Channel Islands Biscuit or Fishcuit

[JET01]

Just wondering if anyone out there has tried out a Channel Islands Biscuit or Fishcuit.

Looking at the 5'10 fishcuit for something different. I'm 5'10 and 80kg.

I'd really like some opinions on how they go... I can't get a demo anywhere.

Kinda sucks when you're about to spend $820 on a stock board....

[Cpt.Caveman]

I've never ridden either, and I only have limited experience with quads, but my spider senses tell me that they would both go really well in a quad-fin option.

What do you guys think?

[mical]

Get one shaped by your local shaper.

I recently had a board made and asked for something along the lines of the fishcuit.

Very similar plan shape and dimensions with just a few tweaks here and there to more suit me.

Best board I've ever ridden . . by far. And still cheaper than a Merrick!

[brenno05]

i was looking at one of these or possibly even the pod? (any feedback)

would like to know also if anyone has ridden the JS nitro or sonic models...

looking for a good fun small wave board which maintains some performance aswell, dont know if i will pay the $$ for a merrick, am probably still leaning towards my shaper but wanted to pick up somthing quickly before next week

[Cpt.Caveman]

Good point. Having a good chat to your shaper about what you're currently riding, what you like in a board, what type of waves you will be riding, what boards you have in your quiver, etc. will probably produce a much better board for you than getting a stock fish.

[black duck]

I know there is a lot of support on this forum for local shapers providing the best outcome for a surfer, however, i don't know that i agree that a local shaper can just shape you a quad or fishcuit or any other "copied" shape as well as the "off the rack" board that has been developed by another shaper.

If your local shaper has never shaped a quad or a fishcuit or any other shape that is slightly unusual, or any board type that is not their normal thing or has had significant r&D and performance testing over time, how is he/she going to pull out a perfect board first go? You can't expect any shaper to just make a magic board that they have never shaped before because you tell him you want one like a Merrick fishcuit or whatever. He won't have a template, won't know how to fine tune the rocker or rails or concave, won't know a myriad of things about the shape that make it work if he is not used to doing it.

No doubt a good shaper will use experience to craft the best possible outcome and they might get lucky and shape a gem, but without the templates, practice and developed knowledge I just don't agree that someone doing something (a new shape) for the first time will ace someone who has been practicing and developing the idea for a while. Mr Pridmore and other forum shapers may want to chime in here with some comments.

[RichQ]

Dear Mister Duck, a GOOD shaper (local or not) WILL have a range of templates to be able to draw up just about any outline you can thnk of....some shapers pride themselves in being versatile, not just doing the same thing over and over....FFS!! Forget about " Models"....dont beleive the hype....just actually go and talk to a shaper and tell him what you want this board to do , in the waves you think you'll be using it in . If he is any good , he'll nail it first time, or come pretty close...Al Merrick dosn't need the money, your local guy does.

[eMpowered]

Exactly Rich,

1. Why would you pay $800+ for a Stock board?

2. Duck, Do you work for Onboard?

I dig getting a blank and it telling me what it wants to be. (Even A Pre Shape).

This is again a stupid sheep forum.

$820 for a rack board.... Please. Did Al shape it? I don't think so.

[black duck]

Dear Mister Duck, a GOOD shaper .... If he is any good , he'll nail it first time, or come pretty close...Al Merrick dosn't need the money, your local guy does.

RichQ - A further explanation if I may: If you have a fish template and Jim Banks has a fish template and Bourton has a fish template and Merrick has a fish template, they will all be different. Some may be subtly different, others more radically different. They will surf differently. A shaper not used to shaping fishes will have something different again. My view is that if i wanted a Jim Banks fish and asked you to shape me one just like it, I would get what you shaped me, not a Jim Banks fish. It would be different. Am I wrong? It's a fcuking fact of life. No one can be other than who they are and we all have our own way of doing things in this world. Your hands and thought processes are different to Jim's and your surfboards will be different too. That's the good bit! What I don't understand is why someone that wants a certain specific surfboard that has been developed and refined by a specific shaper would ask another person to copy it. You will not get the same thing, regardless of whether you have managed to copy Jim's template or not.

The differences in surfboard shapes, however subtle, are PART OF the reason why people like Merrick and Simon and Jim Banks and others are in specific demand for what they do. It's not all marketing.

I'm all for support of local shapers, even after a few less than perfect experiences over the years. I just think it's foolish to expect a shaper to make something exactly like someone else's shape when it sits in a shop ready to go. I wouldn't go to a local shaper with such an expectation.

[g_u_m_b_y]

Amee Donohoe (Womens #4) was telling me how she had a ride of one in hawaii, and how well it went.
She seemed like she was really excited about it, so they must go pretty well (or that particular board), cause she is super picky about boards.

Mind you, thats just one person.....

[black duck]

Exactly Rich,

1. Why would you pay $800+ for a Stock board?

2. Duck, Do you work for Onboard?

I dig getting a blank and it telling me what it wants to be. (Even A Pre Shape).

This is again a stupid sheep forum.

$820 for a rack board.... Please. Did Al shape it? I don't think so.

$800 for the time and labour that goes into making a board is pretty good value in my view. What's wrong with stock boards if they're well made?

Onboard? No. Who the fcuk are they?

[Animal_Chin]

There's a well known shaper down here who excels at copying other shapers work.

**cough** SouthCoast **cough**

[JET01]

Well i didn't mean to start any arguements!

Sheesh you boys are a bit touchy today... I had a short night at work and came back to all this...

Well on the way to work I gave Jackson Surfboards a call, sounds like I could save about $100 if go with a most of the local guys...

I've had a few dings repaired there (suberb work) and was thinking that I should probably support my local shaper instead of Al Merrick.

I haven't made any concrete decisions about going to Jackson. I'm still tossing up the idea of getting a Fat-bat off Primore... Or getting Grant Miller to shape me something when he gets back in October.

I like the Fishcuit because i like the idea of something really short, fast, floaty. I've seen some guys paddle these almost as far out as the guys on mals. Crowds are a joke these days, but i'm sick of being on my Modern 9' or 7' Powerglide all the time because of the crowds. It's the only thing i can think of that will be a happy medium.

[grazza]

Aloha in Manly had a demo that they loaned me for a few days. I really liked the idea of it, but couldn't quite connect with it in reality. Paddled well, but I kept having problems catching forward edges. It would probably have responded to sticking with and working out how to surf it, but it was a demo and I had to give back.

On prices, I know no one likes paying full price (and hell, I haven't since the early 80's), but $800 is a totally reasonable price to pay for a piece of crafted excellence. How these guys could make any sort of decent living on the money we want to pay them is well beyond me. And if, like the Merrick, there is extensive R & D time gone into refining a new design, saving a $100 by getting a cheap knock-off seems like theft to me. I know it's not technically - no-one in surfing ever seems to patent anything - but it certainly is in spirit.

[daryl]

Choices.

One example of board designed by a local shaper that's called the Fat Bastard or Steve Austin model, was developed specifically along its' own lines over years with lots of original, you know deep thought, and experimenting of course.

The term 'copy' referring to local shaper designs is a bit rich, at least for most shapers that's unfair. There are concepts out there, granted, and if they're taken into account by a local shaper overtime, we're the better for it.

Jackson was my first local, and if I didn't jump around so much, there's no reason why they aren't now. Bennetts might have a fis-cutty design too. Sure some might specialize, I think of Jackson for longboards, and that can't be right.

[Cpt.Caveman]

With all being said, I would get a Fat Bat from Mark Pridmore. I just got a Quadfather from him that I'm pretty close to making the "best ever" call on. The process from having a very long internet discussion with Mark about all areas related to board design (my skill, my current boards, what I like in my current boards, what waves I'll be riding, what I want the new board to do, etc.), produced a board that was perfect for me as an individual. Good price, and hes a local guy too.

Great bloke to deal with too. He gives you the time of day

I've bought a stock board before, but not before test-riding it first in a variety of conditions to get an idea of what it can and can't do. If I couldn't try it out first it could have been a disaster.

[daryl]

Huie's little blue rocket comsand looks different again.

[steve shearer]

And if, like the Merrick, there is extensive R & D time gone into refining a new design, saving a $100 by getting a cheap knock-off seems like theft to me..

That's hilarious, seeing as Merrick has been one of the great "borrowers" in history.

Back in the mid-seventies Chris Brock was making tri-plane hulls based on Greenough's design theories.
After a visit by Merrick where he chanced upon the design full page ads magically appeared in American surfing mags trumpeting Al Merrick as the innovator of this amazing tri-plane hull.
His early thruster planshapes were amazingly similar to Simons wide tailed subtle hipped creations.
Any acknowledgement by Saint Al : not to my knowledge.

His current fish and fishcuit boards and other designs like the Pod are all heavily influenced by existing designs created by other people.

He's a great marketer of board designs but very very few could he claim to have invented himself.