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:
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