Select to expand quoteestingo said..
Cool! Sounds good!SydneySUP81 said..
I just ordered my small wave machine. A custom SMIK hipster twin with a round nose 8"4 x 32 @ 140L. At 6"3 and 100kg it should work well.
Always curious how the hipster twin would go, people that have this board love it!
It's incredible, I currently have a 8"10, 9"2 and 9"5 custom all hipsters. Can't beat them.
L41 ST is done ahead of schedule, here it is. 7'6" x 28" x 4" 100L. Now just gotta take a trip to pick it up, can't wait to try it.
Great looking board, nice shape, wide tail straight outline, awesome! hope it will be a great addition to your quiver! Have fun with it and let us know how it goes.
Had first session in the 7'6" x28" L41 - I was expecting it to be tippy and was surprised- it's very stable, way more than 8x28 Blurr, at least in fairly clean conditions. Sits low in water, otherwise I would have thought it was 110L not 100. Kinda wish I would've gone smaller, but it was nice to surf 3h and not be wrecked trying to bike to work afterwards. Had it in steep waves on a negative tide, not what I got board for so still feeling it out.
Good to read that you liked the board Kisutch and that it's not tiring on the body. You could have gone lower in volume but maybe you didn't have than a 3h session. It's difficult to compare a shape like that to your Blurr 8"x28" because of the wide tail and outline it will be more stable as you described.
I'm curious if you have to push the tail more than the Blurr because of the tail and how it turns with the quad set-up. Curious how fast it is down the line compared to your Blurr, and if you have used it again in the conditions you got it for.
My experience is that the Gong Mob 7'6 (105 liters) with a wider tail than the JL Destroyer 7'7 (100 liters), you have to have your back foot on the kickpad, and if you too the board will turn how I want to. It takes a bit quicker the waves and it has also a bit more glide. For me, both boards feels stable and I can just say there is the 5-liter difference so the Mob is slightly stabler but I can go out in the same conditions. So in the end I think both are suitable for small waves. I haven't really formed an opinion which one is quicker, I can throw around the destroyer a bit quicker because of the thruster setup and the pintail because it's a bit more forgiving with the placement of the back foot.
2 pictures of 26th of April 2023.
Gong Mob 7'6 RAD 105 liters:
Jimmy Lewis Destroyer 7'7 100 liters:
So I can't say I found the Small wave machine board just yet because I have the same fun on both boards, it's not that the Mob stands out over the JL Destroyer. It is however a good addition to the quiver. As I said the Mob takes a bit quicker the waves and with the added glide it's better to grab that one than the Destroyer but when there are really nice waves with some push in it, I will take the Destroyer 10 out of 10 times.
The Mob is designed to accelerate early and quickly, but the drawback is a limited top speed.
In the Gong line for instance, a more all-around shape like the Karmen accelerates slower, but can reach higher speed.
I guess this is the difference you experienced with the Destroyer.
The Mob is perfect for slow waves, where max speeds are not reached anyways, and it allows to push a lot your turns, as its natural acceleration will "save" you from bogging down in turns. However, there is no free lunch, and this acceleration can be too much to handle when trying to push turns in faster waves...
Yes, exactly Colas. I think that I experienced just that. Another note is that you can take off early with the Mob because I'm still in the lineup next to the prone longboarders and I catch the waves earlier.
And as always I want to try this free lunch, even though it's not there just for the experience with the Mob in faster waves so I know what you are talking about. Something with trail and error.
Only got out one more time but had some messier conditions with small mushy waves, lowest wave energy we get. The board size feels right, the stability advantage over my Blurr drops as it gets messy, so no longer wishing I'd gone smaller. Had fun on a crap day so I'd say the board is working out, but haven't gotten consistent enough waves to really get a feel for it, had a few really fun turns though.
Select to expand quoteestingo said..
Another note is that you can take off early with the Mob because I'm still in the lineup next to the prone longboarders and I catch the waves earlier.
Yes, I never took my 9'0" longboard SUP out since I got the Mob.
I found out that in real life, for the 9'0" to take off early you need to have the perfect pitch, that is the nose close to the water so that the whole of the board length is in the water, contributing to the glide. It is easy to do in perfectly rolling gentle waves, but most of the time the length advantage of the 9'0" is matched by the 7'6" Mob as it is easier (no need to walk on board) to pitch-control in imperfect conditions.
Just got a 3h+ session on L41 ST in fun surf, everything from waist high to a few just overhead. Was super frustrated at first because waves were hallow and I kept catching the nose and taking sketchy falls with board behind me. It was weird being on a 7-6 but needing to be careful on steeper section like it's a longer board, cause of the rocker I assume. But tide started filling in and things got super fun. I focused on getting back foot to tail block, which is very easy on a board this short, and keeping wide stance. Pumping didn't feel dialed in before but really clicked this session, perhaps mostly cause of the waves being better. Felt like I needed to concentrate on leaning more forward and to wave when extending, anyway, had tons of fun racing beach breaks and felt good on top turns, especially since I was already at the tail block. I've had some really fun cutbacks on L41 but it doesn't go rail to rail as easily as my Blurr -- I can have foot centered on arch bar on blurr and just put a little lean and heel pressure and it comes around really easy on frontside cutback or more complete top turns, on L41 it felt like I needed to nurse turn a little more or maybe slide heel toward rail more, but expect that this is just something I need to get used to with the tail being much wider. Really enjoying this board and it's gonna be hard to choose on these sort of decent but not outstanding days -- would rather be on Blurr for the best few waves but L41 for most of the session.
Sounds fun to try something different. Interesting to hear your impressions.
I would definitely try to move your back foot all the way to either side of the rail on that board for sharper turns but I had same experience on my wider board it takes longer to transition from bottom turn to cutback. The sweet spot for me is waves with shape but not power when I use the wider tail and can more naturally link my turns.
Yeah I gotta experiment more with footwork, I think I can move to toeside rail without thinking but heelside I end up not doing if I don't focus on it. It's weird cause I'm ok on bottom/top turn now it's just the cutback, had some hilarious high speed ones Saturday that didn't come around just sent me straight down to flats. I'm on the split keel Controller quad now and I'm going to go back to quad from Jimmy Lewis when surf is decent, also ordered a Need Essentials twin to try later on. Starting to realize that with my quiver of equal volume New Deal, Blur, L41 ST, they're all super fun when it's head high, mid period 10-12s and clean, each just more fun for different maneuvers , but L41 should be best when it's like 3ft 8s typical summer day
I started using these fins in my step up there about same surface area as the new deal sides, and found much easier to cut back and they are pretty thin and fast, they need a trailer(s) though or a board with fins set back designed for twin. www.surfnvs.com/collections/apex-twins/products/stu-kenson-twin-s-apex
This is the only high quality twin set I could find in this size so I think these are really unique
Really enjoying the L41 ST now that we have summer conditions where it's weak wind swell and you're chasing shifty peaks that usually offer short rides. This board shines in the conditions I got it for, enjoy much more than my blurr or new deal in these waves. Some observations:
Paddling, it's considerably more stable than my Blurr when it's glassy. When it's rough it seems like it's less work but I fall just as much. I think that's cause it doesn't wobble as much with each chop or user input, but when it does wobble it can be a little jarring, on the Blurr I'm sort of constantly engaged in balancing when it's rough, so fewer surprises. L41 harder to break through whitewater I presume cause of the rounder nose and flatter rocker, paddles a little slower (6" shorter), and much harder to pop up to standing on the backside of a wave if prone paddling out. But in mellow summer surf none of this issues matter to me. Board seems sturdy - failed floater led to a bad paddle whack and board didn't ding. The way they glass/color these boards they look underwhelming out of water, kind of like if there were many layers of scotch tape over the board, but they don't show paddle marks like other boards do and actually look sharp when wet, not that this stuff really matters.
