo, that I should trust him. I'm glad I did. As soon as it was in the waves it was designed for, unreal... Solid feeling underfoot, built to last, amazing flex that shot me up from bottom turns straight into barrels. Aside from the performace, it is aesthetically gorgeous. Sits proudly in my lounge room.

The other is a 7'6" channel bottom gum shaped by Al Byrne. I've exclusively used this board at two spots, Uluwatu and Impossibles. I hardly get to Bali at all anymore, but the waves I've surfed on that board will be imprinted in my brain forever. No barrells, just big open walls speeding down the line. Love those days at Ulus, where it's too big for the kooks and not enough tubes for the pros.

unclevernon's picture
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unclevernon Saturday, 3 Aug 2013 at 1:32am

The 6'0 quad I've got at the moment is really great, awesome down the line speed, great on late drops and in tubes, thanks Feral Dave. I'll always remember a couple of Maurice Coles I had in the 90s, a 6'7" and a 7'3" that took me through a couple of great Indo trips and some North West WA sessions. The 6'7" was lost off the roof of a friend's car down a bush track in a gale, bizarrely enough, looked for hours but never found her. I got driven clean through the 7'3" trying to exit a big barrel at Tombstones, oops!

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indo-dreaming Saturday, 3 Aug 2013 at 1:38pm

I had a 6,1 DHD that was magic, but i snapped it, i kept it for years and would take it to shapers saying i want one just like this (but not snapped) but none of those boards were the same.

Ive never had an outer island, but really like the look of his boards and theory behind his ideas, if he started doing them in epoxy composite construction, id jump at one, I know his boards are durable for PU, but i still couldn't bring myself to buy a PU board again.

hem-stret's picture
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hem-stret Sunday, 4 Aug 2013 at 8:12am

@unclevernon- out of interest, where the maurice coles reverse vees? ive got a black beauty at the moment, feels a bit weird due the volume distribution, but i had a mick grace reverse vee that was an awesome board on big fast walls (6ft+) and really good in the tube, i'm thinking of experimenting more with that type of design. not so good in the fluffy no wallhanders, but a mate had a small mc rev vee that went well in the little stuff, a very rare session at the murray mouth. currently enjoying a bourton brooksy quad in overhead conditions, and doing some of my best speed wobbles on an Ando fusion, snapped one in central america but replaced it....

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groundswell Tuesday, 6 Aug 2013 at 8:19pm

a little 5'10 fish i gave away, so versatile. Probably been the fastest ive ever gone on that board on some long fast points and a local beach that is more like a pointbreak on a good day.
One wave took off near the north end and swooped along and down into the sandy long bowls ended up about 500m at a different beach on one wave. felt like 80 ks an hour or something.felt fast for a 3ft wave.
That was the most magic board ive had. the others are good but dont have that addictiveness and joy that i miss.
It surfed a few slabs around here ok too.You could knife it unlike retro fish.

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unclevernon Friday, 9 Aug 2013 at 2:14am

hem-stret - the 6'7 was definitely a reverse v, not sure about the 7'3 as I bought it used, but it was made around the same time, so probably. I'd be curious to surf another one as well, although a single to double concave quad does fell pretty good under the feet at present.

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wellymon Friday, 9 Aug 2013 at 3:43pm

Yeah unclevernon, I was looking at a Stuart brd the other day 6'3" single to double concave 20 3/4 wide and 2 5/8 thick called a mini bender I think, Quad set up , 5 fin , 3 fin set up and a rounded pin, looked pretty good as I weigh 95 kgs so volume helps me?...
Ive never ridden a quad before but Stuart was saying if you are a front foot surfer which I am(due to a lot of snowboarding) quads go well?..

I ride a 6' 3" pig , North Sydney shaper Neil Wheeler (Hot Wheels), 20"wide 2 5/8 thick square tail with a round tail in the middle (if that makes sense)
flat bottom with the slightest of Vee's before the fins then out. I love this brd, for some reason it goes, and holds a full rail carve thru bumps so well with speed? Pretty blocky rails. I have had a couple of boards of NW.

Pretty keen to get something else in my quiver especially a quad.

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surfwanker Tuesday, 13 Aug 2013 at 4:52pm

I had 5'8 DHD its was the best board I have ridden so fast and sharp but i distroyed it in 6 months. Went to my local shaper Kirk Bierke he took that many measurements I thought he was going mad.He fucken nailed it. I have never had 2 boards so similar.Now
the KB is the best board I have ever had!

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hem-stret Wednesday, 14 Aug 2013 at 11:36am

By coincidence, out of desperation for a decent surf mag I bought 'paper sea'. MC was talking about some of his boards and a reverse vee was one of them. That was the best page page by miles. Basically Tom Curren was amped on them in the 90's, and how it, the design, came about by accident. I also checked out the design specs thoroughly on my most used board, and amazingly it has forward v. It is a stretch quad epoxy, the thing is unreal in small waves and goes better up to 7 ft. Then the wide bat tail spins out. But it catches any ripple and carves and slides and gets the quad high speed run going when needed for fast sections. I thought a board like that would have just had the standard single to double concaves. I don't reckon concaves like barrels too much, especially the entry into the tube. If I ever bloody get one. but I see others........

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hem-stret Wednesday, 14 Aug 2013 at 11:56am

An amazing end to my blue fav 7ft rev vee. I creased it at a crunchy left an hour or so walk from town deep in the Soloman islands. there was a village on the beach front near this left. My mate Ravi, a little goofy foot black occy, loves this wave and left the board with a villager right there at the beach in front of this reef. It is, even then, a tricky paddle out over a long shallow coral reef with strong currents etc. Ravi fixed the crease with copious amounts of poorly sanded resin, and loved the board too. Even though, old blue was a bit large for his size/weight. When the tsunami wave that hit the east pacific, and with enough force to split the left hander reef, there is a big gap and wobble in the wave now, but the wave also wiped out the village where the board was stored. The local crew that survived the event, and a lot didn't, moved into the hills. Ravi found the board smashed in three peices way up on the rocky headland, another casualty.

stunet's picture
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stunet Wednesday, 14 Aug 2013 at 12:19pm

In 1995 I bought a 6'8" Michael Anthony a day before my annual Indo jaunt. Snapped the board I was intending to take at Cronulla Point and was stuck for a step up. I whipped around the surf shops and found it in Jackson's at Cronulla. Flat-bottomed, low-rockered with a beautifully pulled round tail. I surfed that board every day for two months in everything from 3' to 10'. It could simply do no wrong. I'd have surfs where I'd delude myself into thinking the WQS beckons. Some of my favourite surfing photos, while faded and out of focus, were taken on that board.

I snapped it at Cronulla Point the week after I got back and the dream was over.

Another magic board was a 7'10" Webber Insight that I had complete and utter confidence in for two consecutive Hawaiian seasons. I became irrationally attached to it and used it in wholly unsuitable surf just because I knew exactly how it'd react. That board snapped in a cliched 'just one more wave' situation that changed my behaviour forevermore. Now if I'm going in I just go in.

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stunet Wednesday, 14 Aug 2013 at 12:49pm

Boards that I'm currently attached to are:

5'10" PCC by Stuart Paterson that I'm about to get an exact replica made. I suspect I'll be attached to its clone too.
5'9" Camel Toe by Cory Surfboards. A fickle but rewarding little board, and I dig Cory's cavalier attitude to design in making it.
5'10 Tri-Zap McCoy. Shaped in 1983 - 30 years old!
5'8" Junior Diver by PCC. A mini-Simmons fusion that just copped a retro-fitted quad set up and hasn't looked back.

That's about it.

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wellymon Wednesday, 14 Aug 2013 at 1:52pm

Stu , I like your quote "That board snapped in a cliched 'just one more wave' situation that changed my behaviour forevermore. Now if I'm going in I just go in."

Gut most feeling goes along way I reckon?

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hem-stret Friday, 16 Aug 2013 at 6:43pm

The Mccoy boards (Tri Zappa-a three fin lazor zap?) all seem like a diversion from the norm. Are you rockn the star fin/footy fin at all? Cheyne Horan carved on them.