Ok I know I'm crap at all this review stuff...others call it plain lazy.
7'5 x21x2 5/8 single fin
If I was ever forced to own one board this has proven to be the one. I have surfed it in big straddie,knee high main beach, fat walls at palmy and the last few days it has excelled in solid perfection on the points.
My bias is very much with singles atm. I think it suits my back foot heavy stance. I love multi fin boards,but having to make them generate speed and pump,well since being on the single they bore me. The single at this size is a paddling beast. Has gotten me in waves super early and gives me some nice options on what line to take. On the fat or slow waves,I love to do big longboard fades then track my path. On the big days,well I love being to my early and not being stuck in the lip,then a big bottom turn. No problem with sections as the long rail just buries in the face and just flies.
Choose a high line and the speed is amazing.
The single is really starting to clean my surfing up. It is not a board that can be forced to do things. No forcing it into cutbacks, you really have to bury that rail and drive,but the rewards and feeling is priceless. I'm starting to.read the waves better again,I'm forced to look ahead to hut the lip,and being a midlength, well it still does it nicely.
The bottom is the difference, a subtle single concave in the nose leading to a medium double which finishes with a v out of the tail. The deck is flat and there is some nice nose lift,does not really show in the pics,should have whacked it up on the bbq I guess. Have run a 8" dolphin but am loving this 9" bender from shapers,have a volane fin on the way to.try as well.
Next time,or on the next board,I would like a bit more rocker,especially for days like we have this week,at tomes I thought I was going to nosedive pretty badly,yet with more use i will overcome that. I'm that stoked, I have a shortboard version being made,well a single fin, as the rest of the board is completely different.
Oh the art is all cutlap resin tint. The lady of many colours made it look primo
Nice one dude, and no brand pimping, respect
Gotta say, I'm in the single fin club, just love those big gliding carves and the flow and if that's your style you'll love the Volan, mind you, I think that shapers flex would be pretty sweet too.
Sounds like you're in a pretty awesome place with your surfing all round
Sweet looking ride Chrispy. Board looks like it has plenty of rocker, might be the length making some takeoffs feel sketchy. Look forward to hearing how the shorter version goes for ya
Hey mick,Nah the board is pretty flat. I should say the takeoff is great because I'm early,but on a few when you come of the top in the bowly section gets sketchy. Yeh length may play are part,more nose rocker would fix it imo. And the small single is going to be nuts. AndyrooMac,I'm even more excited now to get this new fin
Thanks cobra,I tried to get my yard more central qld in style than indo
Well..ya done it now Chrispy..another bloody forum..and now all the partners/wives will damm you to hell for getting the minds of old frothers rekindled with the spirit of ..The Single Fin.
Looks a treat, are the rails hard for about the last 1/3 of it ?
Hey mick,Nah the board is pretty flat. I should say the takeoff is And the small single is going to be nuts. AndyrooMac,I'm even more excited now to get this new fin
Thanks cobra,I tried to get my yard more central qld in style than indo
Yeah, you'll love full flex Volan. when you bottom turn or lay that big carve you just fly out of it and into the next section, so rad I think that's why I never quite adapted to the quad, love the speed down the line but the turning just lacks that soul arc you get from a single
And yes, I neglected to appraise the yard, lovely, really lovely
A local shaper over here is shaping some pretty cool mid length single fins as well, sounds like a ripper of a board mate! Good description of how it surfs makes me want one ha ha
Nice outline and especially like the rails and looks like plenty of rocker in the shot where its deck down on the lawn.
My 7'6" is the same for me.
If I had to have just one it would be the one.
But that's why I got my 6'6" made. Because I just can't have just one but was curious if I could tap into the some of the 7'6"s magic in a shorter package.
The modern bottoms really help with the drive you're describing I reckon.
While yours is a single and mine's a quad.
There's a big speed differential compared to v bottoms that are popular right now with the retro movement.
My much loved scorpion has a good coating of dust I had to clean off the other day but it still hasn't been in the water this swell.
And what a swell it is.
Edit...P.S. I would love to try a Campbell brothers 5 fin bonzer egg, especially when folk talk about them as a single fin on steroids.
Hey mick,Nah the board is pretty flat. I should say the takeoff is great because I'm early,but on a few when you come of the top in the bowly section gets sketchy. Yeh length may play are part,more nose rocker would fix it imo. And the small single is going to be nuts. AndyrooMac,I'm even more excited now to get this new fin
I know what you mean, more of a full speed down the line board...shorter with a touch more rocker should help you belt those bowls. Just gotta not go too far & lose the awesome'ness of the early paddle in
Agree cuttlefish on the bottom contours .I rode a single with the retro bottom and a hull type nose,it was fun,but.......
On the.rocker, I will take another pic as it really is flat/flattish. The pic does make it look more though.
Yep I'm keen as to.try a bonzer. Was told they only go good in clean waves. Jesse from.black Apache was doing a nice looking one
Looking at AndyrooMac new fins and checked out some more....so does anyone have any experience with a Greenough type fin,or just a upright flexy fin....what did you think of them.
Super stoked with mine so far, they look like they'll fly. I think my next choice would be the full flex in the Volan but have just never surfed that style of fin, sounds super fun tho.
I was a close toss up between the George and the Thomas, they're both very similarly awesome but just like the extra flex in the Thomas
I've got an 8" Greenough 4C (the upright model) that you're welcome to borrow.
I'll take it with me this morning to the markets as I have a neighbouring stall holder who lives at Helensvale but hubby works near Southport so you could pick it up from there.
She's not there every week but hopefully today she is.
But imagine the drive you'd get out of an Alkali 8" classic single...drop in and hang on...for beachbreaks when you don't need the tip flex of the retro fins that's fun on long point waves?
Just got home and the neighbouring stallie had stayed home and her local helper working so no opportunity to send it.
Looking at the 8" 4C this morning I reckon it wouldn't be enough fin area in your board anyway.
Thanks for thinking of me cuttlefish
But it's all good,have a bloke up here who has more fins than asea has sold boards
Going to.put the stiff dolphin back in....wow that sounds.suss.
Very nice Wispy Chrispy!
+1. I somehow missed this thread first time. Thanks for re-posting
Thanks Tux,I'm still in love.
As ted has said somewhere else,yep it's pretty easy to duckdive AndyrooMac. I have stuffed it a few times though with a less than perfect effort. Plus on the last big swell we had,I might have been better off with a different approach instead of cartwheeling under water with it