Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

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JET01
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by JET01 » Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:31 am

I really love trying out new boards, most of them have been bargains, or the fruits of my buying and selling of boards.
The only ones that were bought new were the Miller, Modern, Firewire and Webber.
They've been more panic buys than anything...
I met my girlfriend about 10months ago and knew that we'd move in together one day... With that comes financial responsibility... So i figured... If i get all the boards i want/don't really need now, they'll be no arguements about me spending too much in the future.

Buy the way the 6'7 PCC is for sale if anyone's interested ($350).
Pics on the gumtree.

Had another surf at the Alley this morning and seem to be falling for my Mini Fish harder than i did my mrs.... hope it's a passing phase or she could be in trouble :lol:
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Wed Sep 09, 2009 1:39 pm

What do you think of the speed that the thing can generate? I thought it was great fun!
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by JET01 » Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:39 pm

I was pretty impressed... was making it around sections that i wouldn't get around normally...
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:27 pm

I noticed that too, an amazing amount of float and glide resulting in tons of speed. The downside I've noticed is that the crazy float restricts how aggressively you can turn it.

Still, I haven't surfed many boards with the same speed and paddle power at the same length (5'9").
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by JET01 » Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:12 am

Yeah i'm hoping the surf picks up on tuesday like it's forecast to so I can get straight back on it. The conditions weren't right for it on Friday when i surfed my M10 Hogfish instead.

One another note, my run of bad luck with dings and injuries continues...

I've already put two compressions in the mini fish... One from getting all out of shape on a steeper take off... resulting in my arse leaving a cheek size compression in the deck as i went over the falls... and on the same day, got pumped trying to pull into a tube and when pushing off the bottom to get to the surface, put in a compression in the bottom right between the fins with my head!

After another stack i cut my right ankle with one of the fins... and a few days later managed to cut my right forearm, once again the fins were the culprit... Didn't do any damage to my steamer though.

I think i need to see a witchdoctor to get this curse lifted... Does anyone have any contacts?
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Mon Sep 14, 2009 11:19 am

haha theres plenty of witch doctor in those crazy raked fins, red color to boot!
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by Trev » Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:32 pm

JET01 wrote:Yeah i'm hoping the surf picks up on tuesday like it's forecast to so I can get straight back on it. The conditions weren't right for it on Friday when i surfed my M10 Hogfish instead.

One another note, my run of bad luck with dings and injuries continues...

I've already put two compressions in the mini fish... One from getting all out of shape on a steeper take off... resulting in my arse leaving a cheek size compression in the deck as i went over the falls... and on the same day, got pumped trying to pull into a tube and when pushing off the bottom to get to the surface, put in a compression in the bottom right between the fins with my head!

After another stack i cut my right ankle with one of the fins... and a few days later managed to cut my right forearm, once again the fins were the culprit... Didn't do any damage to my steamer though.

I think i need to see a witchdoctor to get this curse lifted... Does anyone have any contacts?
Jet, I think you should take up golf. :lol:
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by pridmore » Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:47 pm

thats more injuries than I've had in my 22 years of surfing...( touch wood ).... some diff boards in that quiver there, how do you go swapping around between them all the time ???

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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by JET01 » Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:43 am

Sorry for the delay gents...

At the moment, i'm only really swapping between 3 boards.
The 9'0, 6'2 (hogfish), or 6'0. Been surfing the 6'0 mainly.
I'll surf the longboard when there's an opportunity to practise noseriding or if it's super crowded, the 6'2 when there's a bit more push in the wave, and the mini fish any other time.
As i'm still a pretty average surfer, I'm still trying to concentrate on long turns and making sure i maintain momentum through them... not really trying to get vertical or bust airs or anything, just focusing on drawing good lines and doing nice long sweeping turns.
I don't really have too much trouble chopping and changing between the shorter boards, but when i get back onto the longboard, it seems to take a few waves to remind myself that i need to think a little more about weight placement.
Haven't surfed my firewire board since i got my mini fish... just having too much fun on it.
I'll have to take a picture of my quiver at some stage.
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by onawave » Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:02 am

id love to give one of these a demo. looks really interesting and different...

tho there is no way ill be adding to my quiver for a lil while....

in other news tho, i heard that simon anderson at the corso is shutting down?

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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by JET01 » Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:46 pm

Was out at NN yesterday and saw a few guys on Mini fish doing pretty well, they seem pretty popular up that way.
Was that you CC in a red and black wettie?
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:43 pm

If I was riding it like a bodyboard, maybe....
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by spotty » Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:10 pm

Love the planshape...

Love the deep concaves...

The fins terrify me...

I would not touch one...

:D
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:09 pm

I was lucky enough to get the 1st reef at the Bower to myself for a little while on friday. It was about 4ft but battling against the cross wind.

I have to say, the Mini-Fish was pretty damn fun for a novelty. It only had one speed - fukcen fast, and it slipped around like a bar of soap sitting way above the wave.

It was great to enjoy the extreme speed, but I would have been pretty pissed if it was cranking and I didn't have my quadfather.

A very fun board for the right waves or the right attitude :)
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by matt... » Tue Dec 22, 2009 3:21 pm

spotty wrote:Love the planshape...

Love the deep concaves...

The fins terrify me...

I would not touch one...

:D
the big pink twin fins are loose and i agree with someone's comments about not throwing too much weight into it, cause it will want to spin out.

chuck some M5's on it - three of them - and you can throw as much as you want into a deep carving cutty. the m5's stick.
on head high waves - chuck some glass k3's on it - for some extra stick. but if it's head high, i'm on my 6'4" chilli, or my 6'2" sam egan custom.
easiest thing to paddle, very bouyant. duck diving is easy. my 9 y.o. daughter is riding it now - it's a 5'9" and she loves it cause it picks up any wave.
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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by bohdidontsurf » Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:41 pm

Cpt.Caveman wrote:Okay, I took out a Webber Mini Fish demo board today. The guys from the Australian Surfer Headquarters at Manly were nice enough to get their hands on the demo board so that I could try it out. Here is my amateur board report: :D

My specs: I'm 5'11", 83kg, and have been surfing about 10 years. I like to surf with flow and power, I wouldn't call myself a tricky or flashy surfer. I do about 2 airs a year for example.

First inspection: The board I picked up was a 5'9" and the first thing that struck me was how fat the rails were. There was so much volume squeezed into this board for a 5'9" it was ridiculous, even the nose had volume squeezed in. The rails were as boxy as they come, they were about 2 inches thick themselves, let alone the full 3 1/8" inches in the mid point. The double concave is extremely exaggerated giving quite a vee in the middle of the board. It was quite lite for the amount of foam, I was pleasantly surprised with that. My first thoughts were: "this is a bit of a toy, and its going to surf like a boat, but lets see how it goes". I was doubting Greg's claim that its for the competent to advanced surfer.

First surf: Conditions - 1-3ft Queenscliff, weak south swell, very clean fast little runners on the inside section. Nice day all in all. The board paddled amazingly as to be expected, I could take off almost as easily as a mini-mal. I had a lot of trouble trying to find speed from the board and the small surf. If I surfed with my weight on both feet it felt very boggy and didn't have much drive or lift at all. I found that I really had to surf off my front foot and give it some good pumps to get some speed from both the board, squirting some water out the back of the big concaves. I was a little disappointed with that, expecting a small wave bullet. When I finally got some speed to do a turn, I jammed the back foot down and slid the whole thing into an out-of-control tail-slide cutback. It definitely didn't feel good, thats for sure. No speed, no grab, not much fun. I caught a wave in knowing it would be a bit bigger at Curly and Dee Why, thinking it might be good to try it in a little bit of juice.

Second surf: Conditions - Double over-head sets, mid to high tide Dee Why point. Clean and powerful with solid little runners through the inside. My first thoughts were "here we go, this thing is going to slide out like crazy but it'll be funny to try". First wave it definitely felt a little bit skatey, nothing out of the ordinary. It was starting to feel a little bit more like a performance board however.

Second wave, I put my feet a little further up the board and tried to surf off the front foot a little bit more. MY GOD!!!! This thing just got more and more grip the faster and the more powerful the wave got, and really asked me to surf it hard. I got some fantastic sets that were definitely overhead and pretty solid, and it was an amazing feeling. Front foot pressure = drive and amazing speed that you can expect from a twinny. When I tried to use that speed to come off the bottom and into a turn, this is where it got really interesting. It was sticky with plenty of bite, and let me crank it right up into a hard top turn, straight back down with stacks of speed and back up into a big lip bash, straight back down into another roundhouse cutback. I had an ear to ear smile like you wouldn't believe, this thing was amazing. I couldn't believe how hard I could push it with those huge boxy rails.

I've got to admit, it didn't go too well when I had a late take-off. Taking off sideways down the face into the barrel? Forget it, too corky. I would have to take it straight into a bottom turn and start the turn out in the flats, but just as usual the thing would bite and send me towards the shoulder with amazing drive. On another wave I put my feet a little closer to the back of the board and it felt a lot more like a performance board that was itching to skate out. I didn't feel like I could push it too hard. It definitely didn't like to have the back foot jammed down for a big turn, the rails wouldn't catch and the thing would slide. Just like any twinny I guess, the drive and flow had to be directed with the same amount of drive and flow in the turn, not with powerful back foot pressure that a thruster can take.

I didn't want to go in I was having that much fun, but I was starting to cramp up really badly. I remembered Greg's words from his interview: "it definitely has range...". Too right Greg. Interlude - stuffed down a date bar and a powerade from the bakery. Back to Manly for one more surf.

Third surf: Conditions - Queenscliff, a litte bigger up to 3-4 foot on the sets, and a lot more powerful and rip-bowl like in the same place as before. The board continued to excel, it was amazing. The speed and drive that you could expect from a twinny, and it really didn't mind being surfed hard. It build up some fantastic speed in the zippy little shorebreak waves, letting me surf top-to-bottom again. Last wave it wasn't afraid to go vertical, that felt fantastic, letting me coming back down with plenty of speed again. I kept hearing Greg's voice from his interview: "this is definitely not a toy...". DEFINITELY NOT A TOY AT ALL! I kept thinking. Forced to go in from horrendous cramps, I didn't want to give the board back to the shop I was having that much fun.


Overall impression: This board really was a whole lot of fun and made small waves much more fun with the extra speed and drive (once I could find how to surf it). This fun didn't stop when the waves got bigger and more powerful however, the board had grip and drive, strangely more so when it went faster and the waves got bigger. It was totally happy to surf top-to-bottom and go vertical, I really didn't feel like I was forced to cruise on the thing and keep it under control. I didn't get a chance to see if the same was true in choppy conditions, it was only ever nice clean surf.

The down-sides:

- It didn't like to have the back foot jammed down. Turns were better off driven around with my whole body, not jammed around, otherwise the tail would slide out badly.

- When the wave got bumpy it started to show more of its skatey twin side and didn't grip into the wave as well. I think one of my last bottom turns went sideways from a lot of foam on the waves face. I could have drawn it out a little more, it was my own doing. It did feel like it needs certain conditions for its great grip and hold to show in the bigger stuff, but hard to say without trying it in junk.

- Any thought of taking off sideways and sliding down the face to have your fins catch and send you into the barrel? Forget it, way too corky. You would have to set it up with a nice bottom turn up into the barrel. There will be plenty of take-off barrels missed.


To me, I have to ask myself what I want in a board. It did make surfing a whole lot more fun to have the speed and drive of the twin fins, and it was a great surprise to be able to use it and push it into some nice turns. I can't help to think though, if I turn up to one of my usual spots and there are some nice barrels, I'll probably be pretty frustrated. It makes me think that a quad set-up with sharper rails for more bite might be a better option. Mainly to give you a similar amount of drive that you can expect from the twinny, but also with the versatility in more critical waves.

My own persona bottom lin is: To have it on the side not as a go-to board, but to keep my surfing fresh when I'm tired of attempting to surf like Kelly Slater, and to give me an ear-to-ear smile by making average surf fun? Absolutely! I want one, but not before I get myself a nice all-rounder quad from Mr Pridmore :D
I have one of these for sale if anyone is interested. $380. Pretty good condition and comes with the fins which are about $120 separately. PM if interested. Great board, really like it and it has been fun over the last couple of weeks but am saving for a new board

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Re: Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

Post by bohdidontsurf » Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:28 pm

Re the mini fish I have for sale, it is a 5'9 x 20.5 x 3 1/8 stock size. I have had a few enquiries and will ebay it later in the week if I dont sell it before hand.

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